Orders of Knighthood and of Merit

Book excerpt: This book, building upon Archbishop's Cardinale's Orders of Knighthood, Awards and the Holy See, this book presents the many Catholic-founded Orders of Knighthood in a new perspective, and deals not only with the Pontifical Equestrian Orders and the two surviving religious Orders of Knighthood, but with the many Catholic-founded but secularized Orders--dynastic, state, and crown--that exist today. Drawing on source materials never before available, the author is able to expose misunderstandings and misinformation and highlight errors that have been perpetuated, sometimes for centuries.