In modern times, on 17 July 1550 Pope Julius III recognised the Order by his Bull Quod Alias, and assured the Grand Magistery to Andrea and Gerolamo Angeli di Drivasto (descendants of the Comneno family, as we saw above), followed by a document of the Congregation of the Council, under the pontificate of Gregory XIII, in 1576, that gave a great novelty to the Order: its religious character, which finally put it under St. Basil’s Rule. In 1623 the Angeli di Drivasto gave the Grand Magistery to Marino Caracciolo, prince of Avellino, and on 23 November of that year Urban VIII confirmed this dignity and also assessed its Byzantine origin. When in 1630 the prince of Avellino died, the Grand Magistery returned to Giovanni Andrea Angelo di Drivasto. By his Document Cum Sicut of 27 August 1672, Pope Clement X appointed a General Attorney of the Order in Rome and a Protector Cardinal, Cardinal de' Massimi; he established that the General Attorney of the Order would seat in the Pontifical Chapels after the General Attorney of the Serviti di Maria. Innocent XI, by his Document of 14 June 1687, appointed as Protector of the Order Cardinal Gaspero Cavaliero, succeeded in 1690 by Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Albani (the future Pope Clement XI). At the end of the 17th century, the Angeli di Drivasto family – the last branch of the Comneno – was dying out with Giovanni Andrea Angelo di Drivasto Flavio Comneno, who had no heir; on 27 July 1697, by notary deed, he passed the Grand Magistery to the then Duke of Parma and Piacenza Francis I Farnese (1697-1727), and his lineage.

The Grand Magistery of the Farnese family of Parma

Francis Farnese Duke of Parma and Piacenza Duke of Castro (1697 - 1727)

By decree of Emperor Leopold I issued on 5 August 1699, and by the Bull Sinceræ Fidei of Pope Innocent XII, issued on 24 October of that year, that notary deed was confirmed and the transfer of the Grand Magistery to the Farnese Family was explicitly authorised. Here are the important words by which the Pontiff sanctioned that deed: «Listening to and giving our approval to the pleas presented on your behalf and on behalf of Giovanni Andrea, Prince and Grand Master, We, by motu proprio, full awareness and deliberation, due to the fullness of our apostolic power, confirm and permanently approve the transfer of this position, i.e. the position of Grand Master and life-administrator of the Constantinian Golden Militia, transfer made by the above mentioned Giovanni Andrea, Prince and Grand Master, to you and your lineage».

Cross of the Sacred Military Order dating back to the Farnese times (early 18th century)

The Constantinian Statutes were modernised by ecclesiastic approval of 1706. Moreover, Pope Clement XI, by his Bull Militantis Ecclesiæ of 27 May 1718, gave the Constantinian Order a particular sign of his love and benevolence and granted to its Grand Prior the abbatial privileges and to its clergy the insignia of prelacy. The Order also received the authority to establish "ecclesiastic benefits": «And should anyone dare to invalidate what established, he must know that he will incur God’s wrath and the wrath of His blessed Apostles Peter and Paul». In his Bull of 1719 Clement XI praised the Constantinian Knights for leading more than 2,000 soldiers in Dalmatia against the Turkish army. A large quantity of documents present in the State Archive give evidence of the long and victorious war fought against the Turks by the Venetian Republic with the help of Duke Francis Farnese who sent a "Constantinian Regiment". Ettore Gallo wrote: «From a military point of view, the documentation on the Constantinian Regiment shows how important the valour and courage as well as a real Christian spirit of devotion to the Order values were in the small Farnese army. These principles were: "Glorification of the Cross and propagation of the Faith"» .