The Florida
Vol. 4 Issue 1
York Rite Mason Official Quarterly E-Publication of the Grand York Rite Bodies of Florida
KNIGHTS TEMPLAR A Short History Of The Early Days Of Templarism The Strict Observance System Templarism : Its Duty And Its Sphere Brethren Persecuted The Siege of Ascalon The Templar Orders in Freemasonry
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The Florida York Rite Mason Magazine Volume 3 Issue 1 September 2010 Official Quarterly E-Publication of the Florida Grand York Rite Bodies
Content
Article(s), Event(s), News, Announcements , etc, to be published in our next issue, need to be forwarded to the following Companions, on or before the next deadline: Louis Thomas - lthoma9@tampabay.rr.com or Ron Blaisdell - ron@Blaisdell.com.
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Page 3 Grand Communication Committee Message Page 4 Grand High Priest’s Message Page 5 Grand Commander’s Message Page 6 Grand Illustrious Master’s Message Page 7 2010 Grand York Rite Awards Page 8 2010 Elected Grand York Rite Line Officers Page 11 2010 District Deputies and Instructors Page 13 2010 Grand Lodge Elected Officers Page 14 Grand Master’s Message - Masons Always Rise To The Occasion Page 15 News From Across the State Page 18 2012 Holy Land Pilgrimage Page 20 York Rite Membership Page 21 York Rite Leadership Page 23 Short History of the Early Days of Templarism Page 26 The Strict Observance System Page 32 Templarism - Its Duty and It’s Sphere Page 33 Maggie Valley Summer Assembly Page 36 Brethren Persecuted Page 39 TheSeige Of Ascalon Page 41 Whatever Happened To Masonic Pride Page 43 The Templar Orders in Freemasonry
Words From The GYR Communications Committee
Farewell... Companions and Sir Knights, by the time you read this issue, this will be the last issue as editor of the Florida York Rite Mason Magazine, for the time being. The Beatles’ song, Hello, Goodbye, can summarize my feelings upon leaving the magazine production. Together, we have labored to produce a communication tool for all our Floridian York Rite Masons. Due to my additional duties as Deputy Grand Commander and my day job, it is becoming harder to dedicated the necessary time to create a magazine worthy and deserving of the Craft. Our new editor will be Bro. / Companion / Sir Knight Louis Thomas. He is from the Clearwater area. This Companion stepped up and volunteered to continue the labor we began. Please give this Companion and Sir Knight all your support and cooperation. I know he will take our magazine to newer and better heights. The theme for this magazine is the Knights Templar. There are several articles on the Knights Templar I found on the Internet. I hope you will enjoy them. I placed a Knights Templar ad stating that Knights Templar are committed to something higher than ourselves. In my years as a Mason and Knight Templar, I have seen the serious commitment of several Masons and Sir Knights to Freemasonry. They always rise to the occasion and step up to advance our fraternity to the 21st century and continue the
traditions and values of our organizations. With the trowel in one hand, spreading the cement of brotherly love, fellowship and service and with the other hand, a sword to defend the values for which we stand for from time immemorial. They truly are dedicated to something higher than themselves. The news of our demise as a fraternity are greatly exaggerated, With Brothers, Companions and Sir Knights as described previously, we are still here and we will continue to be here with their commitment and service. We, each of us, are the path makers of our fraternity. Our journey must be in the same direction with all our voices speaking the same message. We need to be proud of what we were, of what we are and of what we will continue to be...a beacon of light and hope for future generations. This was demonstrated during the Revolutionary War and the establishment of our republican form of government. Now, new challenges are before us. Let us step up to meet these challenges and rise to the occasion as Freemasons and Knights Templar. God bless our fraternity, our families, our communities, our men and women in the Armed Forces. God bless America. The deadline for our next issue is October 25th. Please submit your articles, pictures, and events announcements for the months of December, January and February. Fraternally
S. K. David A. Aponte, Past Chairman & Editor
Saturday, September 11, 2010 Patriot Day Remember, Never Forget Page 3
MESSAGE FROM THE GRAND HIGH PRIEST
Dear Companions, The objective of the Most Excellent Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons this year is to help move Masonry forward. That’s right to assist in creating new quality Masons. You may ask “why?” or “what does that have to do with Royal Arch Masonry?” The answer is rather simple. If we assist in the creation of new Masons, two things happen: First we increase the number of Masons eligible to become R.A.M.’s. Second they are already familiar with us, so it should be easier to make them R.A.M.’s. We have many programs that we are initiating to accomplish this goal. However the three most important are the choice of MMRL as our special charity, the lodge representative program and the ritual competition. We would like to use MMRL to solicit the public and assist the Grand Lodge in branding Masonry, similar to how the Shriners have branded themselves with the Shriners Hospitals. This will hopefully attract the public to Masonry. The Lodge Representative program will give us the ability to work within the Lodges, to brand R.A.M. and finally the ritual competition is intended to improve our work thus helping us to keep new members rather then turn them into NPD’s. All we ask of you, the Craft, is to use the tools that we are providing. Don’t be part of the apathetic masses that inhabit this country and now our Fraternity. I challenge you to STEP-UP, Stimulate, Tenacious, Exuberant, Prolific, Unanimous, Proactive. STEP-UP and make a difference. Zealously & Fraternally, Anthony J. Marotta, Jr., GHP
STEP - UP MASONS ALWAYS RISE TO THE OCCASION
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MESSAGE FROM THE GRAND COMMANDER
Sir Knights: My theme for this Chivalric year is “Wisdom and Understanding.” It has been my experience that there is currently a segment of the public that is hungry for knowledge about Freemasonry in general and the Knights Templar in particular. It is our duty as Knights Templar to exemplify our magnanimous Order through our own words and actions. To do this, we must strive to uphold the Knightly virtues of Templary embodied in ideals such as faith, courage, generosity, humility, loyalty and justice. It is also our duty to “learn so that we may teach others.” To this end, it is important that Sir Knights become skilled in our ritualistic work, but also become knowledgeable in Templar history, philosophy and symbolism. It is important to let the public know that the Knights Templar is based upon the practice of the Christian virtues, moral values and spiritual lessons. Modern-day Sir Knights are men who by their loyalty and devotion are making Templary the superb Christian Order which has the respect and admiration of the public at large. Templary dwells within the hearts of men who work for the good of an Order which stands for something of supreme value. This is why every Christian Mason Should be a Knights Templar. Education is my primary focus: I will present various aspects of Templar education in my monthly supplement to the Knights Templar magazine. Additionally, work on a new Training Manual will push ahead. As Knights, it is our obligation to be defenders of the faith, just as the Knights of old were, but today’s Knights Templar have a wider reach. Today’s Templars are closely connected to the larger community through the charity work we do. Concerning our charity: I would like to ask each Sir Knight to contribute $2.00 to the Knights Templar Eye Foundation this year. This is a small sum of money that will go to a noble cause—the gift of sight. Concerning the Holy Land Pilgrimage Fund: We hope to send a minister to the Holy Land this year. Concerning fellowship: I look forward to working with the District Deputy Grand Commanders, District Instructors and members of our constituent Commanderies at the district meetings and official visitations. I hope to see many of you at these events. Remember the Knightly Code: Do what is right because it is right. Seek to infuse every aspect of your life with virtue. Should you succeed in even a tiny measure then you will be well remembered for your quality and merits. Courteously & fraternally, S.K. Charles C. Cicero, REGC, KTCH
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MESSAGE FROM THE GRAND ILLUSTRIOUS MASTER
My theme for this year is “Follow our Forefathers”. Some where along the line we have drifted from that “line” established by our forefathers. From the Contributions of all our MIPGM’s, we owe them as to where we are today, but we have areas that need improvement immediately. I have reappointed the District Instructors this year, mainly due to the fact that in my travels last year, I noted that many Councils could not open without the use of the Ritual Book. I also observed that even the floor work during the opening and closing was in some cases done improperly. The return of the District Instructors cannot eliminate all the problems, but I have instructed them to work very closely with their District’s constituent Councils and attempt to eliminate these problems. I will also be using the District Instructors and Committee on Work to concentrate on the Proficiency Card program established by MIPGM Richard Foreman. I think that this effort will reflect itself in the above mentioned Ritual problem. They will also aid in the issuance of the Circumambulation Cards. There is another issue that we must face immediately and that is the NPD dilemma. We are in difficult times, financially and many of the NPD’s should not be occurring. Also there are other circumstances causing this problem. As I visit the Council’s in the state this year, I will be interfacing with the Recorders and Illustrious Masters as to what they are currently doing about the NPD problem and offer suggestions that may not stop this problem, but will definitely decrease the number dropped. Last, but not least, let us not forget our Charity, the Cryptic Mason Medical Research Foundation. I am asking each Constituent Council member to voluntarily contribute $2.00 this year. Spread over a period of twelve months, this is but a pittance, and I hope all members will hear this plea and respond accordingly, making this another banner year for CMMRF. Zealously & Fraternally, Howard H. Gardner, MIGM
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2010 Annual Grand York Rite AWARDS The Annual Banquet for the 2010 Grand York Rite Session was held on Friday evening, April 16th, at the Marriott Lake Mary Hotel. In addition to the awards presented by the General Grand Chapter, General Grand Council, and the Grand Encampment to the presiding officers for their service to the Craft, the following awards were presented: General Grand Council Cryptic Mason of the Year Companion Les Whitman, of Crestview Council No. 33 was presented the award during the Grand Council Annual Assembly on Friday morning. General Grand Chapter Bronze Award Excellent Companion Corbin Elliott of Jacksonville Chapter No. 12 was presented the General Grand Chapter Bronze Award by Most Excellent Companion James Wall, PGHP, Director of the Royal Arch Research Assistance Foundation. General Grand Chapter Sweetheart Award Ladies Lorraine Brown (Lady of Most Excellent Companion Virgil Brown, PGHP) and Sonja Piasecki (Lady of Sir Knight Fred Piasecki, REPGC) were presented with the General Grand Chapter Sweetheart Award. Companion of the Temple Sir Knight Terry Plemmons, Right Eminent Department Commander for the Southeast Department presented the Companion of the Temple award to Lady Judith Ann Baldoni for her outstanding service to the Grand Commandery. Everyone enjoyed the fellowship.
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Election of 2010-2011 Grand York Rite Officers 2010-2011 Grand Chapter of Rotal Arch Masons On Wednesday, April 15th, the newly elected officers of the Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons of Florida were installed at the 163rd Installation of Officers. Most Excellent Companion Anthony Marotta, Jr was installed as Grand High Priest, Right Excellent Companion Robert Kirkpatrick was installed as Grand King, Right Excellent Companion Calvin Bonnett was installed as Grand Scribe. Right Excellent Companion Richard Foreman, MIPGM was re-installed as Grand Treasurer, and Right Excellent Companion Dencel Smith, MIPGM was installed as the new Grand Secretary. As a demonstration of their respect the Companions of the Grand Chapter elected Most Excellent Steven Q. Steele, PGHP as Grand Secretary Emeritus.
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Election of 2010-2011 Grand York Rite Officers 2010-2011 Grand Council of Royal & Select Masters At the 130th Installation of Officers of the Grand Council Royal and Select Masters of Florida, held on Friday, April 16th, 2010, the following officers were elected and installed: Most Illustrious Companion Howard Gardner was installed as Most Illustrious Grand Master, Right Illustrious Companion M. Daniel Fullwood was installed as Deputy Grand Master, Right Illustrious Companion Larry R. Gillespie was installed as Grand Principal Conductor of the Work. Most Illustrious Companion Richard Foreman, MIPGM was re-installed as Right Illustrious Grand Treasurer, and Most Illustrious Companion Dencel Smith, MIPGM was elected as the new Right Illustrious Grand Recorder. Keeping with the wishes of the Companions at Grand Chapter, Steven Q. Steele was elected Right Illustrious Grand Recorder – Emeritus.
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Election of 2010-2011 Grand York Rite Officers 2010-2011 Grand Commandery of Knights Templar At the 116th Installation of Officers of the Grand Commandery Knights Templar of Florida, held on Saturday, April 17th, 2010, the following officers were elected and installed: Sir Knight Charles “Chic” Cicero was installed as the Right Eminent Grand Commander, Sir Knight David Aponte was installed as the Very Eminent Deputy Grand Commander, Sir Knight Arthur “AJ” LaRose was installed as the Eminent Grand Generalissimo, and Sir Knight Henry Adams was installed as the Eminent Grand Captain General. Sir Knight Richard Foreman, MIPGM was re-installed as the Eminent Grand Treasurer, and Sir Knight Dencel Smith, MIPGM was elected as the new Eminent Grand Recorder. Keeping with the wishes of the Companions of the Grand Chapter and Grand Council, Sir Knight Steven Q. Steele was elected Eminent Grand Recorder – Emeritus.
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District Deputies 2010 -2011
Grand Chapter
Grand Council
Grand Commandery
District No. 1 (11, 20, 24, 65)
District No. 1 (10,17, 24, 44)
District No. 1 – (13, 18 & 35)
Emil Meyer
Joseph M. Martin
James Schmidt
District No. 2 (18,35,50)
District No. 2 (9, 25, 41, 45)
District No. 2 – (16 & 32)
James W. Hogg
Eric B. West
Gerald E. Goacher
District No. 3 (3, 31, 45, 63)
District No. 3 (8, 14, 34)
District No. 3 – (8, 20, 40)
Kenneth P. Scott
Frank R. Potter
Scott McAlister
District No. 4 (8, 16, 22, 29, 64)
District No. 4 (4, 11, 40, 42, 43)
District No. 4 – (6, 15 & 21)
Phillip B. Bethea
Frederick R. Gerdom
Robert E. Hubbard
District No. 5 (5,7,15,33)
District No. 5 (1, 5, 20, 28, 37)
J. Michael Hartman
Dana L. Fredey
District No. 5 – (4, 9, 28, 36, 38)
District No. 6 (27, 28, 59)
District No. 6 (13, 36, 38)
Richard G. Beecroft
William (Bill) G. Ellis
District No. 7 (9, 12, 17, 48, 49)
District No. 7 (3, 15, 18)
William P. Goldwire
John Bouvier III
District No. 8 (2, 13, 38, 62)
District No. 8 (22, 27, 35, 39)
Dennis Haskins
Larry Duff
District No. 9 (1, 32, 39)
District No. 9 (26, 30, 31)
Jeff A. Baxter
Kenneth Cain
District No. 10 (6, 40, 57)
District No. 10 (7, 29, 33)
Leslie H. Whitman District 1
Arthur (AJ) LaRose
Harry Eisenberg District No. 6 – (17, 24 & 41) John D. Pickford District No. 7 – (2, 5 & 10) Corbin P. Elliott District No. 8 – (7, 19, 39 & 43) Lynn F. Coleman District No. 9 – (12, 22 & 29) John C. Babski District No. 10 – (1, 25 & 42) Carl G. Kirtley Page 11
District Instructors 2010 -2011
Grand Chapter
Grand Council
Grand Commandery
District No. 1 (11, 20, 24, 65)
District 1
District No. 1 – (13, 18 & 35)
Steven Q. Steele, PGHP
Robert G. Stearns
Alfred “Al” Mueller
District No. 2 (18,35,50,67)
District 2
District No. 2 – (16 & 32)
John L. Horne, Jr.
Dwight N. Ridgeway
Daniel Dale
District No. 3 (3,31,45,63)
District 3
District No. 3 – (8, 20 & 40)
Robert C. St. John
Vernon T. Clark
Ralph E. Vaughan
District No. 4 (8,16,22,29,64)
District 4
District No. 4 – (6,15 & 21)
Jack Halloway
John B. Ellis
John Ellis
District No. 5 (5, 7, 15, 33)
District 5
James “Jim” Hawkins
James L. Moore III
District No. 5 – (4, 9, 28, 36 & 38)
District No. 6 (27, 28, 59)
District 6
John Paniccia
Charles L. Holinger
District No. 7 (9, 12, 17, 48, 49)
District 7
Charles E. Middleton
Charles R. (Bob) Cooper
District No. 8 (2, 13, 38, 62)
District 8
Frank T. Comacho
Charles T. Jones
District No. 9 (1, 32, 39)
District 9
Randall Tyre
Richard E. Foreman
District No. 10 (6, 40, 57)
District 10
Freddie C. Briggs, Jr.
Jack Crooke
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William (Bill) Schuck District No. 6 – (17, 24 & 41) James A. Green District No. 7 – (2, 5 & 10) Charles R. (Bob) Cooper District No. 8 – (7, 19, 39 & 43) Steve Mitchell District No. 9 – (12, 22 & 29) Randell B. Tyre District No. 10 – (1, 25 & 42) Ronald L. Parks, REPGC
2010 - 2011 GRAND LODGE OF F.& A.M. OF FLORIDA The Flo Gran r Dic ida c d Yor k k Ma Mart ongra Rite s i Lin ter a nez a tulate Bodie eO n s s ffic d his our n M.W. of ers e for electe w Gra J. 201 d n 0-2 Gran d 011 d .
