Croatian Knights Templar Attain International Recognition

croatia_knights_templar3

With the Scottish flag of St. Andrew in the background, Croatian Templar knights received international recognition from the Scottish Military Order Knights Knights of Christ of Temple of Jerusalem. Photo: Gorana Banjeglav

The ceremony of declaring Croatian prioship took place at the Blessed Kazotic Church in Zagreb on Saturday.

JAVNO | Dec 7, 2008

Croatian Templars Attain International Recognition

By Amalija Šašek

Centuries of gory prosecution and robbing of property have passed, while Croatian Templar knights received international recognition from the Scottish Military Order Knights of Christ of Temple of Jerusalem. The ceremony of declaring Croatian prioship took place at the Blessed Kazotic Church in Zagreb on Saturday. New knights were initiated on this occasion as well.

Croatian priorship was declared by the grand prior of the Scottish order H.H. James P. McGrath, chief mondial (head of all the Templars in the world), who was accompanied by the Portuguese prior H.S.E. Luis Roseira, prince regent and the sword keeper from Scotland.

“We came to Croatia as friends and we are a strictly non-Mason ecumenical Christian order,” grand prior of Scotland H.H. James P. McGrath told us.

Help to those who need it most

When asked what today`s main assignment of Templars was, the prior replied it was promoting Christian values and help to those who need it most.

“Our task is to be a good example for others, to support the Christian church, to help the poor, helpless and dying all across the world,” prior H.H. James P. McGrath told us.

Furthermore, McGrath pointed out that it was important to establish religious freedom throughout the world, which all nations would accept as the basic human right.

Military Order Knights of Christ of Temple of Jerusalem protects its charity world all over the world, thus helping the hungry and sick in Africa.

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Coat of arms of Croatian Templars

“We are obliged to provide medical help and aid to children on an international level,” the prior said.

Templars arrived in Croatia in the 12 th century

The Scottish order also runs a charity establishment for children called Little Stars Children’s Charity Luxor, which includes several charities in Africa. Members of the order are active in these institutions, spending several years among the poor people of Africa.

This work is not paid, but ordered members volunteer.

Templar knights arrived in Croatia in the 12 th century, and one of their headquarters was in Vrana, where they received a convent from Pope Gregory. They had branches and large estates in Zagreb, Senj, Nasice, Glogocvnica and many other places.

The order was established in 1118, after the First Crusade to help the Kingdom of Jerusalem and protect many pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem after it was conquered by Muslims.

Organisation

The Templars are organised as a convent order, following the rules of Saint Bernard, founder of Cistercit, and they soon became a powerful organisation. This was a problem for French king Philip who ordered their arrests in 1307, followed by torture and gory prosecution.

templar_chinon
Secret documents from Chinon found in the Vatican. Photo: Reuters

In 1913, Pope Clement officially annulled the Templar order with a decree. At the time, Jacques de Molay was the grand prior. Order members who managed to avoid execution fled to Scotland and Portugal.

Seven years ago, documents were found at the Vatican archives, showing that Pope Clement secretly forgave the Templars in 1314.

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29 responses to “Croatian Knights Templar Attain International Recognition

  1. Hmmm… I find these articles interesting indeed. I am currently reading a book “Blood on the Altar-The Secret History of the World’s Most Dangerous Secret Society.” The Author is Craig Heibichner and it is a MUST read. The Templars and all of their satellite organisations are discussed therein. The book gets deep into the OTO-Crowleyism and the origins of Freemasonry. Don’t let these Luciferians deceive you! Pax Vobis!

  2. Wow! Sounds like a very interesting book. Thanks for the tip. Of course, we know that the Golden Dawn came out of Rosicrucianism and that Crowley brought a lot of that experience with him into the OTO.

