Some Historical Facts...

Originally the friars of the Order of the Holy Spirit were associations of lay people spread throughout the whole of Europe.

1110

Even before the foundation of the Order of St. John, King Balduin I of Jerusalem granted the Hospitalites their property on the Temple Mount.

1113

Pope Paschalis I officially recognizes the Order of St. John emerging from this hospital 1 (Order of the Hospital of the Holy St. John of Jerusalem, Latin name: Ordo Hospitalis sancti Johannis lerosolimitani).

1129

The Council of Troyes (Champagne) confirms the order\'s statutes of the Templars elaborated by Bernhard of Clairveaux.

1163

The Council of Tours decides that the consecrated hand that holds the host must not perform any bloody action not even inhealing by a physician.

1198

Pope Innocence III leaves in the custody of the Friars of the Order of the Holy Spirit the San Spirito in Sasso hospital situated close to the Vatican Basilica.

1198

The pope recognizes the Gennan Order emerging from a brotherhood caring for the sick and founded in 1190 in the fights for Akkon.

1202

Pope Innocence III confirms the order\'s rules of the Friars of the Order of the Holy Spirit which are to be reformed 50 years hence.

1254

Count Gebhard VI founds the Hospital of the Holy Spirit at Eichstätt; in turn bishop Henry IV decrees the rules of the Friars of the Order of the Holy Spirit.

1272

In a Berlin guild letter mention is made of a Holy Spirit Hospital for the first time; its chapel today serves as a banquet hall for Humboldt University.

1353

Ludovic of Anjou, also known as Ludovic of Naples, founds the Order "Cordon Bleu Du Saint Esprit - Order of the Holy Spirit with Blue Riband".

1430

Choir Master Andrew Bondimero, 1460-1464 patriarch of Venice, founds the "Congregation of the Holy Spirit at Venice".

1579

King Henry III of France and Poland reorganized the order "Cordon Bleu du Saint Esprit"- "Order of the Holy Spirit with Blue Riband as an order of the Royal Court.

1703

At Sain-Laurent-sur-Severe the world\'s priest, Marie Grignon de Monfort, founds the order of the "Priests of the Holy Spirit" (Monfortani)

1706

Foundation of the "Daughters of the Holy Spirit" (Soeurs Blanches) at Plerin (Bretagne). These so called "White Sisters" are dedicated to caring for the sick and orphaned.

1789

In the course of the French Revolution the Royal Order is dissolved. Napoleon I does not reconstitute it.

1814

Ludovic XVIII is the first to re-establish the Royal Order\'s former splendor.

1847

After nearly 600 years, Pope Pius abolishes the Order of the Holy Spirit that has been living according to the role of St. Augustine.

1848

Foundation of the "Missionaries of the Holy Spirit" that establish the first Apostolic vicarages in Africa.

Originally the friars of the Order of the Holy Spirit were associations of lay people spread throughout the whole of Europe.

In the years after 1180, the resultant Order of the Holy Spirit was founded at the French City of Montpellier under the leadership of Guy (Guido), a pious layman.

Thus its foundation saw the flourishing of the establishment of Knights' and Laymen's Orders.

In the times to follow orders and communities again and again have professed to the Holy Spirit and given themselves its name. A list of some of the most important European foundations of orders, which almost all were concerned with helping the poor and needy, siek and orphaned, is to follow. Besides social commitment, proclaiming the Christian faith later became part of missionary activities.

Contrary to the orders at court whose goal it was to enhance the splendor of the monarch and individual power, these laymen's and spiritual orders were committed to helping fellowmen.

They wanted to help for the good of fellowmen and to extol the glory of God.