The Order of Saint Joseph was instituted in 1807 by Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany during his reign as Grand Duke of Würzburg. It was transformed into a Tuscan Dynastic Order in 1817. The constitution of the Order was promulgated in March 1817, with amendments in August 1817. The order was divided into civil and military categories but these are now defunct. It is given to reward services towards Tuscan culture and civilisation and to the Grand Ducal House as a whole. The Order is divided into four levels:
- Knights Grand Cross, numbering thirty
- Commander, numbering sixty
- Knights, numbering one hundred and fifty
These numbers excluded Sovereigns, Heads of State, and Princes of the Grand Ducal House and other Royal Houses, Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church and Tuscan Metropolitan Archbishops. The number of women members cannot exceed fifty, excluding Princesses of the Grand Ducal and other Royal Houses, wives of Heads of State and Dames of the Order of Saint Stephen. It is permitted for non-nobles to be admitted into the Order of the level of Grand Cross in cases of exceptional merit. Dames wear the same Cross as Knights but from a bow on the left breast. Dame Grand Crosses wear the Cross hanging from a Riband like the Knights but without the Star.
Famous quotes containing the words order of, order, saint and/or joseph:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“When a person hasn’t in him that which is higher and stronger than all external influences, it is enough for him to catch a good cold in order to lose his equilibrium and begin to see an owl in every bird, to hear a dog’s bark in every sound.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“This is the fundamental idea of culture, insofar as it sets but one task for each of us: to further the production of the philosopher, of the artist, and of the saint within us and outside us, and thereby to work at the consummation of nature.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“The basic rule of human nature is that powerful people speak slowly and subservient people quickly—because if they don’t speak fast nobody will listen to them.”
—Michael Caine [Maurice Joseph Micklewhite] (b. 1933)