Order of Saint Lazarus

''This article concerns the former religious, catholic-founded order of knighthood. For other uses of the name Lazarus, see Lazarus (disambiguation).''

The Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem originated in a leper hospital run by hospitaller brothers founded in the twelfth century by the crusaders of the Latin Kingdom. It was originally set up to treat virulent diseases such as leprosy.

Today, a modern self-styled revival of the Order is engaged in a major charitable program to revive Christianity in Eastern Europe. Millions of dollars worth of food, clothing, medical equipment and supplies have been distributed in Poland, Hungary, Romania and Croatia. Because of this experience, the European Community commissioned the Order to transport more than 1.5 billion dollars in food to the hungry in Russia, resulting in new laurels for the Lazarus volunteers.

History
Even before the twelfth century there were leper hospitals in the Near East, of which the Knights of St. Lazarus claimed to be the continuation, in order to have the appearance of remote antiquity and to pass as the oldest of all orders. But this pretension is apocryphal. These eastern leper hospitals followed the Rule of Saint Basil, while that of Jerusalem adopted the hospital Rule of St. Augustine in use in the West. The Order of Saint Lazarus was indeed purely an order of hospitaller monks from the beginning, as was that of St. John, but without encroaching on the field of the latter. Because of its special aim, it had quite a different organisation. The patients of St. John were merely visitors, and changed constantly; the lepers of St. Lazarus on the contrary were condemned to perpetual seclusion. In return they were regarded as brothers or sisters of the house which sheltered them, and they obeyed the common rule which united them with their religious guardians. In some leper hospitals of the Middle Ages even the master had to be chosen from among the lepers. It is not proved, though it has been asserted, that this was the case at Jerusalem.

The Middle Ages surrounded with a touching pity these the greatest of all unfortunates, these miselli, as they were called. From the time of the crusades, with the spread of leprosy, leper hospitals became very numerous throughout Europe, so that at the death of St. Louis there were eight hundred in France alone.

However, these houses did not form a congregation; each house was autonomous, and supported to a great extent by the lepers themselves, who were obliged when entering to bring with them their belongings, and who at their death willed their goods to the institution if they had no children. Many of these houses bore the name of St. Lazarus, from which, however, no dependence whatever on St. Lazarus of Jerusalem is to be inferred. The most famous, St. Lazarus of Paris, depended solely and directly on the bishop of that city, and was a mere priory when it was given by the archbishop to the missionaries of St Vincent de Paul, who have retained the name of Lazarists (1632).

The Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem is believed to have become a military order in c. 1123. It is known that a contingent of Lazar brethren were present at La Forbie, and in 1253 they were part of the army under St Louis. In 1291 25 brethren were present at Acre, all being killed. It is believed the Order ceased military activities from the early 14th century

The house at Jerusalem owed to the general interest devoted to the holy places in the Middle Ages a rapid and substantial growth in goods and privileges of every kind. It was endowed not only by the sovereigns of the Latin realm, but by all the states of Europe. Louis VII, on his return from the Second Crusade, gave it the Château of Boigny, near Orléans (1154). This example was followed by Henry II of England, and by Emperor Frederick II. This was the origin of the military commanderies whose contributions, called responsions, flowed into Jerusalem, swollen by the collections which the hospital was authorized to make in Europe.

The popes for their part were not sparing of their favours. Alexander IV recognized its existence under the Rule of St. Augustine (1255). Urban IV assured it the same immunities as were granted to the monastic orders (1262). Clement IV obliged the secular clergy to confine all lepers whatsoever, men or women, clerics or laymen, religious or secular, in the houses of this order (1265).

At the time these favours were granted, Jerusalem had fallen again into the hands of the Muslims. St. Lazarus, although still called "of Jerusalem", had been transferred to Acre, where it had been ceded territory by the Templars (1240), and where it received the confirmation of its privileges by Urban IV (1264).

It was at this time also that the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem, following the example of the Order of St. John, armed combatants for the defence of the remaining possessions of the Christians in the near east. Their presence is mentioned without further detail at the Battle of La Forbie against the Khwarezmians in 1244, and at the final siege of Acre in 1291.

