At leisure, Prince-Abbot Joseph III greatly enjoyed the smoking of fine cigars. Less well-known is his hobby, which was to decorate cigar boxes in an elaborate style using metal foils laid upon designs in relief, also lining them with felt. Some of these were given as presents to friends.

The Archive of the Abbey-Principality has one example of a decorated box of this kind. Silver and gold foils are used, with the lining being of red felt. The last photograph shows the detail of the design inside the lid.

The concordat between the Abbey-Principality and the American Chapter of the Order of the Crown of Thorns in the 1950s brought together Prince-Abbot Edmond I and Archbishop Lowell Paul Wadle in a resolve to work together for the common good and united future of the Order. As part of this agreement, the two prelates each gave and received a pectoral cross. Both crosses are now preserved as part of the Archive of the Abbey-Principality.

Jewelled gold pectoral cross presented by Archbishop Lowell Paul Wadle to Prince-Abbot Edmond I to mark the concordat with the American Chapter of the Order of the Crown of Thorns.

Silver pectoral cross presented by Prince-Abbot Edmond I to Archbishop Lowell Paul Wadle to mark the concordat with the American Chapter of the Order of the Crown of Thorns.

The Archive of the Abbey-Principality contains several items from the earliest days of the missionary effort of the future Prince-Abbot Joseph III. 1885 is the year in which he was ordained by the Old Catholic Church as the first Old Catholic missionary priest in the United States. Working in Wisconsin, he opened the Church of the Precious Blood at Little Sturgeon, the Church of the Blessed Sacrament at Green Bay (still an Episcopalian church today) and a third church at Dykesville (Duval). These items, among the simplest and yet the most redolent of those contained in the Archive, attest to the essentials of ministry; it is from these foundations that everything else would be built over the years.

Unhemmed chalice pall. It is designed so that the card insert can be removed and the linen laundered.

Chalice veil in fine silk.

Ciborium cover in fine watered silk.

The Abbey-Principality has recently acquired an example of the insignia of the Order of the Crown of Thorns from the early twentieth-century. This is the insignia of a chevalier (knight). It was manufactured by the firm of Schubauer es Miticzky of Budapest, Hungary, and is presented in a specially moulded case. There are few known members of the Order in Hungary; the most prominent was Archbishop Count Victor J. Alexander de Kubinyi (1873-1966), who served in the Apostolic Episcopal Church.

The design is in accordance with other known examples of this period, and the high quality of the gilding and enamelling is notable.

We congratulate the San Luigi Grand Prior for Continental Europe, H.E. Dr. Norbert Wójtowicz, and his wife on the birth of their first child, a son, Stanislaus.

On 10 October, San Luigi member Dr William Clark KOCT, KLJ-G, KStJH(G) was an invited guest of the Commandery of New South Wales of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus at the Australian Club. During the fundraising dinner, former Prime Minister of Australia the Hon. John Howard OM, AC, addressed the assembled company.

Dr Clark, who is a Knight Officer of the Order of the Crown of Thorns as well as a member of the Protectorate of San Luigi of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem and the Protectorate of San Luigi of the Orthodox Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem, is seen to the left in the photograph below. Pictured with him are the Rt Revd Richard W. Hurford OAM, CStJ, ChLJ, former Anglican Bishop of Bathurst, and Mrs Hurford.

Among the greatest of the treasures in the archive of the Abbey-Principality of San Luigi is the bronze statue known by us as the Vilatte Madonna. This statue is Indian, twenty-four inches high, and was presented to Prince-Abbot Joseph III (Archbishop Joseph-René Vilatte) by the Malankara Indian Orthodox Church under Mar Julius I Alvarez, which body was responsible for his episcopal consecration in 1892. It was recently donated to the Abbey-Principality as a gesture of friendship and support by its prior custodians in the United States of America.

The Metropolitan Alvares Julius Research Project (MARP) has published an important article concerning the Cathedral of Our Lady of Good Death (Boa Morte), Colombo, Sri Lanka. This was the Cathedral and headquarters of the Latin Rite (Independent Catholics of Ceylon) of the Indian Orthodox Malankara Church under the headship of Metropolitan Julius I Alvares.

The article details the community established by Metropolitan Julius I Alvares and its role as the location for the consecration of Metropolitan Joseph René Vilatte in 1892 (who would become Prince-Abbot Joseph III of San Luigi in 1899). Metropolitan Julius I Alvares was the principal consecrator of Prince-Abbot Joseph III and was also one of the first Patrons of the Order of the Crown of Thorns.

As the article recounts, the vicissitudes of the Latin Rite Orthodox community were such that the Cathedral eventually passed into the hands of the Roman Catholic Church, and that church still maintains the Cathedral today.

The article can be read in full at this link: http://theorthodoxchurch.info/alvares/the-cathedral-of-metropolitan-alvares-julius-in-colombo-the-story-of-sinhalese-orthodox-christians/