Knights of the Apocalypse

The Knights of the Apocalypse (Italian: Cavalieri dell'Apocalisse) was a short-lived Italian religious society, founded in 1693 by Agostino Gabrino, "professedly for the defence of the Roman Catholic church against Anti-Christ." {{citation |editor1-first= Charles |editor1-last= Knight |title= Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge |volume= 2 |location= London |publisher= Charles Knight |year= 1833 |page= 163 |url=https://archive.org/stream/ThePennyCyclopaediaOfTheSocietyForTheDiffusionOfUsefulKnowledge/ThePennyCyclopaediaOfTheSocietyForTheDiffusionOfUsefulKnowledgeVolume02Andocides-Athanagilde#page/n173/mode/2up |quote= APO'CALYPTIC KNIGHTS (Cavalieri dell'Apocaisse} were a secret society, formed A.D. 1693, professedly or the defence of the Roman Catholic church against Antichrist. The founder of the Apocalyptic order was Agostino Gabrino, the son of a merchant at Brescia. When, on Palm Sunday, 1693, in the church of St. Peter at Rome, the antiphony of Ps. xxiv was sung: ‘Quis est iste rex gloriea?’ ‘Who is that king of glory?’ Agostino Gabrino stepped urvvard with a drawn sword among the ecclesiastics, crying out, ‘Ego sum rex gloriae’; ‘I am king of glory.’ In a similar manner he disturbed public worship in the church of St. Salvator, and was, therefore, confined in a madhouse. A woodcutter belonging to the Apocalyptic knights laid information before the Inquisition against his order; by his tribunal the order was suppressed in 1694, and the Knights confined in prison. About eighty knights, most of whom were tradesmen and labourers, wore constantly a sword at their side, even during menial occupations, and a star upon their breast. This star had seven corners and a tail, and was surrounded by a golden thread, which circle represented the terraqueous globe. The tail of the star represented the sword seen by St. John in the Apocalypse. This order has been accused of an intended rebellion against the papal government and the higher ranks. Agostino Gabrino, called monarch of the Holy Trinity, intended to introduce polygamy, and his knights were to marry pure virgins only. The history even of such a set of madmen is not without its uses: ignorance and fanaticism will, in all ages, produce the same fruits. (See Tenzel's Monatliche Unterredungen for the year 1694, pp. 672-677, and of 1697, p. 883, &c.: Ersch and Gruber's Ency.) |accessdate= 2016-05-05 }} The order was suppressed in 1694 by the Roman Inquisition.