This is the name given to the venerable rite used in the Middle Ages and in our own day (by, for instance, the Knights of Our Lady) by which knighthood is conferred on a suitable candidate. The connection between the order of chivalry and the service of God has always been close, and the correct name for the ritual is the Blessing of the New Knight (‘Benedictio Novi Militis‘).

After due preparation, and the vows of profession (amendment of life, obedience and fidelity to the Order), knighthood is administered by a bishop, an abbot, the Master of the order or a fellow knight, giving the new knight the mission of ‘extending the frontiers of God’s kingdom here below ‘. It is usually supposed that the ‘sign’ of knighthood is the blow on the shoulder with the sword (the ‘accolade ‘); in fact it is the girding of the candidate with the belt, scabbard and sword. The word ‘dubbing’ has a Teutonic root, dub meaning ‘tap’!

In relation to the ideals of courtesy and the protection of widow and orphan, knighthood soon found its Sovereign Lady in the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God ‘ present as the perfect model of the Knights to imitate and their powerful help to  sustain them‘ (cf. Rule of the Knights of Our Lady).

Knighthood has always been a privilege, never a right. And in the Order of the Knights of Our Lady it is either the Master or the Prior who, after due consultation, calls a thoroughly prepared candidate to knighthood. Such a candidate is a man of living faith, healthy in mind and body, of sound morals and having established, through a series of positive actions in the service of the Church, his country or his neighbour, his capacity to exercise a moral influence on others, being filled with the desire to observe the knightly code of honour (as found in the Rule of the Knights of Our Lady).

An important characteristic of the orders of knighthood from the Middle-Ages to our own day has been the spirit of brotherhood existing between knights. Even in the romanticised fiction of the knightly age – the Arthurian legend, for instance – the knights share a common (round) table.

Fraternity is one of two fundamental conditions for the knight to achieve his quest – to attain holiness in the service of the Church; the other is humility: ‘Not unto us, Lord, not unto us, but unto Your Name give the Glory.’

On the vigil of the day selected for the Dubbing – often a feast of Our Lady – the candidate makes his lifetime Profession of the Vows, in a liturgy taken from that of the Templar (XIII cent.). He then spends the night in prayer and is dubbed in the course of the Mass on the following morning. Those who have attended these ceremonies do not easily forget their solemn beauty.

Below are some pictures of a Dubbing ceremony.