Military Order

A military order is any one of a variety of Christian societies of knights that were founded from the Middle Ages onwards for the purpose of crusading – propagating or defending the faith (originally Catholic, and after the Reformation sometimes Protestant), either in the Holy Land or against Islam (as, for example, during the Reconquista) or pagans (mainly in the Baltic region) in Europe. Many orders have, since the end of the Crusades and the Ottoman incursions, become secularized, and are usually represented by Roman Catholic ceremonial, missionary and charitable organizations in modern times.

Read more about Military Order:  History, Purpose and Function, List of Military Orders, Other Uses

Famous quotes containing the words military and/or order:

    We’re in greater danger today than we were the day after Pearl Harbor. Our military is absolutely incapable of defending this country.
    Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)

    The world has not to be put in order: the world is order incarnate. It is for us to put ourselves in unison with this order.
    Henry Miller (1891–1980)