M.W. J. Dick Martinez - Grand Master
R.W. Jim J. Harris Deputy Grand Master
R.W. J. L. George Aladro Senior Grand Warden
M.W. Elmer Coffman Grand Treasurer
R.W. Danny R. Griffith Junior Grand Warden
M.W. Richard E. Lynn Grand Secretary
STEP - UP MASONS ALWAYS RISE TO THE OCCASION
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M.W. J. Dick Martinez’s Message Brethren, “MASONS ALWAYS RISE TO THE OCCASION” Thank you for the honor and Privilege you have bestowed upon me by allowing me to serve you as your Grand Master. I also want to thank you for your foresight in electing our Grand Lodge Officers. To the Grand Lodge Officers thank you for your undying devotion to our Fraternity. We have recently concluded our 181st Annual Grand Communication, and are entering into a time like never before. We are experiencing the best exposure our Fraternity has ever enjoyed. We are in the spotlight with all the movies, books and television documentaries that are very positive. We are having a great influx of young men who are not only curious about our great Fraternity but, they also want to attain the knowledge we have to offer mankind. Are we ready to accept this great and wonderful challenge? Have we examined our infrastructure to see if we are ready? Do we have the right Catechism Instructors, Mentors and Masonic Education Committees in place in our Lodges? Are we ready to SEIZE THE MOMENT? My Brothers “MASONS ALWAYS RISE TO THE OCCASION”!!! The Grand Master’s Charity for this year will be The Masonic Medical Research Laboratory, otherwise known as the MMRL. To name a few of the MMRL’s achievements, it has “discovered or unraveled the mechanisms of the majority of known cardiac arrhythmias” and its “research has played an important role in the implementation of devices like the pacemaker, implantable cardioverter defibrillator” and the automatic external defibrillator. Furthermore, “MMRL continues to play a major, and in some cases a pivotal role, in the development of heart medications.” “MMRL scientists were instrumental in providing the first direct evidence linking Sudden Infant Death Syndrome to abnormal heart rhythms.” They have recently begun an exciting new aspect of stem cell research by growing heart tissue from human DNA cells in a Petri dish, so that healthy heart tissue may be implanted back into the patient. The MMRL is on the cutting edge of scientific research, and it is wholly involved with cardiac research. Heart disease is still the Number 1 killer in America. Brethren the MMRL, has been our Flagship Charity since 1997. Let’s get behind this charity and make it our Landmark, and as identifiable as the Shriner’s Hospitals. Brethren, we have much to accomplish, I feel certain we can and will attain all of our goals. However, no one can do this alone. I’m asking for your help and assistance. It starts with one man in one Lodge, that leads to two men in two Lodges and it will grow to the District, Zone and State levels. Let us, all of us, commit to resurrecting our Fraternity to the heights it has enjoyed in the past. Let us commit to PERFECTION and shoot for PERFECTION, because if we don’t shoot for PERFECTION we will settle for less than mediocrity, and that my Brothers is not acceptable for ANY MASON!! We need not be the one’s who ask “what happened!”, or those who ask “what’s happening!” BUT THE ONES WHO SAY “WE’RE GOING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!” My Brothers “MASONS ALWAYS RISE TO THE OCCASION”!!! Respectfully and Fraternally, J. Dick Martinez Grand Master
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NEWS ACROSS THE STATE Easter Sunrise Service at Jacksonville Beach
Grand High Priest’s Homecoming
by S. K. Corbin P. Elliott, Correspondent
by S. K. Corbin P. Elliott, Correspondent
Knights Templar from Damascus Commandery No. 2, Masonic leaders, and leaders from several churches, together with a large crowd, attended the 60th Annual Easter Sunrise Service at Jacksonville Beach on Sunday, April 4, 2010. The Sir Knights gathered at 6:30 AM at the orchestra shell near the Jacksonville Beach pier on a beautiful morning for the ecumenical Easter worship service. Leaders from several churches in the Beaches Ministerial Association that participated were: Oceanside Christian Church, Community Presbyterian Church, St. Andrews Lutheran By the Sea, Apostolic Catholic Church, and Palms Presbyterian Church. The Sir Knights assisted the ushers in taking up the offering. The local Boy Scouts and Explorers troops helped in providing coffee and donuts for the early morning crowd.
The Homecoming of the Most Excellent Grand High Priest was held at the Jacksonville Marriott Hotel on Saturday, February 6, 2010. A wonderful turnout of Companions, Sir Knights, ladies and guests enjoyed a superb dinner, fellowship, and entertainment in the form of roasts, plaudits and “tall stories” regarding our M. E. Grand High Priest, M.E. Darryl D’Angina. Shown here are a few pictures from the homecoming.
The Sir Knights of Damascus Commandery No. 2 pictured here were, from left to right, Gilbert H. Porter; William H. McClean, PC, Prelate; Corbin P. Elliott, DDGC, District 7 of the Grand Commandery of Florida; Leland E. Stanford, III, PC; Lewis E. Duffey, Commander of Damascus Commandery No. 2; Dwight Hamborsky; and Charles R. Cooper. Several other Masons and Sir Knights were seen in the crowd. Among them were: M.W. Richard E. Lynn, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge F. & A. M. of Florida; Steven M. Barnett; Lowell D. Crane, IM, Lawtey Council No. 39, R.& S.M.; Charles Irle; Frank Kleese; and James Gaskins. Page 15
NEWS ACROSS THE STATE Lady Judith Ann Baldoni Receives Companion of the Temple Award by S. K. Corbin P. Elliott, Correspondent
Lady Judith Ann Baldoni, wife of S. K. Ideal F. Baldoni, was presented with the coveted Companion of the Temple award during the Grand York Rite Banquet at the Florida Grand York Rite Convention on Friday, April 16, 2010, in Lake Mary. Sir Knight Terry L. Plemons, Right Eminent Department Commander for the Southeast Department of the Grand Encampment, presented the award to Lady Judith Ann for her devotion and outstanding service to the Grand Commandery, K. T. of Florida. Sir Knight Ideal Baldoni, Right Eminent Past Grand Commander (2009-2010), assisted in pinning the jewel on Lady Judith Ann. Pictured above are, from left to right: S.K. Terry L. Plemons; Mrs. Judith Ann Baldoni; and S.K. Ideal F. Baldoni.
New Grand Commandery Publications The Grand Commandery has published a set of Flag and Honor Guard Tactics that can be found in the “Forms and Files” section of the web site in the “Grand Commandery” section. These new tactics have been reviewed and approved by the Right Eminent Grand Commander, and all Commanderies are encouraged to download and use these new tactics. In addition, the “Short- and Long-Range Strategic Initiatives” that were presented at the Grand Commandery Conclave in April has been published, and is also available for download for those who wish to review the information. Please visit our website, www.flgyr.org, to download these documents. Page 16
N. E. Florida York Rite College No. 114 Elects & Installs New Officers by S. K. Corbin P. Elliott, Correspondent
Northeast Florida York Rite College No. 114, at its annual meeting in Jacksonville on May 15, 2010, elected and installed new officers for the College year 2010 2011. Companion Knight Clarence N. Gruber, Distinguished Brother of the Order of the Purple Cross, was elected and installed as new Preeminent Governor of Northeast Florida York Rite College No. 114. Very Eminently Distinguished Brother Virgil P. Brown, Jr., Deputy Grand Governor for Florida of the York Rite Sovereign College of North America, was the Installing Officer, assisted by Very Eminently Distinguished Brother Darryl A. D’Angina, Past Deputy Grand Governor for Florida of the York Rite Sovereign College of North America, serving as Marshal General; and Companion Knight Burt F. Maguire, serving as Secretary and Primate General for the installation. Pictured here were the new officers and Installing Team after the Installation. Standing, from left to right, in the first row were: Virgil P. Brown, Jr..; Clarence N. Gruber, Governor of Northeast Florida College No.114; Darryl A. D’Anginal; and Burt F. Maguire. Seen, from left to right, in the second row were: Edward Jones, Treasurer; Glenn E. Chandler, Primate; J. B. Hunt, Preceptor; Wayne Y. Thigpen, Seneschal; Howard H. Hudgins, Marshal; Charles R. Cooper, Deputy Governor; and David C. Wilkinson, Chancellor of Northeast Florida York Rite College No. 114.
NEWS ACROSS THE STATE
Masons enjoy centennial celebration By Amanda Mims, Citrus Chronicle
A 100th birthday celebration of the Masonic Business Center building, formerly the Masonic Temple of Inverness Lodge No. 118 of Free & Accepted Masons, took place Saturday in downtown Inverness. Dale Goehrig, the grand master of the Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Florida, as well as local Masons and members of the Order of the Eastern Star took part in the event, which allowed the public to learn more about the structure’s history by touring the building and viewing memorabilia. Throughout the years, the building has served as Inverness City Hall and various professional offices. It has also been damaged by fire and water and renovated. A new cornerstone placed on the building Saturday replaced the one removed during a renovation in the 1960s.
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2012 Holy Land Pilgrimage The following are the selection criteria used choosing ministers for the Knight Templar Holy Land Pilgrimage. Please consider these guidelines before inviting ministers to apply. Ministers who fall outside of these guidelines will rank lower in the process of selecting ministers from the pool of those nominated. Having never traveled to Israel before. Fully Ordained ministers (copy of Ordination Certificate or judicatory documentation must accompany the application). Youth coordinators, program directors, lay pastors, etc. rarely have ordination status.
The 31st Annual Holy Land Pilgrimage, sponsored by the Grand Encampment, will be held during the weeks of February and March 2012. Ninety (90) ministers, nation-wide, will be selected to travel on this magnificent program. The Grand Commandery of Florida, by the efforts of our Sir Knights & Commanderies, will be able to send one Minister for this Pilgrimage. We encourage all Sir Knights, and Commanderies, to review the selection criteria (see cloumn to the right), and if you believe you have a minister who meets the criteria, to nominate them to attend. You will find the necessary forms in the Forms and Files section of our web site, under the Grand Commandery. Slots are limited, and the seats are filled on a first come, first served, basis. So, please, do not delay you selection process.
DEADLINE TO SUBMIT THE APPROPRIATE FORMS IS: Friday, August 12, 2011 For any additional questions, please contact our Grand Prelate, SK Ideal Baldoni, REPGC, KCT.
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Serving in full time ministry, currently. This means that they are employed by the church full time and it is their primary source of income. Having served at least four years in full time ministry. Having at least ten years of full time service yet to go. Be of good physical health (if the idea of walking a brisk mile or more – uphill, non-stop, with steps - is a concern, this may not be the program from which this person would benefit). Willing to travel with an ecumenical group of other ministers from many denominations and religious groups, male and female. Willing to travel in a program sponsored by the Knights Templar, an appendant organization of Freemasonry. Willing to travel without their spouse. This is nonnegotiable. Having the understanding that this is a strenuous educational and spiritual study seminar / historical & cultural immersion experience and not a vacation trip.
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MASONIC PERSPECTIVE York Rite Membership By S. K. HENRY A. ADAMS, Eminent Grand Captain General
Chairman, Membership Committee
As we begin our new York Rite year, It is time to rethink our future. I don’t mean just you membership committee, but the entire Florida York Rite of Freemasonery. One person can’t do it. It takes all of our York Rite members in every body to reach out to worthy Masons who are not York Rite members and discuss with them what we are about. Many districts have begun their festivals and we have already Knighted 33 new Knights since January. Keep up the good work. Just as important, maybe more important is retaining those that we have. Those valuable companions and Sir Knights who for one reason or another, have gone astray, have stopped coming or have been dropped. In the last several years we have witnessed an increased in demits and suspensions. This trend denotes a loosening of Knightly ties, and should be a matter of serious concern to every officer and Sir Knight in each Chapter, Council and Sir Knight across our state. An application for a demit is a storm signal. Should a demit application be received by the Body each High Priest, Ill Master and Commander should move quickly to determine the motive of the member submitting it. A Standing Committee should be appointed in every Body to inquire into applications for demit. Personal interviews to determine the cause for the application is essential and may prevent further applications in the future. If the applicant for demit intends to move to another city where a YRB exists, encourage the applicant to transfer rather than demit and then facilitate his successful transfer. If there is no YRB in his new location, encourage him to keep his membership in his home Body, as thousands have done before. Often he will reconsider and cancel his application for demit. The Companion or Sir Knight who moves to a new location may be a former Officer or a dedicated member who is just awaiting a call from the YRB in his new location to join with them. If the demit applicant is neglected, he may never again become an active member. The responsibility rests squarely with the Officers of the new and old location. There is absolutely no need to lose any member when he moves to another location! It is our responsibility to see that this doesn’t happen. Let us remember that an application for a demit has taken the same vow we have taken, and we must treat him with that same dignity and respect that will effectively and firmly remind him of his allegiance to our Cause. If it is found that the Companion or Sir Knight is ill of financially unable to keep up with is dues, then ways and means should be found by the Commandery to retain such member by remitting the dues, or even paying them out of a charitable fund for a reasonable time. As for suspensions for non-payment of dues, this may originate in the Blue Lodge, Chapter or Council (where the Council in a pre-requisite). Under Templar law, it is necessary to start suspension proceedings if the Companion or Sir Knight is suspended from other bodies. Of course, the member may become delinquent in his dues to the YRB, which likewise entails similar proceedings. However, long before any of the foregoing events occur, an alert Officer or member can learn about such impending difficulty. In early stages, it is possible to do a great deal more than after written notices have been served by registered mail and embarrassment has occurred. The ingenuity of a good Recorder is almost priceless in this field of suspensions for non-payment of dues. No suspension for non-payment of dues should become final until the Eminent Commander is willing to take personal responsibility for certifying that everything humanly possible has been done to prevent such a suspension. Let us recall the phrase “going the distance of forty miles, to relieve the distress of a worthy Companion or Sir Knight.”
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MASONIC PERSPECTIVE York Rite Leadership By S.K. David A. Aponte, Very Eminent Deputy Grand Commander
How to Be Organized - Taking Control of Your Day "Time is really the only capital any human being has, and the one thing he can't afford to waste." - Thomas Edison
Do you waste much time during your day due to disorganization? Perhaps you spend 5 minutes searching for a misplaced file, another 5 looking for an email detailing an important meeting, and perhaps 10 minutes more finding today's to-do list, lost in the piles of papers on your desk. Before you know it, you've spent an hour throughout the day looking for things you can't find. And that's just one day! Imagine how much time you're losing each week, each month, and each year! Many people struggle with disorganization. Disorganization can block our creativity, add stress to our lives, and prevent us from being as productive and effective as we could be. Here are some ideas you can use. Use a notebook - This notebook is like a "catch-all" for your thoughts and for what you do during the day. For instance, use your notebook to take notes when you're talking with a colleague directly or on the phone. If you need to remember to tell your Companions something, write it down in your notebook. If you have a brainstorming session in the afternoon, your ideas can go in there too. The advantage of a notebook is that you capture all of your thoughts, conversations, and ideas in one place. Also, once things are written down, you don't have to waste mental energy remembering everything! It's helpful to start a new, dated page each day. This way, you can easily go back and find the information you need. Get organized during the first 15 minutes of your day - When you start your day, spend your first 15 minutes looking at what you need to do that day. Start with the To-Do List, with your most important priorities at the top. This gives you a solid grasp of which tasks you need to complete first, and which you can complete later in the afternoon. Clear your desk - Your desk can often become a "catch-all" zone. There are old papers, future projects, files you're currently using, and a pile of papers you simply haven't put away yet. Start by clearing everything off of your desk. File papers and reports that you've finished using, and recycle anything you don't need. Office supplies should go in a drawer or cabinet. The items that are left are probably files and paperwork that you currently need. Create an "action area" on your desk - Use this area for the materials you need to complete the project you're currently working on. As soon as you complete each "action," clear this area off to get ready for your next task. Organize supplies or files you use often - The more often you use something, the closer it should be to you. Arrange your desk for usefulness, not for the way it looks. Use calendars or planners - Many people use these to help organize their schedules. These can be very helpful for keeping you on task! Remember to use only one calendar. Disorganization can cost you productivity, and add stress to your life. Devoting time and effort to getting organized can help you tremendously in the long run. Start by using a notebook on a regular basis to keep track of conversations, ideas, and reminders. And begin every day with a clean desk and an organized to-do list. Use technology to keep your schedule and projects running smoothly.
