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The Ceremonial of Ordination
Extracted
from the Pontifical of William Durand, bishop of Mende (c. 1295)
The
Blessing of The New Knight
1. The blessing of the new knight
proceeds in this manner. The Bishop, before the
reading of the Gospel, blesses his sword, saying:
2. Blessing of the sword. Grant,
we pray, O Lord, our prayers, and see fit to bless with the hand
of your majesty this sword with which your servant desires to be
girt, to the end that he may be a defender of the Church, of
widows, of orphans, and of all the servants of God, against the
cruelty of the pagans, and that he may be the terror and dread of
his other enemies, ensuring for him the performance of equitable
prosecution and just defense. Response: Amen.
3. Another blessing. Holy Lord,
Father Almighty, Eternal God, through the invocation of you holy
name and through the coming of Christ your son, our Lord, and
through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, bless this
sword, so that this man, your servant, who is girt today with it,
by favor of your benevolence, may trample underfoot his invisible
enemies and, gaining victory in all things, always remain safe
and sound.
4. At this point other blessing of arms
may be recited. Then, the arms having been blessed, before
he girds him with the sword, he first says:
5. Blessed be the Lord my God, who teacheth
my hands to fight, and my fingers to war. My mercy, and my
refuge: my support, and my deliverer:
My protector, and I
have hoped in him: who subdueth my people under me.
Lord, what is man,
that thou art made known to him? Or the Son of Man, that thou
makest account of Him?
And after the first three verses, with Gloria
Patri, he says: Keep safe your servant. Be to him, O
Lord, a tower. Hear our prayers, O Lord. The Lord be
with you. Let us pray.
6. O Lord, omnipotent father, external God,
who alone establish and lawfully rule the order of all things:
who to put down the malice of reprobates and to defend justice
have, by your beneficent disposition, permitted men on earth the
use of the sword, and have willed to institute a Chivalric Order
for the protection of the people: and who said by way of the
blessed John to the soldiers who came to him n the desert that
they should do violence to no man, but be content with their pay:
we humbly pray that, just as you granted to your child David the
power to vanquish Goliath, and as you caused Judas Machabeus to
triumph over the nations who did not call upon your name, so
grant, through your heavenly bounty, to this your servant, who
comes as a new recruit to put his neck under the military yoke,
the power and valor to defend the faith and justice, increase in
him faith, hope and charity, the fear as well as the love of God,
humility, perseverance, obedience and good patience, and direct
him lawfully in all things, so that he will never injure anyone
unjustly with this or any other sword, and so that he will defend
with it all just and lawful causes, and so that, just as he is
raised from an inferior station to the new honor of chivalry, so,
putting off the old man with this deeds, he will put on the new
man, to fear you and render you just worship, to avoid the
society of the wicked, to pour out his charity upon his neighbor,
to obey the articles of his oath lawfully in all things, and to
fulfill his office justly at all times. Through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Response: Amen.
7. After this the Bishop takes up the
unsheathed sword from the altar, and puts it in the knight’s
right hand, saying: Receive this sword, in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and use it for
your defense and that of the holy Church of God, and for the
confusion of the enemies of the Cross of Christ and of the
Christian faith and of the crown of the kingdom of England (or
other), and, insofar as human frailty permits you, injure no man
unjustly with it. May he consider you worthy of honor, who
with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns now and
forever. Response: Amen.
8. Next, when the sword has be
sheathed, he girds him with the sword and its sheath, saying: Gird
thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most mighty, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and remember that the saints have conquered
kingdoms not with the sword, but by faith.
9. When the sword has been thus
girt, the new knight draws it from its sheath, and manfully
brandishes it unsheathed three times and, after wiping it on his
arm, returns it quickly to its sheath.
10. Which is done, as a sign of the
knight’s chivalric character, the Bishop gives him the kiss
of peace, saying: As a knight, be peace-loving, active,
faithful, and dedicated to God.
11. Then he slaps him lightly on
the ear, saying: Awake from the sleep of malice, and be
vigilant n the faith of Christ, and keep a praiseworthy name.
Amen.
12. Then the nobles present put on
his spurs, where this is the custom, and the antiphon is sung: Thou
art beautiful above the sons of men; gird thy sword upon thy
thigh, O most mighty.
13. Prayer. Omnipotent God
eternal, pour out the grace of your blessing upon this your
servant [name], who desires to be girt with an honorable sword,
strengthen him with trust in the power of your right hand, and
protect him with heavenly hosts against every adversary, that he
never be disturbed by the tempests of war in this world.
14. Finally, the Bishop gives him
his standard, where it is the custom to do so.
The
Blessing of Arms
1. For the spurs. Bless, O Lord, these
spurs, that he to whose feet they are fitted, who is honored
today with the chivalric office, may, by treading evil underfoot,
attain eternal life.
2. For the shield. O Lord, we pray of
your mercy, that your servant, who recieves this shiedl in honor
of chivalry, may pass through this temportal world without losing
the eternal one.
3. For the Sword. O Lord, hear my prayer, and grant your servant, who is grit with this sword, that, in his defense of justice for the Church, for orphans, and for widows, he may so please you that on the Day of Judgement he will be found among the company of the just.