
Patronal Feasts & Saints

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Titular [Main] Feast of the Order (September 14) and the Finding of the Holy Cross (May 3)
​
While named for St. George, who is its principal major patron saint, the Constantinian Order’s most important feast day is September 14. The Order’s main spiritual emphasis has always been the Cross, the focal Object of Christ’s Passion and Death, following Constantine’s vision of the Cross before the Battle at the Milvian Bridge in 312. Celebrating the Exaltation or Triumph of the Cross, the September 14 commemoration’s origin is found in the rediscovery of the Holy Cross by St. Helen, Constantine’s mother (traditionally celebrated on May 3), the dedication of churches built by Constantine on the sites of Mount Calvary and the Holy Sepulcher, and the restoration of the Cross to Jerusalem in 629, after it had been taken by the Persians.
The Immaculate Conception, Principal Major Patroness of the Two Sicilies (December 8)
​
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was solemnly defined by now-Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1854, following his return from exile from Rome, during which he was hosted by the Bourbons, who were very devoted to the Immaculate Conception, already very popular throughout the Kingdom. It had been on the feast day in 1816 that the two kingdoms of Naples and Sicily were joined, and the Immaculate Conception declared Patroness of the Regno.
Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii, Principal Major Co-Patroness of the Order (May 8)
​
Now-Blessed Bartolo Longo had an image of Our Lady of the Rosary restored, after his return to the Faith, that had been originally in a junk shop and later in a convent, being told by the Mother Superior that it would be used to work many miracles. He built a magnificent church in Pompeii to house the painting, and countless extraordinary cures and heavenly favors soon began. The devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii spread quickly beyond the area of Naples, across the world. Under this title, the Blessed Virgin was later named Co-Patroness of the Order. Other Marian feasts traditionally kept by the Order, described in its old Statutes, were the Assumption (August 15) and the Nativity of Mary (September 8).
Saint Anthony the Abbot, Principal Minor Patron of the Order (January 17)
​
Over the centuries, the Constantinian Order came to especially honor St. Anthony the Abbot or St. Anthony of the Desert, who was eventually declared its principal minor patron. A church in Naples, named for him at its founding by King Robert in the Fourteenth Century was given to the long-defunct Order of Saint Anthony. In the 1770’s, it, along with the former Order’s other assets, was ceded by Pope Pius VI to the Constantinian Order, and it became the seat of the Constantinian Order and its principal conventual church. Wherever the Constantinian Order had a church or chapel, at least a side altar or shrine was always dedicated to the great Saint.
But St. Anthony’s veneration had spread centuries before this, throughout Italy thanks to the Basilian monks from the East, and others as well, and this took place across Europe in general. A strong devotion to the Saint and elaborate celebrations of his feast day, are found to this day in Italy, especially in the country’s southern half, the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Saint Basil, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Law Giver of the Order (January 2/June 14)
​
St. Basil the Great was born in 330 in Cappadocia, Asia Minor (today’s Turkey). Around 358, he began a monastic community to which he gave a rule of life, which was later adopted by the members of the Constantinian Order, still cited in the diploma of membership of the Order. A revered theologian and writer, he became bishop of Caesarea in 370. He died at the beginning of 379.
Saint Dismas the Good Thief, Principal Minor Patron of the Order (March 26)
St. Dismas, the Good Thief, was one of the two criminals crucified with Christ. He repented of his sins and asked the Lord to remember him when He came into His Kingdom, receiving assurance that he would be with the Lord in Paradise. He probably became a patron saint of the Order due to his close association with the Holy Cross, and in the Order has been commemorated on March 26, the day after not only the feast of the Annunciation but the traditional date of Good Friday.
Saint Francis of Paola, Principal Major Patron of the Two Sicilies (April 2)
​
St. Francis of Paola was born in the province of Cosenza in Calabria in 1416 and died in Tours, France in 1509. He was canonized only 12 years after his death. He became the Patron Saint of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1738, at the insistence of the people, many Sicilian bishops and King Charles of Bourbon. He is co-patron saint of Naples.
