The Order of Saint Joachim

My dear Confreres,

The Order has published regulations regarding the design and wear of the Order's uniform (both traditional and summer white). They may be downloaded as a PDF (1.1 MB) at this link: http://www.stjoachimorder.org/documents/uniformregs.pdf

An international supplier of the scarlet uniform is still being sought. We hope to have one soon, and will make the details available as well as pricing as soon as possible. Some members have taken the design to a tailor and had custom uniforms made. The white summer uniform jacket is available through US military supplier Marlow White:
http://www.marlowwhite.com/cgi-bin/comm ... key=96-050

The Order currently stocks the necessary buttons and rank pips, and can locate other insignia as needed.

The uniform of the Order remains optional, but the publication of regulations will assist those many members who have expressed a desire to wear the uniform correctly.

Your Excellencies and my dear sisters and brothers,

on 20. April 2008, under the Seal of our Order, the Orders's Uniform Regulations was officially published. I welcome entirely this regulation, as the visual and ceremonial aspect of the Order's life is of a great importance, and it need to be regulated. But I was a little surprised, that the regulation does not mention the clerical dress. Our Order is, as we all know, a secular order, so on one hand it would be appropriate and in accord with this secular ethos also for the clerical members of the Order to wear the same uniform as other sisters and brothers do, but on the other hand, according to the canon law of various churches, their ministers are obliged or expected to wear the clerical dress on some occassions or even during every public appearance. But even then, I think, the clerical members of our Order would be happy to have some visual mark of membership in the Order (not to mention the fact, that as the members of our Order, they are obliged by the ancient statute to be recognized as such all the time as they appear in public). I would therefore warmly welcome an appendix to the Uniform Regulation, that would allow its clerical members to wear some kind of Order's clerical dress.

I am of course not entitled to take any decissions about how such an Order's clerical dress should look like, but after studying clerical dress of many differend orders of chivalry, I would like to make the following suggestions:

The clerical members of the Order are allways entitled to wear the secular uniform of the Order. If it is more appropriate for them according to some law, custom or other good reason to wear the clerical dress, than they should wear the following:

- plain black cassock with black buttons and piping with black sash (purple, crimson or other customary piping and/or sash for the canons, bishops and other dignitaries according to the laws and customs of their church)

- black mozzetta (shouder cape), with or without a small hood, reaching elbows, with 8 buttons (for 8 knightly virtues). Buttons, piping and lining in the green color of the Order. The arms of the Order embroided on the left breast of the mozzetta.

- if a canon, bishop or other dignitary wears a choir cassock (purple cassock with crimson piping or other color combination according to the laws and customs of the church), the Order's mozzetta shoul be of the same color and piping, distinguished only by the embroided arms of the Order on the left breast.

- medals and decorations are worn on the clerical dress in the same manner as on the Order's uniform, the only difference being the sash of the Grand Cross. The clerical Knight Grand Commander can choose to wear his sash of the Grand Cross around the neck. If he preferes to wear it from the shouder to the hip, then it is worn under the mozzetta.

- Order's clerical dignitaries (Grand Prior, etc..) can wear an Order's pectoral cross with picture or relict of St.Joachim; bishops and other clerical members of the Order entitled to the pectoral cross according to laws and customs of their church, wear a plain one.

This proposal was written to provoke discussion, so I am prepared to discuss any part of it.

All the best

The Revd Mgr. Petr Jan Vins
knight expectant

Dear in Christ and Saint Joachim,

I thank our Brother the Rev. Mgr. Petr for bringing this subject up. The correct dress regulations for the clergy are sometimes forgotten, and believe me it is a concern for those of us in Holy Orders since we wish to conform to our Order's Dress Regulations, but often find it difficult to relate to the forms if we traditionally wear clerical garb.

Has any thought been given to where the mozzetta's could be made with the proper piping and design? I ssume that what you mean by the Arms of the Order on the left breast would be the white cross with green outline, and perhaps the symbol of St. Joachim in trhe center, as on the neck crosses.

It might also be nicew to have a uniform Order Stole to be used by the clergy when they officiate at Order functions.

Bishop +Kyrill, KJ

My Dear Confreres,

There are a few guidelines for the dress of chaplains of the Order, and I am pleased to provide a few photos byy way of illustration.

Firstly, while in clerical garb, the neck cros of the Order is generally worn on a longer and optionally broader dark green ribbon around the neck. Whereas male members should wear their neck cross up close to the collar, clerical members wear it on a ribbon that reaches down to mid-chest. Below is a photo of the Chaplain of Canada, Chevalier The Reverend Daniel Brereton, wearing his order in clerical garb while officiating at a Commandery ceremony.

Here is a close-up of the stole worn by Chevalier The Rev. Brereton KJ, featuring the embroidered cross of Saint Joachim.

There is no specific regulation regarding the stole for officiating priests / ministers / chaplains, however a good guideline is for it to be the same dark green colour of the Order with the Order's arms or cross.

Finally, I am able to post a photograph of our Grand Prior, Chevalier the Most Reverend Douglas Lewins GCJ, wearing the breast star or our Order. This photo was taken while he was attending another order's event, and so he wears the star of another order in addition to our own on his cassock of an archbishop.

Grand cross cordons may also be worn. In our Order, the grand cordon is worn by ecclesiastical members over the left shoulder with the cross resting on the right hip. Regular grand cross members wear theirs over the right shoulder and resting on the left hip, as they were originally patterned after a sword belt. Priests, not wearing a sword, wore it on the opposite shoulder to show their peaceful calling. (Note: the cordon or sash worn in the below photo by the Grand Prior is worn in the conventional way, and not the way our own Order's sash is worn by priests. Only one sash at a time is permitted under the rules of the Court of Saint James).

Generally, ecclesiastical members do not wear miniatures in full clerical garb, but may in uniform or in a suit jacket worn over a clerical collared shirt.

I hope this is of assistance.

Confreres and Consoeurs,

I will also post a general link regarding the wearing of orders and decorations generally conforming to the rules of the Court of St James, which we generally follow. It is a useful guide to the wearing of decorations in various types of dress and for different occasions.

It is available as a PDF download (1.8 MB) from the office of the Governor General of Canada here: http://www.gg.ca/honours/pdf/wearing_e.pdf

Your Excellency,

Thank you for the clarifications and for the illustrations. Is the embroidered cross of the Order for a stole available through some source?

In Fraternitas,

Bishop +Kyrill, KJ