As a result of this catastrophe the leper hospital of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem disappeared; however, its commanderies in Europe, together with their revenues, continued to exist, but hospitality was no longer practised. The order ceased to be an order of hospitallers and became purely military. The knights who resided in these commanderies had no tasks. Things remained in this condition until the pontificate of Innocent VIII, who suppressed this order and transferred its possessions to the Knights of St. John (1490), which transfer was renewed by Pope Julius II (1505). But the Order of St. John never came into possession of this property except in Germany. The Papal Bull to this effect could not be enforced owing to the sovereign tradition of these orders. This action resulted, however, in splitting the Order into two major branches, that under the rule of the preceptory at Boigny and the other under the authority of the priory at Capua.

In France, Francis I, to whom the Concordat of Leo X (1519) had resigned the nomination to the greater number of ecclesiastical benefices, evaded the Bull of suppression by conferring the commanderies of St. Lazarus on Knights of the Order of St. John. The last named vainly claimed the possession of these goods. Their claim was rejected by the Parliament of Paris (1547).

Leo X himself disregarded the value of this Bull by re-establishing Order of St. Lazarus, (1517)

Pius IV went further; he annulled the Bulls of his predecessors and restored its possessions to the order that he might give the mastership to a favourite, Giovanni de Castiglione (1565). But the latter did not succeed in securing the devolution of the commanderies in France. Pius V codified the statutes and privileges of the order, but reserved to himself the right to confirm the appointment of the Grand Master as well as of the beneficiaries (1567). He made an attempt to restore to the order its hospitaller character, by incorporating with it all the leper hospitals and other houses founded under the patronage of St Lazarus of the Lepers. But this tardy reform was rendered useless by the subsequent gradual disappearance of leprosy in Europe.

Finally, the grand mastership of the order having been rendered vacant in 1572 by the death of Castiglione, Pope Gregory XIII united it in perpetuity with the Crown of Savoy. The reigning duke, Philibert III, hastened to fuse it with the recently founded Savoyan Order of St. Maurice, and thenceforth the title of Grand Master of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus was hereditary in that house. The pope gave him authority over the vacant commanderies everywhere, except in the states of the King of Spain, which included the greater part of Italy. In England and Germany these commanderies had been suppressed by Protestantism. France remained, but it was refractory to the claims of the Duke of Savoy. Some years later King Henry IV, having founded with the approbation of Paul V (1609) the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, hastened in turn to unite to it the Knights of St. Lazarus obedient to French mastership, and such is the origin of the title of "Knight of the Royal Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Knight of the Military and Hospitaller Order St. Lazarus of Jerusalem", which carried with it the enjoyment of a benefice. The King of France was the sovereign head of the Royal Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and protector the Military and Hospitaller Order St. Lazarus of Jerusalem and chose the Grand Master (Concordat 1519). During the reign of Louis XVI the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, not the combined orders, was awarded only to the top three students of the Royal Military School. The orders were separate though they shared the same Grand Master. Although the Order enjoyed a unique relationship with the French Royal House and was officially under the protection of the King of France, it was never a Royal Order.The King's titles as Sovereign, Founder and Protector meant that he was Sovereign and Founder of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Protector of Saint Lazarus. During the French Revolution. a decree of 30 July 1791 suppressed all royal and knightly orders. Another decree the following year confiscated all the Order's properties (the Château de Boigny, the Military Academy, the commanderies and hospitals). Louis, count of Provence, Grand Master of the Order, who later became Louis XVIII, continued to function in exile and awarded the Order, though sparingly. While in exile in the Polish province of Mitawa, where the Grand Master was living in 1800, he awarded the Order to Tsars Paul I and Alexander I of Russia, Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, count Rostopchine, General de Fersen and General Paul Osten Dreisen. When the Count of Provence returned to France from exile to reign as Louis XVIII, he gave up the magistracy of the Order and became Protector, as had his predecessors, but appointed no grand master. The Grand Chancery of the Legion of Honour issued a statement in 1824 to the effect that “..of the united Orders of Saint Lazarus and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the latter has not been awarded since 1788 and is allowed to extinguish itself”. King Henri V of France becomed Protector of the Saint Lazarus Order. The Order did not enjoy the protection of the new Louis-Philippe, king of French and from 1830 was governed by a Council of Officers. In 1831 the government of Louis-Philippe, suppressed United Orders of Saint Lazarus and Our Lady of Mount Carmel among others. The king could not ‘abolish’ the Order (anymore than could the National Assembly earlier), but under canon law it could only become extinct through lack of admissions through one hundred years after the death of its last member. The position of the Order after 1831 is in French Law it ceased to exist but, in Canon Law it continued to survive. Some publicists ignored admissions to the Order in exile by Grand Master Louis, Count of Provence, as so as protectional statements of the Greek Melchite Catholic Patriarchs of Antioch. They hold the view that this was possibly happened, and the end of the religious Order of Saint Lazarus was maked in 1957 after 100 years from dead of chevalier Antoine-François de Charry des Gouttes, Marquis des Gouttes (knighted in 1788).

