Knights of the Cross with the Red Star

The Knights of the Cross with the Red Star (Latin: Ordo Militaris Crucigerorum cum Rubea Stella, Crucigeri cum rubea stella, Crucigeri stellati, Stelliferi, Czech: Rytířský řád Křižovníků s červenou hvězdou, German: Kreuzherren mit dem Roten Stern, postnominal initials: O.Cr., O.Crucig.), also known as the Military Order of the Crusaders of the Red Star^[1] is a Catholic religious order present in the Czech Republic and Austria. It is the only religious order originating from Bohemia and the only male religious order in the world founded by a woman. The spirituality of the Order nowadays consists of two pillars: The first is the pastoral care in the former so-called incorporated parishes, the second is the hospitaller charisma given to the Order in its beginnings by its founder, St. Agnes of Bohemia.

The Order is currently a community of canons regular. The institute of lay brothers, which existed in the Order throughout history, ceased to exist during the 18th century. The superior general of the Order receives an abbatial benediction and uses the title of Grand Master and General. His seat is in the Prague Crusader Monastery at the Old Town foot of the Charles Bridge.

The Order has 18 members, as of 1 January 2021.^[2]

In 1233, St. Agnes of Bohemia founded a hospital fraternity of Franciscan tertiaries at her monastery in Prague. This community, inspired by the nursing military orders, was dedicated to the care of elderly, sick and other needy people. In 1235 the hospital was richly endowed by the Queen of Bohemia, Agnes's mother, with property formerly belonging to the Teutonic Knights. A few years later, in 1237 the Order had been formally constituted under the Rule of St. Augustine by Pope Gregory IX. Despite relatively clear origins of the Order, its beginnings used to be subject of legends, especially in the Baroque period: Traditionally its roots were traced back to Holy Land. Nevertheless, in a parchment Breviary of the Order, dated 1356, the account of foundation contains no allusion to such a crusader lineage.^[3]

The Order moved to its present residence at the foot of the Prague Bridge in 1252,^[4] where its members not only took care of the hospital, but also became bridge keepers. The addendum "at the foot of the Prague Bridge" was attached to its name. The Order eventually spread its activities into other places in the Czech lands (České Budějovice, Cheb, Litoměřice, Stříbro, Znojmo-Hradiště, etc.). Thanks to Agnes's sister, Princess Anna, the Order expanded even to Silesian capital Wrocław. Members of the Order used to wear arms, a custom which was confirmed in 1292 by the Pope Nicholas IV. The Grand Master is still invested with a sword. The Order has been later on recognized as a military order by popes Clement X and Innocent XII.^[3]

During the Hussite Wars in the 15th century, the mission of many order hospitals was interrupted and some of order houses (commanderies) completely disappeared. At critical moments, the residence of the Grand Master was also temporarily moved to Cheb.^[4] However, the Prague hospital continued to serve and survived the turbulent period throughout the wars. After the end of the revolutionary years, there was a certain transformation of the role of the order clergy: Due to the shortage of Catholic secular priests, the members of the Order began to be appointed as parish priests. Yet the Order never gave up hospitality and this charisma has persisted in various forms to the present day. Orders of knights and knights are very prominent institutions that spanned all over Europe during the Middle Ages. There are many different orders of knights in England, France, and Germany, and many of these orders are talked about as well as written about very frequently, such as the Templars and the order of the hospitaller but these and like many others are in Europe and not Eastern Europe. Aside from the order of the Teutonic knights, there are very few historiographies written about orders of knights in Eastern Europe, which is why there is very limited writing on the order of the Cross of the Red Star knights from the Czech Republic, which this paper will focus on.  

