by
the Grand Prior of the Swedish Lieutenancy, Monsignore Lars Cavallin KCHS
Your
Beatitude, Your Excellencies, dear brother Priests
and Deacons, dear brothers and sisters in Our Lord!
We are gathered here to prepare ourselves for the
reception into the Equestrian Order of the Holy
Sepulchre and the solemn investiture with the insignia
of that Order in the solemn Mass of tomorrow. This
“Vigil Service” in some way recalls the memory of the
Vigils of the new Knights which were the rule of almost
every Equestrian Order in the Middle Ages - a rather
demanding night with fasting, long prayers and other
ascetical methods to prepare the candidates for their
new dignity. To be a Knight in those old times was not
only to become some sort of elite soldier, fighting in
armour from the horse; it was much more, if the Knight-to-be
took his task seriously. And most of them actually did
- they at least tried to fulfil those solemn promises
of chivalry, of fighting with their weapons only to
defend the weak, to draw their swords only in the service
of justice. In later periods those promises were taken more
lightly, and the whole institution of chivalry in many
places and periods degenerated only to some sort of
decoration; and still later, it was ridiculed as an
expression of personal ambition, a decorative element in
a otherwise rather brutal work in a rather brutal world -
and a goal to reach out for of human vanity.
We, here and
now, must try to explain to ourselves and others when
accepting the honour of being members of such an old and
noble Equestrian Order why we are doing this. And if we do
it sincerely, we must listen to the opposing voices of those
who cannot understand neither this Vigil Service nor the
investiture of tomorrow.
I.
Many people say that this sort of ceremony and the
membership of the Order is nothing more than grown-up
people playing, trying to live in a phantasy world of
the Middle Ages - when the real world around us is burning
and longing for the real Christian and human endeavour
of making it more Christian and more human. They see the
Order as some sort of historical relic - and the people
taking it seriously as relics, too. And so the whole
Church is considered as a museum, only of historical interest.
In seeing the ceremonies and the members of the Order
with their swords, spurs and cloaks they think of the
Crusades and accordingly of so-called “Holy Wars”, fought
with fanaticism of Christians and Muslims alike, with
immense costs in blood, tears and enduring hate. This order,
having its origins exactly in the period of the Crusades
and in the centre of the Holy City, the Holy Sepulchre,
and still talking the language and using the symbols of
that period - is it not to heavily burdened by History
itself? And have the Knights and Ladies of the Order some
secret wish of going into a real holy war, a crusade to in
some way ore another re-conquer the Holy Land and the Holy
Sepulchre to instal some new Crusade Kingdom there?
And all these rites, the insignia, the special dress -
is not the whole of it simply a capitulation to human vanity,
even to the wish of being a superior being?
Certainly, everything can be justified by making the Knights
and the Ladies engage themselves to pay quite nice sums of
money to the Christians in the Holy Land, who live in such
hard conditions. But why an Equestrian Order when you simply
could give the money to the Patriarchate and other Catholic
institutions without ceremony and without much fuss?
And finally - do we Christians have a “Holy Land” - the
Jews and the Muslims have, that is essential to their existence
as Jews and Muslims - but do we Christians have it, in the same way?
II.
The membership of this Order cannot and must not be
some sort of wishful day-dreaming, playing the Middle
Ages. This is not a “High Society Game”. I think that
the presence of His Beatitude te Patriarch, the Bishops,
the Priests, the Lieutenant, the Knights and Ladies
themselves with their personal life story and their names
are the best guarantee against such an idea. We all know
- some of us out of bitter personal experience - that the
world actually is burning, our high Guest of the Holy City
knows it better than anyone else. We are no light-hearted
and unserious persons, dancing at the brim of the abyss
with our cloaks and decorations.
We receive the traditional
insignia and participate in traditional ceremonies with full
respect to the historical tradition of which we are a part,
and with necessary accommodation to our own time and country.