    I see a continuous thread from Egyptian Osiris worship, through to Greek Dionysus/Orphic worship, into Roman paganism mingled with Jewish beliefs that provided the background for Christianity to develop, thence the same secret mystery religion orders embedded in the new Holy Roman Church produced the Templars, Knights of Malta etc. What I am looking for is any connections between the Templars and Rosicrucians. There is that period between the 13th and 16th centuries that is a time of inquisitions and the rise of the Protestant Reformation. During this period we see the two streams of Rosicrucianism and Templarism both feeding into the development of modern Freemasonry. I have seen few direct connections between the two historically, except for the fact that they both drew upon “Arab” influences and that there is supposed to be a Templar chapel in France somewhere that has the Rose-Cross symbolism on it. They seem to be completely different systems but when you look at Freemasonry, there are a number of both Templar and Rosicrucian degrees integrated with it.

    So, I would like to hear if anyone has more to add to that, t’woud be much appreciated.

  3. There’s no dispute that Rosicrucians (and the Royal Society) were directly involved with Freemasonry even before 1717. Rosicrucians birthed modern Speculative Freemasonry, while Templarism was introduced later, between the 1730s to the 50s. A bunch of aristocrats play-acting at being knights, swearing allegiance to “Unknown Superiors” and being conned by hucksters – same old same old.

    However, that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t something more authentic lurking in the background. Regarding Templar/Freemasonry, there is some some mention of it before 1717. Scholar Antoine Faivre, for instance, in his Access to Western Esotericism (p. 188), wrote:


    Already in 1675, and thus forty-two years before the birth of Speculative Masonry, Father Louis Maimbourg spoke of the Society of Free Masons “that is believed to have been formed at the time of the conquest of the Holy Land” in his Histoire des Croisades, which was published and translated several times. Elsewhere, a recently discovered document demonstrates the existence of a Chapter of Knights in an English Masonic lodge in 1710, seven years before the birth of Speculative Masonry! This order was founded by Frenchmen and was more free-thinking than religious, but it nevertheless used the vocabulary of Knighthood and had a Grand Master as its head.

    He has some other rare tidbits in there as well. A bit on the founding of Order of the Golden Fleece and it’s true intent, and how there was a real Rosicrucian Order (Golden and Rosy Cross) on the Continent in 1710 – a full 20 years before Freemasonry proper was exported to France and then Hamburg. The Golden and Rosy Cross would then go on to use Masonry like a parasite, feed on it and use it for its own end – much like the Illuminati. But – if indeed they had Rose Cross “Circles” in 1710 – they were as authentic as they come, and totally separate from the johnny-come-lately Masonry, probably descending from the original Rosicrucians in the early 1600s.

  4. I think you may be a little off track…Templars are not masonic but christian,as is this group.
    Aslo the ad is rosicrucian not the article.
    The SKT or OSMTH do not admit masons or rosicrucians.

  5. Do you then deny that the Knights Templar of Scotland had any part in establishing Freemasonry? That is very funny!

    I love this, because you always get these diehards who claim this or that firm boundary between this or that sect or order and another, when there is nothing further from the truth. At the top, they are all integrated and work together for the New World Order.

  6. Apologies, I am mistaken the OSMTH allow masons ….and the OCMTH & SMOTJ do not as they are Christians.
    I hope this helps any confusion I may have caused. This group appear to be SMOTJ

  7. Ah, with a little prodding, the truth eventually slips out.

  8. Hello all, I dont claim to have all the info…in fact I doubt that anyone has…but A.G Mackey in the 1800’s published that he as head of freemasonary in Scotland could find no link with templars and masons.
    Good pr and calling your hq a temple does not make you a true templar…however it does make you a masonic templar…different things though.

  9. “That is very funny!” “I love this, because you always get these diehards”

    Who are you talking to?

    Who’s the “diehard,” and what is “very funny”?

    There’s no Templar degrees during the formative years of Masonry. None. No whiff of it either. No talk of Knights Templars, nothing. Degrees are extremely rudimentary. Ramsay and Strict Observance provided the “Templarism” (1730 and 1751, respectively). The remnants of so-called “templar degrees” still extant today – they come from Strict Observance.

    I did let you in on evidence to support earlier “Templarism,” though; it has nothing to with being diehard or “very funny.” It is information exchange. Take it as you will.

