By Christina Leslie | Staff Writer

Ten lay men and women of the Diocese of Trenton were among the 81 invested as Knights and Ladies of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem’s Eastern Lieutenancy of the United States during the order’s annual investiture Mass held Sept. 27 in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York. 
  
The new Knights and Ladies included couples and individuals representing the parishes of St. Leo the Great, Lincroft; Christ the King, Long Branch, and St. Hedwig, Trenton. They were: John Dalton of Manalapan; Raymond and Gloria Harter of Sea Girt; Michael and Mary Lee of Lincroft; Frank Muzzi of Oakhurst; Robert Pluta of Lawrenceville; James Ronan of Shrewsbury, and John and Deirdre Senkewicz of Tinton Falls.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn served as principal celebrant, while Msgr. John E. Kozar, president of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association of Manhattan served as homilist. Cardinal Edward M. Egan, grand prior of honor, was in attendance, as was Cardinal Timothy Dolan, grand prior of the order’s Eastern Lieutenancy.

According to its website, holysepulchreny.org, the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem can trace its origins back to 1099 and was established by Godfrey de Bouillon, leader of the first Crusade. Pope Pascal II approved the order, named for the site of the Crucifixion and burial of Jesus, in 1113, and the order was reorganized by Pope Pius IX in 1847. Once reserved for aristocrats, the order today includes lay men and women who have a record of service to the Catholic Church; today, the order worldwide has some 30,000 members in 38 countries.

Knights and Ladies are tasked with the preservation and propagation of the faith in the Holy Land. Members promise to support the shrines of the Holy Land with daily prayer, evangelization and alms giving. Men wear long white capes emblazoned with a red Cross of Jerusalem, a design of five red crosses symbolizing the five wounds of Christ. Ladies wear a black cape with the Red Cross, and a black veil.

Membership in the Order is open to Catholic lay men and women, clergy and religious at least 25 years old who “actively participate in and contribute to the activities and work of their local parish and Diocese and are committed to actively support the Order’s mission as defined in its Constitution. [They] are distinguished by their assiduous practice of Christian faith, by their moral conduct, by their exemplary involvement in the activities of the Church at the parish and diocesan levels, by their willingness to engage in the specific lay apostolate of the Order at the service of the Church, by their ecumenical spirit, and by their active interest in the needs and problems of the Holy Land,” the order proclaims.

The Eastern Lieutenancy, the oldest of the order in the United States, was established in 1940 and encompasses Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Information on the Sept. 27 investiture Mass courtesy of Catholic New York newspaper.