Re: Order of St.Sebastian as Papal order?

"Guy Stair Sainty" <guy@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e3lh8c02ht9@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In article <1147000506.800314.245210@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Franz
says...


While I like the idea of a non-exclusive, non-prestigious order of
knighthood, I don't know anything about this Order of St. Sebastian.
Maybe it is dodgy?

i,e, a non elitist organization where everyone is a knight, but makes
promises of commitment - but that totally misses the origins of knighthood
and
that the original orders were mainyl made up of serving brothers, as is
the
Venerable order of St John today. If everone is a general, who is going to
be
an ordinary soldier?


You make valid points. There is a conequence of such an argument and that is
to look at who makes up the largest number of knights, For example the
Order of Malta has over the past century undergone a huge shift. It is no
longer made up primarily of families of immemorial nobility but increasingly
is made up of large numbers of successful lawyers, surgeons, professors and
merchants who make up the largest category (by far) of magistral grace. I
don't believe that this is necessarily bad (in contrast to the perspective
recently advanced by Graf Gudenus who equated such folks with Portieres) but
it does mean a shift away from tradition and the foundation of continental
knighthood as a group within the hereditary nobility. By broadening the
membership from the traditional elites to include those who have a track
record of 20-30 years of personal accomplishment the order has in fact
become far less elitist and more democratic. I'm not saying that many
members don't come from historical families (noble or even merchant) but the
base has been broadened greatly. It has also grown considerably. With over
11,000 knights that is also an awful lot of generals in one organization. At
what point does admitting more and more well healed and personally
accomplished members into confraternal knighthood dilute the traditions of
an organization that has been always associated with the tradiitonal elites
of birth and family tradition?
George Lucki


.

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