Holy Sepulchre, Knights of the

An order of knighthood instituted probably by Pope Alexander VI., for the guardianship of the Holy Sepulchre, and the relief and protection of pilgrims. The pope was originally the grand master, but he subsequently ceded his rights to the Guardian Father of the Holy Sepulchre. The knights must, by the rules of the order, be all of noble descent; they were bound to hear ma daily, to fight, to live, and to die for the Christian faith, etc. In return for these duties, the knights had the most unusual and extraordinary privileges conferred on them; they were exempt from taxation, could marry, and yet po e church property, legitimize bastards, cut down and bury the bodies of criminals who had been hanged. On the recapture of Jerusalem by the Turks, the knights retired to Italy, and settled at Perugia. After a temporary union with the Hospitallers, the order was reconstructed in 1814 both in France and in Poland, and is still in existence within a very small circle of knights elected by the Guardian Father from the most respectable pilgrims who come to Jerusalem.