THE TEMPLAR
(text only & edited)
THE SOVEREIGN MILITARY ORDER OF THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM
PRIORY OF SAINT MICHAEL AND SAINT GEORGE
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THE LEO HOUSE CHOSEN AS PRIORY’S CHARITY !

The Officers of the Priory of St. Michael & St. George have chosen The Leo House as the Priory’s main charity.
The Leo House is the Catholic hospice for New York City, it is a charitable, not for profit organization dedicated to offering low-cost temporary housing to clergy and religious, persons visiting the sick, students, and travelers of all faiths.

In addition to providing safe, affordable accommodations, their chapel and general atmosphere encourages rest and reflection in the midst of our harried city. The Leo House is serving a function for New York, much like that of the original Templars, who assisted travelers to the Holy Land.
In addition to providing donations, the Priory of St. Michael & St. George now places a call to all its Knights, Dames and Companions to roll up their sleeves for this worthy activity!!! Help us with the projects of the Leo House.
On Tuesday, June 3, 1997, at 6:00pm, the Officers and interested members are invited to the Officers’ meeting to be held at:

Gruntal & Company, LLC 650 Madison Avenue New York City, NY 10022 Telephone: 212-249-0919
H.I.H. PRINCE ALI REZA PAHLAVI TO JOIN ORDER OF MERIT!

His Imperial Highness Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi is to receive the National Order of Merit of the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, as an honorary member of the Priory of St. Michael and St. George on May 31, 1997. H.I.H. Ali will be invested at the Grand Convent to be held in Chicago.
Other notables to receive the National Order of Merit along with H.I.H. Prince Ali will be:
H.H. Elisabeth, Princess of Ysenburg and Buedingen, Pricess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Gluecksburg, Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Ditmarschen and Oldenburg, GCTJ;
H.S.H. Hans Georg, Prince of Ysenburg and Buedingen;
His Grace the Right Reverend Bishop John Bayton, AM, GCSJ, Prelate of The Order of St. John in Australia, Anglican Chaplain of St. George’s Cathedral of Jerusalem, Bishop of Sidney Australia and Apostolic Representative of the Arch Bishop of Canterbury;
His Grace Bishop Job, Bishop of Chicago and the Midwest of the Orthodox Church of America.
Our Prior, H.E. Chev. Edmund Allen Voyer, GCTJ, GMTJ will attend the Grand Convent and Investiture in order to represent The Priory of St. Michael & St. George..
All those interested in attending the ceremonies should immediately contact BGEN Chev. Patrick Rea, GCTJ, GMTJ in Chicago at (312)732-6145.

SPRING CONVENT GREAT FUN

The Priory of St. Michael and St. George held its 1997 Convent, Investiture and dinner dance at the Princeton Club.

The event was held under the auspices of H.E. COL Chev. Stewart Boone McCarty, GCTJ, Grand Chancellor of the G.P.U.S.A., H.E. Chev. F. Daniel Levert Coleman, GCTJ, GMTJ, past Grand Prior of the G.P.U.S.A. and Prior of the Priory of Niew Amsterdam and Chev. Edmund Allen Voyer, GCTJ, GMTJ, Prior of the Priory of St. Michael & St. George. A special guest was RADM Chev. Andrew P. O’Rourke, GCTJ, GMTJ, Prior of the Priory of St. Patrick.

Nearly 100 members and guests attended as four new members were brought into the Priory and several Knights and Dames were promoted in a service held at the Princeton Club.
Following the Convent and Investiture, was a very congenial cocktail reception and dinner dance, organized by Dame Dominique Voyer, DGOTJ. Terrific dance music was provided by Angie Rubino and his Band of Westchester. A grand time was held by all as old friends were reacquainted and new friendships were made.

FOUR NEW MEMBERS

The Priory of St. Michael & St. George is pleased to welcome our new Knight and Companions into the fellowship of the Order.:

Chev. Ronald A. Raymond, KTJ, was sponsored by Chev. William Swalm, KTJ and is active on the New York social scene, he is Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration for the Rambusch Decorating Company. He is a member of The Pilgrims of the United States, The Military Order of Foreign Wars, The New England Society, The St. George Society, The Amateur Comedy Club and The Regency Whist Club.

