The New International Encyclopædia/Lady of Mercy, Order of Our

LADY OF MERCY, Order of Our. A Spanish Order founded in 1218, by James I. of Aragon, in fulfillment of a vow made to the Virgin during his captivity in France. In 1230 Gregory IX. approved the Order, and in 1235 imposed the Augustinian rule. The Order was instituted to redeem Christian captives from among the Moors; each knight at his inauguration vowing that, if necessary for their ransom, he would remain himself a captive in their stead. In 1308 dissensions arose in the Order, and later a part of the knights joined the Order of Montesa, the others adopting the Benedictine rule. On the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, the labors of the knights were transferred to Africa. Their badge is a shield party per fess gules and or, in chief a cross pattée argent, in base four pallets gules for Aragon, the shield crowned with a ducal coronet. The Order was extended to women in 1261. The branch Order instituted in France was suppressed at the time of the Revolution.