Knights of St Lazarus

Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem

Cross of Saint Lazarus.
Successor	Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (1572-)
Formation	Circa 1098/1119
Extinction	1572/1830
Type	Military order
Purpose	Nursing
Membership	Catholic
Official language	Latin
Patron Saint	Saint Lazarus
Parent organization	Catholic Church
Affiliations	House of Savoy (1572) House of France (1609-1824/1830)

The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem 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 patron saint Lazarus. It was recognised by King Fulk of Jerusalem in 1142 and canonically recognised as 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. The titular seat was successively situated at Jerusalem, Saint-Jean-d'Acre and - after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem - split in 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 Sovereign Military Order of Malta. This was resisted by several French kings and in other countries where it still retained its premises.

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 until today, widely recognised as a dynastic successor.