Companion Max Greenberg, OMTJ, sponsored by Chev. Edmund Voyer, GCTJ, GMTJ, is a Vice President-Finance with Oppenheimer and Company. He is a member of the Millbrook Hunt Club, The Princeton Club, The Sandanova Hounds and the Veteran Corps of Artillery.

Companion Per Olaf Larsson, OMTJ, GCStS, was sponsored by Chev. Edmund Voyer, GCTJ, GMTJ, lives in London and is extremely active with international chivalry; he is the Grand Prior of Scandinavia for the Order of St. Stanislaus, a Companion of the Royal House of O’Conner . He is Chairman of AB Servicestyrkan - IMA, in Stockholm, Sweden, an aircraft and industrial cleaning company. He is also Chairman of the Bicycle Trader, Inc., an enthusiasts’ magazine in San Francisco. He is a member of The Danish Club in London.

Companion Rosalind Simmons, OMTJ, was sponsored by her husband, Chev. John Simmons, KCTJ. Companion Rosalind has been actively supportive of Chev. John’s work as Priory Treasurer and Assistant Grand Treasurer. She has also lent assistance with several Priory functions.

PROMOTIONS

The Priory announces with great pleasure, that the following Knights and Dames have been promoted by order of the Grand Prior of the United States and the Prior of St. Michael and St. George:

TO COMMANDEUR Chev. Victor Dupont, KCTJ Chev. Clyde McDannald, KCTJ Chev. Bruce Munroe, KCTJ COL Chev. Robert Coe, KCTJ
TO GRAND CROIX: Chev. George Edmund Voyer, GCTJ, GMTJ
TO DAME COMMANDEUR: Dame Carla Darlington, DCTJ Dame Rita Gorman, DCTJ

Newly embossed certificates of rank for all new and newly promoted members are available from the Secretary.

NEW OFFICER APPOINTED

Chev. James Knighton, KCTJ has been appointed assistant to the Prior, in addition to his duties as Priory Registrar, he will work with the Prior during the Convent, Investiture and post convent celebrations to ensure a smoother running of the events.

NEW CANDIDATE COCKTAIL HELD

Nearly fifty Officers of the Priory, Knights, Dames and potential candidates met at the home of the Prior on February 15th . Among the guests attending were H.E. Ambassador and Mrs. Nuno do Cunha e Tavora Lorena, of Portugal, Hon. Dr. and Mrs. Gabor Foldvari, Deputy Consul-General of the Republic of Hungary as well as Mr. and Mrs. Peter Leers, of Germany. A good time was had by all. We encourage all members to attend the next event to be held on Saturday, July 12, 1997 at 6:00pm at the home of the Prior. All members are invited and are encouraged to bring a friend. Dress is casual. Please call Chev. Edmund Allen Voyer, GCTJ to R.S.V.P. for what is anticipated to be a delightful summer event.

BOOK NOTES

Bloody Loose Logic:
Hidden Mysteries and the Fringes of Templar Conspiracy
by Brock Dickinson, KTJ

The Tomb of God, by Richard Andrews & Paul Schellenberger,Little, Brown and Company, 1996
513pp, illustrated

The Hiram Key , by Christopher Knight & Robert Lomas
Century Books, 1996 384pp, illustrated

In 1982, British researchers and television journalists Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln released an astonishing book entitled The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. In simplistic terms, it argued that the descendants of the family of Jesus Christ were the founders of several early European monarchies, and that this bloodline, often under the protection of the Knights Templar and a shadowy secret society known as the Priory of Sion, has had an enormous influence on global politics ever since.

The success of this book - it was a huge international bestseller - prompted the development of a new genre, one that quickly came to be called "BLL". Depending on your point of view, BLL stood either for "Baigent, Lincoln and Leigh" or "Bloody Loose Logic". The argumentative form adopted by the trio, and their subsequent imitators is, to say the least, controversial. In essence, the BLL style begins with hints and insinuations, niggling little anomalies in the historical record that raise some interesting questions. These questions are used to frame a hypothesis, with circumstantial evidence gathered in support. So far so good. By the following chapter, however, these hypotheses are cited as established fact, and used to identify more theories and ideas, which in turn become accepted reality in ensuing chapters. Thus, from a valid historical beginning, one quickly ends up in highly suspect territory.

