Creation of the Catholic Grand Priory of Russia 1797

CONVENTION BETWEEN HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY the EMPEROR of all the RUSSIAS, and the SOVEREIGN ORDER of MALTA.

His Majesty the emperor of all the Russias, on one side, wishing to give a proof of his sentiments of affection, esteem, and consideration, towards the illustrious order of Malta, at the same time intending to assure, consolidate, and encrease, the establishment of the said order in his dominions, which has already been instituted in Poland, particularly in the provinces, of that country now belonging to the Russian government, and being desirous of obtaining for those of his subjects who are capable of being, received into the illustrious order of Malta all the advantages, honours, and privileges, annexed thereto ; and the sovereign order of Malta, with his most eminent highness the grand-master, on the other side, being perfectly sensible of the kind intentions of his imperial majesty towards them, of the importance and utility of such an institution in the empire of Russia, and being desirous on their part of fulfilling the wise and benevolent designs of his majesty the emperor, by facilitating them by every possible means consistent with the constitution and laws of the order; have, by common consent, agreed to form a convention for the accomplishment of these respective objects, according to the reciprocal wishes of the contracting parties.

In consequence of which, his imperial majesty the emperor of all the Russias has appointed, and authorised to act as his plenipotentiaries, the sieur comte Alexander de Besborodko, privy counsellor of the first class, minister of the council of state, director-general of the post-office, knight of the orders of St. Andrew and St. Alexander Newsky, and grand cross of that of St. Windimir, of the first class; together with the sieur prince Alexander de Kourakin, his vice-chancellor, privy counsellor, minister of the council of state, chamberlain, knight of the orders of St. Andrew, St. Alexander Newsky, and of St. Anne, of the first class, likewise of the royal orders of Danebrog and of the Perfect Union.-The sovereign order of Malta, with his most eminent highness the grandmaster, have named for the same purpose the sieur Jules Rene, bailli comte de Litta, grand-cross of the order of Malta, knight of justice of the venerable language of Italy, commander of several commanderies, knight of the military order of St.George, of the first class, and of the Polish orders of the White Eagle and St. Stanislaus, rear-admiral of the Russian navy, and minister plenipotentiary from the sovereign order of Malta and his most eminent highness the grand-Master, to his imperial majesty the emperor of all the Russias. These plenipotentiaries, having communicated and exchanged the full powers with which they were vested in due form, agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE I. His imperial majesty the emperor of all the Russias, as an act of justice, and at the same time to prove,his sentiments of affection and high consideration for the illustrious order of Malta, approves, confirms, and ratifies, in his own name and that of his successors for ever, in the most ample and solemn manner, the establishment of the said order of Malta in his dominions.

ARTICLE II. His imperial majesty the emperor, acknowledging the validity of the establishment that the order of Malta, under the guaranty of the imperial court of Russia, possessed in Poland, the advantages and enjoyment of which have been suspended by the troubles in that country and the dissolution of its government, as a compensation for the revenues assured to the order in Poland on estates belonging to the ordinate of Ostrog, and being desirous of extending and adding to the. solidity and consistence of the present establishment of the order of Malta in Russia, his said majesty has most graciously granted to the order of Malta to have and to. hold for ever the annual sum of three hundred thousand Polish florins, which shall be collected and distributed by said’ order, according to mode agreed upon in the different articles of the first convention.

ARTICLE III. The state treasury of the empire of Russia shall pay from the total sum annually received, in title of emphyteose, on all the starosties of Poland now in the Russian dominions, the sum of three hundred thousand Polish florins every year to the the order of Malta; this annual payment to be made at, two different times; the first of a hundred and fifty thousand Polish florins on the 30th June/11July and the second of the same sum, making in the whole three hundred thousand Polish florins, on the 31st December/11 January. These said payments are to be made to the receiver for Malta, his treasurer resident in. Russia, or any other person legally authorised to receive them.

ARTICLE IV. The said annual sum of three hundred thousand Polish florins, which his imperial majesty thus graciously grants to the order of Malta, shall be for perpetuity exempted from all drawbacks whatsoever, and from ordinary and extraordinary taxes, and shall form the foundation and revenues of the institution of the said order in his dominions, which shall be termed the grand-priory of Russia.

ARTICLE V. The grand-priory of Russia shall consist of a grand-priory, and ten commanderies. The respective revenues shall be distributed every year in the following manner:-the grand-priory shall have sixty thousand Polish florins; the first and second commanderies thirty thousand Polish florins each; the third and fourth commanderies twenty thousand Polish florins each: the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth, each fifteen thousand Polish florins.

