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45-676: The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms . It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. It was founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire . The order was originally intended to be conferred upon a limited number of persons for whom this special distinction seemed to be the most appropriate form of recognition, constituting an honour dissociated from either

90-577: A badge worn with or without a ribbon on the chest. An example of a communist order of merit was the one-class Order of Lenin of the Soviet Union (1930). Unlike Western orders, however, communist orders could be awarded more than once to an individual. After the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in the 1990s, most Eastern European countries reverted to the Western-style orders originally established before

135-665: A diplomatic tool, upon foreigners. In total, 133 states even regulate the use of Orders in their constitutions. Only Switzerland, Micronesia, Libya, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, and the Seychelles do not seem to confer official civil orders of merit. By the time of the Renaissance , most European monarchs had either acquired an existing order of chivalry, or created new ones of their own, to reward loyal civilian and especially military officials. Such orders remained out of reach to

180-611: A loose structure of leadership and oversight. Later the mendicant orders such as the Carmelites , the Order of Friars Minor , the Order of Preachers , the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and the Order of Saint Augustine formed. These Mendicant orders did not hold property for their Religious Communities, instead begging for alms and going where they were needed. Their leadership structure included each member, as opposed to each Abbey or House, as subject to their direct superior. In

225-464: A marriage invalid, except in the cases in which the Holy See directed otherwise. Thus members of orders were barred absolutely from marriage, and any marriage they attempted was invalid. Those who made simple vows were obliged not to marry, but if they did break their vow, the marriage was considered valid. Another difference was that a professed religious of solemn vows lost the right to own property and

270-809: A particular country, regardless of status, sex, race or creed; there may be a minimum age for eligibility. Nominations are made either by private citizens or by government officials, depending on the country. An order may be revoked if the holder is convicted of a crime or renounces citizenship . Some people nominated for an award refuse it. Catholic religious order Jus novum ( c.  1140 -1563) Jus novissimum ( c.  1563 -1918) Jus codicis (1918-present) Other Sacraments Sacramentals Sacred places Sacred times Supra-diocesan/eparchal structures Particular churches Juridic persons Philosophy, theology, and fundamental theory of Catholic canon law Clerics Office Juridic and physical persons Associations of

315-493: A reasonable request to renounce their property except for what would be required for their sustenance if they were to depart. These changes resulted in a further blurring of the previously clear distinction between orders and congregations, since institutes that were founded as congregations began to have some members who had all three solemn vows or had members that took a solemn vow of poverty and simple vows of chastity and obedience. The current 1983 Code of Canon Law maintains

360-702: A type of religious institute . Subcategories of religious orders are: Catholic religious orders began as early as the 500s, with the Order of Saint Benedict being formed in 529. The earliest orders include the Cistercians (1098), the Premonstratensians (1120), the Poor Clares founded by Francis of Assisi (1212), and the Benedictine reform movements of Cluny (1216). These orders were confederations of independent abbeys and priories, who were unified through

405-518: Is a colloquialism. A religious order is characterized by an authority structure where a superior general has jurisdiction over the order's dependent communities. An exception is the Order of Saint Benedict which is not a religious order in this technical sense, because it has a system of independent houses, meaning that each abbey is autonomous. However, the constitutions governing the order's global independent houses and its distinct Benedictine congregations (of which there are twenty) were approved by

450-566: Is found in the 1964 edition of the Annuario Pontificio , pp. 807–870, where the heading is "States of Perfection (of pontifical right for men)". In the 1969 edition the heading is "Religious and Secular institutes of Pontifical Right for Men", a form it kept until 1975. Since 1976, when work was already advanced on revising the Code of Canon Law, the list has been qualified as "historical-juridical". The list of religious institutes for women in

495-594: Is the Sovereign of the Order of the Companions of Honour, and a maximum of 65 members. Additionally, foreigners or Commonwealth citizens from outside the Commonwealth realms may be added as honorary members. Members are organised into a single class and are appointed by the monarch of the Commonwealth realms in their capacity as sovereign of the order. While membership of the order confers no title or precedence , those inducted into