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VALUES OF A KNIGHT TEMPLAR HONOR, DUTY, COMMITMENT, BELIEF IN GOD, VALOR, COURTESY, TOLERANCE, SERVICE, AND THE DEFENSE OF THE INNOCENT and LESS FORTUNATE
KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
BE, LIVE AND ACT AS A KNIGHT TEMPLAR EXAMPLIFY WHAT IT IS TO BE A KNIGHT TEMPLAR
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A Short History Of The Early Days Of Templarism By Stanley C. Warner LARGE numbers of our members and, in fact, many of our Templar speakers, are still imbued with the fiction that modern Masonic Templarism has a direct connection with and is the lineal descendant of the Knights Templar Order, instituted in 1113 by Hugh DePayne to protect pilgrims on their journey to the Holy Land, and one often hears both publicly expressed and inferentially suggested that our present Grand Master holds his office in direct accession to the martyred Jacques de Molai, whom an avaricious king of France, with the concurrence of an infamous Pope of Rome, burned at the stake in Paris, March 18, 1313: this despite the fact that this pleasing fiction has been discarded by numbers of our prominent Masonic writers and historians during the last quarter of a century, Sir Knight Colman in his Centennial address to the Grand Encampment in 1916 upon the subject of the early history of that body, said: “There is no probability, hardly even any possibility, that our modern Order of Christian Masonic Knighthood is directly connected with the ancient Order of Christian Knights whose name and date we proudly bear and whose valiant character and Christian virtues we emulate.” Dr. Rugg, Past Grand Master of the Grand Encampment, in his Centennial address to the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, said: “Tradition and common belief have their value, but they must not be allowed to offset historic evidence. It is the part of unwisdom to cling to a theory that has been generally discarded by those who have made the most extensive and careful examination of the grounds on which it rests. In this case the most reliable authorities concur in judgment that Masonic Templary, as recognized in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, is not
historically connected with or lineally descended from the chivalric orders of the Crusades.” Sir Hopkins, Past Grand Master of the Grand Encampment, at the Conclave held in Louisville in 1901, said: I readily admit that we can not show an indisputable title to this inheritance, but the claim is precious although the title may not be secure. I would fain believe that the founders of the Order did not leave the organization which they founded and cemented with their blood to become the plaything of chance or to rest upon the uncertain tenure of the will or whim of a rapacious king and a weak pope. I am disposed to admit that it is only a sentiment, but it is one to which some of us cling tenaciously and which we only surrender when we recognize that tradition must yield to history.” Sir Knight Parvin, Past Grand Recorder of Iowa and for many years closely connected with the Grand Encampment, has said: “The popular theory under which so many writers view the origin and history of Templar Masonry would trace it back by some mysterious line of connection to the Order of Malta which was dissolved in 1798, or back to the Order of the Temple, which ceased to exist in 1313, and the latter theory, even at this day, has many advocates. A better and truer theory, is to credit the whole system of Masonic Templarly to the inventive genius of the ritual makers of the eighteenth century.” Lieut. Col. W.J.B. MacLeod Moore, Supreme Grand Master, ad vitam, of the Sovereign Great Priory of Canada, frequently declared in his annual allocutions that Freemasonry was not the successor of the military Templars. The published addresses of the distinguished Templars to which references have been made are not of easy access to the membership of our Order, and in
presenting a short account of our early history at this time, we have in mind that the information will be thereby more generally available to such Templars as are interested therein. We make no claim of any personal research, but simply present to you the facts as collected from the works of Eminent Sir Knights who have made a life study thereof. Four long centuries elapsed after the death of Jacques de Molai and the destruction of the ancient Order before history or even Masonic tradition suggests the existence of Masonic Templarism. During these four centuries civil history is silent as to the Templars, and little is known or related of the Masonic Order. Masons met without charter or other authority, initiated candidates, often without even an organized lodge or without record of the same, this by a claim of inherent right, and with no intent or desire to make their proceedings public. It was only in 1717 that the Masonic Fraternity assumed an organized existence, and it was shortly after this date that we find the first suggestion of the Modern Templar Degree. The long cherished alleged connection of the two orders through Scottish sources rests largely upon the fact that among the adherents of the Stuart Pretender who fled to France after his defeat in the early part of the eighteenth century, was one Chevalier Ramsay, a Mason, a gentleman of much culture, and a tutor of the Second Pretender, Charles Edward. This distinguished exile, while in France, is said to have developed a Masonic system with a sixth degree, designated the Knight of the Temple, and during one of his visits to Scotland, to have created Knights Templar there. With the Pretender’s approval he attempted to use his Masonic connection to aid the exiled Stuarts, and in grafting upon Masonry a Military Order, he may have had in mind the assistance which it might be to his benefactor. Masonic authorities differ as to the truth of these statements, but in any event the Templar Degree was occasionally conferred in Great Britain during the middle of the eighteenth century,
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A Short History Of The Early Days Of Templarism and encampments of the Order were during that period formed at London, York, Bristol, and Salisbury, more or less intimately connected with Craft Masonry. Moore says that “Templarism was first introduced into the British Empire in the Masonic lodges known as the Ancients under the Duke of Athol, who was also Grand Master of Scotland, in the eighteenth century,” and that about 1780 the Templar Degree was merged into the Masonic system, following the Royal Arch in the sequence of additional degrees. W. Redfern Kelly, G.C.T., in a series of articles in the Toronto Freemason, published since this speech was first written, says that the records of the York Grand Lodges, designated also the Grand Lodge of all England, of date June, 1780, announced that lodge as asserting authority over five degrees or orders of Masonry, the Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, Master Mason, Royal Arch and Knight Templar, and also show the conferring of the Templar Degree at York, England, on November 29, 1779. He further asserts that this Grand Lodge was the only one which officially recognized the Order of the Temple as being Masonic, in either Great Britain or Ireland during the eighteenth century. The history of the Order of the Temple, by Sir Patrick Colquhoun of London, England, published in 1878, is authority for the statement that in 1769 the Mother Kilwinning Lodge of Scotland issued a charter to Kilwinning Masonic Lodge of Dublin, which authorized the conferring of the degree of Knight Templar therein, but it would appear that the Order was found in Dublin prior to that date in the possession of military organizations composed of the soldiers of Scotland and Ireland. It is probably by this same military source that the Order was introduced into this country in Boston about the same period. Hughan, the great English Masonic
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authority, makes the positive statement that the first authentic record of the conferring of the Order is found in the minutes of St. Andrews Royal Arch Lodge in Boston under date August 28, 1769, where we read that “the petition of Bro. William Davis coming before the lodge begging to have and receive the parts belonging to a Royal Arch Mason, which being read, was received and he unanimously voted in, and was accordingly made by receiving the four steps, that of Excellent, Super-Excellent, Royal Arch, and Knight Templar.” Like the history of Masonry prior to 1717, the early history of Masonic Templarism consists of the record of the meetings of Knights of the Order in various places for the purpose of conferring the same, without any constituted authority, by inherent right only, acting sometimes with and sometimes without the sanction of regular Masonic lodges. The records of this same St Andrews Royal Arch Chapter show that in December, 1769, “the petition of Bro. Paul Revere coming before the lodge begging to become an Arch Mason, it was received and he was unanimously accepted and accordingly made.” He subsequently became in the same body a Knight Templar. In 1770 it was voted “that the M. M. Joseph Warren, Esq., should be made a Royal Arch Mason this evening, and he was accordingly made, gratis.” The minutes of this body show the conferring of the order or degree of Knight Templar on about 50 candidates between the years 1769 and 1794. In the last decade of the eighteenth century encampments were formed by prominent Craftsmen in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, at Boston, Providence, Newburyport, and Portland (now in Maine), at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; at Wilmington, Delaware; at Albany and New York City; at Baltimore, Maryland; and at Charleston, South Carolina, in all of which encampments the Order of the Temple was conferred. The next step was the formation of
Grand Encampments, as they were then called, in the various states. The first was organized in Philadelphia, May 12, 1797, with four constituent bodies. It had but a brief existence, was revived in 1814, again became extinct in 1824, and remained so during the Anti-Masonic Excitement. It was again revived in 1852 under the authority of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, to which it acknowledged allegiance until 1857, when, with the consent of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, it became part of the Grand Encampment of the United States. The most important event in this era of Templar history was the organization in 1805 at the city of Providence of the Grand Encampment of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. This is especially true, because the Templars responsible for its organisation were almost identically those who subsequently in 1816 participated in the organization of our present governing body, and as any history of our Order is incomplete which does not particularly deal with the lives of at least three of these pioneers of American Templarism, we shall for a few moments digress from the actual subject under consideration. Thomas Smith Webb, founder of St. John’s Encampment in Providence in 1802, presiding officer from 1805 to 1817 of what is now called the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and Deputy Grand Master from 1816 until his death in 1819, of the General Grand Encampment of the United States, was born in Boston in 1771, was made a Mason in New Hampshire in 1792, a Royal Arch Mason in Philadelphia in 1796, and a Knight Templar sometime previous to 1802, either in Temple Encampment at Albany, in a Philadelphia Encampment, in the Boston Encampment, or in the Old Encampment of New York City, all four of which still claim the honour. He was the author of several successive editions of “The Free Mason’s Monitor,” was an organizer of great ability, had an attractive personality, a win-some
A Short History Of The Early Days Of Templarism manner, with indefatigable energy, and a great versatility of language, both written and oral, all of which joined in making for him the high reputation which he has since held as a Masonic ritualist and organizer. He has been said to have invented the American system of Templary, and there is no doubt that he, along with Fowle, is responsible for the present impressive ceremonies, not only of the Templar Order but, in a large measure, of Craft Masonry and the Royal Arch system. He died suddenly July 6, 1819, while on a visit to Cleveland, Ohio, and was buried there just shortly prior to the Second Triennial Session of our Grand Encampment. His remains were subsequently removed to the North Burial Ground at Providence, Rode Island, where a monument of white marble has been erected to his memory. Henry Fowle, first Sovereign Master of Boston Encampment of Red Cross Knights and Grand Master of that Encampment when it was reorganized as a Templar body in 1806, which office he held until 1824, Grand Generalissimo of the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island from its organization in 1805 until 1817, then its Deputy Grand Master and subsequently its Grand Master from 1820 to 1825; was named Grand Generalissimo of the General Grand Encampment at its organization in 1816, and was elected Deputy Grand Master at the Triennial Conclave in 1819. Sir Knight Fowle was a member of St. Andrew’s Chapter of Boston, where he received the Knight Templar degree on the 28th of January, 1795. He was a great friend of Webb, and a ritualist of a very high order. He was a well known lecturer and his powers of organization made him, when working in conjunction with Webb, a potent factor in all branches of Masonic, work. To the efforts of these two men is due the organization of what is known at present as the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and also that of our present governing body, to which reference will be made later. DeWitt Clinton was born at Little Britain, New York, in 1769, and died in
February, 1828. He was the father of the Great Canal System of the Empire State, served as its Governor, having resigned a seat in the United States Senate for the purpose, was in 1812 a candidate against James Madison for President of the United States, was Grand Master of Masons of New York from 1806 to 1819, was selected first Grand Master of the General Grand Encampment of the United States in 1816, and served as such until his death on the 11th of February, 1828. He devoted a busy and useful life to the service of his community and to an Order which he considered as wielding a great influence for good in the government, both of his state and country. He was at the head of the Order during the early days of the unfortunate Morgan excitement, and did much by his influence to alleviate the disastrous conditions which resulted therefrom. He was a lawyer, a statesman, and a patriot, and with Webb and Fowle formed a combination to which is largely due the present status of Templarism in the United States. The Grand Encampment of New York was organized in 1814; and was in a great measure an outgrowth from the “Sovereign Grand Consistory” organized by the well-known Masonic charlatan, Joseph Cerneau. There were in existence in 1816 three sovereign grand bodies of the Order – Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and New York, in addition to which there were isolated encampments working in Connecticut, Maryland and South Carolina. The great organizers Webb and Fowle, having about twenty years previously launched the General Grand Chapter of the United States, endowed by their state Grand Encampment with more or less authority, along with some Templars from New York, held a convention in Philadelphia on June 11, 1816, where they met with delegates from Pennsylvania and endeavoured to organize a United States Grand Encampment. Opposition developed thereto on the part of the delegates
from Pennsylvania, who refused to concur in the adoption of a proposed constitution, preferring rather their own ritual, their own customs, and their own powers of government, being influenced largely by their connection with the Mother Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, to which they were then and until 1857 subject. Unsuccessful in their efforts, but still undaunted, Webb and Fowle stopped over in New York City on their way home and there, within ten days, organized what is today the Grand Encampment Knights Templar of the United States of America; adopted a constitution, carefully prepared by Webb, which remained essentially unchanged until 1856; prepared a roster of officers substantially the same as at present prevailing; and named candidates for those offices from their two state jurisdictions, Webb and Fowle wisely subordinating themselves to Governor Clinton, whose civil position, along with his Masonic record and his powerful influence rendered him eminently fit to act as Grand Master of the organization. It remained only for the Knights of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and New York to ratify this action and make such changes in the constitution of their different bodies as were thereby necessary. During the thirty-six years following the formation of the Grand Encampment but six additional Grand Commanderies were added to its roster, a slow growth due solely to the persecution of the members of the Order for a score of years following the Morgan Excitement. During the fifties, ten Grand Commanderies were added to the list, when our great Civil War, along with its disturbance of the general affairs of the nation, for many years delayed the spread of the Order over the United States. Since that war its growth has been healthy and normal, and today we have forty-seven Grand Commanderies in the United States, with a total membership of over 368,000. Outside of the United States, the activities of modern Templarism are confined to the British nation, with whose Great Priories of England and Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Canada, we are, by the Concordat of 1910, in fraternal relationship.
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The Strict Observance System By Burton E. Bennett The Strict Observance: An Overview The system of the Strict Observance grew out of what is known as Templarism. Templar Masonry commenced to grow up in France soon after true Freemasonry was introduced. This was about 1725. However, no Grand Lodge was established till 1752. It is not till then that we are on sure footing. What went before can only be approximated. The Strict Observance as a separate system was formed Germany and dates from about 1748. It was produced by a process of evolution. The Strict Observance, and our present Knights Templar Masonry, as well, cannot, even, be reliably understood without knowing something out the Crusades, and with the three great orders that they produced, the Teutonic Knights, the Hospitallers and the Knights Templar. The Crusades were a series of wars carried on Western Europe to recover the Holy Land from the Moslems. They began in the 11th century and extended over a period of some five hundred years. The Christian Crusades utterly broke down in 1449, and in 1453 Constantinople fell before the Mohammedans. It has ever since remained under Moslem rule, as has the Holy Land, and all of Asia Minor, till the end of the Great War. During all of the time of the Crusades the Church of Rome largely governed the Western World. The Crusades mightily changed European History. In one sense of the word the Crusades were a continuation of the age-old fight of the East against the West, and while, apparently, the West started it, and it was carried on offensively, still it was really defensive–the Christian world trying to stem the onrush of the Moslem hordes. It was a religious war–a war between the Christian and the Infidel. It was an attempt of the Roman Church, as a temporal power, to conquer the world with the sword, just as the Moslems
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were trying to do. It failed. The Moslems nearly succeeded in their aim. They took all of Asia Minor, all of civilized Africa, Sicily and other Mediterranean islands and even Spain in the West. They took a great part of Eastern Europe and reached as far West as Vienna. Here in 1683 they were finally stopped. But for the Crusades it is possible that they might have entirely overrun the Western World and suppressed the Christian religion, or, at least, absorbed it entirely within their system. The impartial student of history, comparing the civilization of the Moors in Spain with that of the Church and its Inquisition, which replaced it, must decide that the former was, by far, the preferable. The civilization of Medieval Europe certainly had little to commend it. However, taking a broad survey there can be no question that it is a mighty blessing that the West prevailed over the East, as it always had before, and that the beneficent religion of Christ was not replaced by the religion of Mahomet. No handicap, however great, can permanently stand before the onward progress of the Western division of the Aryan people, their intellect has become too great for this; too many brains stand at the perpendicular. The Hejira took place in 622. Omar took Jerusalem in 637, and in Moslem hands it remained till the end of the first Crusade. The Church of the Sepulchre was fanatically destroyed in 1010. In 1071 the Seljukian Turks captured Jerusalem. Till then pilgrimages to the Holy Land were fairly easy and especially so up to the final separation of the Eastern and Western Churches in 1054. Now not only were the native Christians persecuted, but the Pilgrim Christians as well.
open up trade routes to the East, 3. the desire of the Byzantine emperors to recover their lost territories and 4. the desire of princes to carve new kingdoms out of the East The barbarians who overran the Roman Empire had hardly become settled among the ruins they had caused, and commenced to repair them, when Scandinavian pirates sailed up their rivers and sacked and plundered their towns just as they had sacked and plundered the mighty cities of the Empire. Some of these pirates finally settled down in Northern France and established the Dukedom of Normandy. In 1066 the Norman Duke, William the Bastard, conquered England and established his kingdom of England. In 1090 the Norman Duke Roger conquered Sicily from the Moslems and established his kingdom there. The Norman Duke Godfrey was one of the commanders in the first Crusade. On July 15, 1099, Godfrey took Jerusalem, and while the shrieks of the dying were heard and the rivers of blood still gurgled and eddied, he founded his Norman kingdom of Jerusalem. The traders, the princes, the Emperor and the Pope devoutly thanked God for the successful termination of so glorious a cause. But the Crusades for the purpose of conquering the world for Christianity, and extirpating the Infidel, was a complete failure. However, good came out of them–incalculable good. They helped to dissolve feudalism, to develop trade, to build up cities and to increase knowledge. It would be foolish to say that they were the cause of all this, but they certainly contributed toward it.
1. the desire of the Papacy for conquest,
But above all, by far, they show the strivings of man for an ideal, for the infinite, for immortality, as nothing on this earth has ever done before or since; they attempted to answer the age-old question as it has never been done before nor since–can mortality be shaken off for immortality, can the finite be merged in the infinite?
2. the desire of the mercantile classes to
Military Orders of the Crusades
The Causes of the Crusades It has been stated that the purpose of the Crusades was to recover the sepulchre of Christ from the Infidel. The underlying causes, however, were deeper and far greater. They were:
The Strict Observance System Romish religion, with the acquiescence of the Pope of Rome, at the behest of greedy, soulless princes headed by the King of France. The charges against the Templars were false as history has since abundantly shown. It was a dark day for Europe and Christian civilization when the Templars were destroyed. It established criminal procedure by torture, which continued down to the French Revolution; it established in the feudal mind the idea of witchcraft, and intercourse with the devil, which has only been overcome in comparatively recent times, and which curse we have had our part to bear as is witnessed in our Salemism; and, finally, it enabled the Turks to ravage Eastern Europe and oppress it continuously down to our own times-the end of the Great War. The Strict Observance The Rite of the Strict Observance is based on “Templar Masonry.” Its founders claimed that all Templars were Masons, that they founded – and that the time had come to proclaim it to the world, and to have the Order of the Temple given back all of its former possessions, and to have all of its former powers restored to it. But what is the legend of “Templar Masonry”? Perhaps the French Masonic writer, Beranger, in the following short description, depicts it as well as it can be done. He says: “The Order of Masonry was instituted by Godfrey de Bouillon, in Palestine, in 1330, after the defeat of the Christian armies, and was communicated only to a few French Masons, some time afterwards, as a reward for the services which they had rendered to the English and Scottish Knights. From these latter true Masonry is derived. Their Mother Lodge is situated on the mountain of Heredom, where the first Lodge in Europe was held, which still exists in all its splendor. The Council General is always held here, and it is the seat of the Sovereign Grand Master for the time being. This mountain is situated between the West and the North of Scotland, sixty miles from Edinburgh.”
