Recipients of its first class included
Siegfried Wolfinger (1952),
Lucia Sturdza-Bulandra (1953),
Emil Bodnăraș,
Justinian Marina,
Gala Galaction (1954),
Dimitrie Cuclin (1955),
Simion Stoilow (1957),
Alexandru Kirițescu,
László Szabédi,
Petre Antonescu,
Cicerone Theodorescu (1958),
N. Gh. Lupu,
Károly Kós (1959),
Tudor Arghezi (1960),
Ion S. Gheorghiu,
Gheorghe Macovei,
Erasmus Julius Nyárády,
Horia Maicu,
George Oprescu,
Mihail Jora,
Miron Radu Paraschivescu (1961),
Ion Agârbiceanu,
Nicolae Profiri,
Aurel Beleș,
Corneliu Miklosi,
Ion Jalea,
Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow,
Perpessicius (1962),
Nikita Khrushchev (1964),
Constantin Daicoviciu,
Gheorghe Gaston Marin,
Gogu Rădulescu (1964),
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1966),
Simion Bughici (1971),
Nicolae Giosan (1971 and 1981),
Suharto (1982), and
Kim Il Sung (1982). Recipients of its second class included
Gheorghe Pintilie (1948),
Corneliu Baba,
Mihai Beniuc,
Alexandru Ciucurencu (1971), , ,
George Georgescu, ,
Ion Irimescu,
Cezar Lăzărescu,
Gheorghe Mihoc,
Marin Preda,
Șerban Țițeica, and . Recipients of the third class of the order include
Ghizela Vass (1948),
Maria Banuș, ,
Theodor Burghele (1964), ==Notes==