A Convocation of the Western Orthodox University took place on 8 December 2017 in Ghana, organized in association with the Kingson Management and Health Institute. This event saw the presentation of earned and honorary degrees and several Fellowships of the University. The guests heard a recorded address by the Chancellor and Professor Aina Joseph Olusola Sunday was in charge of the ceremony.
The Abbey-Principality and its constituent institutions have entered into mutual treaties of partnership, accreditation and recognition with the Academie Héraldique de Saint Paul, which is a registered non-profit association in France.
The Annual Dinner of the Institute of Arts and Letters (London) was held at the Civil Service Club in London on the evening of 3 November. The Fellows and their guests numbered fourteen. A decision had been taken to change the format this year to a less formal event than had previously been the case, and as a result the focus was on enjoying the company of a very diverse and interesting group of people and on some excellent food and wine.
In the course of proceedings, a presentation was made to Mr John Balsdon, Registrar of the Institute, who was presented with the honorary degree of Master of Business Administration awarded by the Western Orthodox University (Commonwealth of Dominica). This award was made in recognition of John’s considerable work as proprietor of a successful record label that has established itself as a distinctive contribution to classical music.
The International College of Arms of the Noblesse was founded in 1925 at the International Convention of the Noblesse de Race in the United States of America, by virtue of powers previously confirmed to the noblesse by Francis II, King of France and extended to French-speaking Canada. King Francis II recognized the right of the noblesse to govern themselves in all matters heraldic, which was then confirmed and extended by Ordinances of the Kings of France dated 1725 and 1744 respectively, as recognized and maintained by Articles XXXVII and XLV of the Capitulation of Montreal 1760, and guaranteed by the Quebéc-Canada Act 1774 and by Articles II and XXVI of the Treaty of Paris 1763.
At the International Convention in 1925 the College was placed under the control of Count H. Victor Cherep-Spiridovich, formerly aide-de-camp to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. From him, it passed to the British Orthodox Archbishop Mar Frederic Harrington, and on Archbishop Harrington’s death in 1942 he was succeeded as Supreme Herald-Marshall by Mar Jacobus II, British Patriarch. In 1945, Mar Jacobus II appointed as his successor Mar Georgius, Catholicos of the West.
The College was incorporated under Act XXI of 1860 in India on 20 February 1950 (registration 5/1950) as a constituent corporation of the Catholicate of the West. In 1953, Mar Georgius separated his work from the Catholicate, abandoning the Indian incorporation, and founded a new organization. However, the Catholicate continued in existence independently from Mar Georgius and on 6 August 1977 was formally united with the headship of the Apostolic Episcopal Church in an act registered with the Secretary of State of California, USA. In February 2015, the present Prince-Abbot of San Luigi also became Presiding Bishop of the Apostolic Episcopal Church and Catholicos of the West, whereby the College became part of a common administration with the Abbey-Principality of San Luigi under the Prince-Abbot as Supreme Herald-Marshall.
The International College of Arms of the Noblesse, Limited, is incorporated in England and Wales with number 13020067. Contact details are contained on the contact page.
John The Duke of Avram, born John Charlton Rudge, is an Australian citizen and the leader of a micronation called the Grand Duchy of Avram. He has represented and issued documents in the name of the International College of Arms of the Noblesse without any legitimate authority and in contravention of the rights of the rightful owners of the College.
Representations were made by us in 2015 to John The Duke of Avram asking by what right and authority he used the name of the College. The response was “We took over the organisation in good faith by Letters Patent in 1987 and have been issuing Letters Patent from that date”. This was interpreted by our office as meaning that any such authority had been entirely self-assumed. Despite being made aware of the rightful representation of the College within the Abbey-Principality of San Luigi, no adjustment or retraction has been forthcoming from the Grand Duchy of Avram.
Consequently, this notice is published to make the public aware that the use of the name of the College by the Grand Duchy of Avram is without legitimacy and in contravention of the rights of the genuine College, and that any heraldic grants that may have been made by the Grand Duchy of Avram using the name of the College will not be recognized within the genuine College.
On 24 April a ceremony took place in Poland at which the Juliusz Sokolnicki Memorial Medals were presented by H.E. Dr Norbert Wójtowicz, Grand Prior for Continental Europe of the San Luigi Orders. The Medals, which are awarded in silver and in gold, were instituted by the Apostolic Episcopal Church to commemorate the late Count Juliusz Nowina-Sokolnicki, who was a bishop of the Apostolic Episcopal Church. They are charity medals and for each medal, a donation will be made to support activity centres for children from poor families in Wrocław, Poland.
Dr Wójtowicz presents the Gold Medal to Ryszard Złociński
Recipients of the Sokolnicki Medals in Gold: Stanisław August Chmura, Maciej Myczka and Ryszard Złociński.
(Not shown) Recipients of the Sokolnicki Medals in Silver: Jerzy Mieczysław Korwin Małaczyński, Wacław Nowak, Jolanta Cieśla Zagórska, Jan Stanisław Posiew.
List of Recipients of the Juliusz Sokolnicki Memorial Charity Medal:
The sudden death of the Revd. Richard Pumphrey as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident has deprived the Apostolic Episcopal Church of one of her most effective priests.