Baignet, Lincoln and Leigh (or just Baigent and Leigh in later works) have used the technique often. Occasionally, it is brilliant (as in Secret Germany), and occasionally, execrable nonsense (see The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception). Most often it produces entertaining and thought-provoking reading, with just enough truth to make one wonder. Kind of like a ghost story around the campfire... you get a delicious chill from a BLL book, but it's hard to take all of it too seriously the next morning.

Two recent additions to the canon of BLL-inspired works have been released recently. The best of the two is The Tomb of God, a work that addresses some weighty and fascinating aspects of art history. In The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail, BLL argued that a particular painting by Poussin, known as les bergeres d'Arcadie, was actually a key to unlocking the secret of the hidden bloodline of Jesus. Andrews and Schellenberger take us on a fascinating journey through European art, identifying a number of other paintings from across the century that apparently use the same geometric code to convey the same information. Intriguingly, the authors argue, they are all copies of a 13th Century Templar map of Jerusalem. So far so good.

Unfortunately, the authors begin to move farther and farther astream at this stage. The code is mirrored by the geography of southern France, and was the basis for European meridians before the establishment of Greenwich Mean Time. And, it is finally revealed, Jesus happens to be buried under a mountain just a short drive away from the Spanish border. In the end, all the intriguing questions and fascinating discoveries in the field of art history are called into question by the increasingly hysterical musings of the authors.

Still, there is far more in The Tomb of God than in the second book reviewed here, Knight and Lomas' The Hiram Key. According to this strain of bloody loose logic, the ancient Egyptians discovered American-style democracy four thousand years ago but knew the world was not ready for it, so they became Freemasons, and transmitted this knowledge first to the Jews, then to the Essenes, then to the Templars, then to modern Masons, and soon the whole world will be brought in on the secret, so that we may all enter a new and glorious age. The proof? A few highly creative readings of the Dead Sea Scrolls, coupled with a few truly bad attempts at linguistics, complimented by a mummy with a bashed in head, who must, of course, be the long-lost Hiram Abiff of Masonic legend. After all, the mummy has a bashed in head, and so did Hiram. What other proof does one need? Pure hokum. And sure to offend many Masons as good brothers Lomas and Knight essentially copy out verbatim the rituals of the Lodge's first three degrees for all to see.

By and large, the BLL literature has been a disappointment, and these two books are no exception. The Tomb of God is certainly worth a look, but if you're really hoping to find something good in this genre, stick to the originals. Baigent and Leigh's The Temple and The Lodge should be of particular interest to Templars.

Jerusalem
by Chev. James Knighton, KCTJ

Jerusalem, by Cecilia Holland, Forge Publishing, 1996. 318 pp.,

This is a fictional account of the Templars' final campaign against Saladin which culminated in the massacre of Hattin in 1187. The author is an experienced writer of historical fiction who spent several months researching the details of the Templars' daily life, and her readers benefit from her thoroughness as they are treated to descriptions of chapel services, barracks life, combat tactics, and living conditions in the field. Ms. Holland also sheds interesting light on the peculiar characteristics and personal values which brought men into the Templar Order, and gives a thrilling account of the political infighting above which the Templars sought to rise but which ultimately proved their undoing. An absorbing text which can easily be read over the course of a weekend, Jerusalem is available either in stock or by order from any regular bookstore.

Interest in the Templars has grown by leaps and bounds, and of course, so has its literature. It is hoped that, in future issues, additional reviews of some of the more outstanding examples, non-fiction and fiction, will be contributed by our readers.

Was Lawrence of Arabia a Templar?
By Chev. Brock H. Dickinson, KTJ

Thomas Edward Lawrence was born in Tremadoc, Wales in August of 1888, and died in a motorcycle accident near Dorset, England in 1935, at the age of 46. A scholar, archaeologist, linguist and soldier, Lawrence used his few years to great effect, and as the famous "Lawrence of Arabia" became one of the great figures of the 20th Century.

