Neo-Templarism

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Neo-Templarism is a term describing groups who claim to be descendants of the Knights Templar, or to have revived the Templars. Following the dissolution of the Templars by Pope Clement V at the start of the 14th century, several organizations have claimed to be secret continuations of the original Templars. This idea has been criticized by scholars of Templar history and is widely regarded as dubious. These orders are very diverse, but typically draw from western esotericism, with other groups incorporating New Age beliefs, or freemasonry. Other groups are only ceremonial. Many neo-Templar groups are highly secret and necessitate initiation.

The notion of the Templars secretly surviving embedded within masonic movements, resulting in the creation of several Templar grades in Freemason organizations. The origins of most Neo-Templar groups can be traced to a revivalist Templar order founded by French physician Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat in 1805, widely regarded as the father of neo-Templarism, who claimed to have discovered an unbroken chain of Knights Templar Grand Masters descending from the original group. His proof for this was the Larmenius Charter, which is actually a forgery. A separate wing of neo-Templarism grew from the works of French esotericist Jacques Breyer in the 1950s.

The Knights Templar (also called the Order of the Temple, French: Ordre du Temple) were a military-religious and monastic order,^[1][2] that was created by a few knights, among them Hugh de Payens and Geoffrey de Saint-Omer in 1119 in Jerusalem. At the 1128 Council of Troyes in France, led by Bernard of Clairvaux, it was officially approved.^[3][4] They were founded with the goal to project pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem from Europe,^[4] but became well known for their participation in the Crusades.^[1][2] The Templars began to acquire wealth and power, from which they made several enemies.^[4] At the beginning of the fourteenth century, they began to face accusations of witchcraft and heresy.^[5][6] They were persecuted by the French king Philip IV.^[2] Following an unfair trial in 1308 at the behest of Pope Clement V, whose personal goals came into conflict with the Templars, the order was suspended.^[3]

In 1310, fifty-four Templar knights were burned at the stake. Four years later, the final Grand Master, Jacques de Molay and a local leader and several companions were burned at the stake as well.^[7][3] It was officially disbanded in 1312 by Pope Clement V. Following their dissolution, some of the Templars moved to Portugal, where they founded the Military Order of Christ. Though they survived outside of Europe in this way for some decades, by the early 15th century they were completely defunct.^[1][2] The Templars had been well known and prominent to that point, so their sudden disappearance resulted in many legends and fantastical stories. There grew various theories about the Templars themselves having had a secret, initiatory circle within it, which the official Templars were only the outside shell of. This theory is disputed by historians, though they do not dispute that some esoteric elements may have been involved in the order.^[3]

In the 18th century, a notion of the Templars secretly continuing their existence and activities began to spread, particularly within freemasonry in France and Germany. This idea was based off of previous legends of the Templars embedding themselves in Freemason guilds to continue their activities; this idea led to the creation of several Templar grades in Freemason organizations.^[8][3] This was particularly prominent within Illuminist freemasonry, which was unrelated to the Templars. Out of such was formed the masonic rites of the Strict Templar Observance created by Baron Karl von Hund, which Jean-Baptiste Willermoz turned into the Rectified Scottish Rite; through this change it gave up the claimed connection to the Templars.^[9]

The French Revolutionary period was a period of upheaval for Freemasons; some at the time disagreed with the idea of these Templar grades as being only a part of freemasonry, subservient to the masonic order.^[10] Most Neo-Templar groups' origins can be traced to a revivalist Order of the Temple founded by Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat, a physician and former seminarian from Paris.^[11][2] Fabré-Palaprat is widely regarded as the father of neo-Templarism.^[1] In 1804, he claimed that he had discovered documents that proved there was an uninterrupted line of secret "Grand Master" Templars from the supposed dissolution to the modern day. This document, a charter, displayed the signatures of all the supposed Grand Masters since the dissolution of the Templars.^[10][12] This document is a forgery.^[12]

