recite fifty paters, fifty aves, the service of the Virgin, the burial service, and several prayers for the repose of the souls of departed knights companions. Whilst he was donning the dress of the order he was further instructed in his duties. As he put his arms through his sleeves he was reminded of the obedience he owed to his superiors; as the white cross was being adjusted next his heart, he was told that he must be always ready to shed his blood for Christ, who by his own death had redeemed mankind. All the insignia of the Order of Malta were symbols. The pointed black mantle with its peaked cape, worn only on occasions of solemn ceremony, was typical of the robe of camel’s hair worn by John the Baptist, the patron of the order. The cords which fastened the mantle about the neck, and fell over the shoulder, were significant of the passion our Saviour suffered with such calmness and resignation. In time of battle the members of the order wore a red doublet embroidered with the eight-pointed cross. About twenty years after the first establishment of the Hospitallers, Hugues de Payens, and Geoffrey de Saint-Aldemar, having crossed the seas with nine other nobles, all of French birth, obtained from the patriarch Guarimond, and from Baldwin II., King of Jerusalem, permission to form an association, the objects of which were to act in concert with the Hospitallers against the infidels, to protect pilgrims, and to defend Solomon’s Temple. Baldwin granted them a dwelling within the Temple walls, a circumstance which gave them the name of _Templars_, or _Knights of the Temple_. At first they led a simple and regular life, contenting themselves with the humble title of _poor soldiers of Jesus Christ_. Their charity and their devotion obtained for them the sympathy of the kings of Jerusalem and the Eastern Christians, who made them frequent and considerable donations. In the first nine years of their existence, from 1118 to 1127, the Templars admitted no strangers into their ranks; but their number having nevertheless considerably increased, they soon preferred a request to the Holy See to ratify the institution of their order. At the Council of Troyes, in 1228, Hugues de Payens, accompanied with five of his companions, presented the letters that the brotherhood had received from the pope and the patriarch of Jerusalem, together with the certificate of the founding of their order. Cardinal Matthew, Bishop of Alba, who presided over the council as the pope’s legate, granted them an authentic confirmation of their order, and a special code was drawn up for them under the guidance of St. Bernard.