metropolitan churches and cathedrals, and from a few other benefices at the disposal of the Crown, and also from the entrance fees of 8500 reales paid by the Knights of the Grand Cross, of 4000 reales paid by the pensioned Knights, and of 3750 reales paid by the supernumerary Knights. In passing from a lower to a higher class, only the difference of the fees is paid.
The decoration consists of an octagonal gold cross with buttons on the points, and appended to a laurel wreath. The arms of the cross are bright blue, edged with white enamel, and connected with each other by golden lilies. The middle of the obverse is enamelled yellow, partly bright and partly dark, and is encircled by a blue ring. It exhibits the figure of the Blessed Virgin standing upon a silver crescent, and clad in a tunic, and in a bright blue mantle interspersed with silver stars. The reverse shows the initials of the founder within a laurel wreath, and the legend: 'Virtuti et Merito' (Plate 88, Tab. II. No. 13). The decoration is, with the exception of the size, the same for both classes, and is worn, by the first class, across the right shoulder by a ribbon, white in the middle and blue at the borders, and by the second, suspended at the button-hole.
The Knights of the Grand Cross wear, besides, the same cross embroidered in silver, (the middle in silk), on the left side of the breast. The initials of the founder and the motto of the Order, are placed beneath the crescent. (No. 4). On gala days this cross may be adorned with brilliants, and the collar (Plate 89, No. 19) is added to it.
Ecclesiastics, when in their official dress, wear the decoration round the neck, otherwise they have the cross embroidered on the coat or cloak. Since the time of Ferdinand VII. the second class Knights are also allowed to wear upon the breast an embroidered cross, representing the reverse of the decoration (Plate 88, Tab. II. No. 12).
