Patriarchal Allocution on the Feast of Corpus Christi -- AD 2019

PATRIARCHAL SEE 20 June 2019 (ORCNS) -- The following is the text of the Patriarchal Allocution given by the Don Rutherford Cardinal Johnson, Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch on the Feast of Corpus Christi: 

From the Florentine household to the Christian faithful around the world and to the members of the Court of St. Mary of Walsingham, grace, peace, and our Apostolic Blessing on this Feast of Corpus Christi in the year of our Lord 2019. It is indeed one of the most joyous occasions in the liturgical year. It offers a chance look back and reflect on the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, for it is the fact that the Holy Mass is a true and living Sacrifice that we affirm, acknowledge, profess, and celebrate this day. Christ is with us always, and most of all in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Christ was incarnate, He suffered and died, rose again from the dead, and ascended into heaven. Without all of that, the faith would be meaningless, and they would be no hope in humanity. In the Sacrament we join ourselves to the Sacrifice of Christ on the cross and celebrate His glorious resurrection and ascension, that we may have the promise and hope of life everlasting. That is what is the inherent nature of the Most Blessed Sacrament. What a joyous gift it is! It is the ultimate symbol and true and living expression of love.

In the Imperial Patriarchate, we continue those traditions of the true Catholic faith that we have been entrusted to maintain. Our patrimony stretches back over 2000 years to Julius Caesar, and to Charlemagne, Bosone d’Arles, and Leo X. Our founding was made holy by Christ on the Cross, indeed by the very Body of our Lord. The brevity of human life and the vast length of the legacy of the Patriarchate is such that I can scarcely consider the Patriarchate to belong to me. Rather, I can only consider that I belong to it. I am its shepherd, nothing more.

If the patrimony of the Patriarchate has any merit in history or in the present period, then it is because of the faith and good works of its people. I am grateful to those who have continued to serve our ecclesiastical state so loyally and so long. And, I am impressed continually with the great achievements of our people.

Let us further pray for peace in the world – an elusive goal that we must nevertheless continue to make a priority, never giving up hope. To that end, let us further pray that the leaders of the temporal governments of the world may gain wisdom, acknowledging the true source of wisdom, and work together for the common good, using territorial nations as means to help people rather than mechanisms of division.

May Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, bless each of you during this celebration of Corpus Christi, which underpins all that we as Christian faithful do.

Prefect-General Appointed for the Imperial Patriarchate

PATRIARCHAL SEE 6 June 2019 (ORCNS) - HIRH the Imperial Patriarch appointed HMSH Count Don Daniel Coberly, Prince v. Reichenberg, MA, SLittD as Prefect-General of the Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarchate. As the head of institutional government, the office of Prefect-General is analogous to a Prime Minister in a temporal government or international corporate president.

After more than twenty years of chief executive leadership and service to the Imperial Patriarchate and its subsidiaries by HIRH Don Rutherford I Cardinal Johnson, the chief administrative and operational duties were accepted by the newly appointed Prefect-General in 2019. The realignment enhances administrative efficiency and improves processes while encouraging greater focus on service to others consistent with the ancient traditions and modern mission of the Patriarchate.

HMSH Don Daniel is a member of the Patriarchal Household and is Grand Master Emeritus of the Noble Company of St. Mary of Walsingham. He is retired from the US Army and was a senior official of the US Environmental Protection Agency. A former member of the alumni advisory board of Excelsior College, he holds the degree of Doctor of Sacred Letters. Also a long-time member of international scouting, he is a Baden-Powell Fellow, presented by HM the King of Sweden, a Distinguished Eagle Scout, a recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award (the highest national award given to adult leaders by Boy Scouts of America for distinguished service to youth), and is a former Imperial Chief Scout of the Imperial Scouts of the Holy Roman Empire. His many awards and decorations include various pontifical honours from the Vatican and knighthoods from various nations, as well as distinctions of Companion of Justice of the Most Honourable Legion of the Eagle, the Order of Merit of St. Stephen and Our Lady of Walsingham, Grand Cross of the Florentine Service Order, Knight of the Crown Order of Westphalia, the US Legion of Merit, the Hornaday Gold Medal for distinguished service to conservation, the U.S. President's Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding volunteer community service, the U.S. Army Public Affairs Hall of Fame, among many others.  

Senior Walsingham Guard Official Awarded Order of Military Medical Merit

SAN ANTONIO 28 May 2019 (ORCNS) - Senior Walsingham Guard official HMERH Count Don Keith Steinhurst, MD, Duke of Westphalia, Governor-General of the Imperial Patriarchate was awarded the Order of Military Medical Merit for his long-time medical service through the US Army and US Department of Homeland Security. Don Keith serves also as Vice Captain-General of the Walsingham Guard and Fleet Captain of the Walsingham Naval Guard and holds the Flight Surgeon brevet. 

Don Keith, Count of Marmande
in uniform of the Walsingham Naval Guard

The Order of Military Medical Merit is a private award in the USA founded by the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Health Services Command in 1982. Its goal is recognising excellence and promoting fellowship and esprit de corps among Army Medical Department (AMEDD) personnel. Medical personnel from all branches of the United States military are eligible for the award. Recipients are recognised for their distinguished service by the senior leadership of the AMEDD. The award consists of a white brass or sterling silver medallion on a maroon ribbon. Don Keith is a chaplain, medical doctor, and Iraq War veteran. 

Official Visit to the Church of Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome

ROME 16 May 2019 (ORCNS) - HIRH Don Rutherford Cardinal Johnson, Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch made his first official visit to the Church of Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome to take symbolic possession of it as Cardinal Deacon of Santa Maria Antiqua. The visit was delayed due to years of restoration work on the church. The Diaconal Church of Santa Maria Antiqua dates to the 5th century A.D. and is located in the Roman Forum at the foot of the Palatine Hill. It is the oldest Christian monument in the Forum and contains the earliest known Roman depiction of the Blessed Virgin as Queen.

In the early 8th century, it was used by Pope John VII as the seat of the Bishop of Rome. In 847, however, the church was partially destroyed by an earthquake. A new church, Santa Maria Nova, was built on part of the ruins of the temple of Venus and Roma. During the Norman Sack of Rome in 1084, Santa Maria Antiqua suffered further destruction. In 1617, the church of Santa Maria Liberatrice was built on its ruins. It was not until that church was demolished in 1900 that the ruins of Santa Maria Antiqua were again brought to light.

For more information, please visit: http://www.anglicanritecatholicchurch.org/ps/sma.html

Cardinal Count Don Rutherford in Santa Maria Antiqua

One of the walls inside Santa Maria Antiqua

Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch makes official visit to Holy House of Mary, Site of Assumption

EPHESUS, TURKEY 11 May 2019 (ORCNS) - HIRH Cardinal Don Rutherford Cardinal Johnson, Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarchate made an official visit and pilgrimage to the Holy House of Mary near Ephesus in modern-day Turkey. The house is where the Blessed Virgin Mary lived in her later years and from where she was assumed into heaven.

Sri Lankan Attacks -- Post-Mass Statement by the Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch

21 April 2019 -- Statement by HIRH Cardinal Don Rutherford I, Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch after mass on Easter Sunday on the attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka earlier in the day.

Easter Greetings from the Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch

20 April 2019 - Holy Saturday and Easter Vigil - Easter greetings in the four principal languages of the Imperial Patriarchate from HIRH Don Rutherford I, Archprince of St. Stephen and Anglo-Italian Imperial Patriarch.