[2] In June 1221 it appears to have been approved by Pope Honorius III, who gave it permission to observe the ordinances of the Order of the Temple of Solomon.
[3] In July the Pope appears to have transferred all authority over the foundation of the order (and therefore its survival) to the papal legate Conrad of Urach.
[4] The specific purpose of the founding was "to promise aid and succour to Amaury de Montfort and his heirs, for the defence of his person and domains"[5] and as inquisitors for the "seeking out and destruction of evil heretics and their lands and also of those who rebel against the faith of the holy church.
[4] It has also been asserted that the Militia was brought across the Alps and established in Italy as the Milizia di Gesù Cristo,[8] but the soundness of this hypothesis is unknown.
In a bull of 18 May 1235, Gregory IX confided the Militia to the care of Jordan of Saxony, second master-general of the Dominican Order.