Masonic Red Cross Order And The Imperial Constantnian Order Of Saint George.

heard ; and yet Ave are expected to believe that , immediately after the great calamity in question , iu 1453 , the Angeli " formed the design of restoring the Constantinian Order . " while , even by the Abbe ' s own showing , they took no farther steps

iu the matter until 1533 . But that they even thought of the Order , or perhaps even then knew of it , seems more than problematical ; and the reference is at \ ariance with Giustiniani's

observations elsewhere , that the Order , extinguished in Greece , remained dormant in the Empire . But , on inquiry , it will be found that no such documents are known to exist , by the librarian of the Vatican ; and presumably by no one else . At length the ' ' illustrious Joannes Andreas

Angelus , " although twice married , finding himself without children , and having no relatives of the Angeli , decided to transfer the Grand Mastership o another family , with which it might be perpetuated , by adoption ; and , accordingly , the design

Avas carried out , by a sale of the dignity to Francis Farnese , * Duke of Parma and Placentia , and his posterity . The act of cession Avas said to haA'e beeudaf . ed

at Venice , 27 th July , 1697 , but its existence has not yet been ascertained . On the 5 th August , 1699 , the Emperor of Germany , Leopold I ., gave a diploma to the Duke of Parma-, ratifying the renunciation and transference

of the Grand Mastership , made by Joannes Andreas Angelus . This Imperial edict was followed by an Apostolic Brief ol Pope Innocent XII ., dated 24 th October , 1699 , by Avhich he confirms and approves of the renunciation and transference , and this

again by another of Pope Clement XL , dated 20 th April , 1701 , confirming this approval . Thus terminated an intrigue remarkable in the history of popular deception , by Avhich the historian already referred to , t aud probably one of its

promoters , was nominated a Grand Cross—not , indeed , as he Avould have us believe , of the true Byzantine Order , but of its imitation , concocted between the puppet Angelus , himself , and the house of Farnese .

Between the pretended new Grand Master of the ancient Order , but in truth , first Grand Master of a new Order—and the Pope , there existed a family relationship , while the Abbe Bernardus

Giustiniani was incapacitated by his illegitimacy * from becoming a Knight of the original Order . But under the plastic skill of these " remodellers " a power of unique conception , was attributed to the Grand Master , who , in virtue of this authority ,

removed the disability of the Abbe's birth . Against these acts , the representative of the Imperial Byzantine family protested , with such success as would be likely to attend the appeal of a member of the Greek Church , against the

usurpation of a Eomanist , at the Papal Court . But suppose , for the sake of argument , that we adopt the pretensions of " Joannes Andrea s Angelus Flavius Comnenus , " hoAv then are Ave to account for the flagrant violation of the

Statutes of his own order Avhich prohibited , and excluded , any but the lawful heirs of the Empire , from being Grand Masters ; for by narrowing the transmission , to the iamily of the founder of the Order , and by adopting the

Angelo-Comneuian family , none of the monarchs of other dynasties that succeeded , Avould have enjoyed the dignity of Grand Master—an inference

diametrically opposed to facts . The weakness of this Flavio-Angelo-Comnenian argument is the assumption that there Avas a famili Order in the Augelian family , and by which it becomes necessary to show , that Constantino the

Great Avas an __ 4 . iigefo . es , and that the last Constantine ( III . ) Avas not Grand Master . But it might be much more to the purpose to show , that the Italian Angeli were no other than the Anzoli of the same peninsula , who had no

connection whatever Avith the Byzantine Empire , but who might , in the course of time , ( as Ave see every day about us ) alloAv a mere idle suggestion , to become a tradition , and a tradition , the foundation of a family history , to doubt which , when duly

embalmed , Avould be considered akin to sacrilege . The Constantinian Order of St . George , was appropriated in name by the celebrated Emperor Charles V ., " L'Empereur Charles Quint /'' says M . Hermant . t " Voulut bien meme se declare

le chef de cet Auguste Milice , dont il donna l'Etendard a son fils naturel Don Juan d'Autriche , lorsqu 'il alia pour combattre contre les infidels ,