Order of the Holy Spirit

Order of the Holy Spirit Ordre du Saint-Esprit
Badge of the Order
Award of the Kingdom of France
Type	Chivalric order
Royal house	House of France
Religious affiliation	Roman Catholic
Ribbon	Light blue
Motto	Duce et Auspice
Status	• Abolished by the July Revolution in 1830 Recognised as dynastic order of chivalry by the International Commission on Orders of Chivalry
Founder	Henry III of France
Statistics
Established	December 31, 1578
Precedence
Next (lower)	Order of Saint Michael
Ribbon of the Order

The Order of the Holy Spirit, also known as the Order of the Knights of the Holy Spirit, (French: Ordre du Saint-Esprit or Ordre des chevaliers du Saint-Esprit; sometimes translated into English as the Order of the Holy Ghost) is a French dynastic order of chivalry under the House of France.

It should not be confused with the Congregation of the Holy Ghost or with the religious Order of the Holy Ghost. It was the senior chivalric order of France by precedence, although not by age, since the Order of Saint Michael was established more than a century earlier.

Although officially abolished by the government authorities of the French Republic along with the French Monarchy following the French Revolution, its activities carried on. It is still recognised by the International Commission on Orders of Chivalry.

Prior to the creation of the Order of the Holy Spirit in 1578 by Henri III, the senior order of chivalry in France had been the Order of Saint Michael. This order had originally been created to rival the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece, and to help ensure that leading French nobles remained loyal to the Crown. Its membership was initially restricted to a small number of powerful princes and nobles, but this increased dramatically due to the pressures of the Wars of Religion: at the beginning of the reign of Henry III, the order had several hundred living members, ranging from kings to bourgeois. Recognising that the order had been significantly devalued, Henry founded the Order of the Holy Spirit December 31, 1578- thereby creating a two-tier system: the new order would be reserved for princes and powerful nobles whilst the old Order of Saint Michael would be given to less eminent servants of the Crown. This Order was dedicated to the Holy Spirit to commemorate the fact that Henry was elected King of Poland (1573) and inherited the throne of France (1574) on two Pentecosts.