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The Electronic Newsletter Serving the Chivalric Community

January 1998

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Posted on January 22, 1998

© 1998 The Religious and Military Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. All rights reserved. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission of the copyright holder. One archival copy may be downloaded and printed for private use.

Sovereign Grand Master Honored by International Honor Society

The Executive Office of Sigma Tau Delta, The International English Honor Society has informed Professor Count Lloyd Worley de Maxalla, Ph.D. that he and the Zeta Psi Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta of which he is Faculty Sponsor at The University of Northern Colorado have been granted the Honor Society's Award for Meritorious Achievement for a decade of outstanding activities in the field of English. The Count's Zeta Psi Chapter is the only chapter to date to receive twice the "Outstanding Chapter" Award.

New Bailiwick Begins in Ohio

The Grand Magistry is pleased to announce that a new Bailiwick of The Religious and Military Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem was authorized to form on January 12, 1998 at Mansfield, Ohio under the direction of Bailiff Under Dispensation the Rt. Hon. Chevalier C.P.H. Grabarkiewctz, K.H.S. The Marshal UD is the Rt. Hon. Dame Antoinette Klimkewicz, D.H.S. and the Prior UD is the Rt. Hon. Chev. Thomas Klimkewicz, K.H.S. The Bailiwick will hold public ceremonies and will work in various charities and public service programs.

Several Americans Receive Knighthoods from Vatican

On January 4, 1998, Cardinal Roger Mahony presided over an Investiture ceremony in Los Angeles for the Papal Order of St. Gregory the Great where over 60 Los Angeles citizens were granted papal Knighthood as Knights and Dames of the Order. Among those honored were actor/comedian Bob Hope and his wife Dolores, Fox Network owner Rupert Murdoch, actor Ricardo Montalban, and Disney executive Roy Disney, brother of Walt Disney.

The honorees were cited for their contributions to the Catholic Church, the Christian faith and their service and charity work. Murdoch and Disney are not Roman Catholics, but their wives are, and they were honored by the Order as well. News reports that Bob Hope is "not Catholic" ignore the fact that (a) his mother was a Roman Catholic and had her son Baptized in the Roman Catholic Church (as reported in A&E's Biography of Bob Hope) and (b) Bob Hope married his wife Delores in a Roman Catholic Church in the days when Rome required that both parties in a Roman Catholic marriage be Roman Catholic.

Los Angeles has for some time been a center of activity for the conferral of Papal Knighthoods, especially the Order of St. Gregory the Great which was granted to some sixty persons. It was at Los Angeles some years ago that the Archbishop of Los Angeles publicly announced that the Order was being opened to women--many months before the official pronouncement came from Rome.

The Order of St. Gregory the Great is open to Roman Catholics, non-Roman Catholic Christians, and even non-Christians. British Knight Sir Sigmund Sternberg, a leading member of the Jewish community in Britain, was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory in 1986. This Investiture was historic, not only because it was granted to a non-Christian, but also because the occasion was the first time in which an actual Investing ceremony was used. Prior to this date, Papal Knights of St. Gregory were admitted by the simple act of being presented with the Order's decorations. Because of the numerous requests from Gregorian Knights for an official ceremony, there is now an official Investiture. The Order of St. Gregory the Great (Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni) was founded by Pope Gregory XVI (1831-1846). The Order's original purpose was to honor loyal and meritorious gentlemen of the Papal States. It now has three ranks (Knight Grand Cross, Knight Commander, and Knight) and two divisions, civil and military. Since Pope Paul VI abolished all Guards, Militia, and Gendarmes attached to the Papal Court, many of those duties are now carried out by Catholic Knights of St. Gregory.

Acclaimed Novelist Dame Connie Willis Publishes Novel

Bantam Books has published the novel, To Say Nothing of the Dog by The Rt. Hon. Dame Connie Willis, D.O.H.S. Hailed as a "Grand Master of Science Fiction," and winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, Dame Willis has published five prior novels, including the best-selling historical/time-travel novel, The Doomsday Book. In To Say Nothing of the Dog, Dame Willis gives a joyous journey into a past and future of comic mishaps and historical cross-purposes in which the power of human love can still make all the difference.

Chivalry on the Titanic

With the motion picture "Titanic" keeping the image of the giant ship in the public's eye, a small organization of men, The Men's Titanic Society, remembers and honors those men who stepped aside on April 15, 1912 so that women and children could fill the ship's few lifeboats. Since 1980, The Society has quietly gathered an hour before 2:20 A.M. on the anniversary of the ship's sinking (April 15) to honor the spirit of Chivalry on the Titanic. The group has about 20 members and gathers at the Watergate Hotel to toast and honor the men who gave up their seats, as well as the women who stayed by their husbands rather than abandon them.

French Royalists Honor Louis XVI

On Wednesday, January 21, 1998, dozens of French royalists gathered at the Palace de la Concorde to pay homage to King Louis XVI. The royalists prayed in memory of the King who was beheaded at the same place on January 21 in 1793 at the start of the French Revolution. The royalists carried flags emblazoned with the fleur-de-lis, the symbol of French monarchy.

Poet, Artist, Musician, and Novelist Chev. S.P. Somtow Publishes Novel

Tor Books/St. Martin's Press has published the novel, Darker Angels, by The Rt. Hon. Chev. S.P. Somtow, K.C.H.S. Acclaimed as Thailand's most famous author, Chev. Somtow (Somtow Sucharitkul) has published more than thirty novels, including the best-selling revenant novel, Vampire Junction. British reviewer Simon Clark calls the novel "A fascinating, awe-inspiring book." Locus reviewer Ed Bryant describes the book as "A triumph!" SF&F editor David Hartwell says that S.P. Somtow "is the best stylist writing today!" Bringing together many historical persons in Darker Angels, Chev. Somtow writes a novel of the voodoo underside of the Civil War and the deep South.

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