This was the era when military commanderies whose contributions, called responsions, flowed into Jerusalem, swollen by the collections which the hospital was authorized to make in Europe. This example was followed by Henry II of England, and by Emperor Frederick II. Louis VII, on his return from the Second Crusade, gave it the Château of Boigny, near Orléans (1154).

It was endowed not only by the sovereigns of the Latin realm, but by all the states of Europe. It is believed the Order ceased military activities in the early 14th century. In 1291, 25 brethren were present during the siege of Acre, all being killed. It is known that a contingent of Lazar brethren were present at La Forbie, and in 1253 they were part of the army under St Louis. Lazarus of Jerusalem is believed to have become a military order circa 1123. Lazarus of Paris, depended solely and directly on the bishop of that city, and was a mere priory when it was given by the archbishop to the missionaries of St Vincent de Paul, who have retained the name of Lazarus (1632). Lazarus, from which, however, no dependence whatever on St. Many of these houses bore the name of St. However, these houses did not form a congregation each house was autonomous, and supported to a great extent by the lepers themselves, who were obliged when entering to bring with them their belongings, and who at their death willed their goods to the institution if they had no children. Louis there were eight hundred in France alone. It is not proven, though it has been asserted, that this was the case at Jerusalem.įrom the time of the crusades, followed by the spread of leprosy, leper hospitals became very numerous throughout Europe, so that at the death of St. In some leper hospitals of the Middle Ages even the master had to be chosen from among the lepers. In return they were regarded as brothers or sisters of the house which sheltered them, and they obeyed the common rule which united them with their religious guardians. Lazarus on the contrary were condemned to perpetual seclusion. John were merely visitors, and changed constantly the lepers of St. Because of its special aim, it had quite a different organisation.

John, but without encroaching on the field of the latter. The Order of Saint Lazarus was indeed solely an order of hospitaller monks at the beginning, as was that of St. These eastern leper hospitals followed the Rule of Saint Basil, while that of Jerusalem adopted the hospital Rule of St. Lazarus claimed to be the continuation, in order to have the appearance of remote antiquity and to pass as the oldest of all orders.

8 List of other self-styled 'Orders of Saint Lazarus'Įven prior to the twelfth century there were leper hospitals in the Near East, of which the Knights of St.

7 Protectors/Grand masters/Administrators of the self-styled order(s).

6 Protectors/Grand masters/Administrators of the historic order.

Knights of lazarus