The Roman Martyrology commemorates the supposed seven founders of the Order of the Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the hypothetical dates of each of their deaths. Pope Benedict XIV had denied permission for a collective cult, but in 1888—at the time of their belated canonization—Pope Leo XIII granted this common feast, fixing it on February 11, the date in 1304 when the order received canonical approval. Later, because of the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, their commemoration was moved to February 12. The current calendar has preferred to set it on February 17, believed to be the anniversary of the death in 1310 of Alexis Falconieri, one of the founders.
It must be admitted, however, that the beginnings of the Servite Order are as obscure as those of many other religious communities of the later Middle Ages, particularly the 13th century. The names of the Servite founders have been handed down in two different lists that do not completely agree. Some historians of the order suggest that one list may contain their religious names, while the other records their baptismal ones.
The order, which arose in Italy in an eremitical environment and was placed under the Rule of Saint Augustine, has a complex and sometimes uncertain history.
