Order-of-Saint-Lazarus

L'ordre de Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem, ou ordre des hospitaliers de Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem, est un ordre hospitalier fondé à Jérusalem aux xie ou xiie siècle pour accueillir les pèlerins atteints de la lèpre, il ouvrira ses portes aux croisés et chevaliers lépreux pendant les croisades nommés Lazarites. Certains de ses chevaliers lépreux participent à la défense des états latins d'Orient. Après la perte de la Terre sainte, l'ordre se regroupe en France autour de son grand maître à la commanderie de Boigny-sur-Bionne jusqu'à la confiscation de tous ses biens en France à la Révolution. Il subit bien des aléas du fait de ses protecteurs jusqu'au moment où Louis XVIII dilapide les derniers biens restants pendant son exil.

La première mention de l'ordre de Saint-Lazare trouvée dans des sources date de 1142. La tradition veut que l'hôpital de Saint-Lazare se trouve à l'extérieur de Jérusalem comme d'ailleurs tous les lazarets (mot dérivé de Lazare de Béthanie pour désigner les léproseries) l'étaient à cette époque. Cet hôpital serait alors desservi par des moines régis par la règle de saint Basile le Grand sous la juridiction du patriarche grec-melkite de Jérusalem.

L'Ordre en Terre sainte

Des chevaliers lépreux, maintenant de Saint-Lazare, arborant la croix verte à la place de l'étoile blanche des Hospitaliers, rouge des Templiers ou noire des Teutoniques, se retrouvent les armes en mains dans les combats de Terre sainte comme pour la prise d'Acre en 1191, la bataille de Gaza en 1244, au combat de Damiette, à la bataille de Mansourah en 1250. C'est en adoptant alors la règle augustinienne que l'Ordre est reconnu comme hospitalier par une bulle d'Alexandre IV fulminée le 11 avril 1255. Lorsque la ville d’Acre est perdue lors du siège de Saint-Jean-d'Acre en 1291, confirmant la perte des États latins d'Orient, le maître général de l'ordre, Thomas de Sainville, regroupe les restes de l'Ordre sur le Royaume de France, lui-même installant le siège de l'Ordre à la commanderie de Boigny-sur-Bionne.

The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, also known as the Leper Brothers of Jerusalem or simply as Lazarists, was a Catholic military order founded by crusaders around 1119 at a leper hospital in Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem, whose care became its original purpose, named after its patron saint, Lazarus. It was recognized by King Fulk of Jerusalem in 1142 and canonically recognized as a Hospitaller and military order of chivalry under the rule of Saint Augustine in the Papal bull Cum a Nobis Petitur of Pope Alexander IV in 1255. Although they were centered on their charism of caring for those afflicted with leprosy, the knights of the Order of Saint Lazarus notably fought in the Battle of La Forbie in 1244 and in the Defense of Acre in 1291. The titular seat was successively situated at Jerusalem, Saint-Jean-d'Acre and - after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem - split into two main branches in Italy and in Château Royal de Boigny-sur-Bionne in France.

In 1489, Pope Innocent VIII attempted to merge the order and its land holdings with the Knights Hospitaller. This was resisted by the larger part of the jurisdictions of the Order of Saint Lazarus, including those in France, Southern Italy, Hungary, Switzerland, and England. The Knights Hospitaller only managed to appropriate the Lazarus holdings in Germany.

In 1572, the Order of Saint Lazarus in Italy was merged with the Order of Saint Maurice under the Royal House of Savoy to form the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, which still exists today, widely recognized as a dynastic successor of the Italian branch. This merger, however, excluded the holding in the southern part of Italy, then forming part of the Spanish realm. These were transformed into ecclesiastical benefices. The Duke of Savoy only managed to gain control of those benefices sited in the duchy of Savoy.

In 1608, King Henry IV of France, with the approval of the Holy See, linked the French section administratively to the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel to form the Royal Military and Hospitaller Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem united. This branch became closely linked to the Royal Crown during the 18th century, with the serving grandmasters then being members of the Royal family. It suffered the consequences of the French Revolution and went into exile along with its grand master Louis-Stanislas-Xavier, Comte (count) de Provence, king-in-exile Louis XVIII. It formally lost its royal protection in 1830 and then ceased to remain listed as of royal protection in the French Royal Almanac.

The word lazarette, in some languages being synonymous with leprosarum, is believed to also be derived from the Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus, these edifices being adopted into quarantine stations in the fifteenth century when leprosy was no longer the scourge it had been in earlier centuries.

The Military & Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem has, since its reunification, striven to change its structure to suit the modern world, organizing itself into a formal legal foundation to better function within the framework requirements demanded of associations and non-governmental organizations by the modern world. Since 2005, the order has operated as a registered company in the United Kingdom, defined as an unincorporated or voluntary association constituted under the constitution adopted in 2006. In 2014, steps were undertaken to set up a private foundation to serve as a non-profit organization regulated by Spanish legal provisions. The International Hospitaller Foundation of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem serves to coordinate worldwide initiatives involving assistance, healthcare, attending to the sick and needy, and promoting humanism and Christian values carried out by organizations of different nationalities under the banner of St Lazarus. To further ensure a legally sound internationally functioning organization, the order has encouraged its various jurisdictions to ensure their legal status within the country they function and enter into a memorandum of association with the International Hospitaller Foundation.