Mgr. Raphäel-Magnoald Steck, Knight Officer of the Order of the Crown of Thorns and Bishop-Moderator of the Union Apostolique Gallicane (which is a chartered ecclesiastical body of the Abbey-Principality) was a participant in the Pilgrimage of the Crown of Thorns at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris today.
(Photographs: Mgr. Raphäel-Magnoald Steck)
The insignia of the Order of the Lion and the Black Cross has been remade to the original 1883 pattern by master insignia maker Admiral Carl Lemke, who holds the Warrant of the Abbey-Principality for the production of its insignia.
Over the years, several different styles have been used that have taken the design further away from its original appearance. The 1899 Statutes provide that “The Cross (Star) of the Order is a black Maltese Cross, outlined in gold, with a rampant Lion in gold in the centre upon a roundel of red.” The design is exemplified in the original Seal of the Order which is still in use today.
Below are displayed the breast stars of the original pattern for Knight Grand Cross and Knight Commander respectively.
1214 – 2014 – ANNÉE SAINT LOUIS
800e anniversaire de la Naissance et du Baptême de Saint Louis à Poissy.
100e anniversaire de l’Installation de l’Eglise Gallicane en l’église Saint Louis des Français à Gazinet en Gironde.
Nous célébrerons cette année avec une grande dévotion et le dernier week end d’août une belle messe en l’honneur de Saint Louis nous réunira à Strasbourg.
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1214-2014 – YEAR OF SAINT LOUIS
800th anniversary of the birth and baptism of Saint Louis at Poissy.
100th anniversary of the installation of the Eglise Gallicane in the church of Saint Louis of the French at Gazinet in Gironde.
We will celebrate this year with a great devotion and the last weekend of August with a fine Mass in honour of Saint Louis for which we will reunite at Strasbourg.
Mgr Raphaël
Évêque modérateur de l’ Union Apostolique Gallicane
et Officier de l’Ordre de la Couronne d’épines
The episcopal arms of Prince-Abbot Joseph III (Mgr. Joseph-René Vilatte, 1854-1929) are displayed below in a modern digital realization prepared for the Abbey-Principality by Mgr. Willy Fiorucci, OA. These are the arms conceded to Mgr. Vilatte at the time of his episcopal consecration by the Western Rite jurisdiction of the Syrian Orthodox Church in 1892. He had received the Grand Mastership of the Order of the Crown of Thorns of the 1891 foundation and the decoration of the Order is shown pendant from the shield in the arms.
The Prince-Abbot has been honoured with the Grosses Verdienstkreuz in Silber from the Freundeskreis Hoch- und Deutschmeister, Mannheim/Baden, Germany. The Freundeskreis Hoch- und Deutschmeister commemorates the military tradition of the Deutschmeistern, who were established as a regiment by treaty of the Emperor Leopold I and the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order in 1696. Thereafter the military tradition of the Hoch- und Deutschmeistern is distinguished by numerous battle honours.
From the end of the nineteenth-century, former members of the regiment and related organizations formed a German confederation of associations under the protection of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. From 1986, this umbrella organization has been headquartered in Vienna. It includes German members, belonging to the federal government, who meet on St George’s Day each year at Bad Mergentheim. Since 1993, the Freundeskreis Hoch- und Deutschmeister Mannheim/Baden has been among their number, becoming a member of the central Vienna organization from 2010 onwards.
The Reliquary of the Crown of Thorns is at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. In June 1961, the Vice Chancellor for Europe of the San Luigi Orders, Mgr. George Tull, made a visit to the Cathedral and offered prayer for the Orders before the Reliquary.
The Abbey-Principality of San Luigi has become aware of the dissemination of material via the website Wikipedia that is inaccurate and defamatory to the Abbey-Principality. The Abbey-Principality has submitted an official complaint to the Wikimedia Foundation and has published a full response at this link:
Response to material placed on Wikipedia by Robert Kobylinski and others
This statement should suffice to make it clear that the Abbey-Principality contests in the strongest terms the false statements that others have sought to present, and that it intends to respond fully to these attacks. We note also that a friend of the Abbey-Principality has published his own personal response to the matter which may be read (in French) here, and which expresses a trenchancy that is well in keeping with the spirit of the “valiant knight”.
The Abbey-Principality of San Luigi 
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