  10. I think you are confusing St Clair whom actually stood against and offered false witness against the Templars in their persecution …this is well documented but silly programs popularise things like the rosslyn chapel as being a templar chapel because it is round…it was built way too late and by the St Clair family.

  11. too non sequitar Terry, you seem to be trying to link two differing discussions.
    No doubt the comments are insightful but not really relevant in the context of the comments being answered.
    I am out of time but have enjoyed the very strange one sided conversations.
    Good luck

  12. @Seann

    I don’t know who is addressing whom. Your “St Clair” comment, for instance; who was that meant for? Should we just assume it was Paul?

    Perhaps my second comment was in haste, re: “diehard” and “very funny.” Maybe I shouldn’t have answered it because it wasn’t addressed to me at all. Maybe. Perhaps.

  13. Terry,

    I was addressing Seanachaidh. I thought it was clear from the context. Sorry for the confusion.

    PJ

  14. Ooops. Sorry me too.

    @Michael

    That Craig Heimbichner book; I’ve been meaning to get for a while. What types of sources does he utilize while dealing with Templars, Rosicrucians or Freemasonry? Is there a guy named Rene Le Forester in the biblio? Does he consult French, German and Italian works? Does he delve into Martinism much and the Elus Cohen? Memphis-Misraim et al? It pisses me off to no end that I can’t even take a peek inside at either Google books or Amazon – not even a toc is to be had. The book is a mystery totally and utterly. The cover alone doesn’t do me much good. What the hell’s wrong with these publishers?

  15. Check this out. Whoever those people are, they don’t believe this James McGrath character.

    Where’s the context in this story? Amalija Šašek hasn’t done a very good job at “reporting.” Are we to assume that the Templars survived intact in Croatia and were hiding underground for 700 years, only to reemerge simply cause the Pope forgave them? And then once they come out of the closet, so to speak, another group, “Scottish Military Order Knights Knights of Christ of Temple of Jerusalem,” just happen to spontaneously recognizes them. But again, no context for the latter group either. “[H]ead of all the Templars in the world”? What “journalist” would make such a statement and expect everyone to just say, ok.

  16. Terry,

    I don’t write ’em, I just post ’em for the sake of discussion and perhaps education. What I do see is that the motto of Freemasonry is Ordo Ab Chao. And in researching Freemasonry, Knights Templar, Rosicrucians, et al the one thing we can all agree on is that there is little agreement on who started what, and who was connected to whom. So, what I see is an endless loop of conflicting arguments resulting in chaos and confusion that goes right along with the Masonic motto. So all this mayhem does serve the elite, the aristocracy whose intentions have always been to keep the rest of us in the dark.

    Having said that, maybe I’m not the best of all scholars, but everything that I have seen points to a multi-streamed origin to speculative Freemasonry. The main streams being the pagan Roman collegia (and subsequent masonic guilds), the Rosicrucians, Judaism, Egyptian and Greek mysteries and the Knights Templar. And oddly enough, we can see many of these streams represented in early Christianity and the Roman Church.

    Now I know there is a lot of argument against including the KT as an influence on Freemasonry, but I think at the very least, we ought to agree that a Catholic KT stream of Freemasonry (whether you agree that “Jacobite Freemasonry” is really Masonry or not) was set up by the Stuarts and Sinclairs (St Clairs) and was developed in both Scotland and in France. I would also point out that the Lodge of the Orient of Narbonne counted Catholic priests as half the membership! And really, despite all the cries to the contrary, Catholic membership in lodges continues to this day. And here we have our KT brother admitting that his priory admits Masons into the Order which is presumably Catholic.

    I do see a very clear link between KT and Masonry and I see that the Catholic Church lies about it’s relationship with both. The best example of this being the secret exoneration of the KT by Clement V, which we only learn about 700 years after the fact. So why should we trust papal bulls condemning Freemasonry? I do believe that what we are seeing is always a public pronouncement for public consumption on one hand, and a secret “understanding” among the elite on the other hand.

    Okay, enough for now. I would like to hear other’s comments.

