Annunciation, Orders of the

ANNUNCIATION, ORDERS OF THE (ANNUNCIADES): Five Roman Catholic congregations, two for men and three for women, have their name from the annunciation to the Virgin Mary (Luke i. 26-38). (1) The highest knightly order of the house of Savoy (now the ruling house of Italy): As the spiritual order of the “Knights of the Collar” it was founded by Count Amadeus VI. in 1362, and was specially favored by Amadeus VIII. (Pope Felix V.; d. 1451). In 1518 under Charles III. it was dedicated to Santa Maria Annunziata. Later it became a secular order of merit and nobility. (2) The “Archbrothers of the Annunciation": Founded about 1460 by Cardinal Johannes de Turrecremata (Juan de Torquemada) in the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva at Rome; it had importance only for that church. (3) The “Annunciades of Santa Marcellina” (or of St. Ambrose): Founded in Genoa in 1408 for the care of the sick and the performance of like deeds of charity. Their most famous member was the ascetic and mystical writer Catharina Fieschi-Adorno who died in 1510 (see Catharine, Saint, of Genoa). (4) The “Blue Annunciades” (Annuntiatæ cælestes; Italian, Turchine, from turchina, “turquoise"; so called from the color of their cloak): Founded in 1604 by the pious Maria Vittoria Fornari, a widow of Genoa. In the seventeenth century they had more than fifty convents, mostly in upper Italy. (5) The Religieuses Annonciades (known also as the “Order of the Ten Virtues of the Holy Virgin”): Founded about 1498 by Jeanne de Valois, Queen of France, and her confessor, Gilbert Nicolai. At one time they had forty-five convents in France and Belgium. The order was destroyed by the French Revolution.

O. Zöckler†.

Bibliography: Helyot, Ordres monastiques, iv. 62-63, 297-309, vii. 239-250, viii. 322-325, Paris, 1715; Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen, i. 521-523.