Sir is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part of "Monsieur", with the equivalent "My Lord" in English.
The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, also called the Order of the Holy Sepulchre or Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, is a Catholic order of knighthood under the protection of the Holy See. The Pope is the sovereign of the order. The order creates canons as well as knights, with the primary mission to "support the Christian presence in the Holy Land". It is an internationally recognised order of chivalry. The order today is estimated to have some 30,000 knights and dames in 60 lieutenancies around the world. The Cardinal Grand Master has been Fernando Filoni since 2019, and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is ex officio the Order's Grand Prior. Its headquarters are situated at the Palazzo Della Rovere and its official church in Sant'Onofrio al Gianicolo, both in Rome, close to Vatican City. In 1994, Pope John Paul II declared the Virgin Mary as the order's patron saint under the title "Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Palestine".
Pietro Gasparri was a Roman Catholic cardinal, diplomat and politician in the Roman Curia and the signatory of the Lateran Pacts. He served also as Cardinal Secretary of State under Popes Benedict XV and Pope Pius XI.
The Apostolic Nunciature to the United States, sometimes referred to as the Vatican Embassy, is the diplomatic mission of the Holy See to the United States. It is located at 3339 Massachusetts Avenue, Northwest, Washington, D.C., in the Embassy Row neighborhood. Since 2016, the papal nuncio has been Cardinal Christophe Pierre.
Zenon Grocholewski was a Polish prelate of the Catholic Church, who was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 2001. He joined the Roman Curia in 1972 and served from 1999 until 2015 as Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education and Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Gregorian University.
Jozef Tomko was a Slovak prelate of the Catholic Church who held positions in the Roman Curia from 1962 until he retired in 2007. He was prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples from 1985 to 2001 and president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses from 2001 to 2007. He was made a cardinal in 1985.
Sergio Sebastiani was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was head of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See from 1997 to 2008. He was made a cardinal in 2001. From 1960 to 1994 he worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See, becoming an archbishop and apostolic nuncio in 1976 and leading the offices representing the Vatican in Madagascar, Mauritius, and Turkey.
The Supreme Order of Christ is the highest order of chivalry that can be awarded by the pope. No appointments have been made since 1987 and following the death in 1993 of the last remaining knight, King Baudouin of Belgium, the order became dormant.
Christopher Tostrup Paus, Count of Paus was a Norwegian landowner, heir to the timber firm Tostrup & Mathiesen, papal chamberlain and count, known as philanthropist, art collector and socialite in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A member of the Paus family, he inherited a fortune from his maternal grandfather, timber magnate Christopher Tostrup, and lived for half a century in Rome. In 1923 he bought the estate Herresta in Sweden which is still owned by descendants of his cousin Herman Paus who was married to a granddaughter of Leo Tolstoy. He gave large donations to museums in Scandinavia and to the Catholic Church, notably the Paus collection of classical sculpture that now forms part of the National Museum of Norway. Paus was considered "the founder of the National Gallery's antiquities collection" by Harry Fett. A convert to Catholicism, he was appointed as a papal chamberlain by Pope Benedict XV in 1921 and conferred the title of count by Pope Pius XI in 1923. He was the recipient of numerous papal and Scandinavian honours. He was a first cousin once removed of playwright Henrik Ibsen and was the only Ibsen relative to visit Ibsen during his decades-long exile when he wrote his most famous works.
The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus is a Roman Catholic dynastic order of knighthood bestowed by the royal House of Savoy. It is the second-oldest order of knighthood in the world, tracing its lineage to AD 1098, and it is one of the rare orders of knighthood recognized by papal bull, in this case by Pope Gregory XIII. In that bull, Pope Gregory XIII bestowed upon Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy and his Savoy successors, the right to confer this knighthood in perpetuity. The Grand Master is Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Prince of Venice, also known as the Duke of Savoy, the grandson of the last King of Italy, Umberto II. However, Emanuele Filiberto's cousin twice removed Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta claims to be grand master as his father claimed to be head of the house of Savoy.
The Order of Pope Pius IX, also referred as the Pian Order, is a papal order of knighthood originally founded by Pope Pius IV in 1560. Currently, it is the highest honor conferred by the Holy See. The awarding of the order fell into disuse and was re-instituted by Pope Pius IX as a continuation on 17 June 1847.
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of Saint Sylvester, sometimes referred to as the Sylvestrine Order, or the Pontifical Order of Pope Saint Sylvester, is one of five orders of knighthood awarded directly by the Pope as Supreme Pontiff and head of the Catholic Church and as the Head of State of Vatican City. It is intended to honour Catholic laypeople who are actively involved in the life of the Church, particularly as it is exemplified in the exercise of their professional duties and mastership of the different arts.
Silvio Angelo Pio Oddi was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See and in the Roman Curia. He became a cardinal in 1969 and headed the Congregation for the Clergy from 1979 to 1986.
Paolo Romeo is an Italian cardinal and archbishop emeritus of Palermo. He was appointed to the see of Palermo by Pope Benedict XVI on 19 December 2006.
Eduardo Martínez Somalo was a Spanish prelate of the Catholic Church who spent most of his career in the Roman Curia, first in the Secretariat of State from 1956 to 1975 and from 1979 to 1988, and then leading two of its principal dicasteries: the Congregation for Divine Worship from 1988 to 1992 and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life from 1992 to 2004.
Manuel Monteiro de Castro is a Portuguese prelate of the Catholic Church who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1967 to 2009, with the rank of archbishop and the title of nuncio from 1985. His assignments as nuncio included the Caribbean, South Africa, Central America, and Spain. He ended his career in senior positions in the Roman Curia from 2009 to 2013. He was made a cardinal in 2012.
The orders, decorations, and medals of the Holy See include titles, chivalric orders, distinctions and medals honoured by the Holy See, with the Pope as the fount of honour, for deeds and merits of their recipients to the benefit of the Holy See, the Catholic Church, or their respective communities, societies, nations and the world at large.
The Papal Concert to Commemorate the Shoah (Holocaust) was the first official Vatican commemoration of the murder of six million Jews by the Nazis during World War II. It took place in the Sala Nervi at the Vatican on April 7, 1994. The concert was conceived and created at the direct behest of Pope John Paul II by the American conductor Gilbert Levine, who had first met the Pope after he was appointed artistic director and conductor of the Krakow Philharmonic, in December 1987. Pope John Paul II, Rav Elio Toaff, the Chief Rabbi of Italy, and Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, President of Italy jointly presided over the event, and viewed it from positions of equal honor.
Kenneth Francis Hackett served as the United States Ambassador to the Holy See from August 2013 until January 2017. He was previously president of Catholic Relief Services (CRS).
James Joseph Norris, (1907-1976), was an American advocate for refugees and displaced people whose humanitarian work on their behalf was global in scope and spanned three decades, from his appointment as European Director of War Relief Services,, in 1946, until his death on November 17, 1976. Working in collaboration with the Holy See, (Vatican), and Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini,, Norris established, in 1951, the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC). During his presidency of ICMC from its inception in 1951 until 1974, the agency assisted in the provision of relief, rehabilitation and resettlement assistance to over 200,000 refugees.
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