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 Broigny, near Orléans (1154). It was endowed not only by the sovereigns of the Latin realm, but by all the states of Europe. The house at Jerusalem owed to the general interest devoted to the holy places in the Middle Ages a rapid and substantial growth in goods and privileges of every kind. It is believed the Order ceased military activities from the early 14th century. In 1291 25 brethren were present at Acre, all being killed. It is known that a contingent of Lazar brethern 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 in c.

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 Lazarists (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. From the time of the crusades, with the spread of leprosy, leper hospitals became very numerous throughout Europe, so that at the death of St. The Middle Ages surrounded with a touching pity these the greatest of all unfortunates, these miselli, as they were called. It is not proved, though it has been asserted, that this was the case at Jerusalem.

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 organization. John, but without encroaching on the field of the latter. The Order of Saint Lazarus was indeed purely an order of hospitaller monks from the beginning, as was that of St. Basil, while that of Jerusalem adopted the hospital Rule of St. These eastern leper hospitals followed the 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. Because of this experience, the European Community commissioned the Order to transport more than one and a half billion dollars in food to the hungry in Russia, resulting in new laurels for the Lazarus volunteers.Įven before the twelfth century there were leper hospitals in the Near East, of which the Knights of St. Millions of dollars worth of food, clothing, medical equipment and supplies have been distributed in Poland, Hungary, Romania and Croatia. Today, a modern self-styled revival of the Order has been engaged in a major program to revive Christianity in Eastern Europe.

It was originally set up to treat virulent diseases such as leprosy. Lazarus of Jerusalem originated in a leper hospital run by hospitaller brothers founded in the twelfth century by the crusaders of the Latin Kingdom. We apologized for the uncompleteness of our pages,

Leper knights