THE MASONIC ORDER OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
This is the fourth in a series of features exploring other degrees in Freemasonry which may interest Craft and Holy Royal Arch members. These are not, in any way, higher degrees, but each does give a new perspective on our masonic journey. Further information on all the other orders at work in Oxfordshire is available on the provincial website and in the provincial yearbook.
This month, we look at the Great Priory of the United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St. John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta of England and Wales and its Provinces Overseas, otherwise known as the Knights Templar or simply KT, as explained by the Provincial Prior for the Province of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, Right Eminent Knight Graham McGowan-Smyth.
Graham writes: “I had the honour to have been installed as the Right Eminent Provincial Prior over the Province of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire in September 2019.
I was initiated in to Marcellians Lodge No 4450, on the 21st February 1992 until we ‘removed’ to Buckinghamshire from London in 2006 after five years as Secretary. I served as Provincial Grand Mentor & then Provincial Assistant Secretary between 2011 and 2018.
I was exalted in to Five Points Chapter in January 1998 where I served as their Scribe E. for 13 years and have gone through the three chairs twice. I joined their Lodge in September 1999.
I was appointed a Provincial Grand Steward in the HRA and served as MEZ in 2015; I am a member of Bucks First Principals’ Chapter and Past Masters’ Lodge.
I was Installed in Knights Templar in December 1998 and served as Eminent Preceptor on three occasions, being also a member of three Preceptories. I served as Provincial Vice-Chancellor for 5 years and then Provincial Sub-Prior for 5 years. I am also a member of the (5th Grade) of the Knights Beneficent of the Holy City.
I was a Founding Member, acting as Deputy GDC for the Consecration, of Bombay Rose Croix Chapter No 1 in Mumbai in September 2005 and am now a Past Deputy GDC, 32°, in the Ancient and Accepted Rite and a Past Substitute PGM in the Royal Order of Scotland.
I currently hold the office of Provincial Grand Master Overseer in Oxfordshire Mark Master Masons and have just come out of the chair of Amery Lodge in Oxfordshire’s Heads of Orders’ Lodge.
But, enough about me. . . !”
A brief history of the Order.
In Knights Templar, our style and full title is “The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta of England and Wales and its Provinces Overseas” – you will also notice that the word Masonic is included.
The order is more familiarly known as Knights Templar or simply as KT
The full name encapsulates the rich and fascinating history of the original order, dating back to 1118 when Hugues de Payens got together a small band of men to help and protect the pilgrims who came from all of Christendom on their way to worship at the Holy Sepulchre of Christ at Jerusalem. The Order formally came into being in 1119, as a Catholic military order, protecting pilgrims to the Holy Land, headquartered on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem through 1128 when they were recognised in 1139 by the papal bull issued by Pope Innocent II.
The Templars were closely tied to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the order faded. King Philip IV of France – deeply in debt to the order – took advantage of this distrust to destroy them and erase his debt.
On October 13, 1307, a day so infamous that Friday the 13th would become a synonym for ill fortune, officers of King Philip IV of France carried out mass arrests in a well-coordinated dawn raid that left several thousand Templars in captivity and in the seven years following the arrests, hundreds of Templars suffered excruciating tortures intended to force “confessions,” and more than a hundred died under torture or were executed by burning at the stake, including the last Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, at 70 years of age, in March 1314.
In September 2001, Barbara Frale found a copy of the ‘misfiled’ Chinon Parchment in the Vatican Secret Archives, a document which explicitly confirmed that in 1308 Pope Clement V absolved Jacques de Molay and other leaders of the Order including Geoffroi de Charney and Hugues de Pairaud. She published her findings in the Journal of Medieval History in 2004. Another Chinon parchment dated 20 August 1308 addressed to Philip IV of France, well-known to historians, stated that absolution had been granted to all those Templars that had confessed to heresy “and restored them to the Sacraments and to the unity of the Church”.
The Order in modern times.
Although the Order today is not directly descended from the original Knights Templar, the masonic order came into being in a wide variety of ritual forms that were at first worked under the warrants of Royal Arch Chapters in the British Isles in and around the 1760s. The present-day Templar ritual was introduced in the 1850s and a few years later the Mediterranean Pass and Malta Degree ritual followed.
In the Provincial Priory of Oxfordshire, Berkshire & Buckinghamshire there are presently 17 Preceptories. There are approximately 500 members known to each other as Brother their happy and friendly meetings, and it is often said amongst members that this is their favourite order.
The Installation of a Knight.
A candidate, dressed as a pilgrim, will go through a very interesting, thought-provoking and at times, dramatic ceremony, taking him through a pilgrimage and then on to knighthood as a Templar. He will be partly robed in his regalia as he progresses through the ceremony and, having undergone a series of challenges, will become a knight, having knelt and then hearing the words “Arise, Brother Knight”, at which point his robing will be completed. This part of the ceremony can be undertaken by the Eminent Preceptor (the equivalent of the Worshipful Master) or, with his agreement, a member of the Provincial Executive. Graham would say that this is one of his favourite parts of the ritual.
Qualification to join the Order
Once a Knight has passed through his installation ceremony, he is then eligible to take the Mediterranean Pass and proceed to the degree of a Knight of Malta; this degree is usually worked annually at the Provincial Malta meeting in November.
A mason needs to be a member of the Royal Arch and you must sign a declaration that you are a Christian.
The regalia consists of a mantle, tunic, belt with frog, sword and scabbard, a hat and black gloves, as well as a sash and jewels. The regalia, both new and used, is widely available via the Provincial Warden of Regalia.
You may already know someone in the Order so that would be a logical first step. If nobody springs to mind, please contact the Provincial Vice-Chancellor via email at:
provincialvicechancellor@oxonberksbuckskt.org.uk
As Graham states: “It is a rich, fulfilling, exciting & rewarding order to which to belong, but I would say that, would I not? There is only one way to find out, isn’t there?”