The Grand Master's visits - Fall 2017
Around 40 new members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre received investiture on September 30 in Bordeaux, including Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, archbishop of the diocese that hosted these celebrations of the Lieutenancy for France. Several hundred Dames and Knights gathered around Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, Grand Master of the Order, and Msgr. Bernard-Nicolas Aubertin, currently in charge of the Lieutenancy.
After having celebrated the Investiture ceremonies at Valletta (Lieutenancy for Malta) on September 22-23 and Bordeaux (Lieutenancy for France) from September 29 to October 1, the Grand Master Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, went to Echternach from 20 to 21 October for the Investiture of the Lieutenancy for Luxembourg.
A few days later, members of the Grand Magisterium gathered in Rome for their usual autumn meeting chaired by His Eminence. The Grand Magisterium meeting was also an opportunity to mark together one of the most important celebrations of the Order, the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary Queen of Palestine, for which the most beloved friends of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre joined the Grand Master at the Palazzo della Rovere, headquarters of the Grand Magisterium, just a few steps from the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome, where on the morning of the 25th of October Mass was celebrated in honor of the Patroness of the Order.
At the end of October, Cardinal O’Brien returned to the United States to celebrate US Middle Atlantic Investitures in Baltimore. Before being called to Rome to lead the Order of the Holy Sepulchre the Grand Master was the Archbishop of Baltimore.
The last appointments of the year see the Grand Master engaged in Europe and Central America to preside at the Investiture ceremonies for new members of the Order: in Gibraltar (November 18-19) and Mexico City (December 1).
(Fall 2017)