We are fully aware of the “burning world” around us, we
all know perfectly well that the Church in these recent
years is not a very popular dialogue partner in this
Western and Northern world of ours; the thought of our
going in to a real Crusade in the Holy Land is absurd;
the Crusades of history can be discussed for all eternity
- were they a defence measure of Christians against Muslim
aggression, or on the contrary, a Muslim defence measure
against Christian aggression, were they simply wars of
territorial aggrandizement and collecting material riches
for the high and mighty themselves - and their kingdoms,
dynasties and families? We do not want to enter into this
discussion here and now. We can only maintain, with the
greatest sincerity, that we never will take up real arms
to fight so-called holy wars against other human beings;
the sword and the spurs are signs of quite another struggle,
the spiritual struggle against our own selfishness, against
the domination of sin, in humble and unarmed imitation of
Jesus Christ, who came to serve, not to be served, the Christ
who bade us turn the another cheek to those who strike us, to
love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us and to
bless them who curse us - The same Christ who in the garden
of Gethsemane told Peter to put back his word into the scabbard.
Our main symbol is not the sword, but the Cross, even five
crosses to mark deeply into us the central position of this
Cross; on our altar is placed today a Cross with a little piece
of the True Cross inside it - the Patriarch shortly will bless
us with it. This Cross is the cruel execution tool, which the
Lord of the universe took upon himself to save us and the whole
world: “O most high love, you bend down your head and bleed for
those who persecute you”, we sing in one of the best known and
most sung Swedish Passion hymns; neither the black or the white
cloak of our Order or the beret or the veil or the presence of
women in the Order make a martial impression; the struggle is
a spiritual struggle against the power of the Evil - the power
which threatens us, and from which we are liberated by the
unarmed victory of Jesus Christ on the Cross: when he had emptied
the cup of his suffering he called out from the Cross, which was
transformed to his throne of glory: “It is fulfilled”. He went
down into the depths of our suffering, yes, he took upon himself
our alienation from God, he dared to enter the kingdom of the
death and the evil, he chose it freely, and with his divine and
human love which truly did not seek itself, loved away death
itself and forced the Evil One to recognize his total defeat.
And in his resurrection God, the Father, confirmed his victory:
his grave, the holy Sepulchre, was empty and will remain empty for ever.
III.
And to us, his followers, the call immediately rings out:
“Follow me”, “Deus lo vult”, “God wants this”. He wants us
to struggle tenaciously against our self-love, he wants us
constantly to pray that his Spirit which he breathed over
the earth in his hour of death and so made it rich and fruitful
shall fulfil its work in us - and in his humanity, in all his
creation. God surely can manage quite well without us, he does
not need any of us in the strict sense of the word, he does not
even need his own creation, which is a result of his overflowing
and overwhelming goodness - but he wants our do-operation, he
wants our co-prayer, he even wants us to cooperate in his creative
and redemptive work, provided that his own primacy is respected,
provided that we love him above all things. - And with this first
commandment comes the other, similar to the first: “You shall love
your neighbour as yourself”. The love of the fellow human beings
we meet on the way of our life can easily become a very abstract
love of humanity in general, which provokes beautiful speeches on
beautifully flower-decorated platforms in great conferences,
perhaps a little gift now and then which do not really cost us
anything.
But the command of or Lord is very practical; the example
of our Lord and his teaching shows that well enough; this very
practical love of the other forces us to struggle against our own
selfishness - and to the selfish tendencies belongs very much the
personal vanity, which finds, in general, ridiculous and even
grotesque expressions - and this vanity if not conquered leads
infallibly to the feeling of superiority and aloofness; such a
feeling is a very effective barrier, locks that person into the
prison of his or own self, does make it impossible for him or her
to open himself for others, even to listen to them - and bars the
way to God himself, that God who is not only truly One but also
substantially lives in his Three Persons, where the One Person gives
away himself completely to the Other and expects the Other to give
himself back in unreserved answer, that answer which is called Spirit,
the substantial love. - The danger is there always to say “no” - and
then, too late, discover that one has missed the essential goal of
life, that goal which is truly called “love.”