Saint George the Martyr, Principal Major Patron of the Order (April 23)
​
St. George the Martyr, one of the most popular saints of the early Church, was a native of Cappadocia, later serving in the Praetorian Guard. Martyred in Nicomedia around 303 due to his embrace of the Christian Faith, he is best known due to the famous legend of combating the dragon. A church was built in his honor in Lydda, Palestine, during the reign of Constantine, where his relics are enshrined. He was named the principal major patron saint of the Order at its foundation.
Saint Ferdinand III of Castille, Principal Minor Patron of the Order (May 30)
King Ferdinand IV of Naples (I of the Two Sicilies) named the Illustrious Royal Order of St. Ferdinand and Merit in honor of his patron Saint in 1800. St. Ferdinand, renowned for his defense of the Faith, had been a popular namesake among the royals since his death in 1252, and canonization in 1671.
Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Principal Minor Patron of the Order (August 1/2)
​
St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori was born in Marianella in the Kingdom of Naples in 1696. Initially a lawyer, he would go on to become a priest and later a bishop, founding a religious order known as the Redemptorists. He was a prolific author, musician and theologian. He died in 1787 in Nocera de’ Pagani, and was canonized in 1839, named a co-patron of the Two Sicilies, and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1871.
Saint Philomena, Virgin and Martyr, Secondary Patroness of the Two Sicilies (August 11/12)
​
The life of the Miracle Worker, St. Philomena, whose rediscovered relics had been transferred from Rome to Mugnano del Cardinale, a half-hour from Naples, was revealed to Sr. Maria Luisa of Jesus, a Neapolitan nun in 1833. Now-Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy and King Ferdinand of Bourbon-Two Sicilies visited her Shrine in Mugnano to pray in 1835. In 1854, St. Philomena was declared secondary patroness of the Two Sicilies by now-Blessed Pius IX (who himself had been cured through the Saint’s intercession, and visited the Shrine along with the Royal Family in 1849).
Saint Helen, Empress, Principal Minor Patroness of the Order (August 18)
Saint Helen, originally Greek, was Empress of the Roman Empire, and the mother of Constantine the Great, the Order’s namesake. During her later years, she set out on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where she discovered the True Cross, identified through a miraculous cure, as well as other Instruments of the Passion, now enshrined in Rome. Her feast is kept in the Latin Church on August 18, while she is venerated in the East along with her son as “Equal to the Apostles” on May 21.
Saint Rosalie, Virgin, Patroness of Palermo (September 4)
​
St. Rosalie was born in Palermo, Sicily to a noble family. She pledged to live totally dedicated to Christ, and became a hermit, first living in central Sicily and later on Mount Pellegrino in the island’s capital. Fading into obscurity after her death, her relics were rediscovered in 1624, with her veneration recognized the following year. She would become patroness of Palermo, and popularly-invoked as a protectress throughout the Two Sicilies.
Saint Januarius, Bishop and Martyr, Principal Minor Patron of the Order (September 19)
​
St. Januarius has been the patron saint of Naples for many centuries. His solidified blood liquefies on his annual feast day, September 19. Perhaps the most famous of miracles attributed to his intercession was the subsiding of an eruption of Mount Vesuvius during a procession in his honor in 1631. The feast of San Gennaro is the occasion for one of Italy’s largest patronal festivals, celebrated not only in Naples but by Neapolitan descendants around the world. A San Gennaro festival is held annually in New York’s Little Italy neighborhood.
Saint Michael the Archangel (May 8, September 29)
​
Devotion to the Prince of the Heavenly Host was codified in the old Statutes of the Order, to be expressed in prayer and other works, both on the feasts of his Apparition on Monte Sant’Angelo in Gargano, and the Dedication of his Basilica.
Saint Francis of Assisi, Religious (October 4)
Devotion to St. Francis of Assisi, one of the most popular saints of the universal Church, was prescribed in the old Statutes of the Order, as knights were instructed to meditate on the beloved Saint’s Stigmata during their daily prayers, associated with Christ’s Five Wounds endured during His Passion and Death on the Cross. St. Francis’ feast of October 4 was kept as one of the eight special days to be solemnly marked by veneration and works of piety.