Seven hundred knights and ladies of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem met in Little Rock Oct. 17-19. The gathering at the Statehouse Convention Center was the annual meeting and investiture for the Southwest Lieutenancy, which consists of the 19 dioceses in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
It was only the second time the event was held in Little Rock; the last time was in 1991.
Worldwide, this papal order of knighthood, with its signature red Jerusalem cross, has 22,000 members. They are Catholic men and women, both laypeople and clergy, who are dedicated to the preservation of the Christian faith in the Holy Land.
 Facts about the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem Click here |
The Diocese of Little Rock is a section of the Southwest Lieutenancy. Sir Frank Sewall along with his wife, Lady Angela Sewall, are the section representatives for the diocese. They are members of the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock. The couple coordinated the region’s annual meeting, which included the induction of new members and promotion of existing ones.
Frank Sewall said of the 100 people invested at the event, 18 were from Arkansas, including Bishop Anthony B. Taylor.
The bishop joined the 156 members from the state, which includes eight priests as well as Bishop Emeritus Andrew J. McDonald of Palatine, Ill., and Abbot Jerome Kodell, OSB, of Subiaco Abbey. Both of them were present at the annual meeting.
The order is ancient. It traces its roots back to the First Crusade when Christian knights were charged with guarding the Holy Sepulchre after they had taken back the city of Jerusalem in 1099.
The Holy Sepulchre, pronounced “sep-ull-ker,” refers to the tomb of Christ. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which covers the sites of Jesus’ crucifixion and tomb, was built by the knights and still stands today.
Over time the order’s purpose has evolved to preserve and promote Christianity in the Holy Land.
According to the order, it does this by providing spiritual, moral and financial support to the Latin-rite Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The order makes substantial donations to this Church’s 44 parish schools, its seminary and clergy. The order also supports Bethlehem University and the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, a papal agency for humanitarian and pastoral support. According the organization’s Web site, it supports churches in the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe.
The donations are sent to the Vatican, which distributes them on behalf of the order, Sewall said.
In 2007 the Southwest Lieutenancy alone donated $1,130,395, he said. This Lieutenancy is currently the largest in the world and has more than 1,000 members.
Each knight and lady in the order commits to make at least one pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Sewall said.
He and his wife have yet to make their pilgrimage. It has been unsafe for pilgrims to travel to the Holy Land much of the time since they were invested in 1991.
“While on these pilgrimages, members of the order not only visit the holy shrines, but the modern Christian-sponsored institutions that the order supports,” he said. “Through these visits we have an opportunity to observe how our financial contributions are being used. Just as important, by our presence, the persons and institutions gain an appreciation of the support they are receiving from the Church.”
Lady Mary Claire Bowen, chair of the 2008 annual meeting committee, said she was invested in 1994. She is a member of Christ the King Church in Little Rock.
For her, membership in the order allows her to feel like she is doing something to help the volatile situation in the Middle East.
She said the schools the order supports have Christian and Muslim students and she believes bringing these cultures together can make a real difference in the future.
In these schools “the children are children, and they like each other, and play with each other, and it doesn’t make any difference if they’re Israelis or Palestinians,” she said. “We’re hoping that with this, that maybe they will grow up to live together and find ways that they are alike and can live together.”
Bishop Taylor was the main celebrant and homilist for the Oct. 18 Mass during which 162 members were promoted to a higher rank by Archbishop Eusebius J. Beltran of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. The order has five ranks beginning with knight and lady.
During his homily, Bishop Taylor stressed the importance of the work of the order.
“As knights and ladies of the Holy Sepulchre, it is our duty to do all we can to set things right, and it is Jesus emerging from that Holy Sepulchre on Easter Sunday morning who teaches us how to conduct that battle,” he said. “We won’t defeat evil militarily. Military victories are just temporary — we learned that from the Crusades.
“If we want to win these battles — against abortion, against all the other evils in the world today — we will not win those through coercion, but rather through persuasion: through the redemptive power of sacrificial love. Through conversion of our own hearts to become more loving hearts which then can convert others.” (Click here to read Bishop Taylor’s complete homily.)
In all, two archbishops and 10 bishops from Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico attended the meeting in Little Rock.
Along with Bishop Taylor, Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantú of the Archdiocese of San Antonio and Bishop Kevin Farrell of the Diocese of Dallas were invested Oct. 19.
Brother David Carroll, under secretary general of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association, and Msgr. Robert Stern, president of the Pontifical Mission for Palestine, both members of the order, were featured speakers at the annual meeting.
Facts about the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem
Today the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem is under the direct protection of the Holy See. U.S. Cardinal John P. Foley, grand master, heads the order and works from the Vatican.
The order is divided into 48 representative bodies called lieutenancies. There are 23 lieutenancies in Europe, 15 in North and Central America, five in South America and five in the Far East.
The grand prior of the Southwest Lieutenancy is Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. He heads a 12-member lieutenancy council.
Bishop Anthony B. Taylor is head of the order in Arkansas. Frank and Angela Sewall are his section representatives on the Southwestern Lieutenancy Council.
Members must be Catholics in good standing who are active in their local parishes and dioceses and should have a record of service to the Church and be good examples of their faith. Members are asked to make a suggested donation of $550 a year, but it is not required. The ultimate goal of every knight and lady of the order is to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
To join, a member must be nominated and the process varies from diocese to diocese. In Arkansas, knights and ladies and any priest may nominate a person by submitting the candidate’s name to his or her pastor. With his approval the name is passed onto the bishop who then passes it onto the lieutenancy office in Houston. The grand prior then sends a letter to the candidate asking if he or she would like to be a member. If so, the candidate pays the $700 application fee for the packet that is sent to the Vatican. The candidate is then accepted by the grand master of the order.
The symbol of the order is the cross of Jerusalem, the cross of the crusaders. It consists of a large red cross in the center of four smaller red crosses, which represent the five wounds of Christ at his crucifixion as well as the sufferings in the Holy Land. This cross, according to the order’s constitution, is “a testimony of our submission to the cross of Christ.”
For formal occasions, knights wear a black velvet beret and long white cape bearing the red Jerusalem cross on the left side below the shoulder and a gold tassel around the neck.
Ladies wear an ankle-length black (satin or velvet) cape bearing the red Jerusalem cross on the left side below the shoulder and cover their heads with a black veil or mantilla.
The Pilgrim Shell is a special distinction awarded only by the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem. It is earned when members make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and pray at the Holy Sepulchre of Christ.
The following is the knights’ code of honor: “My soul to God — by the full spiritual life; My life to Christ the King; My heart to Blessed Lady; and My own honor — the ineffable honor that comes to him who called the Church my Mother and to him who calls God, my Father and strives to live like his Son.”
The Memorare is the official prayer of the order. St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, who urged the Second Crusade, gave this Marian prayer to the order. All members are asked to pray it daily.
Source: Southwest Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and Frank Sewall of Little Rock.
