insignias

Regulations on uniforms, dress and insignia

Contents

1 Preliminary
2 Uniforms
3 Dress
4 Insignia
5 The mantle
6 Clergy and Religious
7 The wearing of insignia
8 The banner
9 General

Preliminary

Article 1
These present Regulations shall be known as the Regulations on Uniforms, Dress and Insignia.
Article 2
These Regulations shall come into effect on the day on which they receive the approval of His Royal Highness the Sovereign Grand Master.
Article 3
All previous Regulations relative to these matters are repealed.

Uniforms

Article 4
The uniform of the Order is as illustrated in the General Instructions.
Article 5
The gala uniform of a Knight of Justice and Devotion shall consist of:

  • a mess jacket of white gabardine;
  • trousers of black cloth with a yellow-red-yellow stripe;
  • gold epaulettes of an approved design bearing the Cross of the Order on a red eight-pointed star;
  • white shirt, black neck tie, black boots and white gloves.

The lapels and cuffs of the mess jacket shall be faced with carmine red silk to an approved design and the cuff facings shall be edged with gold fillets.

Article 6
The gala uniform of a Knight of Grace and Devotion shall be similar to that of a Knight of Justice and Devotion save that the epaulettes shall be carmine red and there shall be no gold fillet on the sleeves.
Article 7
The alternative uniform shall consist of a white mess jacket to an approved design, black trousers and white waistcoat and tie. It shall be the same for all Categories.
Article 8
There is no uniform prescribed for Dames of the Order.
Article 9
As an alternative to the uniform, a Professed Knight may wear a white robe with wide sleeves turned up at the cuffs and a shirt-type collar, fastened at the neck with a cord passing through six eyelets, and with a girdle or sash of white linen passed twice round the waist. Alternatively a plain white clerical alb may be worn. The robe may carry the Cross of the Order embroidered upon the left breast.
Article 10
A Professed Knight shall wear under the robe in Summer knee breeches with white stockings and in Winter black trousers. Black shoes shall be worn in all seasons.

Dress

Article 11
Subject to these Regulations, the head of a jurisdiction of the Order which does not depend from a superior jurisdiction may determine the dress to be worn by members of the Order on particular occasions.
Article 12
On occasions when it is impractical to wear the uniform, a Knight shall wear:

  • in daytime, either morning dress or a dark lounge suit at the discretion of the head of jurisdiction;
  • in the evening, either evening dress or dinner jacket or a dark lounge suit at the discretion of the head of jurisdiction.
Article 13
Dames of the Order shall wear on all formal occasions a suitable dress preferably of black or some other dark colour with black shoes, white gloves and a black mantilla or some other head covering. The head of a jurisdiction may at his discretion approve minor variations from the dress prescribed.
Article 14
Serving members of the Hospitaller Service shall wear the same dress as Knights or Dames of the Order (3, 12, a)-b)).
Article 15
The Companions of the Hospitaller Service may wear a dark lounge suit in the daytime and either a dinner jacket or a dark lounge suit in the evening.
Article 16
Familiares of an Hereditary Commandery shall wear the dress prescribed in the Regulations of the Hereditary Commanderies.

Insignia

Article 17
The insignia of Knights and Dames of the Categories of Devotion is a Cross flory Or tierced Gules in the central tierce of its arms, charged with the inescutcheon of Paterno (Majorca) surmounted by a Royal Crown.
Article 18
The Cross of a Knight or Dame of Justice and Devotion hangs from a trophy of arms attached to the ribbon of the Order. The insignia is worn as a neck decoration by Knights and by Dames suspended from a bow of ribbon on the left corsage.
Article 19
A Knight Grand Cross of Justice and Devotion wears in addition to the neck decoration an eight-pointed silver star on the left breast. A Dame Grand Cross wears the same star on the left corsage below the insignia.
Article 20
A Knight Grand Cross with Collar of Justice and Devotion wears a collar forty-five centimetres long of an approved design and a gilt eight- pointed star.
Article 21
A Grand Collar wears a collar eighty-five centimetres long of an approved design and a gilt eight-pointed star.
Article 22
The design of the Collar consists of two Es affronte alternated with crosslets of the Order mounted on discs. The central medallion of the Grand Collar bears the Arms of the Order. The central medallion of a Collar is a trophy of arms. From the central medallion hangs the insignia of the Categories of Justice and Devotion.
Article 23
As an alternative to the Grand Collar or the Collar (4, 22) an embroidered Collar of an approved design may be worn.
Article 24
The insignia of Knights and Dames of the Categories of Merit are those prescribed (4, 17) but without the Crown. In all other respects the insignia of the Categories for Merit are the same as those of the Categories of Devotion, but the star is a silver four-pointed one.
Article 25
The sash with the Cross of the Categories of Devotion is an emblem of office worn by the dignitaries of the Grand Magistry and the jurisdictional heads of the Order.
Article 26
The baton, the emblem of jurisdictional authority, is made of wood, thirty centimetres in length, and covered with carmine red velvet.
Article 27
The baton is differenced as follows:

