The Grand Magistral Delegation for Inter-Religious Relations

Over centuries one of the principal obligations of membership of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George and in more recent times, the Royal Order of Francis I, has been charitable and humanitarian assistance. In recent years this has resulted in millions of euros of financial aid and charitable and humanitarian assistance having been given to adopted charities of the Order.

These obligations are at the core of everything the dynastic orders and its knights and dames undertake and stand for today. It is also the principal way in which such ancient orders of chivalry become more relevant to society at large.

The Order’s support for the homeless

In Great Britain and Ireland for example, the efforts of the delegation are currently focused towards the homeless and three leading charities in this field, have been adopted, by the knights and dames in both countries. Since 2001 this has principally been directed at The Passage Homeless Centre in London (above) ( www.passage.org.uk ) and the St Thomas Fund in southern England. In June 2004, the De Paul Trust of Ireland, which offers support to the homeless in Ireland, was adopted for charitable purposes.

The Passage is one of Great Britain’s largest support centres for the homeless in London. Founded by the late Cardinal Basil Hume, OM, Archbishop of Westminster, the Order’s delegation has supported and raised funds towards the

continuation of the work undertaken by its Director, Sister Ellen Flynn (a Dame of Merit of the Constantinian Order)(right) and her energetic team. In 2002, His Royal Highness The Duke of Castro together with HRH The Duchess of Castro visited the centre and witnessed at first hand the work which The Passage undertakes.

For over sixteen years, the British and Irish Delegation has supported the St Thomas Fund, which offers assistance to the homeless across England and especially on the south coast. Her Grace The Duchess of Norfolk, a Dame of Justice ofthe Constantinian Order, is its President.

The Constantinian Order and the Royal Order of Francis I internationally and nationally support major initiatives concerned with the prevention of cancer, as well as care for cancer victims.

His late Eminence Mario Francesco, Cardinal Pompedda, Grand Prior of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order, chaired the Organising Committee. His Holiness Pope John Paul II (right) received the principal participants of the conference in a private audience held at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican City including TRH The Duke and Duchess of Castro

The dynastic orders have also launched in February 2002 another major charitable and hospitaller programme in conjunction with the National Association against AIDS of the Campania region, and the Association of Wives of Italian Doctors of Naples.

The aim of the initiative is to raise much needed funds for the completion, in partnership with the Comune di Napoli, of the first Constantinian Home in the South of Italy for HIV-positive children. The creation of the first Constantinian Home in the Secondigliano district of Naples allows mothers and HIV-positive children to remain together during their treatment who up until this initiative would have been separated.

The Order's hospitaller assistance has played an important role throughout the centuries, in the case of the Constantinian Order this can be tracked as far back as to the Crusades. The Order also played a prominent role in assisting the sick and injured during both the First and Second World Wars.

Today, the dynastic orders financially supports and its members volunteer with the transportation and support of the sick and infirm to pilgrimage

sites including Lourdes and most recently, in September 2002, to San Giovanni Rotondo - the tomb of the canonized Saint and capuchin friar, Padre Pio da Pietrelcina. During the latest pilgrimage, the Order supported a large group of disabled children from across Italy who visited the many of the sites associated with the stigmata saint and participated in numerous prayer sessions and masses. The latest pilgrimage took place under the personal patronage of TRH The Duke and Duchess of Castro and in the presence of then Grand Prior, His Eminence Mario Francesco, Cardinal Pompedda.

In 2004, the Constantinian Order and the Carabinieri Corps of Italy jointly organised an important humanitarian mission to Nassiriyah in Iraq. This charitable activity in favour of the Iraqi people is part of the wider National Peacekeeping Military Operation “Ancient Babylon” of the Italian Military Forces in Iraq.

The generous participation of so many knights and dames from Northern Italy represented the continuation of the Constantinian Order's prominent role in humanitarian and hospitaller assistance. Shortly before the departure of the ship ‘Romea' a religious ceremony was held in Molfalcone harbour by HE Mgr Arnaldo Greco, Constantinian Chaplain.

The Constantinian Order regularly finances and donates ambulances to the care of the

sick and infirm. The senior officers of the Grand Magistry, including TRH The Duke and Duchess of Castro, together with delegation officials also pay regular visits to hospitals and hospices around the world, which receive support from the dynastic orders. In Great Britain and

Ireland for example, TRH The Duke and Duchess of Castro, together with British and Irish Delegate

Anthony Bailey paid visits to Ealing General Hospital (above) in West London in November 2001 and to the City of Dublin Skin and Cancer Hospital in November 2002 with the Lord Mayor of Dublin (above) . Cardinal Pompedda also visited the Dublin hospital in May 2004.

In the cultural field, the Constantinian Order supports numerous organisations, charities and institutions which carry out cultural and educational initiatives. By way of examples in March 2002 the dynastic orders financially supported the London Symphony Orchestra through a donation towards one of their initiatives which aims to restore an 18th century Hawksmoor church so that it can be used as a LSO music education centre.

In Italy the Constantinian Order sponsors children to attend educational establishments including the Institute Santa Patrizia in Central Naples, which cares for the needy children in the city.

Internationally, the wife of the Constantinian Order's Grand Master, HRH The Duchess of Castro, in October 2002 joined up with HRH Princess Benedikte, sister of HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and jointly hosted a charity event in Rome for the Olave Baden Powell Society. Princess Benedikte of Denmark is the worldwide Patron of the Society and The Duchess of Castro is Patron in Italy.

The Olave Baden Powell Society (www.wagggsworld.org) is a leading international organisation offering worldwide educational assistance to young people. It is a society that provides the core of essential funding and support for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). It is also a principle way of equipping more than 10 million young people, from all regions of the world, to go out and build a better future for themselves and for their communities.

In Belfast, Northern Ireland, the Constantinian Order supports educational and community projects such as the Forthspring Inter Community Group initiative which undertake much needed work on a local community level to foster relations between the divided communities in Northern Ireland. It is a multi-religious body incorporating Catholic, Protestant, Methodist and other faith communities and the Constantinian Order funds the salaries of a number of the community workers.

In Ireland, the Constantinian Order recently adopted Citywise, ( www.citywise.ie ) which operates in Dublin, Belfast, Limerick and Mullingar and Ballynacargy, and seeks to educate children and teenagers who have in many cases become dropouts or addicts and who mainly come from broken homes.

Charitable and Humanitarian Assistance