To return to the dukes of Savoy: Clement VIII granted them the right to exact from ecclesiastical benefices pensions to the sum of four hundred crowns for the benefit of knights of the order, dispensing them from celibacy on condition that they should observe the statutes of the order and consecrate their arms to the defence of the Faith. Besides their commanderies the order had two houses where the knights might live in common, one of which, at Turin, was to contribute to combats on land, while the other, at Nice, had to provide galleys to fight the Turks at sea. But when thus reduced to the states of the Duke of Savoy, the order merely vegetated until the French Revolution, which suppressed it. In 1816 the King of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel I, re-established the titles of Knight and Commander of Sts. Maurice and Lazarus, as simple decorations, accessible without conditions of birth to both civilians and military men.

Revival
Lazarites claim that in 1841, the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem requested the protection of the Greek Melchite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, Maximos III Mazlûm, and petitioned he become their Spiritual Protector; he reportedly accepted, both for himself and his successors. There is no reliable documentation of this event. Eastern Patriarchs, whether autonomous or in union with the Roman Church, always refer to their patriarchate or religious jurisdiction as ‘a nation’. Arab Sovereigns and Princes accord to them the status of a Head of State, though may be seen in the light of political expediency, as an Islamic ruler cannot accord any honour to the leader of another religion.

In 1910, the Greek Melchite patriarch of Jerusalem had just been forced to resign as Grand Master of the Supreme Militia of Jesus Christ. This organization had started in 1870 as a group of former soldiers in the Papal army, discharged after the capture of Rome by Italy. In the mid-1880s, the association tried to turn itself into an order of chivalry; rebuked by the Dominicans to which they were initially connected, they turned in 1900 to the Greek Melchite patriarch of Jerusalem. A stern warning from the Pope quickly convinced the patriarch to resign the Grand-Mastership (to use the terms of Bertrand). Then, according to the official historians of the revived order, in 1910, the Patriarch asked "the almoner of the Order of Saint Lazarus", a Polish chaplain named Tansky, living in Paris since 1870, to revive the order; the chaplain being also a member of the Militia of Jesus-Christ, got in touch with a fellow member of that Supreme Militia, a Frenchman by the name of Paul Watrin, who is made "Chancellor" of the Order. Watrin is also a key public figure in the revival. 

The self-styled order's activities were suspended in 1914, perhaps due World War I. Possibly, because Moser and an accomplice named Hans Branco were both arrested in Paris for trafficking in false orders and decorations. Moser had apparently gone too far and started selling fake Legion of Honor medals. He was sentenced to 4 months in jail, after which he returned to Berlin, and committed suicide in 1928. The offices of the Société were searched by the police and many counterfeit diplomas, crosses and various insignia were found. This may have put a damper on the Order of Saint Lazarus. Eight years later, Fritz Hahn alias Guigues de Champvaus was jailed in 1936 in Paris for illegal sale of order and decorations. 

In June 1933, the Duke of Seville, who had fled Republican Spain, was hosted at a dinner at the Hotel Iena in Paris. To replace the publication La Science Historique, a new periodical appeared in April 1933 under the editorship of Paul Bertrand, La Vie Chevaleresque, as the official mouthpiece of the order. The new periodical chronicles the fabulous expansion of the order. In December 1935, the Duke of Seville was elected Grand-Master of the order. Presumably, the duke's royal connections (he is a member of the extended Spanish royal family) impresses Spanish-speaking applicants, and the order became linked with a number of Latin American diplomats in Paris. Otzenberger was made consul of the Dominican Republic in Mulhouse.