The Cross of the Red Star Knights were founded in the year 1233 under Saint Agnes of Bohemia and remains the only order of knights founded by a woman[1]. This order of Knights was heavily inspired by the order of Saint John, which focused on helping people with charity work as well as helping sick people by building hospitals. Saint Agnes, the founder of the order, originally established two monasteries, which were known as Bohemian Assisi, and also a hospital that was attached to these monasteries[2]. With these monasteries and hospitals the order engaged in charity work as well as helping with their hospital. The order often helped people who were unjustly persecuted, as well as sick and homeless people as well. Later in 1234, at the request of Saint Agnes to Pope Clement IX, the order was elevated to its own separate order to operate not as part of a larger order[3]. After this, the historiography begins to become quite scarce on this Order. This source, titled Blessed Gérard and his “Everlasting Brotherhood”: The Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem Its foundation and spiritual roots by author Gérard Lagleder, is one of the only authors to have written significantly about the order despite the order being the only known religious order to have been founded by a woman. Other books written about knightly orders of the Middle Ages often leave out this group entirely even though it is very interesting and understudied, this is largely due to the lack of historiography about knightly orders in the Czech Republic, as well as most of Eastern Europe in general.

As mentioned in the above paragraph, there is limited historiography available on knightly orders in Bohemia and Moravia in the Middle Ages, and these places are often left out of major books about knightly orders in Europe. This can be seen in the book written by author Helen Nicholson Titled Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights: Images of the Military Orders, 1128-1291. This book is about knightly orders during the Middle Ages in Europe; however, it mainly focuses on well-known orders in France and England, such as the Templar Knights and the Hospitaler Knights, but barely mentions anything in Eastern Europe. The only group that is talked about from Eastern Europe is the Order of the Teutonic Knights. In this book, the author states that they will use the Templars,hospitalers, and the order of the Teutonic Knights to study all Knightly orders in Europe by saying, “Firstly, we must study three major military orders: The Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights. This will reveal how far the military orders shared a common image.” While these groups are very large and share similarities, they mostly only represent orders in Western Europe, aside from the Teutonic Knights[4]. Eastern Europe in this book is mentioned very briefly, and no Knightly orders from that entire portion of the continent are at all mentioned. In fact, Bohemia is only mentioned about 10 times in this entire book. In those few times that Bohemia is mentioned, it is only mentioned in relation to the Teutonic order, such as in this instance “ King Leo I of Armenia’s affection for the Teutonic order was undoubtedly due to its connection with the German emperor, who had given him his crown.⁴ The support given to the Teutonic order by Premysl Ottokar II, ruler and then king of Bohemia.” The issue with ignoring Eastern Europe is that are large area of land that was under the influence of the pope is missed, which leaves out very important groups[5]. As previously talked about, the Knights of Cross of the Red Star was founded by a woman and remains the only Knightly order to be known to have been founded by a woman, yet this book, as it mostly ignores Eastern Europe, does not mention this group at all.

Somewhat recently, there has been some historiography written about Eastern Europe, as well as about Agnes of Bohemia, the founder of the Knights of the Cross of the Red Star, and her letters to the pope and Clare of Assisi. One historian who has written an extensive text on Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages was the historian Florin Curta, in his book titled Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500-1300). Author Florin Curta says this about why he wrote this monograph in the opening acknowledgements of the book: “I was distressed by the limited choices of books that may be assigned to graduate students interested in the medieval history of the region. Overview textbooks and monographs on Western Europe predominated, with only some of them concerned with the eastern part of the Continent, and then only partially or marginally. That made it difficult for students to get any sense of the history of the region between ca. 500 and ca. 1300.” The Author’s main motivation in writing this was because he noticed the limited scholarship that had been written about Eastern Europe during the time of the Middle Ages[6]. This book also goes on to talk about more knightly orders than just the Templar and Teutonic orders. The author also talks about the Knights of Christ, also known as The Knights of Dobrzyn[7]. However, while this book is very extensive in its writing about Eastern Europe, it does not mention anything about Agnes of Bohemia, the Founder of the Knights of the Cross of the Red Star, or the order itself, as very few historiographies do.  However, author Joan Mueller does write about Agnes of Bohemia and her letters to Clare of Assisi in her book Clare of Assisi: The Letters to Agnes. In this book, Joan Mueller translates some of the letters from Latin to English that Agnes of Bohemia wrote to Clare of Assisi about her founding of the monastery that would be used for the Knights of the Cross of the Red Star, stating “The letters bring to life a dynamic moment in the history of women's spirituality.” Which is true as Agnes of Bohemia did a lot in her life aside from founding the Order, such as refusing a marriage proposal from Fredrick the 2^nd and instead choosing to become a Nun[8].