To receive the insignia
of an order, to be dubbed a Knight or made a Lady can be dangerous;
one can be tempted to think oneself a most superior person, one can
adore oneself in that form of self-adulation which is deadly dangerous
to the spiritual health. Everyone is called to struggle against all
such tendencies - and energetically see to it that those tendencies
not will come to the surface in the community which now is formed;
every Knight and Lady has his and her own responsibility to
investigate and inspect not only himself or herself, but also
the community; and the Lieutenant and in a most special way the
spiritual leader who is called by the ambitious title of “Grand
Prior” must take this task most seriously.
And because the imitation of our Lord is so practical,
the connection with that Land which is called the “Holy
Land” is so important; it is justly so called not because
of the personal holiness of the former and present inhabitants
of that country, no - there has been flowing and even now
flows an immense amount of blood, tears and hate since
more than two thousand years; it is so called because of
the revelation of God, to his chosen people, to his
prophets, kings and singers, in his Presence, his “kabôd”
and “shekinâh” in the Tabernacle and the Temple - and above
all in his personal and human Presence in precisely this Land
with all its implications in Jesus, the Lord and Master,
the Messiah of the Lord, the Son of God, the Word made flesh,
a human being among other human beings, in Bethlehem, in Nazareth,
in Galilee and Judah, and in the end in the Holy City of Jerusalem,
The City of Peace, which in Arabic is called “the Holy One”,
Al-Quds.
This country is not demanded by us Christians as some
sort of earthly property, far from it; but it is and remains for
us a “holy” land for us who celebrate in our churches the
sacramental Presence of precisely Jerusalem and Golgotha in
the Eucharist: in the holy Mass, the veil of time and space
is removed, we stand directly under the Cross, we are
sacramentally and because of that really present in that Holy
Sepulchre, which once became empty and will remain empty until
the end of all times; the emptiness of this Grave speaks out
loudly, because he who once was laid down to rest in it, is
truly and really risen from the dead and has given us a new
live, the life of Eternity: we partake of his divinity and
humanity under the sacramental species - the true man who lived
and died in this Holy Land some two thousand years ago and who
in his humanity is our Lord an God, identical to the Holy One
in the Temple of Jerusalem. And because of that we cannot even
think of him without in the same time thinking about this City
and this Land.
Christians have ever been present there, but
nowadays this presence is drastically cut down, because the
younger generation cannot see any future for the Christians in
this City and this Land, where they once (and not so very long
ago) even was the majority. As members of this Order we will
work to make the world see and understand the Christian minority,
its right and, in fact, its duty to remain there - to remind
everyone of our Lord and Master. We will - exactly as the new
Christians from the pagan world of Greece and Asia Minor in the
times of St. Paul - joyfully give what we can so that “the holy
in Jerusalem and in this Holy Land” will be able to survive, to
bear witness to our faith, our hope and our love. Therefore we
receive the Investiture to show our solidarity and our love to
those our brothers and sisters - and in all humility do our best
to contribute to the establishment of peace and understanding
between the peoples and persons there.
