have received numerous communications
from various people around the globe who claim that the Order continues to
the present day. The following is the most detailed example of such messages.
I encourage you to take a look at this too, but at the same time remind you
that if such a lineage actually existed, it would almost certainly have been
widely discussed in academic journals and other publications, as the implications
of such lineage would be great indeed. The problem with all these modern-age
Templars is the fact that the sources they use are not usually open to research.
This is published by kind permission of Vince Zubras, Jr.
reetings! The Templars exist in the
present day, through the "Charta Transmissionis" (The Charter of Transmission),
written by Johannes Marcus Larmenius in 1324 A.D. This charter states that
Larmenius, a Palestinian-born Christian and Templar, had the Grand Mastership
of the Order "transmitted" to him by Jacques de Molay, immediately before
de Molay was put to death in Paris in 1314. Ten years later, Larmenius was
quite aged, and "gave up" the Grand Mastership of the Order to his successor,
Franciscus Theobaldus of Alexandria. Successive Grand Masters through the
next 4 centuries each signed the document. The Order remained secret throughout
the suppression period in France in the 1300's, kept alive by those that
remained IN France.
e already know of those remaining
Templars, some of whom escaped to Scotland, the rest to other Orders in Portugal,
Spain, Germany and elsewhere. The descendents of those "underground" in France
brought the Order into semi-secrecy with the General Convent of 1705 in France,
when the Duke of Orleans was elected Grand Master, and new Statutes for the
Order were presented and instituted. The Order then came to full public exposure
in 1804 when a highly-placed Doctor named Bernard Raymond Fabre-Palaprat
presented the Charter of Transmission, the 1705 Statutes and other items
before the Court of Napoleon. The Order then began anew in France, building
itself in open public, being recognized and its insignia authorized for public
wear by Napoleon III.
he Order continued with a succession
of Grand Masters or through a General Secretariat into the twentieth Century,
and is presently headed by the Grand Master and Prince Regent, Don Fernando
Campello Pinto Pereira de Sousa Fontes, of Porto, Portugal. The Order continues
today as perhaps the largest "Templar" group claiming anything close to provable
history from antiquity, with Grand Priories in most all European Countries,
the U.S., Orient, Africa, South America, and elsewhere. It is entitled in
Latin as "Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani", or The Supreme
Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem.
he Order has survived several coup
attempts, even as recently as 1995, with attempts to unseat the present Grand
Master, resulting in much "splintering" of the Order into separate groups
claiming antiquity. The only true historical lineage in this present-day,
however, is through Don Fontes of Portugal, and legitimate Priories of the
O.S.M.T.H.
am submitting this information to
you for those interested. I am the new Prior of the newly-formed Magisterial
Priory of Texas in the United States, and would be interested in hearing
from anyone interested in Templars, or becoming a Templar through what we
believe to be the "legitimate Order of the Temple." This most-definitely
is NOT a Masonic Order, nor part of any "historical re-enactment" organization.
We are formed for charitable works, and support various world charities with
thousands of dollars annually.
