Posted on 07/21/2002 10:01:31 AM PDT by Hacksaw
The Knights Templar were a monastic military order formed at the end of the First Crusade with the mandate of protecting Christian pilgrims on route to the Holy Land. Never before had a group of secular knights banded together and took monastic vows. In this sense they were the first of the Warrior Monks.
From humble beginnings of poverty when the order relied on alms from the traveling pilgrims, the order would go on to have the backing of the Holy See and the collective European monarchies.
Within two centuries they had become powerful enough to defy all but the Papal throne. Feared as warriors, respected for their charity and sought out for their wealth, there is no doubt that the Templar knights were the key players of the monastic fighting orders. Due to their vast wealth and surplus of materials the Templars essentially invented banking, as we know it. The church forbade the lending of money for interest, which they called usury. The Templars, being the clever sort they were, changed the manner in which loans were paid and were able to skirt the issue and finance even kings.
They were destroyed, perhaps because of this wealth or fear of their seemingly limitless powers. In either case, the order met with a rather untimely demise at the hands of the Pope and the King of France in 1307 and by 1314, "The Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon" ceased to exist.
Although originally a small group of nine knights, they quickly gained fame largely due to the backing of Bernard of Clairvaux and his "In Praise of the New Knighthood". Bernard at that time was often called the Second Pope and was the chief spokesman of Christendom. He is also the one responsible for helping to draw up the order's rules of conduct.
In European political circles, they became very powerful and influential. This was because they were immune from any authority save that of the Papal Throne. (Pope Innocent II exempted the Templars from all authority except the Pope.) After the crusades were over, the knights returned to their Chapters throughout Europe and became known as moneylenders to the monarchs. In the process many historians believe they invented the Banking System. The Templars fought along side King Richard I (Richard The Lion Hearted) and other Crusaders in the battles for the Holy Lands.
The secret meetings and rituals of the knights would eventually cause their downfall. The King of France, Philip the Fair used these rituals and meetings to his advantage to destroy the knights. The real reason for his crushing the Templars was that he felt threatened by their power and immunity. In 1307, Philip, who desperately needed funds, to support his war against England's Edward I made his move against the Knights Templar.
On October 13th, 1307, King Philip had all the Templars arrested on the grounds of heresy, since this was the only charge that would allow the seizing of their money and assets. The Templars were tortured and as a result, ridiculous confessions were given. These confessions included:
Trampling and spitting on the cross
Homosexuality and Sodomy
Worshipping of the Baphomet
Philip was successful in ridding the Templars of their power and wealth and urged all fellow Christian leaders to do the same thing. On March 19th, 1314 the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay was burned at the stake. De Molay is said to have cursed King Philip and Pope Clement as he burned asking both men to join him within a year. Whether he actually uttered the curse or if it is simply an apocryphal tale what remains as fact is that Clement died only one month later and Philip IV seven months after that.
You are probably aware that the oldest written record of masonry is one of the Ancient Constitutions which goes back to the 1300's, although there is a reference in it to masonic activity prior to the year 1000.
There is also the building of several chruches and cathedrals that are attributed to the Templars and their mason roots.
Semper Fi
Semper Amused
Phillip Le Bel, King of France at the time, sent an army against the pope. He imprisoned him but was eventually forced to release him. That Pope conveniently died shortly thereafter. The next Pope, Clement, was virtually appointed by Phillip and his chief minister, de Nougerat. They ended up moving the Papacy to France for about 70 years. They set about destroying the Templars, as both a threat to their power grab and as a potential source of funds for their wars. The Templars snuck their treasures out of the country, along with their fleet, just before the axe fell.
I hold with the tales of the Templars taking their wealth and secrets to Scotland and aiding Robert the Bruce. There are also intriguing stories of some of the early bucaneers in the next couple of centuries having uncanny similarities in their traditions to the Templars.
