Order of Alcantara

ESP003 Orden de Alcántara

Order was founded in 1156 as a military partnership to defend the newly built frontier fortress of San Julian de Peral against the Moors.
On 29 December 1177, Pope Alexander III elevated this partnership to a spiritual knightly order and gave the charter of Benedict of Nursia. From the King of Castile Ferdinand II, the Order received many benefits, and Pope Celestine III, who granted to Order many privileges in 1197, subordinated the Order directly to the papal throne and entrusted with the duty to defend the Christian faith and wage eternal war with the Moors.
Alfonso IX in 1218 donated the city of Alcantara to the Order, after which it has since been called.
The Order of Alcantara, together with the Calatrava, Santiago and Montesa, was restored as a civil association with the kingship of Juan Carlos I with the character of a nobiliary, honorable, and religious organization that remains as such.
San Benito de Alcántara - is a monastery in Alcántara, in the province of Cáceres, Spain.