Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

The military Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was founded in 1608 by Pope Paul V at the request of King Henry IV of France.

According to the official version recorded in the Bull of Paul V setting up the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Henry IV felt moved to protect, propagate and increase the Catholic Religion by applying remedies in France "in order to exalt and increase the Holy Roman Church, extinguish heresies, suppress heretics, and other things". It seems that Henri IV commissioned the noble Charles de Neufville as his royal delegate to obtain from the Holy See permission to found a Militia or Military Order instituted under the consent and authority of the Holy See "and at the will of King Henry himself, appropriately from his merely lay resources (but not the income of the benefices or church)". The new Order, composed of French noblemen and freeborn men, would be "under the denomination or title and rule of the most glorious and always Virginal Mother Mary of Mount Carmel, whom the said King Henry always holds and regards with singular devotion as his protectress and advocate".

The Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was formally created by Pope Paul V through the Bull Romanus Pontificus dated 16 February 1608, expanded through Militantium ordinum dated 26 February 1608. The Bulls gave the French king the authority to nominate the Grand Master of this Order subject to papal confirmation. The king appointed the former Grand Master of the Order of Saint Lazarus, Philibert de Nérestang to the post of Grand Master of the new Order, an appointment that received papal approval. The Grand Master received 1800 ducats and a knight 500 ducats annually.

In 1572, the house of the Order of Saint Lazarus in Italy were merged with the Savoyan Order oF St. Maurice to become The Order of Sts. Maurice and Lazarus. According to Michael Foster, "the Pope determined not to allow, two Orders of Lazarus to continue, founded by Papal Bull the Order of our Lady of Mount Carmel, which was to absorb the French Order of St. Lazarus."

On 31 October 1608, Henri IV amalgamated administratively the newly created Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel with the Order of St. Lazarus to form the Ordres Royaux, Militaires & Hospitaliers de Saint Lazare de Jérusalem & de Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel réunis ("The Royal and Military Orders of our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem united").

...
Wikipedia