ARTICLE VI. The dignified post of grand-prior shall pay annually to the venerable common treasury of the order of Malta, by way of responsions, twelve thousand Polish florins; and all the ten commanderies shall likewise pay in annually their respective responsions in the following, manner:-the first and second commanderies each six thousand Polish florins; the third and fourth, each four thousand ; the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth, fifteen hundred each. These annual responsions due to the venerable common treasury of the order of Malta shall be deducted from the sum total of three hundred thousand Polish florins by the minister, receiver, or treasurer, for the order of Malta residing in Russia, who shall receive the above-mentioned revenues from the grand-priory, and shall be charged with making the above-mentioned annual repartition.

ARTICLE VII. His imperial majesty and his most eminent highness the grand-master being equally convinced of the use and importance of a permanent legation from the order of Malta in Russia, to facilitate and maintain a direct communication between their respective dominions, and to attend assiduously to every particular relative to this new establishment, have agreed by common consent to dedicate for this purpose the annual sum of twenty thousand Polish florins as a salary for the minister and receiver of the order of Malta residing in the empire of Russia; besides the annual sum of twelve thousand Polish florins for the maintenance of the chapel and archives, and likewise for the pay of officers belonging to the grand-priory and the minister.

ARTICLE VIII. The eighteen thousand Polish florins which remain from the sum total of three hundred thousand florins shall be employed for supplying annually the different expences at Malta relative to the grand-priory of Russia.

ARTICLE IX. The order of Malta shall enter into the enjoyment of its revenues from the 1st of January, 1797; and the sum total of the three hundred thousand Polish florins of this first year, together with the amount of the first four months of the year 1798, shall be paid into the common treasury of the order of Malta, as an indemnification for the expence of the extraordinary mission to St. Petersburg, and likewise for the expences indispensably necessary for the order of Malta in the empire of Russia. In consequence of which, the grand-prior and the ten commanders who shall be appointed will enter upon their respective revenues from the 1st of May, 1798.

ARTICLE X. His Imperial majesty declares, that the dignity of the grand-priory of Russia, and the ten commanderies dependent thereon, can never be conferred, on any pretext, on those of his subjects who are not entitled to be received into the order of Malta.

ARTICLE XI. His imperial majesty grants to the order of Malta full and entire liberty to establish and follow, in its new institutions in his dominions, its own form of government; and he admits and takes under his special protection the execution of the rules and statutes adopted or its interior administration.

ARTICLE XII. His imperial majesty being also desirous that the illustrious order of Malta thus established in Russia should possess the same consideration and splendour that it enjoyed in the other states of Europe, and knowing that nothing can possibly contribute more to this important object than a strict observation of the laws and statutes of the order; he ordains that every individual who composes, or shall in future compose, the said grand-priory of Russia, shall exactly conform to, and put in practice, all the duties prescribed in the rules and constitution of the order of Malta, either for their respective reception, or any other object relative to their situation.

ARTICLE XIII. His imperial majesty is still more attentive to, and interested in, the execution of the preceding article, from the perfect conviction that the duties of the knights of Malta prescribed by the wise constitution of the order are always inseparable from those which every faithful subject has contracted towards his country and lawful sovereign.

ARTICLE XIV. The reception of the knights of Malta, and the proofs of nobility required on that occasion, shall be the same as in the heretofore grand-priory of Poland ; and the passage fees shall be paid according to the tax fixed in the above-mentioned priory.

ARTICLE XV. The Knights shall perform the usual caravans in the most exact manner, and shall make the usual conventual residence in malta.

ARTICLE XVI. On the death of each commander, or professed knight, his effects, according to the statutes, shall belong to the common treasury of Malta; procurator-general, or agent of the order appointed for this purpose, shall be charged to collect the said effects. This article does not regard the commanders of family or jus patronat, but solely relates to those persons who are regularly professed in the order.

ARTICLE XVII. Every individual of the order of Malta shall be equally obliged exactly to fulfil his statutable duties. The commanderies and grand-priory are bestowed according to seniority, which is reckoned from the date of their respective receptions: but this right of seniority is of no avail unless all the other duties of the order be fulfilled; so that every candidate for the commanderies and grand-priory must be competent, not only from the right of seniority, but from having performed his statutable duties.

ARTICLE XVIII. His imperial majesty, as a still further proof of his personal regard for his most eminent highness the grand-master, gives his consent that his eminence, in quality of chief of the order of Malta, shall enjoy the same magisterial prerogative in the grand-priory of Russia as in all other priories such as conferring a commandery by favour once in five years, should one become vacant in that space of time. This commandery shall be subject to the payment of an annate, and of all other duties imposed in the magisterial collations. His most eminent highness cannot, however, bestow this commandery on any knight who is not of the grand-priory of Russia.