While books like Clare of Assisi: The Letters to Agnes and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500-1300) add to the very limited historiography about the Eastern European region, there is still very much to be studied in this area. For example, Agnes of Bohemia had a large correspondence with the Pope during her lifetime, yet there is very little scholarship written about this interesting woman and her religious order of the Knights of the Cross of the Red Star, despite it being the only known religious order to have been founded entirely by a woman.    

[1] Gérard Lagleder, Blessed Gérard and His “Everlasting Brotherhood”: The Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem: Its Foundation and Spiritual Roots (Mandeni, South Africa, 2026), 202.

[2] Gérard Lagleder, Blessed Gérard and His “Everlasting Brotherhood”: The Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem: Its Foundation and Spiritual Roots (Mandeni, South Africa, 2026), 202.

[3] Gérard Lagleder, Blessed Gérard and His “Everlasting Brotherhood”: The Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem: Its Foundation and Spiritual Roots (Mandeni, South Africa, 2026), 202.

[4] Helen Nicholson, Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights: Images of the Military Orders, 1128–1291 (Leicester and New York: Leicester University Press, 1995), 7.

[5] Helen Nicholson, Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights: Images of the Military Orders, 1128–1291 (Leicester and New York: Leicester University Press, 1995), 20,

[6] Florin Curta, Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500–1300) (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2019), ix.

[7] Florin Curta, Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500–1300) (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2019), 382.

[8] Joan Mueller, trans. and ed., Clare of Assisi: The Letters to Agnes (St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publications, 2001)

The source in question is a letter written by Claire of Assisi in 1234 to Agnes of Bohemia, who later became the founder of the Knights of the Cross of the Red Star order in Bohemia. This letter was written in Assisi, Italy. It was sent to Agnes of Bohemia by Clare of Assisi to congratulate Agnes rejecting her marriage to Fredrick the Second and instead becoming a Nun and dedicating her life to Christ.[1] This document is especially important because it shows that religious women such as Clare and Agnes did not just talk to other religious women in their area, but they wrote to each other across the world. If Clare and Agnes were writing like this it is highly likely that other religious women at the time were doing the same. Also, this letter to Agnes of Bohemia helps show the spread of Franciscan beliefs during this time. Agnes who was running the knights of cross of the Red Star order was in bohemia which shows that the ideas of Saint Francis were spreading all over the entire continent and were not just only in western Europe though many middle ages scholars do not look at Eastern Europe as much so this is often missed. This source was originally likely written by Clare of Assisi herself but because she was a leader of a convent, it is also possible that this was written by a scribe that was told by Clare to write this letter. This letter is translated by the scholar Joan Mueller to English for her book titled Clare of Assisi: The Letters to Agnes. In the English translation the original subject of the letter is the same but due to it being translated and made easier to read for the book some of the original words in the letter have been changed due to this reason. It is possible that this letter was shared around the Knights of the Cross of the Red Star order when it arrived to Agnes since it is from another woman that was the head of a Franciscan order that this letter was shown to other people in the Red Star Order. However, this is likely not the case it is mostly only about Agnes and how delighted Clare of Assisi is that Agnes had rejected a marriage proposal to instead to follow the order of saint Francis like her which is likely why Clare of Assisi was so interested in Agnes and her order.