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540-479: The Congressional Gold Medal to civilians. The Legion of Merit is the only United States decoration which may be issued in award degrees (much like an order of chivalry or certain orders of merit), but award degrees are only made to foreign nationals, typically senior military officers or government officials. Switzerland does not award any orders. Article 12 of the 1848 Swiss Constitution prohibited

585-557: The Holy See or European monarchs in imitation of the military orders of the Crusades, granting membership in such societies gradually developed into an honour that could be bestowed in recognition of service or to ensure the loyalty of a certain clientele . Some of modern Europe's highest honours, such as the Order of the Golden Fleece , England 's Order of the Garter , Denmark 's Order of

630-720: The Order of Australia , and New Zealand awards the Order of New Zealand and the New Zealand Order of Merit . The Order of Mapungubwe is the highest honour in South Africa , while the Orders of Luthuli , and the Baobab exist alongside other decorations. The United States awards the Medal of Honor to members of its military for acts of valour, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom and

675-563: The Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary (1764) still required that one had to have at least four generations of noble ancestors. Still today, many dynastic orders are granted by royal families to worthy individuals for service and achievements. In 1802 Napoleon created the Legion of Honour ( Légion d'honneur ), which could be awarded to any person, regardless of status, for bravery in combat or for 20 years of distinguished service. While still retaining many trappings of an order of chivalry, it

720-792: The Confederated Canons Regular of Saint Augustine. And the Cistercians are in thirteen congregations, each headed by an abbot general or an abbot president, but do not use the title of abbot primate. The Annuario Pontificio presents the list of male religious institutes in an Elenco Storio-Giuridico di Precedenza ("Historical-juridical list of precedence"). This list gives priority to certain types of institutes: Orders (divided into Canons Regular, monastics, mendicant orders, clerics regular), clerical religious congregations, lay religious congregations, Eastern religious congregations, secular institutes , societies of apostolic life . The list

765-550: The Elephant and Scotland 's Order of the Thistle , were created during that era. They were essentially courtly in nature, characterised by close personal relations between the orders' members and the orders' sovereign. In the contemporary era, 96% of the world's states – 196 out of a sample of 204 polities, which includes sovereignty-claiming entities like Abkhazia – were found to use Orders to bestow them upon their own citizens and, as

810-504: The Pope himself, while departments of the Holy See and superiors specially delegated by it could dispense from simple religious vows. The 1917 Code maintained a juridical distinction by declaring invalid any marriage attempted by solemnly professed religious or by those with simple vows to which the Holy See had attached the effect of invalidating marriage, while stating that no simple vow rendered

855-708: The acceptance of honors from other sovereigns unless the honorific order comes from a list of countries specified in a regulation. In 1974 the Cabinet of Sweden passed a regulation forbidding the monarch of Sweden from awarding membership in orders to Swedish citizens. The orders themselves were not abolished, but only the Royal Orders of the Seraphim and the Polar Star (both established in 1748) continued to be awarded, and only to foreign citizens and stateless individuals. In 1995

900-446: The acceptance of honours and titles by Swiss citizens. The current Constitution of 1999 has no specific prohibition, but a federal statute effectively continues the prohibition by barring holders of foreign orders from holding public office. This practice has become common across the globe (albeit other countries usually issue a general prohibition to accept foreign orders, allowing for generous exceptions). Australia, for instance, bans

945-475: The acceptance of title or the classification of merit. It is now described as being "awarded for having a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time". The first recipients of the order were all decorated for "services in connection with the war " and were listed in The London Gazette . The order consists of the monarch of the Commonwealth realms, who

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990-401: The allocation of this award to that country's citizens in preference to other Australian honours. The last Australian member, Doug Anthony , former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, died on 20 December 2020. Companions from other Commonwealth realms continue to be appointed, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa , a New Zealand soprano, was given the award in 2018 and Canadian author Margaret Atwood was given

