IMORTALIS

Author: imortalis

  • The Knight-Cardinal

    In these minutes, 133 cardinals are meeting in the Sistine Chapel for the conclave to elect the next pope after Pope Francis’s passing. Soon the Sede Vacante will be over, and the world will say Habemus Papam.

    Also present is a cardinal who is quite connected with the military. He is the General Chaplain of an ancient knightly order whose origins date back to the 11th century in Jerusalem. The Ordo Militaris et Hospitalaris Sancti Lazari Hierosolymitani fought alongside the Crusaders in the Battle of La Forbie in 1244, but they tragically lost the battle. Not a single knight of the Order of Saint Lazarus survived.

    The Medal of Honor of Saint Lazarus is awarded to members and non-members alike for exceptional service rendered above and beyond, or to dignitaries for their humanitarian commitments, to the mission and pillars of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem.
    Credit: orderofsaintlazarus.com

    Six years later, again facing Egyptian troops, there was another defeat. The Grand Master of the Templars, Guillaume de Sonnac, however, earned a brave and honorable reputation: despite severe injuries and the loss of an eye, he fought his way out of the surrounded city with only two remaining knights and reached the Crusader camp. After medical treatment, he returned and helped repel a Muslim raid.

    Today, Cardinal Antoine Kambanda doesn’t fight with sword and horse, but with a pen in the Sistine Chapel for a new, good Pope. If I couldn’t add their Medal of Honor to my collection, I would certainly also be satisfied with his pen.

    May God bless them all.

    Credit: Bill Hood & Sons Arts & Antiques Auctions
  • Stop, bullet!

    Stop, bullet!

    We’ll start this blog with something small, but very important: the Detente bala – meaning: Stop, bullet, the Sacred Heart of Jesus is with me!

    How good it would be if we were invincible in law enforcement. Well, maybe our best chance is this little Patch:

    It is made of cloth, with the spanish phrase around the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and it is worn on the chest as a protection under the name/rank badge (usually as close to the heart as possible).

    The devotion is derived by the badges of the Sacred Heart promoted by 17th-century saint Margaret Mary Alacoque against epidemics. They are still used by the Spanish soldiers in the 21st century – a good friend of mine serves in the Fuerzas Armadas Españolas – the spanish Army – as a 2nd lieutenant.

    The history of the use of the Detente bala dates back to 1686. Popular belief explains that Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque started the custom of wearing a small cloth emblem with the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a symbol of devotion. This symbol soon began to spread as a protection-amulet against the epidemics that devastated Europe.

    In the eighteenth century its use became popular among Spanish soldiers. Tradition has it that the Detente bala were embroidered by hand by the wives, mothers or sisters of the combatants before they left for the war, in the hope that they would stop the bullets that threatened their lives and return them safe and sound to their homes.

    Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!