THE ANCIENT CATHOLIC KNIGHTING CEREMONY

 

(Excerpt from The Mirror of True Womanhood, by Rt. Rev. Monsignor Bernard O’Reilly, D.D., L.D. -Pg. 269. 1877.)

 

The forms of ancient knighthood, as blessed by the Church in the ages of faith, have passed away; but the spirit of chivalry has not and never will so long as the faith of Christ is a living reality on earth.  Hear, then, what is meant by that spirit, what virtues it supposes in the man who lives up to it, and what are its high practical obligations.  We take the lesson from authentic history.

 

We are in 1257, at Cologne, and assisting at the a solemn ceremony, the knighting by a papal legate of a young prince, elected by the king of the Romans, and soon to be crowned as emperor of Germany.  Mass has been celebrated, and William, Count of Holland, who has only reached the preparatory degree of squire, is presented to the legate in these words: “We place before you this squire, humbly beseeching that in your fatherly kindness you would accept his desires that he may become worthy of associating among knights.”

 

To which the cardinal-legate replies, addressing himself to the young prince: “What is a knight according to the meaning of the word?  Whoso desireth to obtain knighthood must be high-minded, open-hearted, generous, superior, and firm; -high-minded in adversity, open-hearted in his connections, generous in honor, superior in courtesy, and firm in manly honesty.  But before you make your vow, take this yoke of the order which you desire into mature consideration.

 

“These are the rules of chivalry:

1^st.  Before all, with pious remembrance, every day to hear the mass of God’s passion. 

2^nd.  To risk body and life boldly for the Catholic faith.

3^rd.  To protect holy Church, with her servants, from every one who will attack her.

4^th.  To search out widows and helpless orphans in their necessity.

5^th.  To avoid engaging in unjust wars.

6^th.  To refuse unreasonable (excessive) rewards.

7^th.  To fight for the vindication of innocence.

8^th.  To pursue warlike exercises only for the sake of perfecting warlike skill.

9^th.  To obey the Roman emperor, or his deputy, with reverence in all temporal matter.

10^th.  To hold inviolable the public good.

11^th. In no way to alienate the feudal tenures of the empire.

12^th.  And without reproach before God or man, to live in the world.

 

“When you shall have faithfully attended to these laws of chivalry, know that you shall obtain temporal honor on earth, and, this life ended, eternal happiness in heaven.”

 

When the solemn oath on the Gospels had been taken, the rank of knighthood was conferred on the kneeling suppliant in these words:

 

“For the honor of God Almighty I make you a knight, and do you take the obligation.  But remember how He was smitten in the presence of the high-priest Annas, how He was mocked by Pilate the governor, how he was beaten with scourges, crowned with thorns, and, arrayed in royal robe, was derided before King Herod, and how He, naked before all the people, was hanged upon the cross.  I counsel you to think upon His reproach, and I exhort you to take upon you His cross.”