The Order of Saint Joseph was instituted on 9 March 1807 by Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany during his reign as Grand Duke of Würzburg. It was transformed into a Tuscan Roman Catholic Dynastic Order in 1817. The constitution of the Order was promulgated in March 1817, with amendments in August 1817. The order was divided into civil and military categories but these are now defunct. It is given to reward services towards Tuscan culture and civilisation and to the Grand Ducal House as a whole. The Order is divided into three levels: These numbers excluded Sovereigns, Heads of State, and Princes of the Grand Ducal House and other Royal Houses, Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church and Tuscan Metropolitan Archbishops. All had to be Catholics. The number of women members cannot exceed fifty, excluding Princesses of the Grand Ducal and other Royal Houses, wives of Heads of State and Dames of the Order of Saint Stephen. It is permitted for non-nobles to be admitted into the Order of the level of Grand Cross in cases of exceptional merit. Dames wear the same Cross as Knights but from a bow on the left breast. Dame Grand Crosses wear the Cross hanging from a Riband like the Knights but without the Star. On 20 December 1866, Ferdinand IV and his children rejoined the imperial household, and the House of Tuscany ceased to exist as an already sovereign branch, being absorbed into the Austrian imperial branch; Ferdinand was allowed to retain his fons honorum vita natural durante, while his children became only imperial princes (Archdukes/Archiduchesses of Austria) and no longer princes/princesses of Tuscany. In 1870, Ferdinand IV renounced his remaining political rights to claim sovereignty over the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in favour of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and with him all political claims to Tuscany for all descendants of Leopoldo. In fact, after the death of Grand Duke Ferdinand IV in 1908, Emperor Franz Joseph I had forbidden the assumption of the titles of Grand Duke, Prince or Princess of Tuscany: none of Ferdinand IV's children born after 1866 called themselves Prince or Grand Duke of Tuscany, nor did they take possession of the extinct dynastic orders already conferred by the Grand Dukes of Tuscany.

Recipients