Respect for History and Heritage: In regards to the physical martial arts, history is not merely a starting point for improvisation, but both the source and the subject of study. In order to connect, as fully as possible, with the Catholic Knights of our heritage the study of the past is our guide. Reconstruction and revival, recovery and resurrection, is our challenge. We must always strive to eliminate the possibility of contempt through triviality, frivolity, and ignorance.
Sincerity of Effort: Developing martial discipline and real skill, both physically and spiritually, requires that you must be, first and foremost, honest with yourself in regards to your own capabilities and motives. This sincerity requires that one forsake escapism or doing things purely for entertainment or display. Skill only comes as a result of earnest, committed effort combined with understanding and appreciation. Self-deceit, pretense, arrogance, and false pride are ruinous to progress in martial arts and extremely dangerous in spiritual warfare.
Appreciation of Martial Spirit: Recognize that the original purpose of sword craft was violence, and know that it existed as the domain of knights and other warriors. Whether in the form of fighting arts or martial sports, you should respect veterans both past and present, and all those who share in a warrior code of struggling justly against adversity. Pay them homage by continually challenging yourself to improve your strengths and diminish your weaknesses, whether spiritual, physical, mental, or personal.
Cultivation of Self-Discipline: Controlling movement and range and timing as you execute techniques is only a physical part of the craft. However, the physical lessons learned will allow the practitioner to build mental and emotional control. Modern people claim that the knights of old only prized wisdom, fortitude, audacity, and prudence along with the prerequisite necessity of courage (the ability to act in spite of fear). While also forgetting that these knights were primarily focused on religious piety, devotion to holy relics, willingness to subordinate worldly interests to celestial ones, and a penchant for grand acts of public penance. All of these elements, temporal and religious, were often expressed in the chivalric virtues. We express these values in our Code of Chivalry for the Order and strive to live each one as fully as possible while growing in knowledge, ability, and virtue over time as we continuously learn and participate.