Fabré-Palaprat proclaimed himself the Grand Master of the Templars in 1805, reestablishing the Templars independent from freemasonry.^[13][14][15] This new movement attracted various people, including Napoleon, who approved an 1808 ceremony.^[10] As the Catholic Church, having disbanded the Templars, was opposed to their reconstitution, it was at least officially opposed to any revival moments; in response, Fabré-Palaprat declared Catholicism a "fallen church" and founded the Johannite Church.^[1][16] Fabré-Palaprat linked the neo-Templars to his new religion.^[15][12] The Johannite Church consecreated several bishops, resulting in an association of neo-Templarism with Liberal Catholic "irregular bishops" as well.^[1] Fabré-Palaprat died in 1838, resulting in a schism between the Johannite Church of Ferdinand-François Châtel and the Templar Order, run by William Sydney Smith and Count Jules de Moreton, respectively. These two groups reconciled three years later, with Jean-Marie Raoul as leader; however, the concept of the Templar order became less fashionable, and a successive leader, A.M. Vernois, ceased the group's activity in 1871.^[16]

Later, the "regency" of the Temple Order was said to have passed on to Joséphin Péladan by remaining members of the Order; however, this is disputed and has little evidence or testimony supporting it.^[16][17] Péladan was more interested in a separate order he had founded, the Order of the Catholic Rose-Croix of the Temple and the Grail, and mixed Templar elements with Rosicrucianism. The Temple Order later became amalgamated among other occult groups headed by doctor Papus and Péladan, one of which, the Independent Group of Esoteric Studies, carried on some of its legacy.^[16][12][17] This occurred in a revivalist period for occultism at the end of the 19th century, and Templar symbolism became popular and prominent in many occult movements, though many of these were not strictly neo-Templar and also incorporated other elements and symbols, as well as a different worldview from that originally had by Fabré-Palaprat.^[18] This era had many esoteric and occult elements blending with each other, with neo-Templar elements combining with Martinist, neo-Pythagorean, or Rosicrucian traditions; many groups had the same leaders.^[19]

At the end of the 19th century, groups incorporating such elements were founded, included the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) founded by industrialist and mystic Carl Kellner, the racist and pan-Germanic Order of the New Templars (Latin: Ordo Novi Templi, ONT) founded by Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels, which later had an influence on Nazism.^[19][12] The most direct descendant of Fabré-Palaprat's Templar order came from the Belgian branch, KVMRIS, the only one which had stayed active; KVMRIS was especially interested in sex magic.^[15][19] In 1894, this Belgian branch encouraged the formation of the International Secretariat of Templars in Brussels.^[15]

The Rosicrucian organization AMORC, founded in 1915, also has some neo-Templar elements; while predominantly Rosicrucian, its founder Harvey Spencer Lewis having a particular interest in the 18th century revivalist order of Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat and the Knights Templar and with later degrees having neo-Templar aspects.^[17] Lewis had had some contact with neo-Templar figures and related European occultists.^[17]

KVMRIS, surviving into the 1930s,^[17][19] eventually incorporated in 1932 as the Sovereign and Military Order of the Temple (French: Ordre souverain et militaire du Temple) under the regency of Théodore Covias (there were too few members to have a Grand Master), succeeded by Emile-Clément Vandenberg who was elected three years later.^[19][20] The Order's archives were given to Antonio Campello Pinto de Sousa Fontes in 1942 during WWII in Portugal; shortly after, he proclaimed himself the Grand Master, resulting in neo-Templarism spreading internationally.^[15]

In 1945, Fontes changed the name to Ordre souverain et militaire du Temple de Jérusalem, OSMTJ.^[21] He designated his son Fernando Campello Pinto de Sousa Fontes as his successor, but as several other independent branches refused to recognize Antonio's authority, when he died several groups instead declared their independence. In a 1970 Paris meeting, several Grand Priorates, all who rejected Antonio's rule, instead appointed Antoine Zdrojewski as the grand master.^[15] This resulted in two separate primary neo-Templar international groups: the group that recognized Sousa Fontes, the Ordo Supremus Militari Templi Hierosolymitani (OSMTH), and the group that recognized Zdrojewski, the OSMTJ. The OSMTH sometimes uses the French name and acronym of OSMTJ.^[15]

Neo-Templar organizations were active in France and Switzerland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.^[5][6] During this period, political conservatives and fascists used these ideas and lodges to appeal to an "old order" and an idea of a master race (through ideals of aristocracy common to the groups).^[22]

A second branch of neo-Templarism, independent from prior groups, was created by French esotericist and author Jacques Breyer.^[23] Following what he claimed was a mystical experience in the Arginy Castle [fr] in 1952, Breyer met the occultist Maxime de Roquemaure, who claimed that she was part of a branch of an order that descended directly from the original Templars, which had secretly survived in Ethiopia.^[23] This began a rebirth of activity of neo-Templar groups in France (the 'Arginy Renaissance').^[7][24]

