Foreword : King St Louis and the Order of St Lazarus

Abstract

The Sancti Lazari Ordinis Academia Internationalis held its second academic meeting in conjunction with the International Pilgrimage of the Military & Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem held in June 2017 in the Cathedral of Monreale in Sicily. During the meeting, the statutes of the Academy were formally accepted opening the way forward towards the legalization of the Academy. The Cathedral in Monreale is particularly important to the Order of Saint Lazarus since it houses the remains of King Saint Louis who was a past patron of the Order. King of France, son of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile, born at Poissy, 25 April 1215; died while on Crusade near Tunis, 25 August 1270. St Louis’s canonization was proclaimed at Orvieto in 1297 by Boniface VIII.