The Altar Knights Are Coming... Back!

Does anyone remember Altar Knights? Likely not. These were parish-based altar boy clubs/societies  that strove to emulate the saints in virtues, taking on the regimen of holy knights and their chivalry so they could best serve at the Divine Liturgy -- the court of their King, Jesus Christ. The vast majority of them dissappeared in North America in the 1960's. But some persevere and continue to grow especially in the US Mid-west, the Philipines, Africa, Indonesia.

The Knights of the Holy Eucharist, Franciscan brothers who serve at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama have anounced this week on their web site and in social media that they will be soon revealing an effort to bring together Altar Knights and to foster new cells (http://knights.org).

We are currently working on creating an umbrella group, a sodality really, called Altar Knights, that we hope will help a renewal of parish altar servers and add to the beauty of the heavenly liturgy made manifest in each Holy Mass. Stay tuned!

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What a welcome addition this would be indeed to liturgical renewal.

Here is a historical summary from the 1939 Altar Knights'' Handbook and the Altar Knights' Pledge.

At a very important time in Jesus’ life, He accepted the services of a young boy. This young boy provided five loaves and two fish for that very momentous miracle with which Jesus launched his teaching on the Holy Eucharist. The Sacred Writers do not tell us the name of the young boy, only his deed, and his act of service. Altar servers also perform a great deed of service.

In past centuries, only priests or those ordained to the office of Acolyte were allowed beyond the Communion rail to assist in the Worship of God. The Order of Acolyte is a step toward the priesthood. It is the highest of the four minor orders, before a man seriously commits himself to the priesthood with the three major orders. As seminaries grew, the Order of Acolyte became for the seminarian a step to the goal of Priesthood, and thus not as many remained Acolyte to assist priests in the Sacred Services. Therefore the Church allowed lay men to perform the duties of that office.

As it became more necessary for men to work steady hours to fulfill their duties as fathers and breadwinners, and young men were called to serve in war time, boys were taught to take on the responsibilities of assisting the priests in their service of God.

Altar Server Sodality – Italy (1858)

St. Dominic Savio and another boy Joseph Bongiavanni were close companions at St. John Bosco’s Oratory. Together they founded the Immaculate Conception Sodality for the purpose of frequenting Holy Communion. He and Joseph exchanged ideas for a special sodality for servers before Dominic’s death in 1857. Joseph shortly thereafter formed and served as the first president of an auxiliary of the Blessed Sacrament Sodality, the Knights of the Altar.

Don Bosco recorded in his publication, Catholic Letters that the new sodality of the Knights of the Altar served their first Mass on January 31, 1858, on the occasion of the feastday celebration of St. Francis de Sales. January 31 is now the feastday of St. John Bosco himself. Don Bosco celebrated the Mass and officially commissioned the Knights of the Altar in DivineWorship on February 2, 1858.

The Altar Knights’ Pledge (1939)

We, the Knights of the Altar, pledge allegiance to our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, to His representatives on earth, and to Mary, our Queen Immaculate, whom we will serve faithfully until we attain eternal triumph in heaven.

We pledge ourselves to form a worthy guard of honor to our Divine Eucharistic King in whose service we willingly assume the dignity and honor of becoming Knights of the Altar; to render faithful, reverent and edifying service to God by assisting His visible representatives, the Bishops and Priests, in offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and in all other liturgical and devotional functions; to enkindle in the hearts of the faithful, whom we represent at the altar, greater piety and devotion by reverently performing the duties of our holy office and by giving good example in our daily lives.