“There are other secrets in Masonry which were never known among the French, and which have no relation to the Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Degrees, which were constructed for the general class of Masons. The high degrees, which developed the true design of Masonry and its true secrets, have never been known to them.” “The Saracens having obtained possession of the holy places in Palestine, where all the mysteries of the Order were practised, made use of them for the most profane purposes. The Christians then leagued together to conquer this beautiful country, and to drive these barbarians from the land. They succeeded in obtaining a footing on these shores under the protection of the numerous armies of the Crusaders, which had been sent there by the Christian princes. The losses which they subsequently experienced put an end to the Christian power, and the Crusaders who remained were subjected to the persecutions of the Saracens, who massacred all who publically proclaimed the Christian faith. This induced Godfrey de Bouillon, toward the end of the thirteenth century, to conceal the mysteries of religion under the veil of figures, emblems and allegories.”
scrupulous to confide this important secret only to those whose discretion had been tried, and who had been found worthy. For this purpose they fabricated degrees as a test of those in whom they wished to confide, and they gave them at first only the symbolic secrets of Hiram, on which all the mysteries of Blue Masonry is founded, and which is, in fact, the only secret of that Order which has no relation to true Masonry. They explained nothing else to them as they were afraid of being betrayed, and they conferred these degrees as a proper means of recognizing each other, surrounded as they were by barbarians. To succeed more effectually in this they made use of different signs and words for each degree, so as not only to distinguish themselves from the profane Saracens, but to designate the different degrees. These they fixed at the number of seven, the imitation of the Grand Architect who built the Universe in six days and rested on the seventh; and, also, because Solomon was seven years in constructing the Temple, which they had selected as the figurative basis of Masonry. Under the name of Hiram they gave a false application to the Masters and developed the true secret of Masonry only to the higher degrees.” The Templar Myth
“Hence the Christians selected the Temple of Solomon because it had so close a relation to the Christian Church, of which its holiness and its magnificence made it the true syymbol. So the Christians concealed the Mystery of the building up of the Church under that of the construction of the Temple, and gave themselves the title of Masons, Architects, or Builders, they were occupied in building the faith. They assembled under the pretext of making plans of architecture to practise the faith of their religion with all the emblems and allegories that Masonry could furnish, and thus protect themselves from cruelty of the Saracens.” “As the mysteries of Masonry were in their principles, and still are, only those of the Christian religion, they were extremely
Templar Masonry is divided into four divisions each claiming a different descent from the Templars. (1) That of France which claims descent by way of a charter given by Jacques de Molay, before his death, to Johannes Larmenius creating him Grand Master. (2) That which claims descent from Pierre d’Aumont (who succeeded de Molay as Grand Master) who fled with a few knights to Scotland, and there established Masonry. From Scotland, it was carried to France, and there was formed the Chapter of Claremont, from which it went to Germany and made the Strict Observance which Von Hund so greatly developed. (3) That of the Scandinavian countries which claims descent by way of the real Order of Christ of Portugal that succeeded the
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The Strict Observance System The Crusades produced the Teutonic Knights, the Hospitallers and the Knights Templar, and thus Templar Masonry, and so, in one sense of the word, they are the cause of the Strict Observance. The Teutonic Knights of St. Mary’s Hospital of Jerusalem was one of the three great religious and military orders produced by the Crusades. It was founded during the third Crusade, and was the last one formed. Its hospital was founded by Germans. Very early in the history of the Order its members were all ennobled, and they have remained so ever since. It was never a universal Order, like the Templars and the Hospitallers. It was strictly national in character. Like the other two Orders it began as a charitable society, passed into a military one and finally reached sovereign power. In 1291 it was expelled by the Moslems from the Holy Land. In 1309 it established itself in what is now Marienburg, West Prussia. It had begun its work, however in Eastern Germany a hundred years before for the purpose of subduing and converting the heathens. The Knightly Order of Dobrzin, founded for the purpose of conquering the heathen Prussians, was merged in the Teutonic Knight 1235, just as an older organized for the same pose, was merged in it years before. The Order finally became a governing aristocracy, holding its lands in Eastern Germany as a fief of the Pope of Rome. The Grand Master became in reality a king with the Pope as Emperor. However, the monarch, if such it may be called, a limited one as a council of brethren had to be consulted in all affairs. The state was really the church, and the government was ecclesiastical in character. The country was governed somewhat as the States of the Church in Italy were governed before 1871, when the temporal power of the Pope was abolished. The greater part of their subjects were the conquered Prussian heathens from whom the present peasants are descended. They were serfs bound to the soil. 0f course their souls were now safe, but the only earthly right, if right it could be called, that they obtained through their conversion, was the right to work for the Knights, their
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masters, and fight for them in time of war. The Order reached its height in the latter part of the 14th century. Its very rights weighted it down. Its neighbors envied its wealth, and wanted its territories. The Hundred Years War weakened it. Poland finally got West Prussia, and while East Prussia was left to the Knights, Poland became its overlord. Lutherism gave it its final blow. When the Hohenzollern Albert, Grand Master of the Order, turned Protestant, he secularized its territories into a Duchy under Poland. Later on all of the country East of Germany was secularized and the Order confined wholly to Germany. The German Grand Master became a Prince of the Empire. The Order still continued on in its conservatism, always claiming its old rights. It maintained itself from its still large revenues from its estates in different parts of Germany. During the French Revolution, however, it was deprived of all of its estates, which went to the different principalities in which they were situated. It was suppressed in 1809, but in 1840 it was revived in Austria under the patronage of the Emperor of Austria, and so continued down to the ending of the Great War. The Knights of Malta The Hospitallers, known officially as “Knights of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem,” was founded at Jerusalem during the first Crusade. It has been known also as “Knights of Rhodes”, and as the “Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta.” It was at first a charitable Order, while the Templars was from the first a military one. With the fall of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem in 1291, the Knights retired to the island of Rhodes. In 1522 the Turks finally took Rhodes, and the Hospitallers removed to Malta. Here they remained till 1793, when Napoleon took Malta, and added it to the French Republic. This ended it as a sovereign power. While the Knights had to leave Malta, shorn of their old power and great
wealth, they still continued on in different countries. The Knights took with them from Malta their precious relics–chief among them being the hand of St. John the Baptist, the miraculous image of Our Lady of Pherlemon, and a fragment of the true cross. Some of the Knights went to Russia and elected the Emperor Paul I Grand Master, and the then Grand Master, Hompesch, resigned in his favor. A chapter of the Knights granted the Pope of Rome authority to name a Grand Master, which he did. When this Grand Master died the head of the Order was called a Lieutenant Grand Master till 1879, when Leo XIII restored the ancient title of Grand Master. The Order of St. Anthony and St. Lazarus were united to the Hospitalers in 1782. The oldest house of the Order was in France. It is still occupied by the Order. In Italy and Germany it is now called the “Sovereign Order of Malta.” Applicants for knighthood must have sixteen quarterings of nobility and in Austria, before the Great War, also, the consent of the Emperor. The Grand Cross of the Order is a gold white enameled Maltese cross surmounted by a crown. There are two Protestant Orders of St. John of Jerusalem, branches of the parent Order –one in Germany and the other in England. These chapters joined in the Reformation, but for a long time continued their contributions to the head of the Order. In Prussia members of the Order must be Protestants of noble birth and belong to the Evangelical Church. The Grand Cross there is a Mallese cross of white enameled gold with four black eagles between the arms. Since the Great War the Order has worked for the restoration of the monarchy. In 1924 von Hindenburg officiated at the knighting ceremonies of the Knights of St. John, but after he was elected president of the German Republic he told the Knights that he “resigned his functions.” In 1925 as president of the republic he forbade the former kaiser
The Strict Observance System s son, Eitel Frederick, to officiate at the knighting ceremonies and ordered that they be held in a small chapel at Sonnenberg, instead of in the monarchist church at Potsdam, as usual. In England the Order was never formally suppressed, and in 1888 Queen Victoria granted it a charter. In 1889 King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales was made Grand Prior. In Great Britain, as in Prussia, the sovereign is the head of the Order, and the heir to the throne Grand Prior. In England it is an aristocratic Order, but not to the extent that it is in Prussia. While members do not have to be Protestants they must believe in Christianity. The Grand Cross in Great Britain is, of course, the gold white enameled Maltese cross, but between the arms are placed two lions and two unicorns. The first photograph ever taken of a chapter in session appeared in the London Graphic of Sept. 13, 1924. It was one of a meeting of the Priory of Wales at Powis Castle, Welshpool. It shows Knights and Esquires on the steps of the castle in full regalia, including the Right Honorable Lord Kylsant, Sub-Prior for Wales, who deputized for the Prince of Wales, who is Grand Prior. The Knights Templar The Order of the Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, or, as it is otherwise called, Knights Templar, was founded in Palestine in the 12th century by the Crusaders. The Order was a purely military one. It was made for the purpose of guarding the pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. It order got the latter part of its name, “Temple of Solomon,” from the fact that the King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, gave a part of his palace known as the “Temple of Solomon” for its use. At the head of the Order was a Master of the Temple, afterwards known as a Grand Master. His authority was very great, and generally this word was law; but in ex-
tremely large matters- as declaring war, etc.-he had to consult the chapter. and the members decided by a majority vote. The celibate life members wore a white mantle with a red cross on it; the others a black or brown one, also with a red cross on it. Within fifty years after it was founded it was established in nearly all of the countries of Europe. Lands and manors and castles were given to the Knights by different kings in their kingdoms and the Pope allowed them to have their own churches and even churchyards in which the excommunicated could be buried.
them together. They were the international bankers of the then known world. They were trusted with money and with its transmission to all parts of Europe, and the East on account of their great wealth, great protective power and their pious life. While they never exercised governmental power like the Knights in Prussia and in Rhodes, still they were really far more powerful-an ecclesiastical power that covered the entire civilized world. They never, apparently, were so high as just before they fell.
They were even free from tithes and all local jurisdictions, and finally became a separate ecclesiastical society under the Pope. The result was “war” between them and the secular clergy, but as long as the Crusades continued they remained all powerful with the Papacy. Their object was to carry on the Crusades and wrest the Holy Land from the Infidel, and for this purpose they gathered money and recruits from all parts of Europe. It is now seen that when the Crusades were over it was the inevitable fate of the Knights Templar to fall. Until nearly the end of the 13th century, when the Moslems expelled the Christians from the East, the history of the Crusades is a history of the Templars.
The Conspiracy Against The Templars
In 1291 the Templars retired from the Holy Land to Cyprus, and ten years later the curtain was rung down on their vast theatre of action-Asia Minor. The Knights who in the 12th century came together to protect the pilgrims going to and returning from Jerusalem, and took an oath to live in chastity, obedience and poverty, two hundred years later were the most influential, rich and powerful body of men in the world. When their last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, came to Paris he brought with him 150,000 gold florins, and ten horse loads of silver. But this was a very small part of their immense wealth. They had castles and strongholds and estates in all parts of Europe, and they had a strict military organization connecting
For a long time the princes of Europe had been plotting to wreck the Templars and seize and divide up their great wealth. They got the Hospitallers with them by holding out the bait of the Templars’ wealth. The Crusades being over they pretended that it was best to have all of the military Orders united. But they could not achieve their object. Finally trumped up charges of blasphemy were made against the Templars, and through them the acquiescence of the Church obtained. Their Grand Master and most of the Knights were arrested and the Order suppressed. Jacques de Molay and many others were put to the most excruciating tortures, and in their agony confessed to everything that their tormentors desired. Under trial by torture, if on the trial one repudiated his confession he was forthwith put to death. But if he stood by his confession it was a plea of guilty, no matter how innocent he might be, and his tormentors did with his as they wished. Jacques de Molay, at his trial, rose to sublime heights (as did many other Knights) and as befitted a great man at the head of the mightiest Order in the world, repudiated his confession, declared his own and his Order’s innocence and offering up his prayers to God was burned alive amid the chants of priests of the
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The Strict Observance System Templars, through Beaujeau, a nephew of de Molay, who took his uncle’s ashes to Stockholm and buried them there, and established the Swedish Templar system. (4) That of Scotland which claims descent from the House of the Templars that was never abolished there. The Royal Order of Scotland was created for some of the Knights by Robert Bruce and the rest were united with the Hospitallers. At the Reformation a part embraced Protestantism and united with the Masons. The part that remained Catholic was ultimately joined by the Young Pretender and was carried to France. (5) That of England, all other parts of the British Empire, and the United States, which claims descent from the Knights in England who, when the Order was dissolved, buried themselves in the Masonic Fraternity, and were allowed to retain all of their secrets, and practice all of their ancient rites. Of course all of the above is untrue. It is indeed the purest nonsense. These fabrications were made for the purpose of establishing an order not only that nobles of all countries could join, but that all who joined would believe they became ennobled. Designing men took advantage of it to obtain both money and power through “lost secrets”, occultism and magic. It was an age that believed not only with personal contact with God, but also with the devil; and the supposed secrets of the Ancient Masons furnished the seed for all this tremendous growth. The truth is that all Templar Masonry is descended from a Kadosh degree invented in Lyons, France, in 1743. Gould, the greatest and most learned of all Masonic historians, says: “During the period I have just sketched (rise of High Degrees in France) it has always been maintained that Ramsey introduced a Rite of five degrees between 1786-38, called the “RITE DE RAMSEY” or “DE BOUILLON.” I trust that I have already demonstrated that he did nothing of the sort, but it may be added, that beyond mere assertions, echoes of Thory, there is not the slightest evidence that a “Rite de Ramsey” ever existed. The application is a comparatively modern one, not being heard of till Thory invented it. Neverthe-
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less, about 1740, various Rites, or degrees, of Scots Masonry, did spring into existence, followed shortly afterwards by Scots Mother-Lodges controlling systems of subordinate Scots Lodges. At first these had reference to the recovery of the “lost word,” but before long additions were made. In 1743 the Masons of Lyons invented the Kadosh degree, comprising the vengeance of the Templars, and thus laid the foundation for all the Templar Rites. It was at first called Junior Elect; but developed into Elect of Nine, or of Perignan, Elect of Fifteen, Illustrious Master, Knight of Aurora, Grand Inquisitor, Grand Elect, Commander of the Temple, etc.” The Rite of Strict Observance was carried from France to Germany as early as 1749. if not before. Von Bieberstein, as Provincial Grand Master, was succeeded at his death, about 1750, by Karl Gotheif, Baron Von Hund, and AltenGrotkau. He was made a Mason in 1742. A year or so afterwards he met at Paris Lord, Kilmarnock, who interested him in Templarism, and he was initiated into the Order of the Temple. He was given a patent and directed to report to the Prov. Grand Master, Von Bieberstein, of the 7th Province in Germany. Von Hund as Grand Master When Von Hund succeeded Von Bieberstein, at his death, as Provincial Grand Master, the Strict Observance began to assume a commanding position in the Masonic world. We can trace its beginnings back to Lord Kilmarnock. Grand Master of Scotland, in 1742- 43. Kilmarnock in Scotland was made a barony, under the Boyds, the ruling family, in 1591, and was made an earldom in 1661. Lord Kilmarnock was working in behalf of the exiled house of Stuart, and used the Templar system for that purpose. Von Hund probably knew nothing of this and was honest in what he did. Lord Kilmarnock was the last Boyd to bear that title and was beheaded on Tower Hill, London, in 1746, for his share in the Jacobite uprising. In 1751 Von Hund began to give particular attention to the restoration of the
Order of the Temple. and evidently considered it his life work. He commenced to make Knights and divided all Europe into nine Provinces, to-wit: (1) Arragon, (2) Auvergne, (3) Occitania, (4) Leon, (5) Burgundy, (6) Britain, (7) Elbe and Oder, (8) Rhine, and (9) the Archipelago. The Rite of Strict Observance consisted of six degrees, namely, (1) Apprentice, (2) Fellow Craft, (3) Master Mason, (4) Scottish Master, (5) Noviciate, and (6) Templar. The first three degrees was Ancient Craft Masonry. The fourth degree depicts the method used to preserve the “lost word”, which was cut on a plate of pure metal. put into a secure place. And centuries afterwards recovered, so it was asserted. It of course belonged to the Eceossais system of degrees (Scots system). The select Master of the American Rite belongs to the same system, and its teachings are found in the Royal Arch Degree. It is the fifth degree of the French Rite. The thirteenth degree of Scotish Rite also belongs to this system. The fifth degree is preparatory to the real Templar degree and the sixth degree is the real Knighthood. Later another degree called the Professed Knight was, it is said, added to Hund’s system. Only noblemen were eligible to Knighthood, although others could be made companions by paying very large sums of money. The Imposter Johnson Appears In 1763 a fellow named Leucht, going under the name of’ Johnson, who had got hold of some Masonic papers relating to Masonry proper, as well as the “high degrees”, appeared at Jena where there was a Clermont Chapter practicing the Templar degrees in the Strict Observance system, and stated that he had a commission from the Sovereign Chapter in Scotland to reform the German Lodges and impart the true secrets of Masonry, and that these secrets enabled their possessors to prepare the philosopher’s stone. He obtained Iarge sums of money from the members. It was soon seen that he was a charlatan. He fled, but later on was arrested and
The Strict Observance System died in prison. Even this episode did not harm the Strict Observance, rather it spread its fame. probably on account of Von Hund’s high standing and well known honesty. It took on a most wonderful growth. It became practically the only Masonry in Germany and spread into Holland and Russia and into France, Switzerland and Italy as well. In the Strict Observance the real rulers of the Order were unknown, and on joining it an oath of obedience was made to the Order and to the Unknown Superiors. who at the proper time and in the proper place would make themselves known, when the Order would be restored to all its pristine glory. Von Hund probably thought that the “Young Pretender” (also known as the “Young Chevalier” and the “Count of Albany”). Prince Charles Edward, was the Grand Master. While it was probably a political scheme in his behalf in the first place it was dropped after his defeat at Culloden in 1746, and all of the time since then Von Hund was working honestly in the dark without any backing whatever. The Knight of the Red Feather, whom he asserted he met in Paris, and whom he supposed was the Grand Master of the Order, was, as far as Von Hund was personally concerned, only a red devil. The Rite of the Strict Observance reached its highest point when the Princes of Germany joined it. The Lodge of the Three Globes of Berlin, Prussia, with its subordinate lodges, the English Provincial Grand Lodge and the Lodges of Denmark, also joined it. However Zinnendorf, who was a member and active worker, resigned in 1766 to introduce the Swedish system into Germany. It grew rapidly and soon became a real rival to the Strict Observance. The members began to want to realize something out of their membership. They wanted to know who the “Unknown Superiors” were. They really wanted to receive that Occult knowledge which all of the knights of the order believed the rulers possessed – the heritage of the Order of the Temple. While all of this seems nonsense to us, it was not to them. It was the
fault of the age, for all believed in occult science, and those who delved into it believed that the great secrets belonged to the Masons. but to which branch they did not know, and how to find the right one was their constant aim. The Clerks of the Strict Observance An Order called the Clerics turned up and it was supposed for a time that the “lost secrets” were with it. But nothing was found there, and it was determined to have a general convention for the purpose of examining into everything, so as to get on the right road. All still firmly believed that the Unknown Grand Master and his Councilors possessed all occult science and that a way could be devised to reach them. This convention took place at Brunswick and was in session from May 23 to July 6, 1775. But nothing came out of it except extreme dissatisfaction to all, and it was agreed to fully examine into both the descent of the Order and the Grand Mastership of the Young Pretender. Baron Von Hund while intimating who the Grand Master really was, with tears in his eyes refused to state directly, saying that he had taken an oath, on his sword and honor, never to do so; but as those who were in authority seemed to be determined to divulge nothing, it might be well to elect a Grand Master and take all matters into their own hands. This course produced a charlatan greater, if possible, than Leucht. Baron Von Gugumos was at the Brunswick convention and told different members of it that they were all on the wrong track; that the Strict Observance was an imitation, or rather, only a branch of the true Order, and possessed none of the real secrets; that the Patriarch of the Greek Church at Cyprus was the Grand Master of the Order and that there reposed all of the mighty secrets of the alchemists that had been preserved from the most ancient times by the Templars. Some of the princes and others were initiated into his Order, and he promised to get the Patriarch to disclose to them all of the alchemical secrets. Much enthusiasm was aroused, and it was thought
at last that they were on the right track. The Convention of Wiesbaden A convention, at the suggestion of the Baron, was at Wiesbaden on Aug. 15, 1776, with the consent the Prince of Nassau-Usingen, but without that of the Duke of Brunswick. Among those present was the sovereign, the Duke of Nassau; also the Duke of Gotha, the Landgraves Ludwig and George, and many other nobles of lesser note. At one time there was not less than twelve reigning sovereign Princes of Germany members of the Rite of the Strict Observance, and they were the most active members seeking “lost secrets”. It is no wonder that Gugomos had everything his own way, when so many in authority believed in magic and alchemy and, in fact, in all of the occult sciences. Gugomos produced an impressive patent, made for him by some scholar, and made a mystic speech. He reinitiated them into the “real Order” and sold them shoddy regalia and brass jewels at exorbitant prices. In the language of the present day, “he made a killing.” Some had doubts and wanted him then and there to perform his magic feats. This, he said, he would gladly do if they would build the necessary sacred shrine,. and that, while this was being done, he would go to Cyprus and get the necessary sacred wands and altars. It was necessary, he explained, to have a secret and proper sanctuary for the delivery of the oracles, and then again the recipients must be properly prepared. He went but he never came back. Baron Von Hund died on Oct. 28, 1776, and as might be expected confusion ensued. His effects were care-fully examined, but nothing was found that could throw any light on the Order or its Grand Master, except that the Baron believed that it was the Young Pretender. But Prince Charles Edward on being questioned later on in Italy about it, stated that he knew nothing about it and was not even a Mason.’ In 1782 the Rite of Strict Observance
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was reorganized by Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, who was elected Grand Master General. The next year, however, the Lodge of the Three Globes of Berlin, with all of its subordinate lodges and the Hamburg Lodges, withdrew from the Strict Observance. On July 3, 1792, Prince Ferdinand died, and the Order died with him except in France and Denmark. In Denmark in 1792 Prince Karl of Hesse was appointed Grand Master of Denmark by royal decree. In 1808, in France, Prince Cambaceres, Arch Chancellor of the Napoleonic Empire and Grand Master of the Grand Orient, became Provincial Grand Master. The Rite continued being worked in the Rectified Rite, under the Grand Orient till 1811, when it completely died out. Prince Karl of Hesse died in 1836 and in 1855 the Danish lodges adopted the Swedish Rite, and with this the Rite of the Strict Observance breathed its last breath.