Together they founded the Sovereign Order of the Solar Temple (French: Ordre Souverain du Temple Solaire, OSTS), which was officially creative on 24 June 1966 but was active for some years before that.^[25][23] Breyer claimed that he had founded the OSTS at the suggestion of the "Masters of the Temple", who he said were the spirits of the Knights Templar. Breyer would become greatly influential on subsequent and contemporary neo-Templar groups and was viewed as a spiritual mentor by many in them.^[24] Founding members of the OSTS were involved in the founding the National Grand Lodge of France Opéra. Many of the OSTS's ideas were explicitly apocalyptic and involved the idea of the end of the world and the return of the "Solar Christ".^[23] Breyer resigned in 1964, resulting in a crisis, but the group reformed in 1966 and 1973.^[23]

In 1968, Breyer and the former grandmaster of AMORC, Raymond Bernard, established the Renewed Order of the Temple (ORT).^[5][7][26] The ORT's main headquarters were located in Auty, where its grand master, Julien Origas, a former member of the Gestapo, was stationed. Origas led members of the far-right to join the ORT.^[27] As of 1980, there were over 100 rival Templar orders, which incorporated a variety of different practices.^[13] Jean-Louis Marsan later became the grand master of the OSTS; Marsan and Origas were both affiliated with Breyer's revival movement.^[28] In 1981, OSTS and ORT attempted to merge, but Origas died in 1983 after which it schismed.^[24]

Zdrojewski became embroiled in a number of political controversies, and Sousa Fontes failed to control all of his authorized priorates; this resulted in more organizations arising, and several independent priorates emerging besides the two main ones.^[15] Federations of these groups were formed, including the International Federative Alliance (IFA), created in 1989, and the Ordo Internationalis Militiae Templi Confederationis (OIMT), created in Rome, Italy in 1979.^[15]

In the mid to late 90s, many groups tried to "reduce the number of acronyms" and reconcile the differences between the many groups, including the split between OSMTJ and OSMTH.^[15] These reconciliation attempts failed for a variety of reasons and new schisms emerged in the meantime, though there did come the success of one agreement between OSMTJ and OIMT, which aimed to create a real association; the OSMTJ was also merged with the IFA in Turku, Finland in 1998.^[15] These schisms were additionally influenced by the desire of many neo-Templar groups to distance themselves from the Order of the Solar Temple (French: Ordre du Temple solaire, OTS), a neo-Templar splinter group that became notorious in the 1990s for several mass suicides and murders.^[15][29] The leader and founder of the group, Joseph Di Mambro, was a member of many other neo-Templar groups, including the OSMTJ, and the OTS had been founded out of some of the members of AMORC and ORT, moving in many of the same circles as Origas and Breyer.^[22][24]

Neo-Templar groups are extremely diverse, with a variety of beliefs and spiritual aspects.^[30][31] They are usually chivalric orders, which claim variously to descend from, have revived, or adapted the original Knights Templars.^[4][22] Neo-Templar themes, myths and symbols have influenced and been influenced by many other esoteric movements.^[31] Other orders draw from freemasonry.^[22] Many are secret and require initiation through ritual.^[31] Other orders incorporate ideas from the New Age movement, or are merely ceremonial organizations only in existence for social and chivalric purposes, or to grant titles in exchange for money for status purposes.^[30][31] Some exist to promote arcane and extremist magical-esoteric concepts and agendas, many of which are related to the Ascended Master teachings, as well as belief in aliens.^[31]

Other neo-Templar groups, typically "revived" ones that do not claim descent, are reputable and are averse to identification with other more esoteric orders, given their association with perceived cultish and fringe organizations. These are typically Christian and desire to emulate the perceived Christ-like aspects of the original Knights Templars, through promoting chivalric Christian values and participating in charity work.^[31] The truth of a historical continuation between these groups and the original Templars as claimed by some is extremely dubious.^[1] The idea of the Templars' continued existence has been criticized by scholars of Templar history, and was described by French medievalist and historian Régine Pernoud as "totally insane."^[5][6] Masonic groups latched on to the idea of having heritage of the Knights Templars as a way to back up the idea of an ancient heritage.^[22]