Clare of Assisi was the leader of a Franciscan church order known as the Poor Clares. Which is one of the main reasons why she is writing to Agnes because her order of the cross of the red star knights was also a Franciscan order. Because of this Clare of Assisi has a great deal of authority about the ideals of Franciscan orders because she herself like Agnes is the head of one. This means that she has a large amount of firsthand experience in running a church organization as well as upholding these ideals. However, because of this Clare has a large bias towards the religious order of Saint Francis. This is very clear in this letter because she says things like this for example “In doing these things  with your whole heart and mind, you have chosen instead holiest poverty and physical want, accepting a nobler spouse, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will keep your virginity always intact and unchanged.” In this she is saying there is no higher value in life but to live like Jesus and that according to her ideals is to live in poverty like he did during his life.[2] Clare of Assisi clearly had a large bias towards the Franciscan order, so this source can be trusted in certain contexts. It is a reliable source for doing research on Agnes of Bohemia and Knights of the Cross of the Red Star order. But this is not a source that could be trusted for doing research on something like everyday life in the Middle Ages or even doing research on something like other religious orders because other religious orders are not going to be spoke about in the same way that Franciscan order is spoken about in this letter or any of the other letters to Agnes. This source was also written for a specific audience Agnes of Bohemia was a religious woman, so this letter has a large amount of religious language in it such as how Clare of Assisi mentions frequently that this is the path that Jesus would have wanted Agnes to take. One man issue that this causes for historians looking at this letter and other letters written by Clare of Assisi to Agnes of Bohemia is that they only offer an insight to the Franciscan church order of the time. This source can only be used for research on that topic or other church related topics because it does not offer something like insight to daily life in the Middle Ages and is mostly about religion and women.

This letter says a lot about society in the 1200s. It shows that Franciscan ideals were spreading all over Europe and not just in western Europe only. It also says a lot about the place that women held in society during this time as well. It shows that women were able to do a lot in the Middle Ages as both Agnes and Clare were leaders of religious orders and not only that they were also very learned women as it is clear they could both read and write in Latin. Also, being a leader of a church order at this time meant that there was politics that had to be dealt with from kings and government organizations, so these women were dealing with kings and heads of state as well. There are many other writings from other Franciscan orders that mirror what Clare was writing to Agnes about in these letters. One of these is a letter writing to another branch of the Franciscan order called the Friars Minor by Willam Ockham which can be found in this book William of Ockham: 'A Letter to the Friars Minor' and Other Writings. This letter mirrors much of the same writing about poverty that is written in the letters Clare sent to Agnes such as when Willam of Ockham writes “Just as the Poverty of Christ is more glorious.” This source can be found on google scholar.[3] Joan Mueller is only historian who has taken these letters from Clare of Assisi and translated them from Latin to English Mueller did this because she writes “The letters bring to life a dynamic moment in the history of women's spirituality.”. As mentioned, there are few historians that have wrote about Agnes of Bohemia even though she was the only woman to ever start a religious order. These letters that were translated by Joan Mueller show a lot about women in the middle ages specifically that women actually held a large place in society but unfortunately not much is known is known about Agnes of Bohemia and her order as outside of this translated letter and her other letters to Clare of Assisi she is very understudied as well as her order.[4]

1.       [1] Clare of Assisi, Letter to Agnes of Prague (1234), in Joan Mueller, Clare’s Letters to Agnes: Texts and Sources (St. Bonaventure, NY: St. Bonaventure University, 2001), 27–51.

2.       [2] Clare of Assisi, Letter to Agnes of Prague (1234), in Joan Mueller, Clare’s Letters to Agnes: Texts and Sources (St. Bonaventure, NY: St. Bonaventure University, 2001), 27–51.

[3] William of Ockham, A Letter to the Friars Minor and Other Writings, ed. Arthur Stephen McGrade and John Kilcullen (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 99.

1.       [4] “Joan Mueller, Clare of Assisi: The Letters to Agnes (New York: Paulist Press, 2003).”

Thanks to several capable Grand Masters, the Order entered the early modern period in quite good condition. In 1562 the Grand Master Antonín Brus of Mohelnice even became Archbishop of Prague.^[5] This appointment marks the end of a long period of sede vacante of the St. Adalbert's See. Since then, archbishops of Prague had held the post of Grand Master for almost a hundred and fifty years. The Order thus gained a prestigious role, yet at the same time it was obliged to economically support the impoverished Prague Diocese and to finance its development.