Let us now ask our esteemed Guest, His Beatitude the Patriarch
of Jerusalem, to bless the symbols of our Order, let us do it with
a good conscience and a firm will to practice the old Chevalier
virtues, very well accommodated also to the Ladies: courage in the
struggle against the evil powers in us and among us, a struggle
made with spiritual arms, where we all take our strength from the
Sacraments of the Church, above all the Eucharist and the Penance
and Reconciliation; loyalty and fidelity towards our Supreme Lord
Jesus Christ, who has dared everything for us and won an eternal
victory through his death and resurrection; fidelity also to the
Church and its leaders, above all the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth,
Pope John Paul; to our own Bishop, to the rightful Superiors of this
Order; humanity and friendliness in our daily life to other persons
we might meet on our ways, as God our Lord was infinitely friendly
even in his conversation with us, his created beings - and especially
for us, the members of this Order of the Holy Sepulchre, the intense
relation to the Land which received the Son of God - and to the
people who live there. If we do this sincerely, if we now spiritually
place our selves under the Cross of the Lord, if we pass the rest
of this evening before him, who wants to be the Bread of Life for
us, then the solemnity of tomorrow will be much more than a beautiful
ceremony, it will be a sign, full of meaning, which will unite us
more deeply with that Lord who became man, suffered, died and rose
from the dead for us, and who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen. by the Lieutenant of the Swedish Lieutenancy, Professor Bo Theutenberg KC*HS KCSS KM
Your Beatitude, Your Excellencies, Knights and Ladies
of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As I said in my intervention during the investiture
ceremonies earlier today I am glad to be able to
welcome and greet all of you that have come here
today to participate in our first investiture of
knights and ladies of the ancient Equestrian Order
of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
The Lieutenancy of Sweden or – as it is called in
Latin – Locumtenentia Sueciæ – was established by
the Cardinal Grand Master on 21 November 2003, that
is to say about one year ago. Since then I have –
together with our Grand Prior Msgr Lars Cavallin –
been engaged in the formation of the new lieutenancy.
In this work we have received much support from our
bishop Anders Arborelius OCD, whom we thank for all
his kind thoughts, prayers and assistance to us.
Even though it is true that this is the first
investiture ever on Swedish soil, we are – however -
not the first Swedes that have been invested as
knights and ladies of this illustrious Order, which
legally is a part of the Catholic church and the Holy
See. We know that the Swedish saint, Saint Bridget,
and her son Birger Ulfsson, made a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem in 1372, where Birger Ulfsson was invested
as a knight of the Holy Sepulchre on the Holy Sepulchre
itself. During the medieval time also other Swedes were
invested in Jerusalem – in connection with their
pilgrimages to Jerusalem.
As I underlined in my speech earlier today it is the
empty grave of Christ in Jerusalem – the Holy Sepulchre
– that for centuries has been in the centre of the Order
of the Holy Sepulchre. It is Jerusalem, the soil of Christ,
that still is in the centre of the Order. All members of
the Order of the Holy Sepulchre give their solemn vows
to support the maintainance of the grave of Christ, as
they give their vows to support the Christian life in the
Holy Land, which in our days is more threatened than ever.
Today the Christian presence in the Holy land is drastically
reduced, especially in the younger generation, who prefers
to leave the troubled area for a more secure place to live in.
Unless we succeed to provide the Christians in the Holy
land with better and more secure conditions – for which
money is needed – Christians will diminish and the “sites
of Christ” slowly transform into historical memories and
museums. How to stop that process? The Pope has charged
the Order of the Holy Sepulchre physically to be the financial
cornerstone for the Latin Patriarchate in the Holy land.
Thus, it is really our responsibility to contribute to a
better och more secure future for the Christians in the
Holy land.
As I underlined in my intervention earlier today we welcome
warmly here in Stockholm the Latin Patriache of Jerusalem
His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, who has been given the enormous
responsibility to preserve Christianity in the area which we
call the Holy land.
It was in 1847 that Pope Pius IX restored the Latin
Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which function vanished at
the end of the 13th century – when the last crusaders
were forced to leave the area. At the same time – in
1847 - the Pope gave the Order of the Holy Sepulchre
the specific task to support the Patriarch’s work for
the maintenance and protection of Christianity in the
Holy Land. That is still our Mission today. The Order
now comprises some 40 Lieutenancies around the world
with a membership of some 20,000 knights and ladies.
By their activities they collect several million of
dollars being sent to the Patriarchate to cover the
costs for all its activities to foster a better and
more peaceful future in the Holy land.
