Drs. Gilda and Mary Celeste Rorro, a mother-daughter duo, were invested as Dames of The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. They participated in a blessing of their robes at The Church of Our Savior in New York on October 13, 2023.
The sacred Investiture Mass was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on October 14, 2023. His Eminence Fernando Cardinal Filoni, KOCHS and Grand Master of the Order, celebrated the Mass and placed a silver cross on their shoulders during the ceremony.
In addition to Doctors, the mother-daughter duo are now also referred to as Dames.
Dr. Mary Rorro is the Chair of the Music and Medicine Committee of the American Medical Women’s Association and Co-Chair of the Humanities Committee, and is also active in music with her patients and in the Church.
Dr. Gilda Rorro has a Doctorate in Education and developed a curriculum to educate students and others about how Italians and the Pope helped save Jewish people during the Holocaust. She is also the author of “Gilda, promise Me.”
Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York, and H.E. Count Leonardo Visconti di Modrone, KOCHS Governor General, Monsignor Sam Sirianni and Archduke Eduard Habsburg were in attendance.
The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, derived from the equestrians, a social class in ancient Rome. Pope Francis is now Sovereign of the Order, which endures as a chivalric Order protected by the Holy See.
There are approximately 30,000 Knights and Dames in 60 lieutenancies of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. The principal mission of the Order is to sustain and assist the spiritual, charitable, and social works and rights of the Church, and to support the Christian presence in the Holy Land.
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