There is an interesting and well documented parallel in eastern history. The Chinese emperor outlawed the Shao Lin (of Kung Fu fame) monks. They went underground and formed secret societies which later became the Triads (tong), who controlled much of the trade and organized crime in China and Chinese communities for the next several centuries, right up to today.
I've really enjoyed the well researched fiction of Katherine Kurtz on the history and fate of the Templars. She has written several stories herself as well as editing a couple of really good short story compliations. Though all are fiction, and some quite fanciful, they offer a great background for getting the feeling and for finding a starting place to research the real history.
Well, fine. At least I gave a source. What's yours?
I will admit that I used the term Priory in an all inclusive mode. But, in all my research, the Prieure was the "slang" used to express the order.
PRIORY OF SION: THE FACTS, THE THEORIES, THE MYSTERY
Introduction
It has been seven years since I wrote my first article on the Priory of Sion/Rennes-les-Chateau mystery. At the time, I was heavily under the influence of the books Holy Blood, Holy Grail and Lionel Fanthorpe's work. Since then, there have been a number of books released, some better, some worse, than these original influences. I have revised some of my theories, challenged some of my own assumptions, learned some new things, and encountered a great deal of contrary data. Now, I am no longer sure that the hypothesis presented at the end of Holy Blood, Holy Grail is the best for explaining the data, nor am I sure that a Priory of Sion with the characteristics ascribed to it (an 800-year uninterrupted history, 9000 members internationally) really exists. I also am not sure that what is presented as "orthodox" with regard to the Sauniere saga can really be trusted. Still, although I have encountered the work of the debunkers, I am sure of two and only two things:
1. the Sauniere saga cannot be explained away simply by a mass-trafficking pyramid scheme and a bad taste in décor.
2. Something called the Order de Sion existed in the Middle Ages up until, at the latest, the 17th century; something called the Prieure du Sion existed from at least 1956 to 1984; whether these two things have any actual relationship to each other, I am still trying to figure out.
yep. I'm currently reading it for the third time. A little obscure in places, but the detective work regarding the Knights Templar is worth the time it takes.
Borodino, however you spell it, his latest, or one of his latest, is great fun. Just reading the intro, where Frederick speaks not only German, but in the old German black letter font, was so funny I had to buy the book.
In 1099, Augustinian canons regular establish the Order of Notre Dame de Sion headquartered in the Abbey of Mt. Sion.
An 1178 papal bull by Pope Alexander claims monasteries in Calabria, the Holy Land, Sicily, and elsewhere. Some of these monks appear to have established themselves in Orleans in 1152. This Order appears to have been absorbed into the Jesuits in either 1617 or 1619, but the main source for this remains, unfortunately, Gerard de Sede's 1988 "Les Impostures".
In 1393, Ferri de Vaudemont establishes a Confraternity of Our Lady of Sion in Nancy (the Lorraine, near Sion-Vaudemont). Its relationship to the earlier Order of Sion is unknown. If and when this order ceased to exist, I am unaware.
There appear to have been two Jacobite organizations in the 18th/19th century that used this name: the Realm of Sion, founded in the 1740s, whose leader at one point was the bishop of Rodez, and which claimed descent from a 16th century order dedicated to Thomas Beckett; and a second organization, The Sovereign Sacred Religious and Military Order of Knights Protectors of the Sacred Sepulchre of Our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Most Holy Temple of Zion, founded in New Zealand in 1848.
Only one Order of Notre Dame de Sion actually appears in the Catholic Encyclopedia, and it is the Congregation of Notre Dame de Sion, founded by Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne in Paris in 1843. This organization has parochial schools in the United States and France. One of its main goals is to convert Jews to Catholicism.
In the mid-1800s, a Czech author, Prokop Chochosoulek, wrote a work, The Templars of Bohemia. It was a work of "historical fiction". However, he does mention a Priory of Sion being behind the creation of the Templars. His reference seems to indicate they still existed in his own time.
From 1807 to 1817, the Russian mystic and Martinist I.V. Lopukhin edited a Martinist journal called The Messenger of Sion, which dealt with a variety of Jewish and mystical themes.