The Patriarch is the eighth Patriarch in an unbroken
line since the restoration in 1847. He has the responsibility
of running a Diocese covering Israel, Jordan, Palestine
(comprising the West Bank and Gaza) and Cyprus. He has
some 60 parishes, 40 schools and a thriving seminary.
For all this he needs money and support. Not least
physical support – that is to say that we go there and
physically appear as a sign of support to our brothers
and sisters living there.
The picture of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre – as it
looks today – would not be complete if I do not mention
the role of the Order in the broader religious perspective.
This Order has from its inception during the medieval
times been connected with the pilgrims that came to the
Holy land to pray at the empty grave of Christ. Modern
historical research give more and more evidence to the
fact that the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre never were
parts of the fighting crusaders appearing in Jerusalem in 1099.
In the little brochure that was handed out before the
ceremonies I have tried to summarize some of these new
historical findings related to the history of the Order.
Here I am basing myself on the historical research that
was presented at a symposium in the Vatican in 1998 and
which were published in the book “Militia Sancti Sepulcri
– Idea e istituzioni”, which I recommend for reading.
Departing from the “pilgrims’ perspective” – a pilgrim is
a man or woman who seeks comfort and truth at a “Holy site”
– it is a very natural development that the Order of Holy
Sepluchre of Jerusalem today sees it as a most vital thing
to foster friendship and dialogue with our brothers of the
Islamic and Jewish faiths. They really are our brothers –
believing in the same God. All three religions have
Jerusalem as the “Holy city”.
I am myself working in Jordan on the “Islamic/Muslim side”,
so to say. Therefore I know by personal experience how much
“dialogue, exchange of views and understanding” mean for the
reconstruction of peace and calm in the area. Because of this
the Catholic Order of the Holy Sepulchre has an important
role to play in the establishment of understanding and peace
between the peoples of the Holy land, now living under
unbelievable severe conditions. Our hearts blead for the
victims of violence in the Holy land.
The Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre
is – as we now know - a Cardinal of the Church - His Eminence
Cardinal Carlo Furno. Again I welcome the Cardinal’s representative
here in Stockholm, the Governor General of the Order His
Excellency Pier Luigi Parola. The Governor General is the “Chief
Executive of the Order” and it is his responsibility to see to
it that the Order fulfills the magnificent task it was given by
the Pope in 1847, namley to support the Latin Patriarchate in
all possible ways, not least economically. Your Excellency –
while thanking you for your personal presence in Stockholm at
this first investiture – the Lieutenancy of Sweden assures you
of our full cooperation in achievning the goals of the Equestrian
Order of the Holy Sepulchre.
Again I have the pleasure to greet the Archbishop emeritus of the
Swedish church Bertil Werkström and the Bishop emeritus of the
Diocese of Stockholm Henrik Svennungsson. We are glad and proud
of their presence here today. We are also glad to welcome two
prepresentatives of the oldets diocese of Sweden, namely the
Diocese of Skara, situated in the Western part of Sweden - the
Vicars Johnny Hagberg and Henrich Falkenberg. It is now debated
where the earliest missionaries during the 9th and 10th centuries
came from England and Germany – which is the traditonally held
view – or if the earliest missionaries actually came from Bysans
or Orthodox Russia as early as during the Viking age. Anyhow,
Skara was the oldest Catholic diocese of Sweden.
By the way, today is a seminar being held in Skara celebrating
the 700-year anniversary of the Catholic bishop Brynolf Algotsson’s
receiving a most precious relic from the Norwegian king, namely
a part of the Crown of thorn of Christ, which he was bearing at
his crusification in Jerusalem. The meeting between bishop Brynolf
Algotsson, who later became beatified by the Pope, met the Norwegian
king in Lödöse (near Gothenburg) 2 September 1304. A most interesting
book has recently been published about the old Catholic Bishop. I
really recommend this book for reading.
It must be mentioned here the Vicar Falkenberg – present here –
is the Vicar of the church of Forshem, which was founded approximately
1130 as a church consecrated to the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
This is the only church in the Nordic countries being consecrated
to the Holy Sepulchre. Thus there must have been close connections
between Sweden and the Holy Sepulchre already around the year 1130.
