By Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Don Felipe Vives de Camañas y Mompalau
Now, with that the very individuals engaged in the Orders of Chivalry failed to see what was being lost with the eclipse of the true crusading spirit, and the fact that society was going from one excess to another without sticking to a balanced, midway situation. And entire Orders of Chivalry consented to being ‘bastardized’ by systematically having the reigning kings as their grand masters, as established by a decree of the Holy See.
Whereas everyone knew that in order to be a grand master of a religious Order, one needs to have a special formation and cannot be at the same time non-religious and grand master of a religious Order. One cannot be grand master of several religious Orders at the same time, as were the kings. This simultaneous ‘grand mastering’ doomed the religious Orders of chivalry to disappearance.
Portrait of Federico Corbí and Orellana (1875-1953), Knight of the Order of Montesa and cavalry commander in the Spanish Army.
If this were done in any common religious Order, the Order would perish. Imagine, for example, appointing a superior general to the Society of Jesus and designating him at the same time as superior general of the Franciscans. One of the two Orders would perish; more likely, both would.
(Excerpt from an Almoço Tuesday, Jan. 30, 1990 – Nobility.org)