ARTICLE XIX. In order that the repartition of the property of Malta may extend to a greater number of persons, no knight shall be permitted, from right of seniority, to possess more than one commandery at the same time; he therefore must quit his commandery, upon being promoted to one of more considerable value. The mutations of commanderies in the grand-priory of Russia shall take place in Malta, according to the laws and rules of the order.

ARTICLE XX. The knights who from their merit have obtained a commandery by favour, from the beneficence of the grand-master, shall not be included in the regulations contained in the preceding, article, which relate exclusively to the commanderies in right of seniority.

ARTICLE XXI. The grand-priory of Russia, and the commanderies depending thereon, shall be subject, equally with all the other commanderies of Malta, to the mortuary and vacancy duties ;and the common treasury of the order shall have, during that time, the administration of the revenues.

ARTICLE XXII. The rent of any commandery which shall remain vacant through want of a candidate shall be paid into the common treasury of the order, until such time as a member of the grand-priory shall become capable of obtaining it.

ARTICLE XXIII. His imperial majesty the emperor of all the Russias likewise approves confirms, and ratifies, all the commanderies of the order of Malta termed of family, or jus patronat, already instituted in Poland, and which now make part of the Russian dominions; and his imperial majesty declares, that all the conditions and clauses announced and stipulated in the different acts of the above-mentioned respective foundations shall be entirely and exactly fulfilled, without any exception from one or the other side.

ARTICLE XXIV. His imperial majesty, to contribute still more to the happiness and prosperity of the order of Malta, and at the same time to enable all the Catholic nobility of his empire, and even those who from particular circumstances cannot submit themselves entirely to the statutable duties of the order of Malta, to participate in the distinctions, honours, and prerogatives, granted to this illustrious order, which his imperial majesty has constantly loved and respected, deigns to grant, from this present moment and for ever, permission and his imperial sanction for all future commanderies of family or jus patronat; for which all those who are desirous of entering into this noble institution must address themselves directly to the order of Malta, or to its representative in the empire of Russia, whether it be to agree upon the reciprocal conditions, or to arrange and commit to writing the respective foundations, and to obtain from Malta the necessary approbation. The commanderies of family shall be entitled in the order of Malta by the names of the families which originally founded them.

ARTICLE XXV. The grand-Priory of Russia.shall hold the capitular assemblies in the chief place of residence, and especially the one fixed for the 23d of June, the eve of the festival of St. John the Baptist, patron of the order of Malta. The venerable chapter shall review and direct all the affairs of the grand-priory that fall under its cognizance, keep a register of its deliberations, and send the requisite communications to Malta.

ARTICLE XXVI. The venerable chapter shall be presided by the grand-prior, and in his absence by the most ancient commander.

ARTICLE XXVII. The capitular regulations fixed by the statutes of the order shall be followed in every thing relative to the proposition and decision of affairs.

ARTICLE XXVIII. The minister-plenipotentiary from Malta in the empire of Russia, in quality of procurator-general of his most eminent highness the grandmaster, the sacred council of the order, and common treasury, shall be constant recorder, in virtue of his office, of affairs, which shall be decided by the majority of votes; and in case of an equality, the grand-prior shall have the casting vote. All affairs discussed and decided according to the statutes, customs, and privileges, of the order, shall be, terminated without delay; but if they be out of the common order of things, the decision shall be sent to Malta before they are executed.

ARTICLE XXIX. All professed knights in the order of Malta who may happen to be upon the spot shall be obliged to attend the chapters ; where they shall all have deliberative votes, and take their seats according to seniority and the capitular rules of the order. The knights in their noviciate shall also assist at the chapter, but without deliberative votes.

ARTICLE XXX. All the commanders of family shall be invited to the chapters in which they shall take their seats with the other commanders, according to the antiquity of the foundation of each commandery. They shall have a consulting vote, and when it shall be question of any thing relative to the patronal commanderies a deliberative one.

ARTICLE XXXI. In order to enable all the knights of Malta who have both military and civil employments in his imperial majesty’s service to perform the duty of their order, permission will be granted them to absent themselves whenever the above-mentioned duties make it indispensably necessary.

ARTICLE XXXII. As all the other grand-priories, though they retain the distinctive colours of the order, have each a different uniform, his imperial majesty and his most eminent highness the grand-master will make choice of one for the grand-priory of Russia.

ARTICLE XXXIII. The grand-prior and commanders alone shall have right of wearing the grand cross of the order in saltire; all the other knights shall wear the small cross at the button-hole.

