Our Lady of St. Theresa Carmelite

Monastery in Carmel Valley

The Knight’s Vigil

 The 2007 Investiture Ceremonies begun
with a vigil held Friday November 2, 5:00 P.M.. Some may ask, what is the vigil and what does it represent? Becoming and being a knight was a very important job, especially for fighting. Young boys at the age of seven had to leave there family to start the training to become a knight (in The Middle Ages). It took a lot of work to become a knight, men spent years in training to reach this goal.

At the beginning of the journey, boys started out by becoming a page. Being a page was about four years. As they continued in their training, they became a squire for about four years. Squire's stayed with knights and serving at all times. One of the Squire’s job was to maintain the Knights armor and weapons. After years of training their big day would finally come.

The night before the Squire become a
knight, there would be a ceremony called, "The Knights Vigil". The postulant would be bathed and shaved after which he would be dressed in simple clothing before going to the chapel to pray for guidance on how to be a good knight.

After the Knight’s Vigil at the Carmelite
Monastery our Postulants Knights and Dames partook in a silent dinner to complete the first part of the Investiture ceremonies.

The Accolade

In today’s time knighting of an individual is
often done by a King or Queen. In some instances it is also done by the head of a Church. But in the beginning he accolade was delivered by another knight usually a Master Knight. A light blow from a sword on the side of the neck or, on each shoulder accompanied by the words “ Be thou a knight”. This tradition has been ongoing since the High Middle Ages. And it is a tradition that is still alive and well today.

Knight’s Prayer
Carved in the stone of Chartres Cathedral, France is a knightly prayer:

“Most Holy Lord, Almighty Father… Thou who has permitted on earth the use of the sword to repress the malice of the wicked and defend justice… cause Thy servant before Thee, by disposing his heart to goodness, never to use this sword or another, to injure anyone unjustly;but let him use it always to defend the just and right.