The Sacred Order of Saint Dumas
| The Sacred Order of Saint Dumas | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Batman: Sword of Azrael #1 |
| Created by | Dennis O'Neil |
| In-story information | |
| Type of organization | Religious warrior sect |
The Sacred Order of Saint Dumas (SAN-doo-MAH) is a fictional group found in the Batman comic books.
The Order of Saint Dumas first appeared in Batman: Sword of Azrael #1 and were created by Dennis O'Neil.
The Order of Saint Dumas was originally a part of the Knights Templar, a group of warrior-monks that were formed during the Crusades originally to protect pilgrims journeying to the Holy Land, and who grew quite powerful before being disbanded. The members of the Order had a falling out with the other Templars and formed their own group, named for their leader Dumas ("who nobody else has ever accused of being a Saint"). The centuries-old villain Ra's al Ghul once had "an adventure" with Dumas, and Ra's later described the founder of the Order as "...[a] vicious man, an insane fanatic." The Order eventually stole Ra's al Ghul's Wheel of Plagues which contains a record of biological weapons. Ra's al Ghul himself also took their precious battle armor called the Suit of Sorrows to pass as a family heirloom.
The Order of Saint Dumas enriched itself during the Crusades and then went into hiding. It devoted itself to the teachings of Dumas. The order's first champion was an Asian man named Stephen Forrest Lee, the assassin known to Mark Shaw as Dumas. The failure of this champion splintered the Order of Saint Dumas.
The main branch retreated and the violent splinter elements created a new champion called Azrael, a hereditary title given to the splinter order's near-superhuman enforcer and assassin. Members of the splinter order enlarged the organization's power by killing their enemies, hoarding knowledge and kidnapping some of the greatest thinkers in the world. The order also spread disinformation to ensure that the theories of the kidnapped geniuses would look so silly that nobody would miss them or examine their research. A recent Azrael named Jean-Paul Valley eventually destroyed the splinter group.
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