1035-518: The award in 2019. Sebastian Coe , Baron Coe CH represented the Order at the 2023 Coronation . The insignia of the order is in the form of an oval medallion, surmounted by a royal crown (but, until recently, surmounted by an imperial crown ), and with a rectangular panel within, depicting on it an oak tree, a shield with the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom hanging from one branch, and, on

1080-408: The bishop rather than to the religious superior, and the vow of poverty was modified to meet the new situation but the expelled religious "could not, for example, will any goods to another; and goods which came to him reverted at his death to his institute or to the Holy See". The former 1917 Code of Canon Law reserved the term religious order for institutes in which the vows were solemn, and used

1125-560: The capacity to acquire temporal goods for themselves, but a professed religious of simple vows, while being prohibited by the vow of poverty from using and administering property, kept ownership and the right to acquire more, unless the constitutions of the religious institute explicitly stated the contrary. After publication of the 1917 Code, many institutes with simple vows appealed to the Holy See for permission to make solemn vows. The Apostolic Constitution Sponsa Christi of 21 November 1950 made access to that permission easier for nuns (in

1170-459: The distinction according to which solemn vows, unlike simple vows, were indissoluble. It recognized no totally indispensable religious vows and thereby abrogated for the Latin Church the special consecration that distinguished orders from congregations, while keeping some juridical distinctions. In practice, even before 1917 dispensations from solemn religious vows were being obtained by grant of

1215-428: The distinction between solemn and simple vows, but no longer makes any distinction between their juridical effects, including the distinction between orders and congregations. Instead, it uses the single term religious institute to designate all such institutes. While solemn vows once meant those taken in what was called a religious order, "today, in order to know when a vow is solemn it will be necessary to refer to

1260-406: The distinction. Solemn vows were originally considered indissoluble. As noted below, dispensations began to be granted in later times, but originally not even the Pope could dispense from them. If for a just cause a member of a religious order was expelled, the vow of chastity remained unchanged and so rendered invalid any attempt at marriage, the vow of obedience obliged in relation, generally, to

1305-524: The faithful Pars dynamica (trial procedure) Canonization Election of the Roman Pontiff Academic degrees Journals and Professional Societies Faculties of canon law Canonists Institute of consecrated life Society of apostolic life In the Catholic Church , a religious order is a community of consecrated life with members that profess solemn vows . They are classed as

1350-590: The general public, however, as being of noble rank or birth was usually a prerequisite to being admitted. In the 18th century, these ideas gradually changed and the orders developed from "honourable societies" to visible honours. An example of this gradual development can be seen in two orders founded by Maria Theresa of Austria . While the Military Order of Maria Theresa (1757) was open to any deserving military officer regardless of social origin, and would grant titles of nobility to those who did not already have them,

1395-525: The left shoulder. Order (distinction) Modern honour systems of state orders and dynastic orders emerged from the culture of orders of chivalry of the Middle Ages , which in turn emerged from the Catholic religious orders . The word order ( Latin : ordo ), in the case referred to in this article, can be traced back to the chivalric orders , including the military orders , which in turn trace

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1440-514: The left, a mounted knight in armour. The insignia's blue border bears in gold letters the motto IN ACTION FAITHFUL AND IN HONOUR CLEAR , Alexander Pope 's description (in iambic pentameter ) in his Epistle to Mr Addison of James Craggs the Younger , later used on Craggs's monument in Westminster Abbey . Men wear the badge on a neck ribbon (red with golden border threads) and women on a bow at

1485-431: The name of their organisation back to that of the Catholic religious orders . Orders began to be created ad hoc and in a more courtly nature. Some were merely honorary and gradually the badges of these orders (i.e. the association) began to be known informally as orders . As a result, the modern distinction between orders and decorations or insignia has become somewhat blurred. While some orders today retain

1530-558: The order are entitled to use the post-nominal letters CH . Appointments to the order are generally made on the advice of prime ministers of the Commonwealth realms. For Canadians, the advice to the Sovereign can come from a variety of officials. Originally, the order was limited to 50 ordinary members, but in 1943 it was enlarged to 65, with a quota of 45 members for the United Kingdom , seven for Australia , two each for New Zealand and South Africa , and nine for India , Burma , and