  • The baton of His Royal Highness the Sovereign Grand Master is decorated with a fringe at one end and a stripe at the other;
  • the batons of the Grand Chancellor and the Marshal are each decorated with a stripe at each end;
  • the batons of the Grand Hospitaller and the Grand Visitor are each decorated with three fillets at each end;
  • the batons of Grand Priors and Magisterial Visitors are decorated with two fillets at each end;
  • the baton of Priors is decorated with one fillet at each end;
  • the baton of Commanders is plain and undecorated.

The mantle

Article 28
The mantle of the Order is white and made of terylene or wool with its hem twenty centimetres from the ground. The mantle of Knights and Dames of Justice and Devotion has a carmine red collar edged with gold; that of Knights and Dames of Grace and Devotion has the collar without the gold edging. The mantle of Knights is decorated on the left side with the Cross of the Order made of cloth twenty-five centimetres in height. The mantle of a Dame is decorated with the Cross of the Order without the red tierce.

Clergy and Religious

Article 29
Chaplains of the Order wear a carmine red mozzetta of silk decorated on the left side with the Cross of the Order, embroidered and fifteen centimetres in height. They may also wear a stole with the Cross of the Order.
Article 30
Clergy and Religious who are not chaplains wear the mozzetta but not the stole.

The wearing of insignia

Article 31
A Knight may wear his insignia with the uniform or with full evening dress. Only a neck decoration may be worn with a dark lounge suit without miniatures or stars.
Article 32
If a dinner jacket is worn, a neck decoration, rosette and miniatures are permitted. Nevertheless, a jurisdictional head may give permission as he deems fit for other articles of insignia to be worn with a dinner jacket. In ceremonies of the Grand Magistry permission shall be obtained from the Marshal.
Article 33
Dames of the Order shall wear their insignia in accordance with the principles prescribed in Articles 31 and 32.
Article 34
It is not permitted to wear insignia on the mantle.
Article 35
Except in cases where the robe of a Professed Knight is worn, the sash of the Order should be worn under the jacket.
Article 36
In ceremonies of the Order and in ceremonies in which the Order takes part as a body, the insignia of the Order must be worn in the place of honour. On such occasions the only other insignia which may be worn are: a) the insignia of other Aragonese orders; and b) the insignia of one Order of Chivalry of the country in which the ceremony takes place. Stars are limited to four in number with full evening dress.

The banner

Article 37
The banner of the Order is a square of white silk, sixty by sixty centimetres in dimension, bearing in the centre the Cross of the Order, twenty-five centimetres high. The banner of the Grand Master is marshalled with the arms of Paterno. The name of the jurisdiction which raises the banner is embroidered on a carmine red ribbon hanging from the lance.
Article 38
Members of the Supreme Council (except Professed Knights without official jurisdiction) have authority to raise the banner of the Order.

General

Article 39
Members of the Government, Hereditary Commanders and Professed Knights may bear on their arms the Chief of Saint Agatha, which is: Argent a Cross Gules fimbriated Or.
Article 40
Other members of the Supreme Council bear the Cross of the Order behind their shields.
Article 41
Members of the Order are entitled to show the insignia of their rank below the point of the shield.
Article 42
Pages are permitted to wear the arms of the Order on the left breast. The same applies to Esquires.
Article 43
A Professed Knight may display his personal banner over his stall in the church of the Order or in some other suitable place.
Article 44
The Government may issue general instructions and procedures in order to give effect to these Regulations. Such instructions may contain illustrations of the various items which are the subject of these Regulations. They are to be taken as the official interpretation of the matters with which they deal and are therefore to be observed strictly.