Incorporated in 1886,[1] the organization's members commit themselves to service to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, their communities, and fraternal brotherhood, with individual units, or commanderies, established within a parish.

[2] The regimented organization pledges fealty to Their King, Jesus Christ, which strengthens and prepares them to complete His earthly mission through acts of charity and fraternity.

The original preamble of the Knights' constitution of 1886 reads:"Early in the last quarter of the nineteenth century there assembled in one of the large American cities a number of Catholic gentlemen, pledged to inculcate Christian principles, to encourage the practice of civic virtues, to develop better conceptions of public duty and to infuse into human society a broader and loftier morality.

This unique aspect of the organization has continued unchanged into the present, closely mirroring the uniformed rank structure of the United States Army of the late 19th century.

Uniforms consist of double-breasted frock coats and trousers made of black cloth with two rows of buttons (the quantity and color of which is dependent upon the Knight's rank).