On Saturday 16 November 2024, at 11.00 am at the church of San Giovanni Battista in via San Vincenzo de’ Paoli, in the Sant’Eufemia hamlet of Lamezia Terme in the province of Catanzaro, the official inauguration ceremony of the Calabrian Delegation of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George will take place. After the Mass, a meal will follow to foster further the spirit of fraternity between the brothers and sisters of the Delegation. The official inauguration comes several months after the actual establishment of the Delegation of Calabria, which took place on 23 April 2024, by decree of the Order’s President of the Royal Commission for Italy, H.E. Prince Flavio Borghese, of the Princes of Sulmona and Montecompatri, Knight Grand Cross of Justice. This was after dozens of activities for charitable purposes to assist the least among us by the said Sections in the various territories of the vast land of Calabria.
The Solemn Mass of official inauguration will be presided over by the Chaplain of the Delegation Father Carmine Vitolo, Chaplain of Merit, in the presence of the interim Delegate for Calabria H.E. the Marquis Pierluigi Sanfelice di Bagnoli, Knight Grand Cross of Justice, Lieutenant for Southern Peninsular Italy of the Order’s Royal Commission for Italy.
Historical notes
The time has therefore come for the establishment of the Delegation of Calabria to be made official, as further recognition of the work carried out to date by the Knights, Ladies and Postulants in Calabria, where everyone will be able to continue to give their contribution, seeing a group formally recognized within the Constantinian Order.
In assuming the responsibility of President of the Royal Commission for Italy about twenty years ago, H.E. Duke Diego de Vargas Machuca, of happy memory, immediately set himself the aim of reorganizing the Delegations in Italy so that, starting from its peripheral bodies, such an ancient and illustrious chivalric institution could be revitalized. Thanks to the constant support of the Royal House and his own elevated qualities of mind and heart, he was able to achieve decidedly comforting results.
He also had a keen desire to establish new Delegations, including that of Calabria, especially as the name of that territory is the title historically borne by the Heads of the Royal House of the Two Sicilies, a position currently held by HRH Prince Pedro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria, Count of Caserta, Grand Master of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George.
While waiting to be able to take action in this regard, H.E. Duke Don Diego de Vargas Machuca authorized the Delegate for Tuscia and Sabina, the Nob. Attorney Roberto Saccarello, Knight Grand Cross of Jure Sanguinis with Gold Star, to propose some names for their admission to the Order.
The Delegate for Tuscia and Sabina, thanks also to the personal knowledge of some Calabrian prelates, primarily the then Metropolitan Archbishop of Cosenza, the Most Reverend Salvatore Nunnari, has proceeded in recent years to present to H.E. the President of the Royal Commission for Italy some thirty Postulants, who were then admitted, after appropriate preparation, as Chaplains, Knights and Dames. Among them were Archbishop Nunnari himself and the Most Reverend Serafino Parisi, Bishop of Lamezia Terme, appointed Chaplains Grand Cross of Merit.
These choices proved to be happy ones, since the new Calabrian members of the Order proved extremely active through significant charitable and welfare initiatives.
After the death of H.E. Duke Diego de Vargas Machuca, his successor H.E. Prince Flavio Borghese expressed in his first message as President of the Royal Commission for Italy the desire to proceed with the creation of the Delegation of Calabria. In this way, he entrusted to H.E. the Marquis Pierluigi Sanfelice di Bagnoli, as Lieutenant for Southern Peninsular Italy, the delicate task of realizing this plan developed over time.
The Lieutenant took immediate action, urgently visiting the region and also asking the Delegate of Tuscia and Sabina for appropriate information on the Calabrian members of the Order and on past activities. Thus, now that the time has come, H.E. Prince Flavio Borghese, on the occasion of the solemn Pontifical Mass in honor of Saint George the Martyr at the Royal Pontifical Basilica of San Francesco di Paolo in Naples on Saturday 20 April 2024, was able to announce (during breakfast at the Circolo Nazionale dell’ Union in the presence and with the royal assent of HRH the Grand Master) the formation of the Delegation of Calabria. On this occasion, the Lieutenant for Peninsular Southern Italy, H.E. the Marquis Don Pierluigi Sanfelice di Bagnoli expressed his thanks to HRH the Grand Master and underlined that the Constantinian Knights are doing well in Calabria and that they will do even better in times to come.