His story, for the most part, is well known. An expert in Middle Eastern culture and history, Lawrence enlisted in the British Military Intelligence Service in Cairo at the outbreak of World War One. Combining cultural skill with military brilliance, Lawrence succeeded in uniting disparate Arab forces to wrest the Middle East from the Ottoman Empire, driving the Turks and their German allies from the region. He paved for the way for General Allenby's capture of Jerusalem in 1917, and laid the groundwork of Arab independence and the modern Middle East.

Despite the fact that his story is so widely known, Lawrence has remained an enigmatic figure, charismatic but in many ways inaccessible. He attained a near messianic profile throughout the Middle East, and international fame - yet he declined promotions even to the rank of general, rejected knighthood and the Victoria Cross. He lived and wrote for many years under pseudonyms to hide his identity, and only reluctantly published accounts of his exploits.

But behind this complicated figure, this heroic conundrum, lies an even more mysterious life and history. Could Lawrence of Arabia have been a Templar?

Certainly the presence of Templars in the British military was not unprecedented. A century before Lawrence, Admiral Sir William Sydney Smith, a hero of the Napoleonic Wars, had openly declared his Templar affiliations. Smith encouraged the British government to grant the island of Malta to the Templars, and proposed the creation of a Templar navy to suppress the slave trade and combat the Barbary pirates. Sir William, however, came to the Templars late in life, at the peak of his career. Lawrence seems to have been born in the role of a Crusader, and to have deliberately and consciously cultivated that role.

As a student at Oxford, Lawrence penned his thesis on the military architecture of Crusader castles (he later published several volumes on the same theme). Lawrence, however, was not a dry academic - to conduct his research he did not hide himself away in the libraries and archives of Europe, but instead sailed to the Lebanon, adopted Arab dress and set out barefoot for the interior. He lived in the deserts of the Middle East for two years, eventually returning to Oxford to hand in his thesis and receive his degree. He also managed to learn Hebrew and Arabic during his travels, adding them to the Greek and Latin he already knew - not to mention his English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Norwegian and Hindi!

Lawrence became an expert on the Middle East, but an expert in its past as well as its present. Often, when presented with British military plans, Lawrence would raise objections. "He would point out a safer and shorter route, with which he happened to be familiar because he had tramped every inch of it afoot while hunting for lost traces of the invading armies of... Crusaders," wrote Lowell Thomas in With Lawrence in Arabia in 1924.

Lawrence also deliberately constructed the air of a Crusader around himself. General Sir Ronald Storrs referred to him as "the Uncrowned King of Arabia". His comrade-in-arms Lowell Thomas called him "the modern Arabian Knight". Lawrence himself took great pains to point out that he was descended from Sir Robert Lawrence, a Crusader who had accompanied Richard the Lionheart to the Holy Land, and who had fought alongside the Templars at the Siege of Acre in 1187. Lawrence even emulated the Templars in his dress, adopting the white robes of the Order. "He always travels in spotless white," wrote Colonel R.V. Buxton in 1917.

Lawrence's own writings also display a Templar leaning. "I justified myself by my confidence in the final success of the Arab revolt if properly advised. I had been a mover in its beginning; my hopes lay in it. The fatalistic subordination of a professional soldier (intrigue being unknown in the British army) would have made a proper officer sit down and watch his plan of campaign wrecked by men who thought nothing of it, and to whose spirit it made no appeal. Non nobis, Domine."

"Non nobis, Domine." As in "Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomine tuo, da gloriam", the Templar motto first penned by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. Not unto us, Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give glory.

Lawrence of Arabia was, in the end, a private, secretive and mysterious man. We may never know if he had formal ties to the Templar movement. But there is no doubt that in his heart and in his soul, he was a modern Templar.

(Note: many articles, all photos & art, as well as the calender have been removed from this" html version" of the Templar. Contact the Prior if you would be willing to help set up a new format of these pages.)

NON NOBIS, DOMINE! NON NOBIS,
SED NOMINITUA DA GLORIAM!

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Father Chev. Robert Shea, GOTJ

Some newly promoted members

Our new postulants

H.E. AmbassadorNuno da Cunha e Tavora Lorena

Col. Chev. Russel duLaux, Dame Arlette Laurent and
Chev. John Mauk Hilliardat the last cocktail party