Order of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star
Order of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star, its full title being “Ordo militaris Crucigerorum cum rubea stella in pede pontis Pragensis” (abbreviated as O.Cr. ) also known as “Ordo Sacrorum ac militarium Crucigerorum cum rubea stella” (abbreviated as O.Crurig.) is a unique men only order that is exclusively of Czech origin. It has always had its centre in Prague. It is only logical: it’s the Order of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star by the Foot of the Prague Bridge (Ordo militaris Crucigerorum cum rubea stella in pede pontis Pragensis) that became transformed from the Hospital Brotherhood founded by the St. Agnes of Bohemia (in 1233) that is interconnected with the Prague Bridge from its coming into existence. It was this order that was privileged to collect tolls on the bridge but also to take care of it eversince Wenceslas II’s rule and later on that of the House of Luxembourg.
The mission and importance of the Order of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star were dictated by the period in which the order came into existence and the personage of the saint Agnes Premyslid. This princess, daughter of Premysl Otakar I, lived between 1211 and 1282. The Czech historian Josef Pekař says that she was one of the noblest figures in the history of Bohemia. Inspired by the ideals of the reformist religious ideas of St. Francis of Assisi († 1226), Agnes decided to resign from secular life and put on the convent clothes. She wrote to St. Clara, to the focal points of the new religious movement in Italy, she was aware of her cousin St. Elizabeth of Hungary who founded a hospital in Marburg an der Lahn. This had impact on the spiritual growth of Agnes herself but also on the spread of the Franciscan ideals in Bohemia.
In 1231, Agnes resurfaces as a co-founder of two churches in Prague: in the Na Františku Street, then called the Czech Assissi. One of them was a convent of the Order of Poor Clare Sisters whose prioress Agnes became in 1234 and the monastery of Little Brothers – the Minorites. Part of the site, there used to be a hospital near the St. Hastal Church. Its focus was, however, much more versatile than today. Derived from Latin hospes (i.e. guest, traveller or foreigner), the word hospitale did not mean a place where exclusively the sick were taken care of but also travellers, homeless people, the poor or persecuted. Running the hospital was done by the layman brothers. The organisation of its life and activities were set up by rules of similar hospital brotherhoods of the so called orders of knights, such as e.g. Johannites – the Maltese Knights, the Knights Templar, orders of St. Lazarus and the Holy Spirit. On the request of Agnes to the Pope Gregory IX from 1237, the Prague hospital was promoted onto a sovereign order in the name of St. Augustin. To the red cross, the symbol of Christian charity, the six-pointed red star was added in 1252. With this sign, the Bohemian Order of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star was differed from the other hospital orders. Until now, it has remained the only regulated order of Czech origin and, at the same time, the only male order being founded by a woman. The mission of the order was fulfilled by the desire of the mediaeval man for the intermingling of the two ideals of the knightly life with the spiritual life. The main feature of the life of an order is the gracious love to man, who needs the help and fellowship of the others.
The first separate seats of the Knights of the Cross were the church and the St. Peter hospital in the Na poříčí Street, at the site of the later New Town of Prague. The building belongs to the best kept Roman basilicas of Prague. In 1252, the headquarters of the order was moved onto a crossroads on the right bank of the Vltava River, to the Judith Bridge. At the foot of the bridge, a new hospital to the Holy Spirit and the St. Francis Church were built. Both relate to the cradle of the Knights of the Cross order and the St. Agnes convent in the Na Františku Street. Today, at the site of the first little church, there is an early Baroque building from years 1679 – 1688, built on plans by an excellent architect Jean B. Mathey, decorated with frescos by V. V. Reiner and altar paintings by M. L. Willmann and K. Liška. The original Gothic convent did not disappear totally, though. Thanks to the gradual growth of the Old Town ground level, its basement found itself already four metres below the square level and it thus remained unharmed under the church. The lean black slate blocks bring proof of the work of one single stoneworks plant that built the church at the Na Františku Street. The interior was adapted into a burial chamber and a hospital chapel decorated in 1683 by artificial stalactites, the so called grottoes. The Baroque part of the convent near the St. Francis church stands on the Judith Bridge foundations. It was oriented towards North more. The main building, a late Art Nouveau one, comes from 1909-1912. Since 1990, it’s been the seat of the Order. It took up its spiritual legacy its founder saint, after four decades of being banned, where it left off and it renews its activity for you, as well.
The order attire in the Knights of the Cross consists of a black robe, decorated with two white ears on the collar, just like the secular clergy of old used to wear, and an eight-pointed red cross and a six-pointed red star.