1575-510: The original chivalric orders. Modern national orders, orders of merit , and decorations, emerged from the culture of chivalric orders established in the Middle Ages , originally the military orders of the Middle Ages and the Crusades , who in turn grew out of the original Catholic religious orders. While these chivalric orders were "societies, fellowships and colleges of knights", founded by

1620-454: The original notion of being an association or society of individuals, others make no distinction, and an "order" may even be the name of a decoration. Most historic chivalric orders imply a membership in a group, typically a confraternity . In a few exclusive European orders, membership is or was also limited in number. Decorations seldom have such limitations. Orders often come in multiple classes, including knights and dames in imitation of

1665-481: The other British colonies . The quota numbers were altered in 1970 to 47 for the United Kingdom, seven for Australia, two for New Zealand, and nine for other Commonwealth realms. The quota was adjusted again in 1975 by adding two places to the New Zealand quota and reducing the nine for the other countries to seven. Whilst still able to nominate candidates to the order, the Cabinet of Australia has effectively stopped

1710-499: The past, what distinguished religious orders from other institutes was the classification of the vows that the members took as solemn vows. According to this criterion, the last religious order founded was that of the Bethlehemite Brothers in 1673. Nevertheless, in the course of the 20th century, some religious institutes outside the category of orders obtained permission to make solemn vows, at least of poverty, thus blurring

1755-658: The pope. Likewise, according to rank and authority, the abbot primate 's "position with regard to the other abbots [throughout the world] is to be understood rather from the analogy of a primate in a hierarchy than from that of the general of an order like the Dominicans and the Jesuits ". The Canons Regular of Saint Augustine are in a situation similar to that of the Benedictines. They are organized in eight congregations, each headed by an abbot general, but also have an Abbot Primate of

1800-431: The proper law of the institutes of consecrated life ." The Annuario Pontificio continues to distinguish between ordini (orders) and Congregazioni Religiose Clericali ("clerical religious congregations"). Some other authors use the terms religious order and religious institute as synonyms; canon lawyer Nicholas Cafardi, commenting on the fact that the canonical term is religious institute, write that religious order

1845-513: The regulation was altered, allowing the monarch to bestow the two remaining active orders to members of the Swedish royal family . Finally, in 2022, the 48-year-old regulation was repealed by the Swedish Government, the orders were re-opened to Swedish citizens, and the two dormant orders ( Sword and Vasa ) were revived, with effect from 2023. Modern orders are usually open to all citizens of

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1890-529: The rise of communism. Today, many countries have some form of order of merit or national decorations. Both Thailand 's Order of the White Elephant and Japan 's Order of the Rising Sun are over 100 years old. In Canada and some Commonwealth Realms, the Order of Merit is the highest civilian honour. Canada has the Order of Canada and provincial orders such as the Order of Nova Scotia . Australia has

1935-466: The strict sense), though not for religious institutes dedicated to apostolic activity. Many of these latter institutes of women then petitioned for the solemn vow of poverty alone. Towards the end of the Second Vatican Council , superiors general of clerical institutes and abbots president of monastic congregations were authorized to permit, for a just cause, their subjects of simple vows who made

1980-526: The term religious congregation (or simply congregation) for institutes with simple vows . The members of a religious order for men were called regulars, those belonging to a religious congregation were simply religious , a term that applied also to regulars. For women, those with simple vows were called religious sisters , with the term nun reserved in canon law for those who belonged to an institute of solemn vows, even if in some localities they were allowed to take simple vows instead. However, it abolished

2025-693: Was the first modern national order of merit and is still France 's highest award today. The French Legion of Honour served as the model for numerous modern orders of merit in the Western world , such as the Order of Leopold in Belgium (1832) and the Order of the British Empire in the United Kingdom (1917). Orders of merit based on the French Legion of Honour typically retain five classes in accordance with habits of chivalric orders. In communist countries , orders of merit usually come in one to three grades, with only

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