The Queen resumed her seat in St. Edward’s Chair, and the Golden Spurs, the Spurs of St. George, were brought to her touch.
The Spurs made their first appearance at the coronation of King Charles II in 1661. They represent chivalry and the orders of Knighthood which support the Sovereign. Her Majesty’s role in all Order of the Garter ceremonies is without doubt one of the most important in her calendar.
She is a member, ex oficio (by reason of her office,) as is the Prince of Wales. She alone may appoint new knights to the order, and her grandson, Prince William, was invested the 1000th Knight of the Garter, a very proud day for Her Majesty and the Windsor family.
The Order of the Garter is the oldest continuing chivalric assemblage in existence, founded in 1348 (or perhaps a few years earlier,) and having an uncertain formation. The popular story is that Edward III, while dancing at a ball one night, saw Joan, the Countess of Shrewsbury, lose her garter on the dance floor. It is said that he retrieved it, put it on his own leg, with the words, Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense, which has become the motto of the Order: “Shame (or evil) on him who thinks evil of it.”
The Knights, which originally numbered twenty-four but now include “Stranger Knights” from other countries as well as “Companion Knights” and “Lady Companions,” incorporate the Garter Insignia into their heralds, and each knight’s emblem hangs in St. George’s Chapel where special services are held, annually. Living Knights have stalls in the chapel beneath their heralds, much like monks in an abbey.
Courage and chivalry are mainstays of the Order. These are the words that are spoken when the “Garter” is presented in an Investiture:
Wear this riband, adorned with the Image of the Blessed Martyr and Soldier of Christ, Saint George, by whose imitation provoked thou mayest so overpass both prosperous and adverse encounters, that having been stoutly vanished thine enemies, both of body and soul, thou mayest not only receive the praise of this transient combat, but be crowned with the palm of eternal victory.
While the Knights are charged with bravery in time of battle, and the earliest of them were chosen for their military skill, it is clear that the honor they seek above all is meant to be the honor of personal integrity.
The Golden Spurs did formerly represent the idea that the Monarch would ride at the head of his armies, leading them valiantly, and that idea is not at all lost when, today, the Sovereign touches them and they return to their honorable place on the altar.
Our spurs might be a mop and bucket or a power drill. They might be a computer and fax in a cubicle or even a cell phone, used to accomplish what we have been given to do in life. Some drive tractors, some drive cattle, some drive children and their friends to ball practice. All in Christ may continue in courage and integrity, servants of the Sovereign Lord.
What if the tools of our trade, of our vocations, were holy to us, as though taken up from the altar of God? Corrie ten Boom told the story of a boat captain whose engine room was a brilliant, gleaming tribute to cleanliness, order, and maintenance. When she asked him, having ridden and toured the boat in former not-so-well-kept days, what had effected the change, he told her simply, “Ma’am, I have a glory!”
We will have to “overpass both prosperous and adverse encounters,” and we have been admonished to “vanish” our enemies of body and soul, but we may ride valiantly into the future reserved for us.
What spurs you to action in the service of the King?
Her Majesty in Order of the Garter robes
Fox News Photo
Cor Unum Abbey 