Charles Richard Pumphrey was born in 1947 in Evansville, Indiana. Strongly traditionalist in his beliefs, his advocacy of traditional Anglicanism was of a piece with a worldview that he saw as defending a threatened Western civilization. He graduated with an Associate of Arts degree with a major in Bible from Freed Hardeman College in 1967 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education and History from David Lipscomb College, Tennessee, in 1969, also studying for a year at Memphis Theological Seminary. In 2003 he received the degree of Master of Theology in Pastoral Counseling from Campbellsville University, Kentucky.
Faced with the modernist changes in the Anglican Communion that became particularly visible towards the end of the twentieth-century, he initially joined the Orthodox Anglican Church. This church was founded as the Episcopal Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of America by Episcopalians in 1963, and was not originally a “continuing Anglican” body, but in 1999 a decision was taken that it would orientate itself to a greater extent with the Continuum, with its name changing to the Orthodox Anglican Church in 2005. He was ordained deacon in 2001 and priest in 2002 by that church’s presiding bishop, the Most Revd. Scott McLaughlin. In 2002, he received the degree of Master of Arts in Biblical Studies from St Andrew’s Theological College and Seminary of the Orthodox Anglican Church, and then served that seminary as a professor between 2002 and 2008. He also undertook pastoral charges as associate priest of Holy Apostles, a Bolivian ministry in Elizabethtown, Kentucky (2004-06), and student chaplain to Ephraim McDowell Memorial Hospital in Danville, Kentucky (2003). He also served as chaplain to his local fire department for several years.
In secular life, he worked in the field of insurance, and was latterly Senior Field Representative for the Pennsylvania Lumbermens Mutual Insurance Company.
In April 2008, faced with declining opportunities for ministry in the OAC, he was received into the Anglican Catholic Church, one of the Continuing Anglican churches that derived from the 1977 Congress of St Louis, and was inducted as celebrant at All Saints, Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee. He was advanced to Rector of that church in May 2010.
Later that year, he became interested in the opportunities for ministry in the Ecclesia Apostolica Divinorum Mysteriorum, a new communion of the Apostolic Episcopal Church that had been formed with a specific mission towards the inner and contemplative traditions. He was received by incardination into EADM from the ACC in December 2010 and subsequently licensed as a priest in the Apostolic Episcopal Church in February 2015. He was further admitted to membership in the First Class of the Order of Antioch and to membership of the Order of Corporate Reunion.
He was married five times, lastly in 2012 to Tricia, who survives him. Their marriage was close and resulted in a loving home life. One interest they shared was the raising of chickens. By his first marriage he had two daughters, Jennifer and Rebecca, and with his fourth wife he adopted Stephanie. He was also a foster parent and between 2002-07 he served as Chairman of the Washington and Marion County, Kentucky, Foster Care Review Board and as a member of the Interested Party Review Board.
Richard Pumphrey was passionate about making a difference to the world around him. He was politically engaged in what he believed was a struggle for the survival of Western civilization and the Christian values that were at its heart. He advocated for the American Freedom Party and, via social media, was a frequent commentator on political and social issues. In all of this, he avoided any suggestion of bigotry or hatred and grounded his commentary in sound religious principle, careful research and a genuine regard for his community. He also displayed a sense of humour that made his writings accessible and invited others to share his world and the deeply-held values that illuminated it. One of the most significant roles that he took on was as a mentor to young people interested in Traditional Anglicanism.
Our thoughts and prayers at this time are with his widow Tricia and his family.
Memory Eternal! Memory Eternal! Memory Eternal!
The Abbey-Principality of San Luigi has entered into a Treaty of Full Collaboration, Partnership, Accreditation and Recognition with the Venerabile Confraternita (o Compagnia) detta del Buonconsiglio di Città di Castello and the OR.VEN. – Ordine Venerabile della Venerabile Confraternita di Maria Ss.ma del Buonconsiglio della Buona Morte e 
Misericordia, Città di Castello, Italy (Order of the Venerable Confraternity (or Company), known as of (Our Lady of) Good Counsel of Good Death and Mercy of Città di Castello). This chivalric and Christian brotherhood can trace its origins to the last years of the first millennium (990-999 A.D.) and in its present form dates to 1230, making it probably the oldest religious brotherhood in continuous existence today. The Order is based at Città di Castello (Province of Perugia) where it has its own Magistral Church, and is governed by a Grand Prior (Grand Master). The Prince-Abbot has the honour to be a Perpetuum (Grand Cross) of the Order, its highest rank.
The J.S.M. Ward Society, a constituent society of the Apostolic Episcopal Church and a research centre of the Western Orthodox University (Commonwealth of Dominica), has provided the cover feature of the June edition of The Square, the independent quarterly magazine for Freemasons. In his article, Warren D. Pilkington gives an introduction to the nature and aims of the Society and discusses both Ward’s life and his considerable involvement in Freemasonry.
The editor of The Square is Dr Mike Kearsley, who is a Professorial Fellow of the University.
The Abbey-Principality of San Luigi 
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