ARTICLE XXXIV. The honorary knights in Russia, such as those who, without having made their proofs of nobility in the order of Malta, have obtained leave to wear the cross called of devotion or favour, must place the small cross at their button-hole but not wear the particular uniform of the grand-priory of Russia, without the especial permission of his imperial majesty and his eminence the grand-master.

ARTICLE XXXV. All the honorary knights in Russia shall legitimate and register in the chancery of the grand-priory the titles by which they are authorised to wear the cross of the order.

ARTICLE XXXVI. His imperial majesty tile emperor of all the Russias, in the last place, most graciously grants, that the order of Malta shall enjoy the same privileges, prerogatives, and honours, in his dominions, as the said illustrious order enjoys elsewhere from the esteem and affection of other sovereign princes.

ARTICLE XXXVII. The present convention shall be ratified by his imperial majesty the emperor of all the Russias, and by the sovereign order of Malta and his most eminent highness the grand-master; and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the space of four months from the day of their signature, and even sooner if possible.

In testimony of which, the underwritten plenipotentiaries have signed the present convention, to which they have put their seals. Concluded at St. Petersburg, the 4-15th January, 1797.

(L. S.) Alexander Comte de Besborodko.

(L. S.) Prince Alexander Kourakin.

(L. S.) Fr. Jules Rene Bailli Comte de Litta.

SEPARATE ARTICLES.

ARTICLE I. The arrears due to the order of Malta in Poland, from having been deprived of its revenue ever since the year 1788, including the four thousand golden ducats likewise due from the time of the first foundation of the order of Malta in Poland, according to the treaty of 1775, till the moment when the estates and dependencies thereof situated in Ostrog were seized upon and incorporated with the Russian dominions in 1793, shall be comprised in the general debt of the heretofore republic of Poland, in order to be verified when the general liquidation shall take place, and as such shall be acquitted according to the mode adopted for the general payment of the debts of the republic. This separate article shall have the same force and validity as if inserted word for word in the convention concluded on the same day, and shall be ratified at the same time.

In testimony of which, the underwritten plenipotentiaries have signed it, and have put their seals. Concluded at St. Petersburg, the 4-15th January, 1797.

(L. S.) Alexander Comte de Besborodko.

(L. S.) Prince Alexander Kourakin.

(L. S.). Fr. Jules Rene Bailli Comte de Litta.

ARTICLE II. In regard to the arrears due to the order of Malta from the year 1793 inclusively, when the said Polish provinces became part of the Russian dominions, till the 31st of December, 1796, his imperial majesty, as another proof of his affection and benevolent intentions towards the illustrious order of Malta, thought he reserves to himself the right of making in future the arrangements which shall appear the most proper relative to the above-mentioned arrears, now most graciously declares, that he will from this present moment grant the payment of the particular sum due as a matter of right to the common treasury of the order, which sum arises from the annual responsions not having been as yet paid in. These, being fixed at twenty-four thousand Polish florins a-year to the sum total of ninety-six thousand Polish florins for the four years elapsed since the said time. In consequence of which, his imperial majesty deigns to grant five thousand Dutch ducats for the payment of the said sum to the order, which shall be paid the moment the ratification of the present convention shall take place. This separate article shall have the same force and validity as if inserted word for word in the convention concluded on the same day, and shall be ratified at the same time.

In testimony of which, the underwritten plenipotentiaries have signed it, and put their seals. Concluded at St. Petersburg, 4-15th January, 1797.

(L. S.) Alexander Comte de Besborodko.

(L. S.) Prince Alexander Kourakin.

(L. S.) Fr. Jules Rene Bailli Comte de Litta.

ARTICLE III. The grand-priory of Russia, which takes the place of the heretofore grand-priory of Poland in the order of Malta, shall be incorporated, as the latter has hitherto been, in the ancient language of England which had been partly restored in the order of Malta. His most eminent highness the grand-master and the sacred council of the order shall for the future take upon themselves to see that this incorporation be made according to the constitution and laws of the order, the principles of justice, and a regard to their reciprocal convenience. This separate article shall have the same force and validity as if inserted word for word in the convention concluded on the same day, and shall be ratified at the same time.

In testimony of which, the underwritten plenipotentiaries have signed it, and put their seals. Concluded at St. Petersburg, 4-15th January, 1797.

(L. S.) Alexander Comte de Besborodko.

(L. S.) Prince Alexander Kourakin.

(L. S.) Fr. Jules Rene Bailli Comte de Litta.

