PRAEMIANDO INCITAT
PREFACE
Excellencies, Brothers and Sisters in the Order,
Dear Friends,
I would like to optimize the exhilarating feeling, proper to human consciousness, in sharing my pleasant
deep emotions by offering you a gift, namely this book. I am proud an honoured to be a part of the Order
of St. Stanislas and able to share and promote the excellence of its true values worldwide. Coming
together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is a success. We should keep
together and carry the good and prestigious name of Order of Stanislas, whose charitable motto has
never failed. This generosity is possible thanks to the loyalty of the members of the Order to their pledge
and the noble gestures of our donors. One of the most important things to pursue is to build steadily a
solid relationship between the members, based on mutual trust. Our members should be able to
manage to merge, blend and unite the different professions, nationalities, religions and cultures which
make up the envied specificity of the Order of St. Stanislas and try to bring people together, benefit from
their view and expertise, call upon their ability to influence, and thereby enhance their engagement
within the Order.
The Order of St. Stanislas is a fine assembly of people from different international societies. I would like
to encourage all the members to stay together and to continue their engagement in accordance with
the statutory rules, and to spread this message to persons we meet everywhere in the world.
Rather neglected for some time, the historic Order of St. Stanislas has been experiencing a real
“renaissance” for several decennia. Considering the strong regional differences, it is not only the
European members of the Order who are increasingly monitoring the respect for the original objectives
of the founder of the Order.
All Knights of the Order of St. Stanislas today are aware of the tradition of this Order, and proud that
they are listed among many great personalities who were also Knights of this Order in the last two and
a half centuries.
During the Order's 250-year long history, there were always courageous persons who were committed
to contribute to maintain the existence of the Order and dedicated to pursuing the original objectives
of the founder of the Order. Also, the modern history of the Order is interesting with its many beautiful
achievements and successes, worldwide.
The sovereign Order of Saint Stanislas numbers today thousands of companions spread throughout the
world, made up of honorable men and women of all races and creeds, a true Brotherhood of man. It is
formally recognized as a charitable Order of Chivalry.
Bearing in mind the small amount of literature about the Order of St. Stanislas on the book market, I felt
prompted to write this edition. Most publications on this subject deal with the history of the Order since
its creation in 1765 till 1917. In this regard, I have placed emphasis on the period since 1990 since the
recreation of the modern Order.
Scant information is available about its modern history and activities as well as truly little basic
organizational information is at hand about the day-to-day activities of individual Priories in all the
countries around the world. I hope that this book will fill this gap to a certain extent and will stimulate
people to get more interested in the Order of Saint Stanislas, not only possible and potential candidates
for membership, but also unpretentious readers and supporters.
Thaddäus Freiherr von Lison