In 1847 Pope Pius IX re-established the Latin Patriarchate. Later that same year, he began what was to become the Order in its modern form when he confirmed the power of appointment of Knights in the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. Over the years which followed, that Patriarch, Mgr Valega, undertook much work, such that in 1868 the Papal Bull Cum Multa Sapienter, was issued affirming the Order and from which it has evolved today. Significantly, in 1888 Pope Leo XIII decreed that the Order was to include the appointment of Dames within its ranks.

Although membership of the Order is in the first place for the lay faithful, it is also open to the clergy and professed religious, especially those engaged in fostering the spiritual growth and progress of its members

Canonised and Beatified members

• Saint Contardo of Este (1216 – 16 April 1249)
• Saint Pope Pius X (2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914)
• Saint Bartolo Longo (10 February 1841 – 5 October 1926)
• Blessed Giuseppe Benedetto Dusmet (15 August 1818 – 4 April 1894)
• Blessed Andrea Carlo Ferrari (13 August 1850 – 2 February 1921)
• Blessed Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster (18 January 1880 – 30 August 1954)
• Blessed Aloysius Viktor Stepinac (8 May 1898 – 10 February 1960)

Over the late 19th and 20th centuries, the Constitution of the Order was variously amended by Papal ordinance, the effects of which included permitting investiture to take place other than in Jerusalem, and the appointment of a Cardinal as Grand Master (rather than the Pope himself). Our Current Grand Master is His Eminence Fernando Cardinal Filoni and the Order currently numbers at approximately 30,000 members worldwide.