Templarism : Its Duty And Its Sphere Seven centuries and a half have passed away since, in 1118 eight French noblemen, uniting themselves into a society, became the Master and Brethren of the Temple. They first displayed the red cross upon the field in 1148; were almost annihilated in storming Ascalon in 1153; their principles were confirmed by the Bull Omne Datum Optimum, in 1139 and they fought the great battle of Tiberias in 1187, in which year the Holy City of Jerusalem surrendered to the Infidels. Other crusades were preached, and the soldiery of the Temple fought in the Holy Land until the end of the thirteenth century, by the side, in succession, of Richard Lionheart of England, and Philip Augustus of France; of Saint Louis and Edward Prince of Wales, at Damietta, Gaza, and Acre; and wherever a blow was to be struck for the Cross against the Crescent. On the 13th of October, 1307, all the Templars in France were arrested, and on the 18th of March, 1314, the Grand Master was burned. Princes had been members of the Order, and its ambassadors had taken precedence of Christian kings. It had become too powerful by numbers, and wealth, and connections, and it sought to be more powerful still by its influence upon opinions. In the East, the home of Gnosticism, and where the doctrines of Saint John the Apostle were still supreme; in that Asia Minor of the seven churches, to which Paul, the new apostle, contested the claims of Peter to the pontificate of the Gentile church; in that Orient, of which Patmos, the apocalyptic isle, was a part; the Templars had learned doctrines not acceptable to the Roman bishops, and it is probable that some of them had accepted those of Manes, and were liable to the pains and penalties denounced against heretics. To the monarchs of Christendom, all of whom were at that day little more than the deans of the nobility, maintaining a constant struggle against the ambition of their vassals, insecure in their places of power, and without standing armies, the soldiery of the Temple had become a terror by their numbers, their immense possessions, and their unity of organization. For the Order dreamed of an Oriental empire, and sought to obtain, by negotiation, an eastern seaport. It was a standing army of proud, fiery, indomitable warriors, distributed over all Europe, and obedient to the single will of the Grand Master. The thrones and the altars combined against it, and it fell and disappeared in a day. Its pride, ambition, and luxuries, swelled the provocations that caused
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By Albert Pike
its ruin. During the centuries that followed, while it was merged in other orders, and wore the mask of Freemasonry, it was, as is usual, chastened and purified by adversity. The advances made by science, the revival of letters, the reopening of the treasures of the ancient Grecian and Oriental wisdom, gave it a deeper and a sounder philosophical doctrine, and a wiser and truer religious creed; and its hereditary desire for vengeance on the despotisms to which its ruin was due, symbolized by the mitre and the crown, led it eagerly to adopt the idea that governments are made for the people, and not the people for governments, upon its first announcement to the world. If our Order should again become prosperous and powerful, let it avoid the shoals upon which it once suffered shipwreck. Let it become neither haughty, nor vainglorious, nor luxurious, nor useless. The principles which it adopted in adversity, let it adhere to in its better fortunes. Let the enlargement of the Order, and the increase of its members and its Commanderies, be the enlargement of its powers and the confirmation of its desires to benefit mankind, strengthen its hands against all unrighteous usurpation of power by kings, or pontiffs, or popular chiefs, military or civil, and encourage us to hope for the final triumph of liberty, equality, and fraternity, in the sense in which these are understood by the true Freemasonry. Let us also remember, in striving to benefit our race, that the multitude is in every country instinctive rather than reflective, and can be attached to ideas only by means of forms, and surrenders its prejudices and changes its habits with difficulty. Popular assemblies are not swayed by reason, and legislative majorities are little controlled by any sense of justice. Upon an attempt to combat superstitions, it always seems to the people that religion itself is assailed. Socrates was accused of Atheism before the tribunals; and Jesus was denounced to the authorities as a blasphemer. Wherefore, those that undertake reforms will be wise, if, like Saint Gregory, one of the greatest among the Popes, they do not permit usages to be suppressed. “Purify the temples,” he wrote to his missionaries, “but do not destroy them; for so long as the nation shall see its ancient places of prayer standing, it will repair thither by habit, and you will, with the more ease, persuade it to the worship of the true God.”
Society has not no right to consider itself enlightened while it regards the abuses of a system as its excellencies, and makes idols of its own prejudices, and looks with horror on attempts to obtain rational reforms as revolutionary projects; nor, while it continues to be ignorant that the criminal instincts are the most frightful of all the mental maladies, and does not comprehend that the disease should be cured, and not put to death, has it any right to consider itself Christian. Keep these truths always in view in the warfare which you are incessantly to wage against tyrannies. For there are not only tyrannies of thrones and pontificates, but of the people, and parties, and opinion, and of the law. Close around you everywhere you will find evils enough to combat, and it will be well for you if you do not become their ally. The days have retired but a little way into the past when men were divided into but two classes – the oppressor and oppressed. Then thought was imprisoned; to breathe it was peril, if not death; and it died in the brain where it was born, or was only whispered in the solitude. The obligations of Blue Masonry are retained, that they may incessantly remind us of those wretched days. Now, thought is free as the wind, and the lightning flashes it across the oceans and around the continents. Nations are enfranchised by it, and the golden glories of truth begin to illumine the world. A new power has arisen among men, known as public opinion, with a new weapon – the press. Before it, even the kings recede, and yield to it, and obey its bulb and allocutions, or it shakes down their thrones into the dust. We should be but cravens, therefore, if we did not persevere. Whatever the evils of to-day in the country in which we live, they are not invincible; for they are neither necessary and inevitable, nor in their nature immortal. Neither are we powerless in the struggle against them, and we are no true knights if we yield to discouragement: “The smallest effort is not lost; Each wavelet on the ocean tossed Aids in the ebb-tide or the flow; Each rain-drop helps some flower to blow, Each struggle lessens human woe.”
MAGGIE VALLEY SUMMER ASSEMBLY The Florida Grand York Rite Elected and Appointed Officers and other York Rite Masons traveled to the North Carolina Annual Summer York Rite Assembly. The event is celebrated in Maggie Valley, North carolina during the second weekend of July. As always, your Florida Grand York Rite Elected and Appointed Officers had fun and learned. We had several topics on Membership and Pride in Freemasonry. The following pictures will attest to our previous statement.
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MMER U S Y E L L A V IE G MAG
ASSEMBLY
Pictures: Top Left - Charles Cicero, Grand Commander and David Aponte, Deputy Grand Commander on the Grand Encampment Marker. Top Left -Deputy Grand Commander, Grand Commander, Henry Adams, Grand Captain General and M.E. james Rudman, PGHP. Second Left - Masonic Marker Second Right - Deputy Grand Commander, Billy Coon, Grand Master, Grand Encampment, and Grand Captain General. Third Right - Andrew Louvas, Grand Secretary/ Recoder of Georgia and Ill. William Miller, SGIG Washington State Fourth Right - Charlie and Aida Perez and james and Mary Ann Rudman at the dinner theatre. Bottom Left - M.W. Dale Goehrig and wife, Reba. Bottom Right - Show at the Dinner Theatre.
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MAGGIE V ALLEY SUM
MER ASSE
MBLY
Top Left - Mi Howard Gardner Grand Ill. Master, and wife, Myra. Top Right - Sign at the Masonic Marker. Second Left - Ben Holland, Grand Sentinel and wife, Carol. Second Right - Dencel Smith, Grand Secretary / Recorder, and wife, Ann. Third Left - Billy Coon, Grand Master, Grand Encampment Bottom Left - Charles Cicero, Grand Commander, and his wife, Tabitha. Bottom Right - Masonic Marker.
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Brethren Persecuted On 28 May, 1291 the Templars relinquished their fortified compound to the Mamlukes who had been besieging the port city of Acre for the past six weeks. The Mamlukes had actually breached the city walls ten days earlier, but the Templars were the last to leave the field, a situation that was a long-standing tradition with the Order. The loss of Acre was not merely another crusader defeat, for the port had been home to the Templars and Hospitallers for nearly a century; having been captured by Richard the Lionheart on 12 July, 1191. Although the capture of Acre marked the passing of the era of the Crusader States for Christendom, the Templars suffered as well. Not only had they lost their headquarters in the east, they also lost their grand master, William de Beaujeu, who was injured during the battle and died int he arms of a Hospitaller brother. De Beaujeau was replaced by Theobald Gaudin, who was elected by his brethren at the Templar fortress at Sidon, 60 miles north of Acre. One of de Gaudin’s first actions as head of the Order was to remove himself to the Island of Cyprus to recruit assistance for his brethren. No help was to be received and on 12 July, the knights abandoned their last fortress on the mainland, joining their brethren on Cyprus. When Pope Nicholas IV learned of the Christian defeat at Acre, he immediately made arrangements to take back the Holy Land. Part of his plan was to unite the military Orders into one cohesive unit. Of course the idea was not an original one, having been tossed around as early as 1274. Although Nicholas appointed a committee to investigate the idea, he died before their report was completed. A year later, Jacques de Molay, who had succeeded Gaudin as grand master, left the Island of Cyprus on a three-year tour of England, France, Aragon and Italy in the hopes of drumming up support for his own plan to recapture the Holy Land. De Molay wasn’t looking for fresh bodies to fight the enemies of Christendom, but to look for arms and aide for the cause. Pope Boniface VIII accommodated the Templars by issuing the Order a series of papal favours in 1297. The fact that the Holy Church was willing to continue its support of the Templars discredits the notion that after the loss of Acre, the Templars lost favour with the Holy See. Although de Molay returned to Cyprus in 1296, the Templars did not involve themselves in many military cam-
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By Stephen Dafoe paigns; however, they seem to have become immersed in Cyprian political intrigue at the turn of the century, culminating in a change of Cyprian crowns in 1306. De Molay and the pope In the fall of that year, de Molay was once again on the move to France, having been summoned by Pope Clement V, who had resuscitated Nicholas’s idea of uniting the military Orders. It is at this point in the story where some popular Templar mythology needs to be debunked. Many modern works on the Templars make the claim that the real reason for Clement summoning de Molay to France was to lead him into a trap. This notion is apocryphally based on the unfortunate events that followed de Molay’s arrival. To understand the matter, we should understand a bit about Clement V and King Philip IV. Philip became King of France at the age of 17, was the eleventh in a continuous line of male heirs to occupy the throne and, perhaps most importantly, was the grandson of a saint. But the Capetian Dynasty’s rich lineage had left young Philip with far more than big shoes to fill – massive war debt accumulated by his father’s battles in Aragon had left the country strapped for cash. Philip tried a variety of remedies – fiddling with the currency and even taxing the clergy, the latter of which created a long-standing riff between the king and Pope Boniface VIII. Philip’s remedy for that strife was to have the pope arrested; this was the same man who had proclaimed his grandfather King Louis IX a saint. It would be no surprise when Philip would turn on the Templars, who had helped bail his grandfather out of Egypt when he was captured during the crusades. But while much of what has been written about Philip and the Templars is accurate, the story of Bertrand de Got – latterly known as Pope Clement V – is not. Although Bertrand and Philip had been childhood friends, their paths departed considerably in later life, de Got supporting Boniface VIII in his struggles with the French king. Many accounts of this period of Templar history have made the claim that Clement’s choosing to fulfil his papal duties from France rather than Rome was directly connected to the marionette strings of his king and master, Philip IV. This is certainly not the case. Clement was a Frenchman by birth and chose Avignon because political conflicts in Rome made Rome an unsafe place to do papal business. This was
Brethren Persecuted certainly nothing new, for Pope Urban II, who launched the First Crusade, had experienced similar problems during his rein, forcing his into exile for several years. Uniting the Orders From the safety of his Avignon throne, Clement V could focus part of his attention on the concept of uniting the crusading Orders into one all-powerful unit. In 1292, a man named Raymond Lull, who had written several treatises on recapturing the Holy Land, had put forth the idea of uniting the Orders under a Rex Bellator or war king. It was a position that Philip IV was willing to relinquish his monarchy to obtain, perhaps looking to live up the ideals of his crusading grandfather. Although Philip, longing for the hot Levantine sun, may have loved the concept, de Molay, who had spent many years in the east, was less positive about the notion. In his report to Clement V, de Molay expressed his doubts on the grounds that the Templars and Hospitallers had existed separate for many years and the rivalry between the two Orders had benefited Christendom. Additionally, uniting the two Orders would require a new Rule of Order to be drafted. The Templar master feared that the less strict Hospitaller way of life would pollute that of the Templars. With such important matters to Christendom being contemplated, it was understandable that the streets of Paris were rife with rumors. But they were not the only rumors involving the Templars – there was also the talk of heresy. They spit on the Holy Cross, these Knights Templar. Not only do they deny the divinity of Christ during their reception, they do not even worship God Almighty, but a graven idol instead. These accusations, well known to many Templars, were the words of a renegade member of the Order named Esquin de Floryan, who – according to some accounts – had been imprisoned and subsequently made his claims known to his fellow inmates out of revenge. But sharing rumours with cellmates is of little benefit to a man longing for freedom. As such, de Floryan was eager to share the juicy gossip with Philip IV. The French King was not his first choice, for he had previously told the story to the King of Aragon, James II, who dismissed the rumours as the rubbish they were. Whether he actually believed the accusations, Philip was all too willing to make use of them to his full benefit, and immediately informed Clement V of all that had come before his ears. Clement responded to Philip in a letter of 24 August, 1307 letting the king
know that he was planning to launch a formal investigation into the accusations in October. Philip, of course, had no intention of letting the matter wait another two months and issued a letter to his bailiffs on 14 September, authorizing them to arrest the Templars 30 days later. The Arrest of the Templars On October 13, Philip’s men acted on the arrest orders, launching a series of raids on Templar properties throughout France. One of the more popular myths regarding this period of Templar history is that the Templars learned of the arrest orders early on and escaped in large number. The consensus among modern historians is that the Templars had little to no advance notice, although it is generally agreed that de Molay was aware of the rumours in circulation. Official records record twelve members of the Order who managed to escape and most of these were ultimately captured. Among them was Gérard de Villiers, the former Master of France and Imbert Blanke, the Master of Auvergne, who crossed over into England with a handful of brethren. Blanke was later captured and went on to play a role in defending the English Templars. Regardless of just how many French Templars snuck away in the quiet of the night, no myth regarding their escape has gained more currency than the notion that the Templar fleet set sail from the French port of La Rochelle. According to the popular tale, the Templars loaded 18 galleys with men and treasure and pulled anchor, sailing for points unknown. The source of this myth comes from the testimony of Jean de Châlons, a serving brother, who said that he had heard that de Villiers had set sail with 18 galleys. De Châlons’s testimony regarding the Templar galleys was not based on first hand knowledge; rather it was merely a repeated rumour. Given that the rest of his testimony was damning of the Order, it is doubtful that there was any truth to his claims. The fact remains that the Templars simply did not have that sort of naval presence at the time. After the dissolution of the Templars in 1312, the Hospitallers became more involved in naval warfare as a result of their occupation of Rhodes; however, at that time they are recorded as having only four galleys. As such, the idea that the Templars had so large a fleet stretches credulity. The Interrogation of the Templars De Floryan had told Philip but a handful of lies about the Order, but by the time the French King had the Templars in custody, the laundry list of heresies had expanded to some 87 articles of accusation, including sodomy and the worship of a bearded head. In Paris, 138 members of the Order were put through a series of interrogations beginning on 19 October. Even in this Philip showed his cunning, as the depositions were to be sent to the king in sealed envelopes, but the details were to be widely
