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Knights of St Lazarus

Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem
Lazarus cross.svg
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
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.


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