Order of Our Lady
The Order of Our Lady , also Order of Our Lady of the Conception of Vila Visiosa , or Portuguese Ordem de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Vila Viçosa , is a Portuguese order , which was founded on February 6, 1818 by the Portuguese King John VI. in Rio de Janeiro ( Brazil ).
history
Establishment of the order
The date of the foundation of the order on February 6, 1818 coincided with the coronation of John VI. together. The order is named after the ancestral home of the Braganza royal family. The part of the name "Vila Viçosa" refers to a Portuguese city that was closely linked to the House of Bragança. In 1461 the region on the border with today's Spain came under the rule of the Bragança family. The palace there was completed in 1507. Only Count João von Bragança moved to Lisbon in 1640, when he was proclaimed King John IV of Portugal. The palace in Vila Viçosa remained a summer residence. The reference to Vila Viçosa and the Virgin Mary worshiped there is of particular importance when one takes into account that the order was founded in Brazil. It underlines the importance of this order for the royal family, which at that time had already founded or awarded a number of orders, including the famous "Christ Order", which is reserved only for heads of state. There are two different versions of the beginnings of the Order of Our Lady of the Conception of Vila Visiosa:
- The more credible version is that the order was intended as an honor and distinction for those who had made a name for themselves in the struggle against the Napoleonic occupation through their special loyalty to the royal family.
- The second version can be found u. a. in an older German-language manual on orders of knights from 1825. Accordingly, the order was originally introduced for the royal princesses. - In favor of this second version is the fact that in the 18th and 17th centuries, women's names were often used as a designation for women's orders. What speaks against this second version, however, is that on November 4, 1801, the King of Portugal founded an order for women, namely the Order of St. Elizabeth (Isabel), whose statutes were published in 1804.
development
From the beginning, the order of Vila Visiosa included, in addition to the Grand Master, the princes and princesses of the royal house, a fixed maximum number of Grand Cross Knights, Comturs and Knights as well as serving brothers. The order remained very elitist and became the most important of all dynastic orders of the House of Bragança. The Order was also allocated two seats: the Chapel of Our Lady of the Conception at Vila Visiosa in Alemtejo and the chapel in the Royal Residence. In these two chapels a festival was celebrated annually on December 8th in honor of the patroness of the order. All members who were not more than an hour away from Alemtejo were obliged by the statutes to take part in the ceremony. At this festival, the members, unless they belonged to another Portuguese military order, wore a white cloak with light blue cords or the device for the sword and with the embroidered decoration on the left side of the coat. Organizationally, two brotherhoods of the Holy Virgin, which had already existed in the 18th century, were linked to the old order. In order to become a member of the order one had to take an oath by declaring oneself ready to always defend Mary, the Immaculate Received, and to make the usual offerings (obolus). With the abolition of the monarchy in 1910, the order was suspended. New members were not invested.
Restoration
With the abolition of the monarchy in 1910, the new republican government of Portugal dissolved all military orders, but later reinstated them. Exceptions were the order of Vila Viçosa and the order of women of St. Elisabeth (Saint Isabel). Dom Duarte Pio, head of the House of Bragança since 1976, restored the order of Vila Viçosa on December 8, 1983 ( Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (actually: Solemnity of the Virgin Mary and Mother of God conceived without original sin)).
Order classes
The order consists of the following classes
- Grand Cross (GCNSC)
- Commander (ComNSC)
- Knight (CvNSC / DmNSC)
- Servant (SNSC)
Grandmaster
Grand Master of the order is the Portuguese king or head of the House of Braganza and re-founder Dom Duarte, Duke of Bragança.
Order decoration
A white enameled nine-pointed star rests on a golden nine-flame sun. There are eight small five-pointed white stars between the star tips. The entwined letters MA (for Maria) stand on the golden central shield , surrounded by a blue enamelled ring with a golden border, which bears the following motto of the order : PADROCIO DO REINO (German: Patroness of the Kingdom). The golden royal crown with the carrying ring is located above the order decoration.
Ribbon and way of wearing
The ribbon is light blue and has a white border on both sides. Grand cruisers wore the award as a sash over their right shoulder to their left hip. Commanders wore the medal as a neck medal and the knights decorated the buttonhole. Grand cruisers also wore a breast star of the same appearance without a crown.
Order regulation
The order is limited to 12 carriers of the Grand Cross, 40 commanders, 100 knights and 60 servants. Since 2005 it has only been awarded to Portuguese citizens . The prerequisite for this is that the candidates for the order support the royalist cause for more than ten years and are already knights in another royal Portuguese order. Promotions also only take place after ten years. The order is classified by the government of Portugal as a recognized order and may be worn publicly without any conditions.
literature
- Kurt von der Aue: Das Rittertum und die Ritterorden , or historical critical presentation of the emergence of chivalry and complete description of all existing knight orders for friends of the history of old and new times, Merseburg 1825, p. 153, digitized version
- The book of orders of knights and decorations . History, description and illustrations of the insignia of all orders of knight, military and civil decorations, medals, etc., together with a selection of the most excellent costumes, Brussels, Leipzig, 1848 p. 214 f.
- Maximilian Pfitzner: Handbook of the knights and orders of merit of all civilized states of the world within the 19th century. Leipzig 1893, p. 347.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Description of all orders, the images of which are contained in the color print work: "The orders, coats of arms and flags of all regents and states"., Author:? , Leipzig, 1883–1887
- ↑ http://monarquiaportuguesa.blogs.sapo.pt/6510.html
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Military Ordem de Nossa Senhora de Conceição de Vila Viçosa
- Historical information on the Real Academia Sancti Ambrosii Martyris website
- The Order of Our Lady of Vila Visiosa
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Heads of state
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Military Merit Order
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National medals
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Civil Merit Order
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Dynastic orders
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Former
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