The Knights Templar were formed to be a military arm of the Catholic Church with the purpose to organize for the Crusades. They were in effect monastic knights who became fabulously wealthy thanks to the many benefices they received from wealthy nobility.
Philip IV, also known as Philip the Fair, had them all arrested on the night of October 13, 1307. Their trials lasted 7 years at the end of which time all their property had been confiscated and most of the knights and leaders put to death.
By 1362, the Templars were long gone so any connection to this Minnesota monolith is pretty much ruled out.
To say that the Templars were persecuted by the Catholic Church is also somewhat misleading. In 1305 a French cardinal was elected pope as Clement V and was forced to move to Avignon by hostile Romans.
As Clement was under the protection of Philip IV, he was largely forced to go along with Philip's plundering of the Templars.
Actually, the Templars in France were gone; surviving Templars hid out in other places, such as Scotland. According to the Keepers of Odd Knowledge (KoOK), they also rescued a substantial chunk of wealth. On of the theories about the money pit at Oak Island is that it is the treasure of the Templars.
That's an interesting way of putting Clement's relationship with Philip IV. This is the same Philip IV who essentially broke Pope Boniface VIII. It was "protection" only in the same sense that the mob provides "protection" for businesses that pay them off.
and you base this statement on what exactly?
You don't see any evidence of Templar influence in the Peasant Rebellion?
My understanding is that many of the templars made their way to Scotland where they were given refuge by Robert The Bruce. Who by the way, was the traitor of Wallace in the movie Braveheart.