ST. MICHAEL AND ST. GEORGE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIX, Issue 111, 14 May 1906, Page 4

ST. MICHAEL AND ST. GEORGE.

The announcement that the Knights of St. Michael and St. George aro to have a special chapel in St. Paul's Cathedral (referred to in a recent cablegram) has given universal satisfaction to the members of the order. For a long time it has been felt that the knights of tho distinguished order were worthy of an ecclesiastical home of their own. That they are to find a home for their insignia in the great metropolitan cathedral is particularly appropriate, as they are all men who have won their spurs by distinguished service for tho Empire in tho colonies. From an Imperial point of view it is distinctly interesting to recall the origin of the order, which was founded in 1818. Its pui'poso was to commemorate the placing of the lonian Islands and Malta under the protection of Great Britain. Its membership was limited at first to natives of those islands, and to '• subjects of His Majesty as might hold high and confidential positions in the Meditteranean." Now the scope of the order embraces the whole of tho Colonial Empire, and the Sovereign is its most distinguished member. The spot in St. Paul's Cathedral which has been set aside for the use of the order is the south-west, or Wellington, chapel, which has been undergoing considerable alteration to fit it for its new mission, Of the ecclesiastical homes of the various orders of knighthood that of tho Garter is St. George's Chapel, Windsor, where every knight has a stall, ever which are hung his sword, helmet, tresti, and banner. The chapel of the Knights of Che Thistle is at Holyrood. The origin of the order is said to have been the vision of a bright cross in the heavens seen by Achaius, King of the Scots, and Hungus, King of the Picts, as they were engaged in prayer on the night before their battle with Athelstan of England. The Knights of the Bath, who were formerly installed in their order with ablutions attended by great ceremony, have their chapel in Westminster. The Knights of St. Patrick stand in the sad position of having lost their ecclesiastical home, for the religious ceremony which formerly attended their investiture was abolished with the disestablishment of the Irish Church.