The Prince-Abbot has received awards from the Rt. Revd. Christian Kliver, Bishop for the German-speaking countries in the Apostolic Pastoral Congress and a member of the Confraternitas Oecumenica Sancti Sepulcri Hierosolymitani.

The Apostolic Pastoral Congress is a Pentecostal Holiness church and a member of the Evangelical Alliance of Great Britain as well as a number of ecumenical groups.

Bishop Kliver has awarded the Medal “Pro Deo et Ecclesia” and the “Abbot Klaus D. Schlapps OPR” Memorial Medal to the Prince-Abbot. The latter medal commemorates the late Dom Klaus Schlapps OPR OA, Grand Prior and Duke of Saih Nasra in the Abbey-Principality and a member of the Order of Antioch, who was a mutual friend of the Prince-Abbot and Bishop Kliver.

Bishop Kliver, who is a member of the Order of the Crown of Thorns and the Order of the Sacred Cup, has been appointed a Chaplain of the San Luigi Orders in the Grand Priory of Continental Europe.

The Prince-Abbot has received the Badge of Honour – Cross of Merit for organization of soldiers of the Home Army Uprising Special Forces “Jerzyki” (“Swifts”) (Odznaka Honorowa Krzyż Za Zasługi dla Środowiska Żołnierzy AK Powstańcze Oddziały Specjalne “Jerzyki”). The Special Forces “Swifts” was the most prominent Polish underground resistance movement during the Second World War committed to achieving Polish independence from Nazi occupation and to taking an active part in the rescue of Jews from the ghettos in Warsaw, Podole and Lviv. It was said that by 1942-43 the group numbered some twelve thousand, and it had by then become an effective military force with a number of victories against the regime to its credit. The name “Swifts” derived from the nickname of the Polish commander Jerzy Strzałkowski.

In peacetime, the Swifts have maintained an association for veterans and to commemorate their members’ service during the war. An annual ceremony is held in memory of fallen colleagues (see photograph above). In 1987, the Republic of Poland conferred upon the Special Forces “Swifts” the Gold Cross of the Order Virtuti Militari.

Today we commemorate the death of Prince-Abbot Joseph III on 1 July 1929, the Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. We give thanks for his tireless missionary zeal and his dedication to the cause of Traditionalist evangelism. We stand alongside the other communities founded or led by him – the Eglise Gallicane, the American Orthodox Church, the African Orthodox Church – in acclaiming this great forefather of the Church, opposed in life and death by many, but whose work has survived all attempts to destroy it.

The dedication of the Prince-Abbot to the Most Precious Blood included his building and foundation in 1886 of the Church of the Precious Blood of Jesus at Gardner, Wisconsin, USA. On the Feast of the Most Precious Blood, 1 July 1887, he together with Marcel Pelletier and Jean-Baptiste Gauthier founded the Society of the Precious Blood of Jesus.

We congratulate our Royal Patron, H.M. the Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara, on the 21st anniversary of his accession to the throne in 1994.

H.M. the Omukama is the grandson of H.M. Omukama Chwa II Kabalega, who in 1885 conferred the title of Mukungu upon the then-Prince-Abbot of San Luigi and granted land for the restoration of the Abbey-Principality of San Luigi in Bunyoro.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Iguru-coronation-anniversary-today/-/688334/2747476/-/view/printVersion/-/t59a0bz/-/index.html

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Bunyoro-launches-Omuganda-campaign/-/688334/2744558/-/view/printVersion/-/1073me7/-/index.html

Hoima- The prime minister of Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom, Mr Norman Lukumu, has launched the reconstruction of Karuziika Palace, the official royal headquarters of the King of Bunyoro.

“The palace reconstruction is one of the activities that have started in the run- up to the Omukama’s 21st coronation anniversary celebrations,” Lukumu said on Wednesday while launching the exercise.

The Omukama of Bunyoro, Dr Solomon Gafabusa Iguru I, who ascended the throne on June 11 1994, will mark his 21st coronation anniversary this Thursday.

“Besides the reconstruction of the palace, we have also started the Omuganda fundraising drive. We shall not keep lamenting about the challenges we are facing. This is one of the efforts we have started to revive our past glory,” he said.

The Omuganda drive is a voluntary contribution of funds or logistical support towards the kingdom’s development programmes.

Bunyoro Spirit
“We can do many things as Banyoro. Historically, we would team up, pull resources to undertake magnificent development projects. That is the spirit we are reviving,” Mr Lukumu said, adding that the kingdom will also work on a mindset of her people who seem to be contended with the little they have.

He said the funds to be realised out of the fundraising drive, will be used in kick starting key infrastructural and livelihood improvement projects.

Some of the proceeds will also be used to set up health centres and a hospital to compliment Government’s delivery of health services. “We also plan to support household income enhancement of our people so that we uplift their economic status,” he said.

http://theorthodoxchurch.info/alvares/dr-p-m-lisboa-pinto-founder-lay-trustee-of-the-latin-rite-community-of-the-indian-orthodox-malankara-church/

The Metropolitan Alvares Julius Research Project has published an article on Dr. P.M. Lisboa Pinto (1857-98), who was an early Patron of the Order of the Crown of Thorns. The article describes Dr Lisboa Pinto as “a beacon star in the history of the Latin Rite believers ((Independent Catholic Mission Church of Ceylon Goa and India) of the Indian Malankara Orthodox Church.”

Dr Lisboa Pinto was present at the episcopal consecration of Metropolitan Mar Timotheus (Joseph René Vilatte, who would in 1899 become Prince-Abbot Joseph III of San Luigi) in 1892, and his signature is clearly visible on the Instrument of Consecration reproduced below.