The order's ideological slant was quite visibly inherited from Watrin's original legitimism: the Duke of Seville himself is a colonel in the fascist Falangistas. The distribution of crosses confirms the political inclination: between 1933 and 1936, the following individuals become members: Francisco Franco (dictator of Spain 1936-75), Carol II of Romania (king/dictator of Romania 1930-40), Rafael Trujillo (dictator of the Dominican Republic 1930-52), Fulgencio Batista (dictator of Cuba 1933-44, 1952-59), Getulio Vargas (dictator of Brazil 1930-45), and a few other presidents of Latin American countries (Argentina, Peru, Honduras, Guatemala). Whether all of these distinguished gentlemen were actually aware of their membership is not quite clear: the order occasionally bestowed its cross on unsuspecting individuals, as happened to the Mexican Marquis de Guadalupe, whose protestations were obviously ignored. 

Recent years
Don Francisco de Borbon y Escasany, 5th Duke of Seville and Grandee of Spain is present Grand Master and His Beatitude Melkite-Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III Laham of Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch and all the East is Spiritual Protector of the Order of St Lazarus. In recent years the expansion of the Order and its humanitarian activities have taken a new direction. Aid to the handicapped, the sick and to the aged has been added to the Order's pursuit of its traditional mission in the field of leprosy. The primary purpose and activity of the Order is, and always has been, charity. Primarily, St. Lazarus has been world renown as a Hospitaller Order in that its works have always been associated with medical care, primarily through the operation of medical facilities such as hospitals and clinics.

