Order of Saint Stephen

Holy Military Order of St. Stephen Pope and Martyr
Holy Military Order of St. Stephen Pope and Martyr ;
	Badge of the order.
Awarded by Grand Duke of Tuscany
Type	Military and Religious order
Eligibility	Noblemen over 18, not descended from heretics
Grand Master	Archduke Sigismund, Grand Duke of Tuscany
	; Ribbon of the order; ;

The Order of Saint Stephen (officially Sacro Militare Ordine di Santo Stefano Papa e Martire, 'Holy Military Order of St. Stephen Pope and Martyr') is a Roman Catholic Tuscan dynastic military order founded in 1561. The order was created by Cosimo I de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany. The last member of the Medici dynasty to be a leader of the order was Gian Gastone de Medici in 1737. The order was permanently abolished in 1859 by the annexation of Tuscany to the Kingdom of Sardinia. The former Kingdom of Italy and the current Italian Republic also did not recognize the order as a legal entity but tolerates it as a private body.

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