Of this long period, the last two Grand Master on the St. Adalbert's See, Arnost Vojtěch of Harrach and Jan Bedřich of Waldstein, are worth mentioning. Arnost Vojtěch of Harrach became the head of the Order in 1623 and was appointed Cardinal by Pope Urban VIII in 1626.^[6] He died in 1667, making him the longest serving Grand Master of the Order. After his death, Jan Bedřich of Waldstein became a new Grand Master, building on the work of his predecessor. He continued the reconstruction of the monastery at Charles Bridge, which he completed with the construction of a new church designed by the architect J. B. Mathey. In 1692, Jan Bedřich of Wallenstein, with the help of his later successor and then Prior of the Order, Jiří Ignác Pospíchal, completed the building of St. Agnes Hospital, which stood on the site of today's Slavia Café at the corner of Národní třída in Prague.^[7]

The Order flourished also in the first half of the 18th century. Grand Master John Francis Franchimont of Frankenfeld was granted by Pope Clement XI the right to use mitre and other pontifical insignia (crosier, pectoral cross, ring) for himself and his successors.^[8] This right was later given also to the provost at the monastery of St. Hippolytus in Hradiště near Znojmo. (After the reforms related to the Second Vatican Council, only the Grand Master of the Order has this privilege.) During the 18th century the Order spread its activities to various places outside the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. In 1723 it was installed at the hospital of St. Martin and Leopold in Bratislava, in 1733 at the Karlskirche in Vienna. In 1770 Maria Theresa invested the Order with the administration of the prominent parish at Buda Castle. During this period, the Order hired great artists of the Baroque era. Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer built the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Karlovy Vary, while Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach built the Church of St. Charles Borromeo in Karlsplatz, Vienna. The painters Václav Vavřinec Reiner, Petr Brandl, Karel Škréta and Michael Willmann used to work for the Order.

Even the last third of the 18th century was marked by significant changes in the life of the Order. Under the Josephine reforms, the hospitals in Prague (Písané lázně) and in Bratislava at St. Martin and Leopold were abolished. The trend towards the reduction of the role of the Order in health and social services was ongoing throughout the 19th century. The initiative of Grand Master Josef Antonín Köhler, who founded the first children's a nursery in Bohemia in Prague-Karlín, can be described as a certain substitute, or perhaps a new expression, of the Order's original charisma.^[8] Overall, though, the focus of the Order's work was shifted to pastoral care in parishes.

During this period the Order was forced to give up most of its foreign locations for political reasons (Bratislava 1786, Wrocław 1810, Budapest 1882). However, these losses were compensated, especially in the late 19th and early 20th century, by the expansion of activities even in new locations in the Czech lands (Karlovy Vary-Rybáře, Věteřov). From the history of the first half of the 19th century, we can also mention the fate of the Order's member Karl Anton Postl, who illicitly left the Order in 1823 during a spa stay in Karlovy Vary and his trace was thereafter lost. It was only after his death that his further life story came to light: After his desertion from the Order, Postl became a successful writer, publishing under the pseudonym Charles Sealsfield.

Perhaps the most remarkable moment in the history of the Order in the 19th century was 3 December 1874. On this day St. Agnes of Bohemia, the founder of the Order, was beatified by Pope Pius IX. An important milestone was thus passed on the way to her later canonization, i.e. declaration as a saint.

Even in the 19th century and especially at the beginning of the 20th century, the Order continued to carry out ambitious architectural projects. In addition to continual repairs and reconstruction of churches, parishes and estates, there are also larger construction projects. In the middle of the 19th century, the wing of the so-called Generalate of the Prague monastery was raised by one floor. At the very beginning of the 20th century, new churches and parishes were built in Karlovy Vary-Rybáře, Milhostov, Řevnice and Věteřov. All this culminates in the extensive reconstruction of the monastery near Charles Bridge, which was designed by the architect Josef Sakař and completed in 1912. Only the church, the Generalate and the late-gothic parts of the so-called Old Priory have been preserved.^[9] The other mostly early Baroque buildings were replaced by modern Art Nouveau – Neo-Baroque buildings. However, the efforts did not focus only on architecture. At this time, other important artists worked for the Order, particularly those from the so-called National Theatre Generation: Josef Václav Myslbek, František Ženíšek and Václav Brožík.