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Brethren Persecuted circulated to help sway public opinion. Of course, it was equally important to make sure that the enclosures had just the right information. The Templars were kept isolated form one another and informed that both king and pope were aware of the scandalous activities of the Order; pardoned awaited the confessed, while certain death awaited the unrepentant. Of course, a little medieval torture was thrown in for good measure; for nothing will make a man say things that are untrue like the crack of a whip. It is hard to imagine how a group of knights who had remained on the field of battle despite incredible odds could cave to such measures, but it is important to remember that the majority of incarcerated Templars were not battle toughened warriors, but serving members of the Order. In all 36 Templars succumbed to the torments of their jailers and died before testifying. On 27 November, Clement issued the bull Pastoralis praeminentiae, authorizing the arrest of the Templars throughout Christendom. The bull was not met with enthusiasm and even in countries that followed the papal orders, torture was not generally used and the arrests were with great reluctance. Clement was not at all pleased with Philip’s handling of the matter and suspended the trial in February of 1308, demanding that it be handled by the Church. The pope capitulated to the king’s pressure and resumed the trials in July; however, he insisted that they remain under the Church’s control. In August, Clement issued another bull, Regnans in coelis, calling for a general council to be held at Vienne in October of 1310. To prepare for the council, a new set of interrogations was commenced by the Church with a true desire to get to the bottom of the matter without the use of torture. Among the many interrogations were those conducted at the castle of Chinon in Tours, which have been made famous with the recent exaggerated claims about the discovery of the Chinon Parchment. In actual fact, the document is well known to historians, having been published in Étienne Baluze’s Lives of the Popes of Avignon in 1693. The papal commission who interviewed de Molay and other Templar leaders at Chinon absolved them from excommunication, but despite recent claims, did not find the Order innocent. A call was sent out requesting those Templars who wished to defend the Order to assemble at Paris. By February 1310, 600 Templars came forth with a desire to testify, but in so doing they set up a catch-twenty-two for themselves with respect to Philip. Having previously confessed during the first set of interrogations, Philip argued that any subsequent recantations would mark them as lapsed heretics – an offence punishable by death. On 12 May, 1310, fifty-four Templars were turned over to the king’s men and burned at the stake in Paris. They would not be the last. In August of 1308, Pope Clement V had issued a papal bull calling for a general church council to be held at Vienne in October of 1310. The purpose of the council was to try the matter of the heinous charges levelled against the Templars by King Philip IV of France. However, the council was postponed a year – not out of any procrastination, but because the papal commission
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who had been given the task of collecting evidence was having difficulties. Witnesses and testimonies contracted one another or, in many cases, even themselves. When all was said and done, the commission determined that the Templars and their Rule of Order were orthodox, but that some peculiar and unworthy aspects had been allowed to creep into the Templar initiation ceremonies. Those who had acknowledged these errors were absolved of their sins and reinstated with the Church, as was the case at Chinon in Tours. It was this conclusion that was to be presented to the Council of Vienne, a matter that, had it been brought to full light, would have changed the face of Templar history. But such was not to be the case. Although the church fathers who had gathered at the council were, for the most part, doubtful of the Orders’ guilt, King Philip had no intention of letting the matter go in the Order’s favor. On 20 March, 1312, Philip, along with a sizeable portion of his army arrived at Vienne. Within two days, Clement called a special meeting with his commissioners and a number of cardinals, who, in a four-fifths majority, voted to dissolve the Order of the Temple. The result was the papal bull Vox in Excelso, penned on 22 March and read publicly on 3 April. With so much evidence in support of the continuation – albeit modified – existence of the Templars, Clement knew that his report would be met with resistance. To this end, a clerk announced that anyone who rose to speak to the matter without permission would be excommunicated. Of course, with Philip sitting in the council chambers and his army sitting outside, there was little that could be done. After all, Clement did not wish to suffer the same fate as his predecessor Boniface VIII, in whose death, Philip had played a prominent role. But even in the bull dissolving the Templars, a document of far greater important than the Chinon Parchment, we see that it was not the Order’s guilt, but reputation that was the cause. “Therefore, with a sad heart, not by definitive sentence, but by apostolic provision or ordinance, we suppress, with the approval of the sacred council, the order of Templars, and its rule, habit and name, by an inviolable and perpetual decree, and we entirely forbid that anyone from now on enter the order, or receive or wear its habit, or presume to behave as a Templar.” Of course, this was but the first of several papal bulls dealing with the dismantling of an Order that had served Christendom for nearly two centuries. A short time later, Clement issued the bull Ad Providam, which transferred Templar properties and assets to the Hospitallers, who were further authorized to pay the former Templars a pension. In the end, Philip had succeeded in destroying the Templars, but failed to acquire any of their assets for himself. But it would not be his last dealing with the now defunct Order or its members; for de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Templars, was still in prison. The Death of de Molay The story of Jacques de Molay’s final hours is an important one to Masonic Templars; for we see in his martyrdom a great act of resolve in the hour of
Brethren Persecuted danger, and a human parallel to the sufferings of Christ on the Cross. But de Molay’s execution, while a matter of historical record, has been greatly embellished over the years to include the notion that the last Grand Master cursed the king and pope, who died soon after. Although this story has formed the pinnacle of the Templar mythos for many years, early chroniclers mentioned de Molay’s execution in passing. The most reliable of the contemporary accounts comes to us from the continuation of the chronicles of Guillaume de Nangis. The writer tells us that on the Feast of St. Gregory (March 18) de Molay and other Templar leaders were brought to the steps of Notre Dame de Paris to hear the final decision of three cardinals, who had been charged with determining their fate. According to the chronicle, de Molay and Geoffrey de Charney – upon learning that they were to remain in prison for the rest of their lives – interrupted the cardinals in protest, retracting their pervious confessions. When Philip learned of the matter, he moved swiftly and ordered the same fate for the Templar leaders that he had issued to the fifty-four knights he’d burned at the stake in 1310. That evening de Molay and de Charney were taken to a little isle on the Seine and executed. And this is where the curse myth begins, for the writer of the chronicle tells us that “They were seen to be so prepared to sustain the fire with easy mind and will that they brought from all those who saw them much admiration and surprise for the constancy of their death and final denial…” Beautiful and poetic words that should have been sufficient to solidify de Molay’s memory in the heart of all Templars; however, others would add to the story. In the popular tale, told in many Masonic templar settings over the years, de Molay did not suffer his fate with resolve and calm mind, but pronounced that before the end of the year Philip and Clement would meet him before God to answer for their crimes. While is certainly true that both men followed de Molay in death; Clement on April 20, as a result of his long suffered illness and Philip on November 29, after being thrown from a horse while hunting, it was not the curse that was responsible for the timing of their deaths, but the timing of their deaths that was responsible for the curse. The closest contemporary source to the curse story comes from the words of Geoffrey de Paris, a clerk in Philip’s court who wrote in a poem that de Molay said God would avenge the Templars, for he knew who was truly in the wrong. It is not until 1330 that the curse legend begins to truly take form in the works of an Italian chronicler named Feretto de Ferretis, who puts the curse, not in de Molay’s mouth, but in the mouth of an anonymous Templar. Not until the sixteenth century, do we see the words actually ascribed to de Molay, when the French historian Paul Émile became the first to make the claim in his De rebus gestis francorum, published in 1548. Unfortunately, Émile was not the last and the myth of de Molay’s dying words has continued long after the Order he led has vanished into the pages of history and legend.
STEP - UP MASONS ALWAYS RISE TO THE OCCASION
The Siege of Ascalon By Stephen Dafoe
On 25 January 1153 the Commander of the City of Jerusalem, along with the ten knights under his command, was guarding the True Cross as an army of Templars, Hospitallers, seculars and ecclesiastics made the march toward Ascalon. The massive army arrived at the walls of the port city with as many siege towers as King Baldwin could gather for the war that lay ahead. Ascalon was situated on the Mediterranean coast and its fortifications were like a half circle; the radius on the shoreline and the semicircle on the landside facing eastward. William of Tyre described the city as being like a basin, that sloped seaward, girded round with artificial mounds, on which were built walls, studded with towers. The stone work, according to William’s account was held together with cement, which made them very strong. There were also four gates in the circuit of the city’s walls and one wall was flanked by two high towers. The Franks besieged the city for months, their number added to at Easter with the arrival of pilgrims, including many knights and sergeants.33 The Fatimid garrison at Ascalon was aided in June by the arrival of troops from Egypt who had come by ship to bring fresh supplies. With fresh forces on both sides of the battle the siege continued on through the summer. The largest of the Franks’ siege towers was so big that it rose a good distance above the city walls and allowed the Christians to rain volleys of missile fire down on the city with greater precision and accuracy. On the evening of 15 August, some members of the garrison snuck outside and set the massive tower ablaze. However, they did not allow for the direction of the wind and soon the flames were not only destroying the tower, but weakening the city’s walls. The next morning the walls had become so weakened from the heat and several months of Christian battering that they collapsed, creating a breach that gave the Franks their first opportunity in nearly seven months to capture the city. When the dust began to clear the Christians were greatly excited that a victory was at hand and immediately picked up their arms to enter the breach. However, Bernard de Tremeley, who had succeeded Everard des Barres as Master of the Temple when the later resigned his post in 1152, arrived at the wall first along with a number of his Templars. In his account of the siege, William of Tyre said that de Tremeley would not let anyone into the breach except
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The Siege of Ascalon his own men so that they could have first pick in obtaining the spoils of war. Although William was in France during the actual siege of Ascalon and writing as much as a quarter century after the actual event, the custom at the time was still the same as it had been when Ascalon was besieged. Whenever a city was captured by force, whatever a man seized belonged to him and his heirs in perpetuity. So there was certainly precedent for the practice among secular knights and although the Templars were vastly different to secular knights in many ways, it is reasonable to assume that de
own message. What is known is that the Templars lost a number of men during the siege, including their Master Bernard de Tremeley. Once again, as they had several times previously, the Order assembled thirteen of their number to elect a new Master and this time chose the Order’s Seneschal, Andrew de Montbard, perhaps the last of the Order’s founding members, to be the Templars’ fifth Grand Master.
Tremeley would have wanted to obtain as much reward for his Order’s efforts as possible. In fact the papal bull Omne datum optimum had among its many privileges expressly given the Templars the right to keep booty captured from the Muslims and it is certain the Templars would have taken full advantage of this privilege. De Tremeley entered the breach with about forty of his Order, and it was said that those who remained outside the breach did so to keep others from getting in until the Templars got their share of the booty. Unfortunately for de Tremeley and his men, forty Templars, no matter how well trained, were no match for the awaiting garrison who slew the invaders to a man as soon as they realized that the odds were in their favour. Realizing that no further Christians were following, they moved quickly to secure the breach by piling beams and other pieces of good sized timber across the hole. As the fire of the previous night had now died out, they once again resumed their positions in the towers and renewed their defence immediately. Soon the Muslims were not the only ones looking down on the Christians from above – the slain Templars were tied to ropes and hung over the city’s walls to taunt the Christians. As was often the case in medieval warfare, a truce was called so that each side could bury its dead. Although the battle later resumed, the Muslims had soon had enough and terms of surrender were sought. The Christians accepted the proposals and gave the citizens of Ascalon three days to vacate the city. They were gone within two and the captured city was given to Baldwin’s younger brother Amalric. Although it would be easy to accept William of Tyre’s assertion that Master Bernard de Tremeley and his Templars acted in their own interests at Ascalon, his is the only account of the battle to make such a claim. Given that William was not an eyewitness to the events and did not always see eye to eye with the Templars, it is possible that his account, derived from second hand sources, was manipulated to deliver his
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Saturday, September 11, 2010 Patriot Day Remember, Never Forget Saturday, September 18, 2010 Grand York Rite District 9 Official Visit
STEP - UP MASONS ALWAYS RISE TO THE OCCASION
Whatever Happened to Masonic Pride By Christopher L. Hodapp, PM Chris Hodapp is a Past Master of Broad Ripple Lodge #643 and the Master of Lodge Vitruvian #767 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the author of “Freemasons For Dummies.” Last summer – the beginning of last summer, as a matter of fact – I stacked a dozen bags of mulch and topsoil next to my garage. Now, I had every intention of spreading that stuff all over my garden. I had big plans, but I got sidetracked. Things happened, and there are loads of really outstanding excuses as to why I never got around to it. So they sat there. All summer, fall and winter. They’re still there. As I write this, I figure it’s been about 270 days since I put them there. I see them every single day of my life. I walk right past them twice a day. The fact is; I don’t notice them anymore. They’re torn now, leaking and ugly, providing fodder and a new home for the chipmunks. They’re an eyesore. I’m sure they’re responsible for plummeting property values in my neighborhood. Well, perhaps it’s not that drastic, but you get my point. Which brings me to the discussion of our Masonic Temples. I joined a suburban Masonic lodge that had recently moved to an office building put up in the 1960s. I joined what I knew was the oldest, largest and greatest gentlemen’s fraternity in the world. So, when I walked into my lodge for the first time, I was a little surprised at how shabby it all looked. The walls were covered in sickly, institutional green wallpaper from the early days of the space program. The lobby and lounge area were decorated with two mismatched and startlingly horrific couches that no penniless college student would have had in his apartment. A pittance of library books was moldering on collapsing particleboard shelves. The carpets were
worn clear through to the concrete floor in some places, which were a little hard to see because of the broken light fixtures. Still, it was not an especially prosperous lodge, so I knocked it up to the place having fallen on hard times. Months later, I strolled into the once-impressive downtown Temple that is home to ten lodges and many appendant groups, as well as our Grand Lodge office. That’s when I came to the realization that the problem is endemic throughout the Masonic fraternity. Low-wattage light bulbs installed in every room to save money cast a dim, pallid glow over the whole place. I saw peeling plaster and paint. Couches purchased in the 1930s with broken legs, held up by bricks. An auditorium that had sat unused for almost 40 years, filled with old files and trash. No climate control, rendering it uninhabitable for almost five months out of the year, making it an eight-story Petri dish for mold and mildew. In a word, it stank. Criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling developed the `broken windows’ thesis to explain the growth of crime and decay in urban areas that are plagued by vandalism and unkempt property. The theory goes that if a building has broken windows, graffiti on the walls and trash in the foyer, it encourages – nay, invites – vandalism, crime and further deterioration. If the landlord doesn’t fix the problem immediately, he’s a big part of the problem, because he is providing an atmosphere of decay for the whole neighborhood, whose inhabitants will come to believe their community is a lost cause.
Broken windows are more than just bleak and ugly pockmarks. Sixty years ago, a broken window would get a kid in serious trouble. Neighbors would round up the miscreant and there would be a price to pay for causing the damage. But the proliferation of broken windows, with no consequences for the offenders, signals a loss of control, a lack of caring, and a devastating loss of pride. I contend that the same theory can be applied to our aging, decaying Masonic buildings. The more we neglect our Temples on the outside, the more they rot spiritually on the inside, spiraling into lethargy and failure. One of the most misunderstood phrases in Masonry is that the fraternity regards the internal and not the external qualifications of a man, and we’ve gone on to believe it about our Temples. The truth is that what is on the outside is a reflection of what goes on inside. We’ve been breaking our own windows. And it’s high time we got in trouble for it. Our grandfathers and great grandfathers built these magnificent monuments to Masonry. In 1892, the Freemasons of Chicago built the tallest skyscraper in the world, 22 stories high, and it remained the tallest building in Chicago for more than 30 years. In 1926 the Masons of Detroit opened the largest Masonic building in the world, home to almost thirty different Masonic bodies, with room for a total of fifty. It had more than a thousand rooms, three auditoriums including one that seated 4,100 people, restau-
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Whatever Happened to Masonic Pride rants, ballrooms, hotel rooms, a barber shop, even an indoor pool. They believed “build it and they will come.” They donated lavishly to their fraternity and constructed splendid Temples for us, designed to last for generations as proud symbols of Freemasonry. And they spent lots of their own money, at a time when there were no tax incentives to do so; nor were there social safety nets for their retirements. Yet, they still gave much in both time and treasure to Freemasonry for these places we now treat with such slovenly and appalling neglect. What our forefathers constructed for the Ages, we now scornfully dismiss as white elephants. In the effort to be politically correct, we don’t call them Temples anymore, but our fathers and grandfathers and greatgrandfathers sure did. These were Temples to the ideals of Freemasonry. Great things went on inside of them, and the community knew who and what the Freemasons were and what they stood for. As America expanded and new towns were founded, the Masonic Temple and the local church were some of the first buildings erected. The Masonic Temple was vital to a community. Balls were held there. Politicians spoke there. Visiting celebrities and luminaries were feted there. Today, thousands of people drive past our faceless buildings and never know what they are. Ask a hundred people in your town if they know where the Masonic lodge is, and you’ll be depressed beyond belief. These are not white elephants, my brothers. These are our Temples, our heritage. They are priceless, irreplaceable treasures. And we throw them away now like they don’t matter, like they are not worth fighting for. We are murdering our own posterity out of sheer Scrooge-like stinginess, as if we don’t believe in ourselves and in our fraternity anymore. Instead, we believe the myth spun by the popular press that we’re dying, nothing but a sad collection of old men in decaying halls.