With the personal encouragement of Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Macharski of Krakow, the Grand Priory of Austria, under Archduke Leopold of Austria and Dr. Heinz Peter Baron von Slatin, and their Referendary Prof. Franz Josef Federsel, had constructed the first Polish Hospice for the terminally ill in Poland, the St. Lazarus Hospice, in Nowa Huta the American Grand Priory providing substantial financial assistance to this project. For a number of years, the organization has been at the forefront of charitable and humanitarian projects supported by Pope John Paul II, and they were specifically singled out by him for their praiseworthy chivalric activities. Pope John Paul II, joined by members of the College of Cardinals, has on more than one occasion invited a group of people collectively as members of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem to his private apartments in the Vatican, has celebrated Holy Mass with them in his private chapel, and continues to encourage them to undertake charitable projects which he monitors personally. The Grand Priory of France and the European Humanitarian Grand Priory (Lazarus-Hilfswerk)supported by the Grand Priory America were particularly active in initiating the relief programmes of the Order in Croatia. The Order strongly backed the relief missions of the Grand Hospitaller throughout Eastern Europe. The trucks, trailers, field kitchens and jeeps that were provided by the Order for service in Croatia. They have continued to be used by the Order’s members and the charitable arm of the church for humanitarian purposes only, and they remain the property of the Order. During the Winter of 1991/92, the European Community in Brussels earmarked US$ 125 million-worth of aid for food for the starving population in Russia. Transport and distribution were to be provided by organisations chosen by the European Community. Apart from the humanitarian aspects, it is a fact that this aid programme also prevented large scale social unrest and political instability in urban centres. Of this sum the European Community allocated half to the International Red Cross, and half to the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem as represented by the Lazarus-Hilfswerk. For this purpose the Order set up three centres, in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Novgorod from which they operated their distribution system. A letter from H.I.R.H. Archduke Dr. Otto von Habsburg, signed in his capacity as a Member of the European Parliament and addressed to the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem testifies to the high esteem in which the St. Lazarus and his work are held by the European Parliament. These jurisdictions have also spent substantial amounts of their own money on charitable works and projects close to the heart of Pope John Paul II, the Polish and other Eastern European members of the College of Cardinals and the Polish and Eastern European Episcopate, as well as in other areas of activity. For example, the Canadian Grand Priory works extensively in the field of Hansen’s Disease (leprosy), both in the areas of research and of support services. In this and other fields, the Canadian Grand Priory has worked closely with the Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem, and many of the officers of the Grand Priory of the Order of St. Lazarus are also officers in the St. John Order. Similarly, Grand Priories in New Zealand and Australia have been providing support for the victims of Hansen's Disease in their own countries and the islands of Oceania. When faced with the task of assessing meritorious, chivalrous work on a vast scale instead of simply writing about a Catholic-founded Order of Knighthood in the context of other Orders, there is a danger of compiling an activity report rather than keeping strictly to the criteria upon which the book is based. However, very rarely something catches one’s attention which seems to be so small, but in reality symbolises all that chivalry is about. It's been learned incidentally that part of the contribution several Commanderies of the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem expect their members to make are twelve full days a year given free of charge to work in hospitals and institutions which cater for the mentally or physically sick, the hungry and the needy, or do social work that benefits those who need help. I was particularly impressed by the activities of the nine members of the Order in Liechtenstein: they set up in 1990 an emergency telephone helpline for the children of the Principality, ‘Sorgen-Telefon für Kinder in Liechtenstein’. They give their time freely, answering calls in rotation twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, throughout the year. Posters about this service are displayed in schools, and stickers are displayed in telephone booths and public places throughout the Principality. The members have been professionally trained as counsellors for this particular task, and they receive well over 300 calls from children every year out of a population of 30,000. Other jurisdictions of the Order in Europe, South America and Africa are active in charitable activities, and the work of the Order in such countries as South Africa and Zimbabwe is remarkable, and some European Grand Priories still work as hospitallers in the way that members of the Order did in the early years of its existence, much of their work still concerned with fighting leprosy Others, such as France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Bohemia, assist the Grand Hospitaller in relief work for the hungry and needy in several Eastern European countries. In New Zealand the Order is directly involved in Pacific-area programs against leprosy and donates medical supplies to various island leprosaria. The Grand Priory of Finland operates a Special Volunteer Ambulance Corps for young drug addicts and directly supports a medical and religious mission in Mugaea, Kenya. The Grand Bailiwick of Austria also operates a Volunteer Ambulance Corps which is officially recognised by the government as an alternative to compulsory military service. Support for disabled people, the sick and the aged as well as for refugees is provided. The Grand Priory of Alsace supports various dispensaries in Cameroon as well as a leprosarium. The Commandery of Slovakia operates International Green Cross Organization (IGCO) with their Green Cross Ambulances in Bavaria and Romania. For the past 12 years the IGCO First Aid Training Division, alone in Slovakia, trained several thousand First Responders and Crime Prevention Practitioners. The Hungarian Priory supports people without lodging and earnings. The Grand Bailiwick of England is raising funds in support of research into the early diagnosis of malignant melanoma, leprosaria in Kenya, and currently the Kosovo Appeal. The Grand Bailiwick of the United States is donating health professions scholarships (physician's assistant and nursing), supporting leprosaria (Mexico, Kenya) and an ambulance/children's hospital program in Romania, assisting the American Organ and Tissue Donation Program and giving financial assistance to Christian churches of various denominations. The German Commandery of Berlin-Brandenburg gives medical aid for the population of Benin, Croatia, Hungary, Russia and Slovenia and relief for people without lodging in Berlin. Maltese members are supporting charities around Malta, also leprosaria (Kenya, Tanzania) and a medical clinic (Bethlehem, Holy Land). The Commandery of New Caledonia is giving material and moral support to persons in need and collecting drugs and other medical items, in particular for hospitals and dispensaries of underprivileged Pacific islands. This is an impressive list of charitable activities, and equally impressive are the official acknowledgements of gratitude from governments and especially the Headquarters of the European Community in Brussels.

For a number of years, the organisation has been at the forefront of charitable and humanitarian projects supported by Pope John Paul II, and they were specifically singled out by him for their praiseworthy chivalric activities. As the Supreme Pontiff, John Paul II, joined by members of the College of Cardinals, has on more than one occasion invited a group of people collectively as members of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem to his private apartments in the Vatican, has celebrated Holy Mass with them in his private chapel, and continues to encourage them to undertake charitable projects which he monitors personally. (However, the Vatican has not recognized the Lazarites as a legitimate order of chivalry.)

Protections
Today the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem is split into three main branches. There is the branch that enjoys the Spiritual Protection by the east-catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem H.B. Gregory III Laham, also the 172nd Patriarch of Antioch since Saint Peter. There is the branch that has aligned itself with the French House of Bourbon Crown of France in the person of Henri, Comte de Paris, Duc de France, Head of the Royal House of France, enjoys the Spiritual Protection by H.E. László Cardinal Paskai OFM, Primate of Hungary. Finally there is a branch headquartered in the United Kingdom called the United Grand Priories of the Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem - that has no royal allegiance and is run by a Master General.

