Holy Trinity Priory of Villedieu
1950s
FACT FILE Following the end of the second world war and taking advantage of the lack of State Orders in the Italian Republic, an Italian had given himself an identity of a Polish Prince, and did a brisk trade in Maltese Crosses as the Grand Prior of the fictitious "Grand Priory of Podolia". Others followed suit such as the Grand Prior of the Holy Trinity of Villeneuve. Details of these appear in a book written by Roger Peyrefitte on the struggle between the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Order (Peyrefitte, Roger. Knights of Malta. Translated from the French by Edward Hyams. Secker & Warburg, London, 1960, page 95). The former was successfully prosecuted for fraud, and the latter gave up after a police visit. However the "Priory of the Most Holy Trinity of Ville-Dieu" of the "Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta", or several variations of that name latter resurfaced in Malta in 1975, and then by 1978 in the USA, where it found very fruitful soil.
One branch of this "Order" was headed by Lorenzo Michael de Valitch,
and his associates "Dom Lorenzo", "Archbishop Primate of the American Orthodox
Catholic Church". According to Guy Sainty Joe Anton Walter, as Joseph A.
Walter on December 5th, 1988, incorporated a body he called "The Federation
of Autonomous Priories of The Order of Saint John of Jerusalem - Knights
of Malta". The other incorporators were named as Glen F. Stinson and Bert
H. Jacob. |
Grand Masters |
Sovereign Military Order Saint John of Jerusalem
Knights of Malta
|
Sovereign Order of St.John of Jerusalem Knights
of Malta Photos
To the Self-Styled Order Page.
To the OSJ Research Web
Page.