The Knights of the Holy Sepulchre enjoyed many privileges, some of which were of a rather peculiar character. They had precedence over the members of all orders of knighthood, except those of the Golden Fleece; they could create notaries public, legitimize bastards, and change a name given in baptism; they were empowered to pardon prisoners whom they happened to meet while the prisoners were on their way to the scaffold; they were allowed to possess goods belonging to the Church, even though they were laymen. In view of such privileges it is not surprising that many aspired to the honor of becoming Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. The good Franciscan friars in Jerusalem, too, seem to have made a rather generous use of their power to confer knighthood. The history of the order in the last century was not less involved than in the preceding centuries, especially with regard to the grand mastership which shifted time and again. When in 1847 Pope Pius IX re-established the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, he transferred the office of grand master from the custos of the Franciscans to the patriarch who from now on possessed the exclusive right of conferring the knighthood. In 1868 the same pope approved new statutes whereby for the first time membership was divided into three classes: knights grand cross, commanders, plain knights, and stipulated the admission fee according to rank. These contributions were used to defray the expenses of the seminary and the outlying missions of the patriarchate. Because this arrangement involved a financial loss for the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre which up to this time had received the stipends connected with the enrollment of the knights, Pope Leo XIII founded a cross of honor which was not intended to confer knighthood but was rather a mark of distinction bestowed on the pilgrim who visited Jerusalem. This cross extended to three classes: gold, silver and bronze, and the revenues derived from it went to the treasury of the basilica. In 1888, the same pope also approved the establishment of a female branch of the order, known as the “Dames of the Holy Sepulchre.” Pope St. Pius X in a letter of May 3, 1907[27] took upon himself the grand mastership, but delegated the patriarch as his lieutenant who, in the name of the Holy Father, could appoint the knights. He was also given the right to erect chapters in various countries. St. Pius X also unified the use of uniforms and decorations. He gave the knights the right to wear a mantle of white wool with the red five-fold cross attached on the left-hand side. In view of the old claim that the order was a military institution, the pope gave the knights permission to wear the cross of the order suspended from a military trophy. In the case of the ladies, the emblem was to be worn hanging from a golden loop.