The economic aspect of the Order's life cannot be overlooked either, though it will require further historical research. However, we already know that the Order's brewery near Charles Bridge was the first one in the Czech lands to start bottling beer (1841).^[10]

The first decade of the service of Grand Master František Xaver Marat was marked by extensive building development of the Order, which was crowned by the reconstruction of the monastery at Charles Bridge (1908-1912). The tasks that awaited his successor and the second longest serving Grand Master Josef Vlasák were of a completely different nature. He took office during the hard years of World War I, continued through the difficult period of the First Republic followed by the years of Nazi occupation, and died during the Stalinist period of the Communist regime.

During the World War I, the Grand Master had to deal with a severe shortage of food for both the monastery and its hospital. After 1918, in the turbulent atmosphere of the young Czechoslovak republic and in the anti-Catholic sentiment that resonated in Czech society, there were talks about the dissolution of monasteries. This suppression would have had fatal consequences for the Order operating at that time only in the Czech lands. In this context, the Grand Master was preparing the possible relocation of the entire Order to the United States.^[11] Fortunately for the Church, the situation eventually stabilized, and the Order was able to continue to serve in its traditional locations. Despite the economic difficulties caused by the Czechoslovak land reform and the Great Depression, the Order continued its social activities and generously financed the restoration of the Convent of Saint Agnes in Prague - Na Františku and constructions of new churches in Prague's suburbs.^[12]

After the Munich Agreement in 1938, when part of Czechoslovakia fell to Nazi Germany, a significant number of the Order's parishes (in western Bohemia) found themselves outside the Czechoslovak borders.

Due to the sudden situation and with regard to the spiritual needs of the faithful in the parishes administered by the Order, an agreement was signed between the Order and the Cistercian Abbey of Vyšší Brod. The aim of the agreement was mutual assistance in pastoral care: The Crusaders took over the administration of Cistercian parishes in territories with Czech-speaking population; reciprocally some Crusader parishes in territories ceded to Germany were administered by Cistercians of Vyšší Brod.^[13]

In 1941, just before the death of the Archbishop of Prague, Cardinal Karel Kašpar, the Grand Master of the Order was forced by the Nazis to move to Brno, where he found shelter in the Augustinian Abbey in Old Brno. A year later, in 1942, the Order was forced by the German occupiers to leave its convent near Charles Bridge. At the end of the war, the Order even had to give up the ministry at the main church of the Order, St. Francis at Charles Bridge.^[14] During the war, some of the Order members were persecuted by Nazis: Karel Weis and Ladislav Sirový were imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp.^[15] The end of World War II in May 1945 enabled the revival of religious life in the monastery near Charles Bridge. Due to the forced transfer of the German population of Czechoslovakia, the German-speaking members of the Order left for Germany along with their parishioners in 1946.^[13]