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That IS what they say about us, and we go right on giving them little evidence to the contrary. The men who built these Temples only wanted us to do one thing: treat them with respect. Maintain them. Paint the walls every once in a while. Keep the light bulbs changed. Replace a carpet when it gets worn out. Reupholster a chair when it becomes torn or better yet, replace it. No one is asking us to build new Temples. The least we can do is protect them until a new generation comes along that cherishes them as our grandfathers did. But as every year ticks by and one more Temple goes away, we will never get them back. And we certainly won’t ever have the vision or the guts to build another. Lodges that sit, year after year, whining that no one is showing up, yet failing to change one single aspect of the way they do things, are not just shooting themselves in the foot. They are taking careful aim at their own heads and blasting away. When new men see these tumble-down places, so obviously uncared for by our own members, why would they want to join us? And if they do join and are treated like greedy, bratty interlopers for daring to suggest spending any money, they won’t come back. When lodges fail to attract new men, it is bad leadership. When lodges lose men after they join, it is bad leadership. When lodges let their buildings fall down around their heads while they hoard money for some nebulous future disaster, it is bad leadership. What has happened to the philanthropic brethren in this fraternity, the men who thought so much of it that they gladly and lavishly donated to build these places? My own lodge’s original three-story brick building
was entirely financed by one individual brother’s gift in 1907 of what would today amount to almost $700,000. We stopped asking our members for money for our own Temples long ago in favor of our Masonic Homes, the Shrine Hospitals, the Dyslexic Centers, the CHIPs programs, the York Rite Charities, and more. But as wonderful as those programs are, we are making a big mistake if every penny we have goes into them. Our institutionalized charities have robbed us of the first duty we have as Masons namely, to look after each other, and to keep Freemasonry safe and proud and strong for our members and for the next generation. Or a simpler way of putting it is; we don’t ask anymore. We don’t ask ourselves to step up to the plate to collect $2000 for carpeting, or $4000 for a furnace, or $10,000 for a parking lot, or a million for a new building. Churches do, and so do every other kind of community organization, from YMCAs to country clubs. So did Lodges, once. Why don’t we now? Do we think so little of our fraternity now? Is it not worthy now? What has happened to our pride? And don’t think it’s because our lodges have 300 members but only 10 ever show up. If you look at your old minutes, Masters were lamenting tiny turnouts at the height of the building boom in the 1920s. In those days, just being a card carrying Mason still required certain responsibilities to the lodge, responsibilities we don’t ask of our stay-at-homes these days. Don’t misunderstand - not every clapboard lodge building from the 1920s necessarily needs to be preserved, any more than my rural uncle’s outhouse from the same era. One neighbor’s historic landmark is another’s ramshackle, pigeon-infested eyesore. In a lot of cases, we really do have too many lodge buildings. We don’t walk or ride a horse to the Stated Meeting anymore, so we no longer need a lodge every five miles as the crow flies. It is a far better use of
Whatever Happened to Masonic Pride our resources for there to be many smaller lodges that meet in one common Temple. If we don’t present a dignified face to the outside world and provide meeting places that our old and new members can be proud of, we are slitting our own throats. It is better for us to meet in a hotel ballroom than in a fallendown barn of a place that we refuse to maintain. At least a hotel will keep it clean, climate-controlled and well lit. But if we have any desire to really rebuild this fraternity, our Temples need to regain their place at the center of our communities, as they were 60, 80 and a hundred years ago. They need to be places we want to come to, and bring our friends and families to. They need to be comfortable and inviting, places where brethren want to congregate before and after meetings, instead of eating, meeting and fleeing. That isn’t going to happen with $45 annual dues and no strategic financial planning for the future. There are happy stories in Freemasonry about some of our Temples around the country. Visionary men are now transforming the downtown building I spoke of earlier in this piece. Capital campaigns and a 501c3 tax-exempt foundation have been created, and they are seeking donations and community participation. Dancing, theatrical and singing groups are now renting the auditorium, and they see more potential for the space than the last four decades of Masons did, under whose noses it sat unused and neglected. It sat unused because we walked past it for forty years and never even saw it any more, like those bags of mulch in my front yard. But now that there is new life in the building, the resident Lodges are awakening. Checkbooks are opening. Lodge rooms have been plastered and painted, furniture has been bought, social rooms have been redecorated, and there’s even a rumor of air conditioning coming to this Temple nearly a century after it was built. Just as broken windows encourage rot, investment and vision are now encouraging growth. And something even more important.
Pride.
The Templar Orders in Freemasonry An Historical Consideration of their Origin and Development By ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE From “The Occult Review”, Volume XLV, nos. 1 and 4, January and April, 1927. HAVING regard to the fact that Emblematic Freemasonry, as it is known and practiced at this day, arose from an Operative Guild and within the bosom of a development from certain London Lodges which prior to the year 1717 had their titles in the past of the Guild and recognized its Old Charges, it would seem outside the reasonable likelihood of things that less than forty years after the foundation of Grand Lodge Knightly Orders should begin to be heard of developing under the aegis of the Craft, their titles in some cases being borrowed from the old institutions of Christian Chivalry. It is this, however, which occurred, and the inventions were so successful that they multiplied on every side, from 1754 to the threshold of the French Revolution, new denominations being devised when the old titles were exhausted. There arose in this manner a great tree of Ritual, and it happens, moreover, that we are in a position to affirm the kind of root from which it sprang. Twenty years after the date of the London Grand Lodge, and when that of Scotland may not have been twelve months old, the memorable Scottish Freemason, Andrew Michael Ramsay, delivered an historical address in a French Lodge, in the course of which he explained that the Masonic Brotherhood arose in Palestine during the period of the Crusades, under the protection of Christian Knights, with the object of restoring Christian Churches which had been destroyed by Saracens in the Holy Land. For some reason which does not emerge, the foster-mother of Masonry, according to the mind of the hypothesis, was the Chivalry of St. John. Ramsay appears to have left the Masonic arena, and he died in the early part of 1743, but his discourse produced a profound impression on French Freemasonry. He offered no evidence, but France undertook to produce it after its own manner and conformably to the spirit of the time by the creation of Rites and Degrees of Masonic Knighthood, no trace of which is to be found prior of Ramsay. Their prototypes of course were extant, the Knights of Malta, Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, Knights of St. Lazarus, in the gift of the Papal See, and the Order of Christ in Portugal, in the gift of the Portuguese Crown. There is no need to say that these Religious and Military Orders have nothing in common with the Operative Masonry of the past, and when their titles were borrowed for the institution of Masonic Chivalries, it is curious how little the latter owed to the ceremonial of their precursors, in their manners of making and installing Knights, except in so far as the general prototype of all is found in the Roman Pontifical. There are, of course, reflections and analogies: (I) in the old knightly corporations the candidate was required to produce proofs of noble birth, and the Strict Observance demanded these
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The Templar Orders in Freemasonry at the beginning, but owing to obvious difficulties is said to have ended by furnishing patents at need; (2) in the Military Order of Hospitallers of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, he undertook, as in others, to protect the Church of God, with which may be compared modern Masonic injunctions in the Temple and Holy Sepulcher to maintain and defend the Holy Christian Faith; (3) again at his Knighting he was “made, created and constituted now and for ever,” which is identical, word for word, with the formula of another Masonic Chivalry, and will not be unknown to many. But the appeal of the new foundations was set in an6ther direction, and was either to show that they derived from Masonry or were Masonry itself at the highest, in the proper understanding thereof. When the story of a secret perpetuation of the old Knights Templar- outside the Order of Christ- arose in France or Germany, but as I tend to conclude in France, it was and remains the most notable case in point of this appeal and claim. It rose up within Masonry, and it came about that the Templar element overshadowed the dreams and pretensions of other Masonic Chivalries, or, more correctly, outshone them all. I am dealing here with matters of fact and not proposing to account for the facts themselves within the limits of a single study. The Chevalier Ramsay never spoke of the Templars: his affirmation was that the hypothetical building confraternity of Palestine united ultimately with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem; that it became established in various countries of Europe as the Crusaders drifted back; and that its chief centre in the thirteenth century was Kilwinning in Scotland. But the French or otherwise German Masonic mind went to work upon this thesis, and in presenting the Craft with the credentials of Knightly connections it substituted the Order of the Temple for the chivalry chosen by Ramsay. The Battle of Lepanto and the Siege of Vienna had invested the annals of the St. John Knighthood with a great light of valor; but this was as little and next to nothing in comparison with the talismanic attraction which for some reason attached to the Templar name and was obviously thrice magnified when the proposition arose that the great chivalry had continued to exist in secret from the days of Philippe le Bel even to the second half of the eighteenth century. There were other considerations, however, which loomed largely, and especially in regard to the sudden proscription which befell the Order in 1307. Of the trial which followed there were records available to all, in successive editions of the French work of Dupuy, first published in 1685; in the German Historical Tractatus of Petrus Puteamus published at Frankfort in 1665; in Gurther’s Latin Historia Tempiarsorum of 1691; and in yet other publications prior to 1750. There is not a little evidence of one impression which was produced by these memorials, the notion, namely, of an unexplored realm of mystery extending behind the charges. It was the day of Voltaire, and it happened that a shallow infidelity was characterized by the kind of license which fosters intellectual extravagance, by a
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leaning in directions which are generally termed superstitiousthough superstition itself was pilloried- and in particular by attraction towards occult arts and supposed hidden knowledge. Advanced persons were ceasing to believe in the priest but were disposed to believe in the sorcerer, and the Templars had been accused of magic, of worshiping a strange idol, the last suggestion- for some obscure reason- being not altogether indifferent to many who had slipped the anchor of their faith in God. Beyond these frivolities and the foolish minds that cherished them, there were other persons who were neither in the school of a rather cheap infidelity nor in that of common superstition, but who looked seriously for light to the East and for its imagined traditional wisdom handed down from past ages. They may have been dreamers also, but they were less or more zealous students after their own manner; within their proper measures, and the Templar Chivalry drew them because they deemed it not unlikely that its condemnation by the paramount orthodoxy connoted a suspicion that the old Knighthood had learned in Palestine more than the West could teach. Out of such elements were begotten some at least of the Templar Rites and they grew from more to more, till this particular aspect culminated in the Templar dramas of Werner, in which an Order concealed through the ages and perpetuated through saintly custodians reveals to a chosen few among Knights Templar some part of its secret doctrine-the identity of Christ and Horus, of Mary the Mother of God, and Isis the Queen of Heaven. The root of these dreams on doctrine and myth transfigured through the ages- with a heart of reality behind it- will be found, as it seems to me, in occult derivations from Templar Ritual which belong to circa 1782 and are still in vigilant custody on the continent of Europe. I mention this lest it should be thought that the intimations of a German poet, though he was an active member of the Strict Observance, were mere inventions of an imaginative mind. There is no historical evidence for the existence of any Templar perpetuation story prior to the Oration of Ramsay, just as there is no question that all documents produced by the French non-Masonic Order of the Temple, founded in the early years of the nineteenth century, are inventions of that period and are fraudulent like the rest of its claim, its list of Grand Masters included. There is further- as we have observed- no evidence of any Rite or Degree of Masonic Chivalry prior to 1737, to which date is referred the discourse of Ramsay. That this was the original impetus which led to their production may be regarded as beyond dispute, and it was the case especially with Masonic Templar revivals. Their thesis was his thesis varied. For example, according to the Rite of the Strict Observance the proscribed Order was carried by its Marshal, Pierre d’Aumont, who escaped with a few other Knights to the Isles of Scotland, disguised as Operative Masons. They remained there and under the same veil the Templars continued to exist in secret from generation to generation under the shadow of the mythi-
The Templar Orders in Freemasonry cal Mount Heredom of Kilwinning. To whatever date the old dreams ascribe it, when Emblematic Freemasonry emerged it was- ex hypothesi-a product of the union between Knights Templar and ancient Scottish Masonry. Such is the story told. The Strict Observance was founded by Baron von Hund in Germany between about 1751 and 1754 or 1755, and is usually regarded as the first Masonic Chivalry which put forward the story of Templar perpetuation. I have accepted this view on my own part, but subject to his claim at its value- if anythat he had been made a Knight of the Temple in France, some twelve years previously. The question arises, therefore, as to the fact or possibility of antecedent Degrees of the kind in that country, and we are confronted at once by many stories afloat concerning the Chapter of Clermont, the foundation of which at Paris is referred to several dates. It was in existence, according to Yarker, at some undetermined period before 1742, for at that date its Masonic Rite, consisting of three Degrees superposed on those of the Craft, was taken to Hamburg. A certain Von Marshall, whose name belongs to the history of the Strict Observance, had been admitted in the previous year, Von Hund himself following in 1743- not at Hamburg, but at Paris- for all of which no authority is cited and imagination may seem to have been at work. But some of the statements, including those of other English writers, are referable to a source in Thory’s Acta Latamorum. When Woodford speaks of Von Hund’s admission into Templar Masonry at Clermont as not a matter of hypothesis, but of certain knowledge, he is dependent on the French historian, according to whom the German Baron was made a Mason at Paris in 1742. The Chapter of Clermont was founded in that city so late as 1754, and some time subsequently Von Hund retunied thither, with the result that he derived Templar teaching from Clermont, on which he built up the Observance system. But, whatever the point is worth, this story is not only at issue with that of Von Hund himself, but with the current chronology of the Observance. To involve matters further, the Chapter is reported otherwise to have derived its Templar element from something unspecified at Lyons which is referred to 1738. The utmost variety of statement will be found, moreover, as to the content of the Clermont Rite, the Templar character of which has been also challenged. It is proposed otherwise that the Chapter was founded on a scale of considerable magnitude, that it was installed in a vast building, and that it attracted the higher classes of French Freemasons, which notwithstanding it ceased to exist in 1758, being absorbed by the Council of Emperors established in that year for the promulgation of a different Grade system. I am in a position to reflect some light for the relief of these complications by reference to Dutch archives which have come to my knowledge. The date of the Chapter’s foundation remains uncertain, but it was in activity between 1756 and 1763, so that it was not taken over- as Gould suggests-
by those Masonic Emperors to whom we are indebted for the first form of the Scottish Rite, Ancient and Accepted. It is not impossible that its foundation is referable to the first of these dates, when it superposed on the three Craft Grades as follows: (I) Grade of Scottish Master of St. Andrew of the Thistle, being the Fourth Grade of Masonry, “in which allegory dissolves”; (2) Grade of Sublime Knight of God and of his Temple, being the Fifth and Last Grade of Free Masonry. At a later period, however, it became the Seventh Grade of the Rite, owing to the introduction of an Elect Degree which took the number 5 under the title of Knight of the Eagle, followed by an Illustrious Degree, occupying the sixth place and denominated Knight of the Holy Sepulcher. The Grade final in both enumerations- otherwise Knight of God- presented a peculiar, as it was also an early version of the perpetuation story, from which it follows that the Clermont Rite was Templar. I have so far failed to trace any copy of the Ritual in this country with the exception of that which has been placed recently in my hands, an example of the discoveries that await research in continental archives. The Templar element- which may be called the historical part- is combined with a part of symbolism, for though allegory is said to be abandoned in the Fourth Degree, its spiritual sister is always present in Ritual. The aspect which it assumes in the present case is otherwise known in Masonry, the Chapter representing the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, with its twelve gates, as a tabernacle of God with men. The Candidate is represented therefore as seeking the light of glory and a perfect recompense, while that which he is promised is an end of toils and trials. He is obligated as at the gates of the City and is promised the Grand Secret of those who abide therein. The City is- spiritually speaking- in the world to come, and the reward of chivalry is there; but there is a reward also on earth within the bonds of the Order, because this is said to be divine and possessed of the treasures of wisdom. The kind of wisdom and the nature of the Great Secret is revealed in the Perpetuation Story, and so far as I am aware offers the only instance of such a claim being made on behalf of the Templars, in or out of Masonry. It belongs to a subject which engrossed the zeal of thousands throughout the seventeenth century and had many disciples- indeed, they were thousands also- during the Masonic Age which followed. The story is that the Templars began in poverty, but Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem, gave them a house in the vicinity of the site where Solomon’s Temple was built of old. When it was put in repair by Hugh de Payens and the rest of the first Brethren, their digging operations unearthed an iron casket which contained priceless treasures, and chief among all the true process of the Great Work in Alchemy, the secret of transmuting metals, as communicated to Solomon by the Master Hi-
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The Templar Orders in Freemasonry ram Abiff. So and so only was it possible to account for the wealth of adornment which characterized the First Temple. The discovery explains also the wealth acquired by the Templars, but it led in the end to their destruction. Traitors who knew of the secret, though they had not themselves attained it, revealed the fact to Clement V and Philip the Fair of France, and the real purpose of the persecution which followed was to wrest the transmuting process from the hands of its custodians. Jacques de Molay and his co-heirs died to preserve it, but three of the initiated Knights made their escape and after long wandering from country to country they found refuge in the caves of Mount Heredom. They were succored by Knights of St. Andrew of the Thistle, with whom they made an alliance and on whom they conferred their knowledge. To conceal it from others and yet transmit it through the ages they created the Masonic Order in I340; but the alchemical secret, which is the physical term of the Mystery, has been ever reserved to those who can emerge from the veils of allegory- that is to say, for the chiefs of St. Andrew of the Thistle, who are Princes of the Rosy Cross, and the Grand Council of the Chapter. The alchemical side of this story is in a similar position to that of the perpetuation myth, of which it is an early version. There is nothing that can be taken seriously. But this is not to say that in either case there is no vestige of possibilities behind. Modern science tends more and more to show us that the transmutation of metals is not an idle dream and- speaking on my own part- there are well-known testimonies in the past on the literal point of fact which I and others have found it difficult to set utterly aside. So also there are few things more certain in history than is the survival of Knights Templar after their proscription and suspension as an Order. With this fact in front of us it is not as a hypothesis improbable that there or here the chivalry may have been continued in secret by the making of new Knights. It is purely a question of evidence, and this is unhappily wanting. The traditional histories of Knightly Masonic Degrees- like those of the Chapter of Clermont, the Strict Observance and the Swedish Rite- bear all the marks of manufacture; the most that can be said concerning them- and then in the most tentative manner- is that by bare possibility there may have been somewhere in the world a rumor of secret survival, in which case the root matter of their stories would not have been pure invention. The antecedent material would then have been worked over and adapted to Masonic purposes, inspired by the Oration of Ramsay. It is to be presumed that when this speculation is left to stand at its value, there is no critical mind which will dream of an authentic element in Hugh de Payen’s supposed discovery of the Powder of Projection at or about the site of the Jewish Temple. This romantic episode stands last in a series of similar fictions which are to be found in the history of Alchemy. When we are led to infer therefore by the records before me that the Chapter of Clermont reached its end circa 1763, we
