The term “Fons Honorum” is Latin, meaning “Fount of Honour,” and it is the Fons Honorum that makes an Order of Knighthood authentic and distinguishes it from a purely charitable organisation or any other sort of club or society.
It is the Fons Honorum that gives the Order the authority to “make genuine Knights,” as distinct from those people who are called Knights in name only. The Fons Honorum can be a Monarch or the Head of a Royal House, or it can be a Patriarch, an Archbishop, or Bishop in Holy Orders, with provable Apostolic Lines of Succession which can be traced back to the Apostles who received their authority directly from Jesus Christ Himself.
The tradition of Christian Archbishops and Bishops issuing Warrants of Protection or Patents of Authority for the creation of Orders of Chivalry and for awarding Ecclesiastical Noble Titles has long been established, and it is by this authority that genuine Orders of Chivalry can create authentic Knights and confer Noble Titles.