Delegation of United States of America

On March 8, 2022, the esteemed Delegate of the American Delegation, H.E. Gr. Uff. John Viola together with the Vice Delegate, Comm. Avv. Patrick O’Boyle, visited on behalf of the entire Delegation, the Shrine of Our Lady of Zhyrovytsi at SS. Cyril and Methodius Church in Olyphant, Pennsylvania, where they brought flowers and prayed for peace in Ukraine. The American Delegation continues to actively participate in the fundraising appeal to benefit the affected population, launched by the Grand Master at the beginning of March.

The American Delegation of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George and the Royal Order of Francis I happily welcomed for the first time its new prior, His Grace Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, J.C.D., Metropolitan Archbishop of San Francisco and Ecclesiastical Knight Grand Cross of Grace of the Constantinian Order.

A Pontifical Mass at the Faldstool was celebrated for the External Solemnity of Saint Anthony the Abbot, the Principal Minor Patron of the Constantinian Order, on Sunday, January 16, 2022 at the Oratory of Saint Anthony of Padua in West Orange, New Jersey. The beautiful Mass, which began with the Labarum of the Order at the beginning of the procession, included the participation of various Ecclesiastical Knights of Grace as the ministers, and Knights as servers, of the Sacred Liturgy, as well as those assisting in choir, and many other knights in attendance. Besides these, also present were parishioners and visitors numbering in the hundreds to welcome the Archbishop, and to celebrate with, and learn more about, the Constantinian Order.

The American Prior preached a poignant homily with many references to the life and devotion to the Order’s Principal Minor Patron, and to the history and mission of the Constantinian Order. At the end of the Mass, the traditional antiphon and collect for the Grand Master, His Royal Highness Prince Charles of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, were sung in Gregorian Chant (sung in the past after every Solemn Mass in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies).

Following the Pontifical, a Pranzo Costantiniano dinner followed at a nearby restaurant. Beginning with the National Anthems of the United States and the Two Sicilies (Inno al Re by Paisiello), a message sent by the Grand Master for the special occasion was read. The program continued with a traditional southern Italian Sunday meal, with musical entertainment provided by members of a local mandolin orchestra that performed beloved melodies of meridional Italy, especially Naples. Besides the toasts led by the Delegate and Vice Delegate respectively, remarks followed made by the same and the Delegation’s Executive Director, and in conclusion, a moving address and blessing by the new Prior. After the inability to gather in a significant number for almost two years due to pandemic-related restrictions, members of the Delegation were very happy to welcome their new Prior and to again celebrate together as a Constantinian family.

A group (limited in size because of the pandemic) of knights and dames representing the American Delegation of the Constantinian Order participated at the Installation Mass of Bishop Robert Brennan as the new bishop of Brooklyn, on the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, Tuesday, November 30, 2021 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Brooklyn, New York. 

Those present were the American delegate, H.E. Cav. Gr. Uff. John Viola, Rev. Can. Matthew Talarico, Provincial Superior of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest and Ecclesiastical Knight Officer of Grace, another knight and dame, as well as the Executive Director of the Delegation, and two other Ecclesiastical Knights of Grace, pastors in the Diocese, who concelebrated the Mass. Afterward, the Constantinians were able to greet the new ordinary of Brooklyn.  

The American Delegation of the Constantinian Order recently made a donation to the ‘Keep the Refuge’ Campaign of Children of the Immaculate Heart (CIH). Founded in 2013, the objective of Children of the Immaculate Heart is to help commercially exploited (sexually trafficked) children and women and open homes for them. There are an estimated 200,000 – 300,000 such youth in the United States. At the first home Children of the Immaculate Heart has opened, called ‘the Refuge’ in San Diego, California, survivors find love, freedom, and safety, as well as around-the-clock care, education, and job training.

While Children of the Immaculate Heart has raised the necessary funds to secure the home title loan and close escrow, the “Keep the Refuge” Capital Campaign will pay off the balloon loan for the shelter.

The knights and dames of the American Delegation are happy to help Children of the Immaculate Heart fulfill its vital and timely mission, and make a real difference in the lives of these children and women.

A much-appreciated donation was made by the American Delegation on the occasion of the feast of All Saints, November 1, 2021 in New York. Numerous American knights and dames donated toward the acquisition of four Neapolitan reliquaries for the historic Italian church, the Pontifical Shrine of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in East Harlem, New York.

The Shrine is an important landmark and gathering place not only for the Italian and Italian-American communities, but also a center of Marian devotion, and entrusted to the pastoral ministry of the Pallottine Fathers since 1884.

The church, located in a challenged section of New York, has welcomed the American Delegation of the Constantinian Order several times over the past few years. The Delegation started a collection for the beautiful reliquaries in September, in honor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, to Whom countless immigrants from southern Italy entrusted themselves, forced to leave their homeland for economic reasons after the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, immigrants who founded many churches named for Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in their adopted country.

The blessing of the reliquaries and their placement on the gradines of the high altar of Our Lady for the veneration of the faithful took place on the feast of All Saints, the day in which the Church especially commemorates all Saints, often exposing their sacred relics for public veneration.