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shall infer that it was in a position no longer to carry on the pretence of possessing and being able to communicate at will the Great Secret of Alchemy. It is evident from the Ritual that this was not disclosed to those who, being called in their turn, were admitted to the highest rank and became Knights of God. It was certainly promised, however, at a due season as a reward of merit. From a false pretence of this kind the only way of escape would be found by falling back upon renounced and abjured allegory. Now, we have seen that the Chapter in its last Degree represented the New Jerusalem, and therefore its alchemy might well be transferred from a common work in metals to the spiritual side of Hermeticism. Those who have read Robert Fludd and Jacob Bohme will be acquainted with this aspect; but it may not have satisfied the figurative Knights of God, who had come so far in their journey from the Lodge of Entered Apprentice to a Temple of supposed adept ship. The Chapter therefore died. I HAVE met with another French Ritual in a great manuscript collection and again- so far as ascertained- it seems to be the sole copy in England, though it is not unknown by name, in view of the bibliographies of Kloss and Wolfsteig. It is called Le Chevalier du Temple, and is of high importance to our subject. The collection to which I refer is in twelve volumes, written on old rag paper, the watermark of which shows royal arms and the lilies of France: it is pre-French Revolution and posts 1768- say, on a venture, about 1772. The Ritual to which I refer extends from p. 73 to 202 of the fifth volume, in a size corresponding to what is termed crown octavo among us. The hand is clear and educated. The particular Templar Chivalry is represented as an Order connected with and acknowledging nothing else in Freemasonry except the Craft Degrees. In respect of antiquity it claims descent by succession from certain Canons or Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, who first bore the Red Cross on their hearts, and were founded by James the First, brother of the first Bishop of Jerusalem. These Canons became the Knights Hospitallers of a much later date. On these followed the Templars, from whom the Masonic Knights of the Temple more especially claimed derivation, though in some obscure manner they held descent from all, possibly in virtue of spiritual consanguinity postulated between the various Christian chivalries of Palestine. The traditional history of the Grade is given at unusual length and is firstly that of the Templars, from their foundation to their sudden fail, the accusations against them included; it is a moderately accurate summary, all things considered. There is presented in the second place a peculiar version of the perpetuation story which is designed on the one hand to indicate the fact of survival in several directions, and on the other to make it clear that Templar Masonry had in view no scheme of vengeance against Popes and Kings. After the proscription of the chivalry it is affirmed that those who remained over were scattered through various countries,
The Templar Orders in Freemasonry desolate and rejected everywhere. A few in their desperation joined together for reprisals, but their conspiracy is characterized as detestable and its memory is held in horror. It fell to pieces speedily for want of recruits. Among the other unfortunate Knights who had escaped destruction, a certain number entered also into a secret alliance and chose as time went on their suitable successors among persons of noble and gentle birth, with a view to perpetuate the Order and in the hope at some favorable epoch that they would be restored to their former glory and reenter into their possessions. We hear nothing of Kilwinning or Heredom, and indeed no one country is designated as a place of asylum; but it is affirmed that this group of survivors created Freemasonry and its three Craft Degrees to conceal from their enemies the fact that the Chivalry was still in being and to test aspirants who entered the ranks, so that none but those who were found to be of true worth and fidelity should be advanced from the Third Degree into that which lay beyond. To such as were successful the existence of the secret chivalry became known only at the end of seven years, three of which were passed as Apprentice, two as Companion or Fellow Craft, and two as Master Mason. It was on the same conditions and with the same objects that the Order in the eighteenth century was prepared to receive Masons who had been proved into that which was denominated the Illustrious Grade and Order of Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem. The Candidate undertakes in his Obligation to do all in his power for the glorious restoration of the Order; to succor his Brethren in their need; to visit the poor, the sick and the imprisoned; to love his King and his religion; to maintain the State; to be ever ready in his heart for all sacrifice in the cause of the faith of Christ, for the good of His Church and its faithful. The Pledge is taken on the knees, facing a tomb of black marble which represents that of Molay, the last Grand Master and martyr-inchief of the Order. Thereafter the inward meaning of the three Craft Degrees is explained to the Candidate. That of Apprentice recalls the earliest of Christian chivalries, being the Canons or Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, who for long had no distinctive clothing and hence the divested state of the Masonic Postulant. But this state signified also that his arm is ever ready to do battle with the enemies of the Holy Christian Religion and his heart for the sacrifice of his entire being to Jesus Christ. The alleged correspondences and meanings are developed at some length, but it will be sufficient to mention that the Masonic Candidate enters the Lodge poor and penniless, because that was the condition at their beginning of the Templars and the other Orders of Christian Knighthood. The Candidate is prepared for the Second Craft Degree in a somewhat different manner from that of the First, and this has reference to certain distinctions between the clothing of a Knight of the Holy Sepulcher and that of a Knight of St. John. The seven steps are emblematic of the seven sacraments of the Holy Church, by the help of which the Christian Chival-
ries maintained their faith against the infidel, and also of the seven deadly sins which they trampled under their feet. The Blazing Star inscribed with the letter Yod, being the initial letter of the Name of God in Hebrew, signified the Divine Light which enlightened the Chivalries and was ever before their eyes, as it must be also present for ever before the mind’s eye of the Masonic Templars, a sacred symbol placed in the centre of the building. In French Freemasonry the Pillar B belonged to the Second Degree and was marked with this letter, which had reference to Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, who provided a House for the Templars in the Holy City. The Traditional History of the Master Grade is that of the martyrdom of Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Temple. The three assassins answered to Philip the Fair, Pope Clement V and the Prior of Montfaucon, a Templar of Toulouse, who is represented as undergoing a sentence of imprisonment for life at Paris on account of his crimes, by the authority of the Grand Master. He is said to have betrayed the Order by making false accusations and thus secured his release. The initials of certain Master Words are J.B.M., and they are those also of Jacobus Burgundus Molay. The Chevalier du Temple has unfortunately no history, so far as I have been able to trace. I have met with it as a bare title in one other early collection, which has become known to me by means of a Dutch list of MSS., and there is no need to say that it occurs in the nomenclature of Ragon. It is numbered 69 in the archives of the Metropolitan Chapter of France, and 8 in the Rite of the Philalethes: they may or may not refer to the same Ritual as that which I have summarized here. There is no means of knowing. In any case the 36th Grade of Mizraim and the 34th of Memphis, which became No. 13 in the Ancient and Primitive Rite, is to be distinguished utterly: it is called Knight of the Temple, but has no concern with the Templars and is quite worthless. It should be added that in one of the discourses belonging to Le Chevalier du Temple there is a hostile allusion to the existing multiplicity of Masonic and pseudo-Masonic Grades, and this may suggest that it is late in the order of time. A great many were, however, in evidence by and before the year 1759. We should remember Gould’s opinion that there was an early and extensive propagation of Ecossais Grades, and the source of these was obviously in the Ramsay hypothesis. It is certain also that Elu Grades were not far in the rear. The date of the particular Collection Maconnique on which I depend is, of course, not that of its contents. On the whole there seems nothing to militate against a tentative or provisional hypothesis that Chevalier de Temple was no later and may have been a little earlier than the Clermont Knight of God, thus giving further color to the idea that Templar Masonry and its perpetuation story arose where it might have been expected that they would arise, in France and not in Germany. I have said that the Grade under notice has no reference to Scotland or to any specific place of Templar ref-
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The Templar Orders in Freemasonry uge after the proscription. But the chivalrous origin of Masonry is not less a Ramsay myth, and it characterizes almost every variant of Templar perpetuation which has arisen under a Masonic aegis, from that of the Knights of God and the Chevalier du Temple to that of Werner and his Sons of the Valley, belonging to the year 1803. There stand apart only the English Religious and Military Order and the late French Order of the Temple which depends from the Charter of Larmenius, but this was not Masonic, though its pretence of Templar perpetuation and succession is most obviously borrowed from Masonry. In conclusion, I shall think always that Baron von Hund drew from France, whether directly at Paris or via Hamburg in his own country. We have seen that the Strict Observance appeared in Germany between 1751 and 1755, a development according to its founder of something which he had received in France so far back as 1743. No reliance can be placed on this statement, nor is the year 1751 in a much better position. Hund is supposed to have founded a Chapter of his Templar Rite about that time on his own estate at Unwurdi, where the scheme of the Order was worked out. We hear also of a later scheme, belonging to 1755 and dealing with financial matters. But the first evidential document is a Plan of the Strict Observance, laying claim on January 13, 1766, as its date of formulation, and there is a record of the Observance Master Grade, with a Catechism attached thereto, belonging to the same year. But as 1751 seems too early for anything in the definite sense so 1766 is much too late. A memoir of Herr von Kleefeld by J. C. Schubert bears witness to the former’s activities on behalf of the Strict Observance between 1763 and 1768. The Rite, moreover, was sufficiently important in 1763 for an impostor named Johnson to advance his claims upon it and to summon a Congress at Altenberg in May, 1764, as an authorized ambassador of the Secret Headship or Sovereign Chapter in Scotland. His mission was to organize the Order in Germany, and for a time Von Hund accepted and submitted, from which it follows that his own Rite was still in very early stages. I make no doubt that it made a beginning privately circa 1755, and that a few persons were knighted, but Von Hund had enough on his hands owing to the seven years’ war, so that from 1756 to 1763 there could have been little opportunity for Templar Grades under his custody, either on his own estates or elsewhere. Meanwhile the Clermont Rite was spreading in Germany and in 1763 there were fifteen Chapters in all. There is hence an element which seems nearer certitude rather than mere speculation in proposing that the Templar claim on Masonry was imported from France into Germany, that Von Hund’s business was to derive and vary, not to create the thesis. Of the great success which awaited the Strict Observance, once it was fairly launched, of its bid for supremacy over all continental Masonry and of the doom which befell it because no investigation could substantiate any of its claims, there is no opportunity to speak here. It may be said that a final judgment was pronounced against it in 1782 when the Congress of Wilhelmsbad set aside the Templar claim and approved the Rectified Rite, otherwise a transformed Strict Observance, created within the bosom of the Loge de Bien-
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faisance at Lyons and ratified at a Congress held in that city prior to the assembly at Wilhelmsbad. The Grades of the Strict Observance superposed on the Craft were those of Scottish Master, Novice and Knight Templar; those of the revision comprised a Regime Ecossais, described as Ancient and Rectified, and an Order Interieur, being Novice and Knight Beneficent of the Holy City. It laid claim on a spiritual consanguinity only in respect of the Templar Chivalry, apart from succession and historical connection, but it retained a certain root, the poetic development of which is in Werner’s Sons of the Valley already mentioned, being the existence from time immemorial of a Secret Order of Wise Masters in Palestine devoted to the work of initiation for the building of a spiritual city and as such the power behind the Temple, as it was also behind Masonry. In conclusion as to this part of my subject, the combined influence of the Templar element in the Chapter of Clermont and that of the Strict Observance which superseded it had an influence on all Continental Masonry which was not only wide and general, but lasting in the sense that some part of it has persisted there and here to the present day. The eighth Degree of the Swedish Rite, being that of Master of the Temple, communicated its particular version of the perpetuation myth, being (I) that Molay revealed to his nephew Beaujeu, shortly before his death, the Rituals and Treasures of the Order; (2) that the latter escaped, apparently, with these and with the disinterred ashes of the master, and was accompanied by nine other Knights, all disguised as Masons; (3) that they found refuge among the stonemasons. It is said that in Denmark the history of Masonry, owing to the activity of a Mason named Schubert, became practically that of the Observance, until 1785, when the Rectified Rite was introduced as an outcome of the Congress of Wilhelmsbad. It was not until 1853 that the Swedish Rite replaced all others, by reason of a royal decree. So late as 1817 the Rectified Rite erected a central body in Brussels. In 1765 the Observance entered Russia and was followed by the Swedish Rite on an authorized basis in 1775. Poland and Lithuania became a diocese of the Observance Order in 1770, and it took over the Warsaw Lodges in 1773. The story of its influence in Germany itself is beyond my scope. It is written at large everywhere: at Hamburg from 1765, when Schubert founded an independent Prefectory, to 1781 (when the Rectified Rite was established for a brief period by Prince Karl von Hesse); at Nuremberg in 1765, under the same auspices; in the Grand Lodge of Saxony from circa 1762 to 1782; at Berlin, in the Mother Lodge of the Three Globes, from 1766 to 1779, when the Rosicrucians intervened; at Konigsberg from 1769 to 1799 in the Provincial Grand Lodge; in the Kingdom of Hanover, at the English Provincial Grand Lodge, from 1766 to 1778; and even now the list is not exhausted. The explanation of this influence through all its period and everywhere is (I) that which lay behind the romantic thesis of Ramsay, as shown by his work on the <I>Philosophical Principles of Natural and Revealed Religion</I>, published in 1748- I refer to the
The Templar Orders in Freemasonry notion that there was a Mystery of Hidden Knowledge perpetuated in the East from the days of Noah and the Flood; (2) that which lay behind, as already mentioned, the talismanic attraction exercised on Masonic minds in the eighteenth century by the name of Knights Templar, because the Church had accused them. They had learned strange things in the East: for some it corresponded to the view of Ramsay, for others to occult knowledge on the side of Magic, and for the Chapter of Clermont to Alchemy. The collapse of the Strict Observance was not so much because it could not produce its hypothetical unknown superiors, but because it could not exhibit one shred or vestige of the desired secret knowledge. I have now accounted at length for that which antecedes the present English Military and Religious Order of the Temple and Holy Sepulcher, so far as possible within the limits at my disposal. The Clerical Knights Templar, which originated at Weimar with the Lutheran theologian, J. A. von Starck, and presented its claims on superior and exclusive knowledge to the consideration of the Strict Observance about 1770, represent an intervention of that period which has been judged- justly or not- without any knowledge of the vast mass of material which belongs thereto and of which I in particular had not even dreamed. The fact at least of its existence is now before me, and I await an opportunity to examine it. I can say only at the moment that it was devised, as my reference shows, to create an impression that an alleged Spiritual Branch of the old Knights Templar possessed their real secrets and had been perpetuated to modern times. It was, therefore, in a position to supply what the Strict Observance itself wanted; but the alleged Mysteries of the Order appear to be those of Paracelsus and of Cabalism on the magical side. I have left over also: (1) Les Chevaliers de la Palestine, otherwise Knights of Jerusalem, because although it is a Templar Grade, it is concerned with the old chivalry at an early period of its history, and not with its transmission to modern times; (2) the Grade of Grand Inspector, otherwise Kadosh, though I am acquainted with a very early and unknown Ritual, because it does not add to our knowledge in respect of the Templar claim on Masonry. In the earliest form it shows that the judgment incurred by those who betrayed spoliated and destroyed the Order had been imposed Divinely; that the hour of vengeance was therefore fulfilled, and that the call of Kadosh Knights was to extirpate within them those evil tendencies which would betray, spoliate and destroy the soul. (3) Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret, because in the sources with which I am acquainted it recites the migrations of Templars and only concerns us in so far as it reproduces and varies the Ramsay thesis in respect of Masonic connections. It is important from this point of view. (4) Sovereign Grand Inspector General, because I have failed so far to meet with any early codex, and that of Ragon is a Templar Grade indeed but concerned more especially with wreaking a ridiculous vengeance on the Knights of Malta, to whom some of the Templar possessions were assigned. (5) Knight Commander of the Templar, because, according to the plenary Ritual in manuscript of Albert Pike, it is exceedingly late
and is concerned in his version with the foundation and history of the Teutonic Chivalry, which is beside our purpose. In respect of the English Military and Religious Order I have met with nothing which gives the least colour to a supposition of Gould that it arose in France: the Chevalier du Temple is its nearest analogy in that country, but the likeness resides in the fact that both Orders or Degrees have a certain memorial in the centre of the Chapter or Preceptory: we know that which it represents in at least one case and in the other, as we have seen, it is the tomb of the last Grand Master. But failing an origin in France it is still less likely that it originated elsewhere on the continent, as, for example, in Germany. I conclude, therefore, that it is of British birth and growth, though so far as records are concerned it is first mentioned in America, in the Minutes of a Royal Arch Chapter, dated August 28, 1769. I have sought to go further back and so far have failed. It was certainly working at Bristol in 1772, and two years later is heard of in Ireland. It is a matter of deep regret that I can contribute nothing to so interesting and vital a question, which appeals especially to myself on account of the beauty and spiritual significance of the Ritual in all its varied forms. The number of these may be a source of surprise to many, and I have pointed out elsewhere that however widely and strangely they differ from each other they have two points of agreement: there is no traditional history presenting a perpetuation myth or a claim on the past of chivalry, while except in one very late instance, there is no historical account whatever; and they are concerned with the one original Templar purpose, that of guarding the Holy Sepulcher and pilgrims to the Holy Places. They offer no version of Masonic origins, no explanation of Craft Symbolism, no suggestion of a secret science behind the Temple, no plan of restoring the Order to its former glory, and, above all, to its former possessions. The issue is direct and simple, much too simple and far too direct for a Continental source. Moreover, the kind of issue would have found no appeal in France; for example, or Germany, because there was no longer any need in fact to guard the tomb of Christ, and there were no pilgrims in the sense of crusading times. Finally, they would not have allegorized on subjects of this kind. I am acquainted personally with nine codices of the Ritual, outside those which belong to Irish workings, past and present, an opportunity to examine which I am hoping to find. The most important are briefly these: (1) That of the Baldwyn Encampment at Bristol, which is probably the oldest of all: the procedure takes place while a vast army of Saracens is massing outside the Encampment. (2) That of the Early Grand Rite of Scotland, subsequently merged in the Scottish Chapter General: the Pilgrim comes to lay the sins and follies of a life-time at the foot of the Cross, and he passes through various symbolical veils by which the encampment
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The Templar Orders in Freemasonry is guarded. (3) That connected with the name of Canongate Kilwinning under the title of Knight Templar Masonry, in which there is a pilgrimage to Jericho and the Jordan. (4) That of St. George Aboyne Templar Encampment at Aberdeen, a strange elaborate pageant, in which the Candidate has a searching examination on matters of Christian doctrine. (5) That of the Royal, Exalted, Military and Holy Order of Knights of the Temple, in the library of Grand Lodge. It represents a revision of working and belongs to the year 1830. It is of importance as a stage in the development of the English Military Order. (6) That which Matthew Cooke presented to Albert Pike, by whom it was printed in the year 1851. It is practically the same as ours and was ratified at Grand Conclave on April 11 of that year. (7) That of the Religious and Military Order, of the grace and beauty of which I have no need to speak. The two that remain over are Dominion Rituals of the Order of the Temple, being that in use by the Sovereign Great Prior of Canada prior to 1876, and that which was adopted at this date under the auspices of the Grand Master, Wm. J. B. MacLeod Moore. They are of considerable interest as variants of the English original, but the second differs from all other codices by the introduction of three historical discourses, dealing with the origin of the Templar Chivalry, its destruction and its alleged Masonic connections, which are subject to critical examination, the conclusion reached being that the Templar system is Masonic only in the sense that none but Masons are admitted. The appeal of the entire sequence is one and the same throughout, an allegory of human life considered as pilgrimage and warfare, with a reward at the end in Christ for those who have walked after His commandments under the standard of Christian Chivalry. We have very little need to make a choice between them, either on the score of antiquity or that of Ritual appeal. A descent from the Knights Templar is of course implied throughout, but it is possible to accept this, not indeed according to the literal and historical sense, but in that of the relation of symbols. The old Chivalry was founded and existed to defend the Church and its Hallows, and Masonic Knights Templar are dedicated to the same ends though official obedienceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s alter and Hallows transform. The Holy Sepulcher for them is the Church of Christ, however understood, and if there is anything in the old notion that the Christian Chivalry in the past had sounded strange wells of doctrine, far in the holy East, there are such wells awaiting our own exploration, to the extent that we can enter into the life behind doctrine, and this is the life which is in Christ. Finally the modern chivalry is of Masons as well as Templars, because in both Orders there is a quest to follow and attain. But this Quest is one, a Quest for the Word, which is Christ, and a Quest for the Abodes of the Blessed, where the Word and the Soul are one.
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