As part of "Action K", the monastery was seized by the State Security (StB) on 27 April 1950. The Grand Master of the Order was destined to spend the rest of his life in the parish of St. Peter in Poříčí in respect of his advanced age. Other members of the Order were transported to concentration monasteries in Broumov, Králíky and Želiv. Certain members of the Order administering the Order´s parishes used to be persecuted and even imprisoned. A. Dragoun was convicted even twice: Firstly in 1951, then again in 1959. The longest sentence was imposed on J. Šebesta, a priest of the Order from the Parish Františkovy Lázně. He was sentenced to 17 years, part of which he would spend in a forced labour camp in the uranium ore mines in Jáchymov. The second longest sentence was imposed on B. Rákosník, priest of the Order from the Parish Kynšperk nad Ohří. He was sentenced to 13 years. Other members of the Order are then given less severe sentences. However, there were also members of the Order who, for various reasons, became involved with the totalitarian regime (Jan Mára, František Xaver Dítě).^[13] The vacant buildings of the monastery were first handed over to the Ministry of Health, then became one of the State Security (StB) headquarters.^[16] Nevertheless, the priests of the Order could still continue to serve at the main church of the Order – throughout the communist period there was always at least one Crusader priest at St. Francis. These priests of the Order who have not been withdrawn from “state approval” used to serve in various parishes. Member of the Order František Verner became the first librarian of the so-called Post-Conciliar Library (a library to help implement the reforms of the Second Vatican Council) founded by Archbishop of Prague František Tomášek. Since the death of Grand Master Josef Vlasák in December 1958, the office had been vacant until 1988. In 1988, at the time of the mitigation of the state's anti-church policy, Dr. Ladislav Sirový was elected the 46th Grand Master and General of the Order. He was installed in office by Cardinal František Tomášek in a private ceremony in the chapel of the Prague Archbishop's Palace.^[8]

12 November 1989 became an important milestone in the history of the Order when its founder, St. Agnes of Bohemia, was canonized in Rome by Pope John Paul II.

After the Velvet Revolution in November 1989, the Order has returned to its monastery next to the Charles Bridge. The tragic event of 12 February 1992 marked the further course of the Order, The Grand Master Ladislav Sirový died after a serious car accident.^[17] Regarding the personal situation, the election of a new Grand Master was not proceeded with. Bishop František Lobkowicz OPraem temporarily took over the administration of the Order by the will of the Holy See. It was only in 2001 that Jiří Kopejsko,^[18] a long-time provost at the Order's pilgrimage site at Chlum Svaté Maří, became the 47th Grand Master of the Order. After his retirement in 2011, he was succeeded by the current 48th Grand Master Josef Šedivý, former parish priest of the Parish Věteřov near Kyjov, Doctor of Pharmacy by degree.^[19]

In 2015, a member of the Order, Jaroslav Ptáček, was honoured by Pope Francis. For his merits for the Order and especially for the Order's youth, he was awarded with the high papal decoration Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice.^[20]

Throughout the post-communist period, the Order has been striving to fulfil the charism of its saint founder: While Crusader priests still serve in former so-called incorporated parishes in the Czech Republic and Austria, the Order lives up to its original mission (patronage of the Girls Catholic High School, sponsorship of the Hospital of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo, foundation of the Crusader Nursing Service and the Crusader Home Hospice).

The Order can also be found in popular culture. The creators of the video game Kingdom Come: Deliverance II took inspiration from the medieval history of the Order in the Hermit quest.^[21]

• Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Borotice)
• Church of the Corpus Christi and the Virgin Mary (Český Krumlov)
• Church of Saint Bartholomew (Cheb)
• Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and of Saint Mary Magdalene (Chlum Svaté Maří)
• Church of Saints Fabian and Sebastian (Chotilsko-Živohošť)
• Chapel of Saint Jude and Thaddeus (Dobřichovice)
• Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Františkovy Lázně)
• Church of Saint Mary Magdalene (Karlovy Vary)
• Church of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Anthony the Great (Klučenice)
• Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Kynšperk nad Ohří)
• Church of Saint Wenceslaus (Loket)
• Church of Saint John the Baptist (Mašovice)
• Church of Saint Nicholas (Milhostov)
• Church of Saint Francis of Assisi (Nový Knín)
• Church of Saint Sigismund (Popice)
• Chapel of the Holy Trinity and Saint Wenceslaus (Prague-Ďáblice)
• Church of Saint George (Prague-Hloubětín)
• Church of Saint Peter (Prague-New Town)
• Church of Saint Francis of Assisi (Prague-Old Town)
• Church of All Saints (Prague-Slivenec)
• Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Tachov)
• Church of Saint Martin (Tursko)
• Church of Saints Peter and Paul (Unhošť)
• Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius (Věteřov)
• Church of Saint Charles Borromeo (Vienna)
• Church of Saint Hippolytus (Znojmo)

• Puchner's Ark