Protectors/Grand masters/Administrators
Protectors in Near East - Apocryphal
 * Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea (329 - 379) - Apocryphal Father of St. Lazarus Order
 * Saint John the Almoner, Melkite Patriarch of Alexandria (... 606 - 616/620?)

Protectors in Jerusalem - Melkite Patriarchs of Jerusalem (VII c. - 1054) - Apocryphal
 * Anastasius II (???-706)
 * John V (706-735)
 * Theodore (745-770)
 * Elias II (770-797)
 * George (797-807)
 * Thomas I (807-820)
 * Basileus (820-838)
 * John VI (838-842)
 * Sergius I (842-844)
 * Solomon (855-860)
 * Theodosius (862-878)
 * Elias III (878-907)
 * Sergius II (908-911)
 * Leontius I (912-929)
 * Athanasius I (929-937)
 * Christodolus (937-950)
 * Agathon (950-964)
 * John VII (964-966)
 * Christodolus II (966-969)
 * Thomas II (969-978)
 * Joseph II (980-[[983)
 * Orestes (983-1005)
 * Theophilus I (1012-1020)
 * Nicephorus I (1020-???)
 * Joannichius (???-???)
 * Sophronius II (???-1084)
 * Theodosius (1084)

Master Generals in the Holy Land - Jerusalem
 * Blessed Gerard de Martigues (108? - 1098)
 * Boyant Roger (1120 - 1131)
 * Jean (... 1131 ...)
 * Barthélémy (... 1153 ...)
 * Itier (... 1154 ...)
 * Hugues de Saint-Pol (... 1155 ...)
 * Blessed Raymond du Puy (1157 - 1159)
 * Rainier (... 1164 ...)
 * Raymond (... 1168 ...)
 * Gérard de Monclar (... 1169 ...)
 * Bernard (1185 - 1186)

Master Generals in the Holy Land - Acre


 * Gautier de Neufchâtel or de Châteneuf (... 1228 ...) - Master General
 * Raynaud de Flory (1234 - 1254)
 * Jean de Meaux (1256 - ?1276) - General-Preceptor
 * Thomas de Sainville (1277 - 1281) - Master General

Master-Generals in Boigny, France
 * Thomas de Sainville (1281 - 1312) - Master General
 * Adam de Veau (... 1314 ...)
 * Jean de Paris (1342 - 1349)
 * Jean de Coaraze (... 1354 ...)
 * Jean le Conte (... 1355 ...)
 * Jacques de Besnes alias de Baynes (1368 - 1384)
 * Pierre des Ruaux (1413 - 1454)
 * Guillaume des Mares (... 1460 ...)
 * Jean le Cornu (1469 - 1493)
 * François d'Amboise (1493 - 1500)
 * Agnan de Mareuil (1500 - 1519)
 * François de Bourbon, count of Saint-Pol (1519 - 1521) - Commander of Boigny
 * Claude de Mareuil (1521 - 1524)
 * Jean Conti (1524 - 1557)
 * Jean de Levis (1557 - 1564)

Master-Generals in Capua, Italy
 * Angelus de Raimo (?) (...1226...) - Master
 * Alfonso de Azzia (...1327...) - Master
 * Simon de Aqua Mundula (...1329...) - Master
 * Santiago de Azzia (...1347...) - Master
 * Guillermo (...1366...) - Master
 * Santiago de Benuto (1426-1440) - Master
 * Giacomo del Balzo (...1460...) - Master
 * Santiago de Azzia (1468-1498) - Master
 * Santiago Antonio de Azzia (1498-1522) - Master
 * Alfonso de Azzia (1522-1548) - Master
 * Muzzio d’Azzia (1548-1564) - Master
 * Giannotto Castiglione (1565-1572) - Master General
 * Philibert Emmanuel, duke of Savoy (1572) - united Italian branch of the Order to his dynastic Order of St Maurice, then created new Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus

