KNIGHTS OF THE

APOCALYPSE  , a secret society founded in Italy in 1693 to defend the church against the expected Antichrist . Agostino Gabrino, the son of a merchant of Brescia, was its founder . On Palm Sunday 1693, when the choir of St Peter's was chanting Quis est iste Rex Gloriae ? Gabrino, sword in hand, rushed to the altar crying Ego sum Rex Gloriae . Though Gabrino was treated as a madman, the society flourished, until a member denounced it to the Inquisition, who arrested the knights . Though chiefly mechanics they always carried swords even when at work, and wore on their breasts astar with seven rays . Gabrino styled himself monarch of the Holy Trinity . He was credited by his enemies with a desire to introduce polygamy .