Much guessing is going around who was the knight that founded the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Forshem in Vestrogothia in Sweden.
I also welcome to this table the Apostolic Chargé d´affaires Monsignor
Gabor Pinter, as I also welcome the present Swedish ambassador to the
Holy See, His Excellency Fredrik Vahlquist. I am also proud and glad
to see my former colleagues in the Swedish diplomatic career the
ambassadors Torsten Örn, Bo Henriksson and Bertil Roth. The ambassdors
Örn and Henriksson have both been Swedish ambassadors to the Holy See
and have made considerable progress in upholding the very good relations
that nowadays exist between the Holy See and Sweden.
I extend a special warm welcome to the Lieutenant of England & Wales
Dr Michael Whelan and his wife Norah- and all the other members of the
English team. Thousands thanks for all your kind help, support and
assistance and for the wonderful gift which you presented to us
yesterday – the cermonial sword that was used in today’s investiture.
For all the years to come the cermonial sword will be kept as a precious
memory of the close Christian relations that have always exited between
England and Sweden. I also extend a warm welcome to the representative
of Palestine, His Excellency Dr Eugene Makhlouf. We are honoured and glad
to have him among us today, when we make our promises to the Holy Land.
I could go on for some ten minutes more to greet all magnificent and nice
persons sitting here in this hall. But since I am afraid that I now am
ruining the dinner by my talks, I have to stop. But before doing so, I
wish you all warmly welcome to this investiture and this dinner. I ask
you know to raise your glasses and join me in a toast in the honour of
our beloved order, the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. by the Lieutenant of the Swedish Lieutenancy, Professor Bo Theutenberg KC*HS KCSS KM
Your Excellency,
Knights and Ladies of the Equestrian Order of the Holy
Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Ladies and Gentleman
I am glad to be able to welcome and greet all of you
that have come here today to participate in our third
investiture of knights and ladies of the ancient Equestrian
Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. We are especially
happy that His Excellency the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop
Giovanni Tonucci could celebrate the mass and the investiture.
Archbishop Tonucci is himself a member of our Order.
The Lieutenancy of Sweden or – as it is called in Latin
– Locumtenentia Sueciæ – was established by the Cardinal
Grand Master on 21 November 2003, that is to say about three
years ago. However, we are not among the first Swedes or Scandinavians
that have been invested as members of this illustrious Order,
which legally is a part of the Catholic church and the Holy See.
We know, for instance, that the Swedish saint, Saint Bridget,
and her son Birger Ulfsson, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in
1372, where Birger Ulfsson was invested as a knight of the Holy
Sepulchre on the Holy Sepulchre itself. During the medieval
time also other Swedes were invested in Jerusalem – in
connection with their pilgrimages to Jerusalem.
Also the Norwegian king Sigurd Jorsalafare, who made a
crusade to Jerusalem and the Holy land already 1107-1111,
might have received the knighthood on the Holy Sepulchre
itself, since he was assisting the king of Jerusalem Baldwin
I in the conquest of Sidon. As a token of appreciation king
Baldwin presented the Norwegian king with a relic, a small
piece of the Holy Cross, which actually was placed at the
Christ’s Church in Nidaros – now Trondheim. It would be
wonderful for our members to make a pilgrimage to Trondheim
in Norway to pray at the site of this relic.
It is the empty tomb of Christ in Jerusalem – the Holy
Sepulchre – that for centuries has been the focal point
of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. It is Jerusalem, the
soil of Christ, that still is the focal point of the Order.
All members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre give their
solemn vows to support and maintain the grave of Christ, as
they give their vows to support the Christian life in the
Holy Land, which in our days is more threatened than ever.
Today the Christian presence in the Holy land is drastically
reduced, especially in the younger generation, who prefers
to leave the troubled area for a more secure place to live
in. The last example of this is Lebanon, where the war has
forced an exodus of Christians to other countries.
