Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The official arrival of the Franciscan Friars Minor in Syria dates from the Bull addressed by Pope Gregory IX to the clergy of Palestine in 1230, charging them to welcome the Friars Minor, and to allow them to preach to the faithful and hold oratories and cemeteries of their own. In the ten years' truce of 1229 concluded between Frederick II of Sicily and the sultan Al-Kamil, the Franciscans were permitted to enter Jerusalem, but they were also the first victims of the violent invasion of the Khwarezmians in 1244. Nevertheless, the Franciscan province of Syria continued to exist, with Acre as its seat.

The monks quickly resumed possession of their convent of Mount Sion at Jerusalem. The Turks tolerated the veneration paid to the tomb of Christ and derived revenue from the taxes levied upon pilgrims. In 1342, in his Bull Gratiam agimus, Pope Clement VI officially committed the care of the Holy Land to the Franciscans. (The restoration of a Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem by Pius IX in 1847 superseded the Franciscans.) Consequently, as early as 1336, the Franciscans were enrolling applicants among the lay confraternity of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, in ceremonies frequently mentioned in the itineraries of pilgrims.

In the early stages of development, the confraternity was not an order composed of religious, since it had no monastic rule, and until 1847, no regular organization, nor community of goods. It is possible that where mention is made of the "possessions of the Holy Sepulchre", the allusion is to the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre who had convents in various lands, and not to the knights. By the time of Franciscan control, however, the Order's character as a confraternity was well established, based on centuries of church tradition and papal recognition.

Those pilgrims deemed worthy of the honor were received into this confraternity with an elaborate ceremonial of ancient chivalry, although, in the early years, fundamental rules of the institution were not always observed. In point of fact all classes of society were represented in these pilgrimages. In the ceremonial of reception, the role of the clergy was limited to the benedictio militis, the dubbing with the sword being reserved to a professional knight, since the carrying of the sword was incompatible with the sacerdotal character.

From 1480 to 1495, there was in Jerusalem a German knight, John of Prussia, who acted as steward for the convent and regularly discharged this act reserved to knighthood. It was also of frequent occurrence that a foreign knight, present among the crowds of pilgrims, would assist at this ceremony. However, in default of other assistance, it was the superior who had to act instead of a knight, although such a course was deemed irregular, It was since then also that the superior of the convent assumed the title of Grand Master, a title which has been acknowledged by various pontifical diplomas, and finally by a Bull of Benedict XIV dated 1746.