Although never identifying itself as an order of "Sion", an organization formed by the priestly Brothers Baillard, Eugene Michel Vintras (otherwise known as "Elias the Artist", whose mentor was a Madam Bouche who lived near St. Sulpice and went by "Sister Salome"), and the Abbe Joseph Boullan known as the Church of Carmel tried to create a syncretistic Celtic-Christian pilgrimage center at Sion-Vaudemont in the 1850s. This was written about by Lorraine author Maurice Barres in La Colline Inspiree .
In 1956, an organization called the Priory of Sion registers with the Annemasse bureau of records. Its four officers are Andre Bonhomme, president; Jean Delaval, Vice-President; Pierre Plantard, Secretary-General; Armand Defago, Treasurer. Whether this organization continued to exist after the resignation of Grand Master Pierre Plantard in 1984, no one knows.
Currently headquartered on Saint James, Long Island, is the Grand Perceptory of the Chevaliers of Notre Dame de Sion - their home page is online at this link - it claims its foundation from Marcel Lefebvre and currently says it is under the leadership of Andre Barbeau as an "Exempt Sovereign Military Religious Order". Its mission, it proclaims, is to provide medical psychiatric care to the community [sic] and also to perform interfaith marriages. Its clerical staff, it says, includes the Rev. Paul Boucher and the Rev. Douglas Trees, as well as several Rabbis listed as "Interfaith". The site is vague but would appear to indicate the order was "revitalized" in the 1980s.
Semper Fi
The knights of the holy orders, including the Templars and the Knights Hospitalier, were drawn from the ranks of nobility. Almost exclusively the younger sons of families with too many sons to divy up the family lands for. The only "middle class" members of the Templars (unless you consider these younger sons the "middle class," which is not unreasonable) were the sergeants and servants. This was also true of most of the knights who went on the crusades. They were sent off to carve out lands of their own. The Templars didn't do this as they were forbidden to own anything, turning all their worldly goods over the order. That's where the seed money came from for their wealth.
The social institutions you speak of may certainly have come to be, but they weren't part of the Templar orders history, so far as I know (1118-1312).
Now, what the Templars found in the ruins of Solomon's stables is another story entirely...
Non Nobis Domine Non Nobis Sed Nomini Tuo Da Gloriam
Not To Us O Lord Not To Us But To Your Name Give Glory
Psalm 115, v1 Hebrew Psalter Psalm 113, v13 Greek Psalter.
The Templar oath.
Now that you've admitted that the "Priory of Sion" probably only existed since 1956, what are your sources that something called the "Prieure" had anything to do with the Templars?
If you take the time to look into it you will find that the "Priory" that you allude to from 1956-1984 is based on their "registry" with the French government as a "organization". Your assumption that since they registered in 1956, that it indicates that it was founded then simply flies in the face of reality. If you look at #112 you will find the URL to an associates writings on the subject.
Your reference is some boob who bought internet space and is attempting to discredit a line of historic research. You may not like it. It may fly in the face of certain religious teachings, but, there is a quite an academic following in this research. My thesis (which was for my criminal justice degree by the way), focused on the use of modern investigative techniques in the pursuit of truth in mysteries such as the Priory of Sion. To that end I applie currently accepted investigative technique to the task. I will say that I don't believe in the underlying thesis of the "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" book, but, to deny the existance of a chronicaled organization is simply stupid. I have given you more time than I normally suffer to such endeavors, I will not respond to you again.
Semper Fi
An 1178 papal bull by Pope Alexander claims monasteries in Calabria, the Holy Land, Sicily, and elsewhere. Some of these monks appear to have established themselves in Orleans in 1152. This Order appears to have been absorbed into the Jesuits in either 1617 or 1619, but the main source for this remains, unfortunately, Gerard de Sede's 1988 "Les Impostures".
So an unsourced article says an 1988 work states that some monks of an order that has the word "Sion" "appear" to have moved to Orleans in 1152, and that the order appears" to have been absorbed by the Society of Jesus in the 17th century.