Grand Masters in Boigny - under protection of French Crown
 * Michel de Seure (1564 - 1578)
 * François Salvati (1578 - 1586)
 * Michel de Seure (1586 - 1593)
 * Armand de Clermont de Chastes (1593 - 1603)
 * Hughes Catelan de Castelmore (..1603..)
 * Charles de Gayand de Monterolles (1603 - 1604)
 * Philibert marquess of Nérestang (1604 - 1620)
 * Claude marquess of Nérestang (1620 - 1639)
 * Charles marquess of Nérestang (1639 - 1644)
 * Charles-Achille marquess of Nérestang (1645 - 1673)
 * François-Michel le Tellier, marquess of Louvois (Vicar General 1673 - 1691)
 * Philippe de Courcillon, marquess of Dangeau (1693 - 1720)
 * Louis d’Orleans, duke of Chartres, next of Orleans (1720 - 1752)
 * Louis de France, duke of Berry (1757 - 1773)
 * Louis Stanislas Xavier de France, count of Provence (1773 - 1814)

Interregnum
 * Claud Louis, prince of La Châtre - (General-Administrator 1814 - 1824)
 * Jean-Louis de Beaumont, marquess of Autichamp (President of the Council of Officers 1824 - 1831)
 * Council of Officers (1831 - 1841) - Father Picot; Joseph-Bon, baron of Dacier 1831-1833; Auguste-Francois, baron of Silvestre

French and Spanish obediences - under protection and administration of Melkite-Greek Catholic Patriarchs
 * Patriarch Maximos III. Mazloum (General-Administrator 1841 - 1855)
 * Patriarch Gregorios I. Youssef (General-Administrator 1864 - 1897)
 * Patriarch Peter IV. Geraigiri (General-Administrator 1898 - 1902)
 * Patriarch Ciril VIII. Ghea (General-Administrator 1902 - 1910)
 * Council of Officers under the protectorate of Patriarch Ciril VIII (1910 - 1926), and Patriarch Ciril IX (1926 - 1930)
 * Francisco de Paula de Borbon y de la Torre, duke of Seville, grand of Spain (1930-1952)
 * Francisco de Paula Henry de Borbon y de Borbon, duke of Seville, grand of Spain (1952-1967)

French obedience
 * Charles Philippe d'Orléans, duke of Alençon, Vendôme and Nemours, prince of Bourbon-Orléans, Premier Prince du Sang (1967-1969)

Malta obedience - under the temporal protection of Kingdom of Spain
 * Francisco de Paula Henri de Borbon y de Borbon, duke of Seville, grand of Spain (1972-1995)
 * Francisco de Paula de Borbon y Escasany, duke of Seville, grand of Spain (1995-2004)

Paris obedience
 * Pierre de Cossé, duke of Brissac (1969-1986)
 * François de Cossé, marquess and duke of Brissac (1986-2004) - Supreme Head

Malta and Paris obediences - Spanish Allegiance branch - under the temporal protection of Kingdom of Spain and the spiritual protection of Melkite-Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III Laham of Jerusalem
 * Francisco de Paula de Borbon y Escasany, duke of Seville, Grand of Spain (Grandmaster Elect 2004 - ...) and François de Cossé, marquess and duke of Brissac (Acting Grandmaster 2004 - ...)

Malta and Boigny obediences - French Allegiance branch - under the temporal protection of H.R.H. Henry, count of Paris, duke de France, Henri VII as the Orleanist to the throne of France
 * Charles Philippe d'Orléans, prince of Bourbon-Orléans, orleanist duke of Anjou (Grandmaster Boigny Obedience; Titular Head Malta Obedience 2004 - ...)

The United Grand Priories of the Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem
 * John von Hoff (1995 - ...)

The Constitutional Grand Priory of England & Wales under protection of Rt Hon. & M.Rev. Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
 * Robert Washington Shirley, 13th Earl Ferrers {2007 - ...) - Grand Prior;

List of other self-styled "Orders of Saint Lazarus"

 * Chapter of Knights Hospitaller of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem and Our Lady of Mercy – est. c.a. 1910 in Belgium by Jacoby Rotschild alias Jean-Joseph de Moser – disappeared c.a. 1928
 * Independent Grand Priory of Ukraine-Ruthenia - est. c.a 1980 by Alexis Brimeyer and self-styled orthodox bishop Michail
 * Independent Commandery of Berlin-Ostleiben – est. in 80-ies by Prince Waldeck and Pyrmont
 * Ordre de la Résurrection de Saint-Lazare - est. c.a. 2000 in Canada
 * Pannonian Soverign Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem, PANNSOV - est. 2004 by dr Allan Inovius from Hungary