ARTICLE IV. As all the payments mentioned in the present convention are expressed by Polish florins, and as it is of great importance to prevent the inconveniences and alterations for the future which might possibly result in the said payments from the difference of exchange, the high and mighty contracting parties have agreed by common consent to fix an unalterable value to that coin, according to which the respective payments agreed upon in this convention, and indeed all the payments in the grand-priory of Russia, shall be made in perpetuity, and that without any alteration whatsoever. His imperial majesty and his most eminent highness the grand-master have, in consequence, fixed, in the most irrevocable manner, the value of the said Polish florin at twenty-five Russian copecks. This separate article shall have the same force and validity as if inserted word for word in the convention concluded on the same day, and shall be ratified at the same time.

In testimony of which, the underwritten plenipotentiaries have signed it, and put their seals. Concluded at St. Petersburg, the 4-15th of January, 1797.

(L. S.) Alexander Comte de Besborodko.

(L. S.) Prince Alexander Kourakin.

(L. S.) Fr. Jules Rene Bailli Comte de Litta.

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES.

In the Convention concluded between the Plenipotentiaries of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias and that of the Sovereign Order of Malta and his most Eminent Highness the Grand-Master, at St. Petersburg, the 4-15th of January, 1797. The plenipotentiaries of his imperial majesty the emperor of all the Russias and that of the sovereign order of Malta and his most eminent highness the grand-master, having judged it proper to add some further stipulations concerning the institution of the order of Malta in Russia to the convention signed by them at St. Petersburg on the 4-15th of January, 1797, have concluded and signed, in virtue of the respective full powers with which they are vested, the following additional articles.

ARTICLE I. His imperial majesty the emperor of all the Russias, having approved that there should be conventual chaplains in the grand-priory of Russia for performing the service of the churches of the order, whether in Russia or Malta, designs to add to the concessions already mentioned in the above convention a new foundation of three commanderies, appropriated to the class of conventual chaplains, each of which commanderies shall receive the annual sum of six thousand Polish florins, to be paid by the state treasury of the empire of Russia, according to the same valuation and on the same terms as are stipulated in the said convention.

ARTICLE II. The annual responsions to be paid to the venerable common treasury of the order by the said three commanderies shall be fixed at a thousand Polish florins each.

ARTICLE III. The conventual chaplains of the grand-priory of Russia shall make their proofs of reception, pay their passage fees to the venerable common treasury, and fulfil all their statutable duties, conformably to what was agreed upon by the last general chapter of the order in 1776; they shall also enjoy all the rights, advantages, honours, and prerogatives, assigned them by the laws. The above-mentioned conventual chaplains shall be named to the commanderies according to their seniority in the order and their statutable capacity.

ARTICLE IV. His imperial majesty grants that there shall be a conventual chaplain of the Maltese nation in the grand-priory of Russia, in the same manner as in the other grand-priories of the order: this chaplain to be chosen from among the most illustrious families of the island, and to have merited by his conduct the esteem of the order.

ARTICLE V. His imperial majesty leaves the nomination of the said Maltese chaplain to his most eminent highness the grand-master, and that, not only at present, but for ever. This magisterial nomination shall be each time communicated to the imperial court, and shall be registered according to form in the grand-priory of Russia. The said Maltese chaplain shall be held to fulfil all the statutable duties, and shall enjoy, by virtue of his nomination, the same rights, honours, and prerogatives in the grand-priory of Russia, as the conventual chaplains subjects of his imperial majesty the emperor of all the Russias; save those particular restrictions prescribed by the statutes in regard to the Maltese chaplains, which are equally in force in, the other priories of the order.

ARTICLE VI. The annual responsions of these last commanderies, fixed by the convention at fifteen hundred, Polish florins, shall be raised to three thousand Polish florins each.

ARTICLE VII. To avoid all discussion which might in future arise in the interpretation of the twenty-second article of the convention, it is agreed, that the revenue of every commandery which shall remain vacant for want of a candidate shall, from the first day of the vacancy till it is filled up by some one who has made himself capax, be entirely dedicated to the use of the venerable common treasury ; and that the course of mortuary and vacancy shall only begin on the day the candidate is named to the commandery, conformably to statute the 9th and to the 14th ordinance of the treasury.

ARTICLE VIII. The present additional articles shall have the same force and validity as if they had been inserted word for word in the convention concluded at St. Petersburg on the 4-15th of January, 1797. They shall be ratified by his imperial majesty the emperor of all the Russias, by the sovereign order of Malta, and his most eminent highness the grand-master, and the ratifications exchanged at the same time.

In testimony of which, we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have signed them and put our seals. Concluded at St. Petersburg, the 17-28th of November, 1797.

(L. S.) Alexander Prince de Besborodko.

(L. S.) Prince Alexander Kourakin.

(L. S.) Fr. Jules Rene Bailli Comte de Litta.