In 1393, Ferri de Vaudemont establishes a Confraternity of Our Lady of Sion in Nancy (the Lorraine, near Sion-Vaudemont). Its relationship to the earlier Order of Sion is unknown. If and when this order ceased to exist, I am unaware.
Your unsourced article then mentions a cofraternity with the word "Sion" in it that was founded in 1393 but admmits no proof of connection to the "Order of Sion."
There appear to have been two Jacobite organizations in the 18th/19th century that used this name: the Realm of Sion, founded in the 1740s, whose leader at one point was the bishop of Rodez, and which claimed descent from a 16th century order dedicated to Thomas Beckett; and a second organization, The Sovereign Sacred Religious and Military Order of Knights Protectors of the Sacred Sepulchre of Our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Most Holy Temple of Zion, founded in New Zealand in 1848.
Again without sources, your article mentions two more organizations with the word "Sion" in their names, one in New Zealand.
Only one Order of Notre Dame de Sion actually appears in the Catholic Encyclopedia, and it is the Congregation of Notre Dame de Sion, founded by Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne in Paris in 1843. This organization has parochial schools in the United States and France. One of its main goals is to convert Jews to Catholicism.
And another organization with the word "Sion" in it, with no relationship to the "Order of Sion."
In the mid-1800s, a Czech author, Prokop Chochosoulek, wrote a work, The Templars of Bohemia. It was a work of "historical fiction". However, he does mention a Priory of Sion being behind the creation of the Templars. His reference seems to indicate they still existed in his own time.
A 19th century novelist mentions something called the "Priory of Sion," related to the Templars. A few years later, Arthur Conan Doyle mentions a dectective named Sherlock Holmes, who therefore really existed.
From 1807 to 1817, the Russian mystic and Martinist I.V. Lopukhin edited a Martinist journal called The Messenger of Sion, which dealt with a variety of Jewish and mystical themes.
Another thing with "Sion" in its name.
Although never identifying itself as an order of "Sion", an organization formed by the priestly Brothers Baillard, Eugene Michel Vintras (otherwise known as "Elias the Artist", whose mentor was a Madam Bouche who lived near St. Sulpice and went by "Sister Salome"), and the Abbe Joseph Boullan known as the Church of Carmel tried to create a syncretistic Celtic-Christian pilgrimage center at Sion-Vaudemont in the 1850s. This was written about by Lorraine author Maurice Barres in La Colline Inspiree.
Well, the town has "Sion" in its name, so it must be related to the Templars. Sigh.
In 1956, an organization called the Priory of Sion registers with the Annemasse bureau of records. Its four officers are Andre Bonhomme, president; Jean Delaval, Vice-President; Pierre Plantard, Secretary-General; Armand Defago, Treasurer. Whether this organization continued to exist after the resignation of Grand Master Pierre Plantard in 1984, no one knows.
We've been over this...
Currently headquartered on Saint James, Long Island, is the Grand Perceptory of the Chevaliers of Notre Dame de Sion - their home page is online at this link - it claims its foundation from Marcel Lefebvre and currently says it is under the leadership of Andre Barbeau as an "Exempt Sovereign Military Religious Order". Its mission, it proclaims, is to provide medical psychiatric care to the community [sic] and also to perform interfaith marriages. Its clerical staff, it says, includes the Rev. Paul Boucher and the Rev. Douglas Trees, as well as several Rabbis listed as "Interfaith". The site is vague but would appear to indicate the order was "revitalized" in the 1980s.
And its relationship to the "Order of Sion," "Priory of Sion," Sion-Vaudemont or the Templpars? Other than the name?
Maybe "Sion" is just the way the French write "Zion," seat of King David, and that's why it reappears in religious history? Nah. It must be a huge conspiracy.
Come on. You wrote your master's thesis on this stuff, right? You can do better than this.
Semper Pissed
Semper Gone
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