Unless we succeed to provide the Christians in the Holy
land with better and more secure conditions – for which much
money is needed – Christians will diminish and the “sites of
Christ” slowly transform into historical memories and museums.
How to stop that process? The Pope has charged the Order of
the Holy Sepulchre physically to be the financial cornerstone
for the Latin Patriarchate in the Holy land. Thus, it is really
our responsibility to contribute to a better and more secure
future for the Christians in the Holy land.
It is the Latin Patriache of Jerusalem, at present His
Beatitude Michel Sabbah, who has been given the enormous
responsibility to preserve Christianity in the area which
we call the Holy land.
It was in 1847 that Pope Pius IX restored the Latin
Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which function had vanished
at the end of the 13th century – when the last crusaders
were forced to leave the area. At the same time – in 1847
- the Pope gave the Order of the Holy Sepulchre the specific
task to support the Patriarch’s work for the maintenance
and protection of Christianity in the Holy Land. That is
still our Mission today. The Order now comprises some 40
Lieutenancies around the world with a membership of some
20,000 knights and ladies. By their activities they collect
several million of dollars being sent to the Patriarchate
to cover the costs for all its activities to foster a
better and more peaceful future in the Holy land.
The present Patriarch is the eighth Patriarch in an unbroken
line since the restoration in 1847. He has the responsibility
of running a Diocese covering Israel, Jordan, Palestine
(comprising the West Bank and Gaza) and Cyprus. He has some 60
parishes, 40 schools and a thriving seminary. For all this he
needs money and support. Not least physical support – that is
to say that we go there and physically appear as a sign of support
to our brothers and sisters living there.
The picture of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre – as it
looks today – would not be complete if I do not mention the
role of the Order in the broader religious perspective.
This Order has from its inception during the medieval times
been connected with the pilgrims that came to the Holy land
to pray at the empty grave of Christ. Modern historical research
gives more and more evidence to the fact that the Knights of
the Holy Sepulchre never were parts of the fighting crusaders
appearing in Jerusalem in 1099.
In the little brochure that was handed out before the ceremonies
I have tried to summarize some of these historical findings related
to the history of our Order. Also my latest book about the medieval
orders of chivalry is offered for sale here. This book gives a good
introduction to the history and work of our Order.
Departing from the “pilgrims’ perspective” it is a natural
development that the Order of Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem today
sees it as a most vital thing to foster friendship and dialogue
with our brothers of the Islamic and Jewish faiths. They really
are our brothers – believing in the same God. All three
religions have Jerusalem as the “Holy city”.
I know by personal experience how much “dialogue, exchange
of views and understanding” mean for the reconstruction of
peace and calm in the area. Because of this the Catholic Order
of the Holy Sepulchre has an important role to play in the
establishment of understanding and peace between the peoples of
the Holy land, now living under unbelievable severe conditions.
Our hearts blead for the victims of violence in the Holy land.
Again I have the pleasure to greet His Excellency the Apostolic
Nuncio welcome to our Lieutenancy and to this dinner – as I have
the pleasure to greet all guests and members of our Order. I am
directing myself especially to the new members of the Order –
who were invested today – namely the Vicar General of the Catholic
Diocese of Oslo Pater Arne Kirsebom, Mr Bo Gillner and his wife Mrs
Margot Gillner. I am sure that you will make wonderful contributions to our Lieutenancy.
I can also reveal that soon the Lieutenacy of Sweden will be
formally renamed to the Lieutenancy of Scandinavia, which
geographically will comprise Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.
This solution will enable us to reach out to more Catholics who
are willing to join us in the battle to maintain and even restore
the Christian presence in the Holy land.
I wish you all warmly welcome to this investiture and this dinner.
I ask you know to raise your glasses and join me in a toast in the
honour of our beloved order, the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre.
Dinner speech of the 11th September 2004
Dinner speech of the 16th September 2006