    PJ

  17. PJ: “we ought to agree that a Catholic KT stream of Freemasonry…was set up by the Stuarts and Sinclairs (St Clairs)”

    Not really. That whole thing was Strict Observance claiming to be Jacobite. Von Hund said he was initiated into an extant Templar-Masonry. Stuarts and Sinclairs were oblivious to it, and I’m pretty sure the “Young Pretender” even denied being a Freemason at all. Even Masons have gotten their history wrong, and have conflated certain things such as the Clermont Chapter with the Clermont Jesuit novitiate – they were two separate things (it took two hundred years to get the facts straight on that one). However, Hund and his Strict Observance cohorts certainly made the most of their new system. And as I said at the end of my “Sniffing out Jesuits,” it was definitely the Vatican and the Sons of Loyola who would had the most to gain through the introduction of such beliefs.

    PJ: “Lodge of the Orient of Narbonne”?

    Are you referring to the Primitive Rite of the Philadelphes of Narbonne invented by the Chefdebiens? Half of them priests? Where did you get that info? (I am really interested) All seven of the founders – father and 6 brothers – were Knights of Malta though; there’s a full view book at Google books that even lists the exact date they were invested.

    You’re right about Catholic-Masonic collusion, despite the protestation to the contrary. I have reviewed memberships during the 18th Century of Freemasons, Illuminati, and other secret societies (in the thousands). Priests were well represented. All kinds of Priests were initiates of both Masonry, in all its colorful forms, and the Illuminati; Bishops even. While I didn’t spend too much time in the 19th century and later, I highly doubt that things changed. They may have gotten extremely secretive about it, but just as priests in Italy today are simultaneously made-men of the Mafia, there are also clandestine Freemasons of the cloth. That’s what makes Masonry so detrimental to society. It is – and always was – a perfect vehicle for subversion.

  18. It seems there is a lot of interest in history and popular myth, I am not sure this is productive when the whole point of the fraternities existence is to do deeds for God’s glory and not the individuals (non nobis!).
    A templar is honoured to do the Lord’s will and uphold their pledge and not look for personal reward or glory. Hopefully the recipient of those efforts will only be aware the help was a product of faith.
    This is not secrecy, just an honouring of the pledge.
    Another important distinction is that we focus on deeds / opportunities to serve.

    The history/myth chasing stuff is a recent (last 100yrs) masonic guild development as per Mackey chapter X(10) and I pray it does not detract from the good that is achieved by true templars. Keeping records is one thing but using history where it is vague enough to suit ones purpose and then ignoring hard admissions is folly.Especially when it is a contrivance to promote oneself above their fellow man , and just a basically unworthy pursuit.
    Unfortunately some self styled groups do unfathomable things like suing the Vatican for past errors 1314…this is beyond my understanding and leads to wondering if the Order of St John’s is next as they also “wronged the Order” centuries ago.
    How this promotes the Lord’s word or the Templar oath escapes me.
    These myth promoting, badge collecting self styled Orders can prove counter-productive to their own members as well as true Order’s ideals.
    In saying this, it also needs to be stated that if good is achieved for those in need then it I hope these efforts would be welcomed but to call oneself a true Templar is a onerous but joyous task of lifetime servitude to the Lord.
    Also as promulgated by the Vatican on numerous occassions , Christianity is incompatible with masonic membership.
    I hope this clarifies that issue but realise that some people do seem devoted to the conspiracy theories instead of Christ.
    Historical research on this subject is all too often just assumption based on rumour or tenuously held together with wasteful efforts at genealogy and increasingly large collections of supposed “facts’ and badges,whereas half that much effort towards helping the needy may be far better use of valuable time in my humble opinion.

  19. Dear Terry ,
    I almost forgot , yes there were some disputes in the past but a more recent decree by the now head of that order after a 30 yr schism is available and a change in the Fontes Order heirachy from (I think dated Aug 08)http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Column/5833/about.html
    which reunites the order under a non-masonic christian based ethos again and makes the web link you posted now obsolete.
    I hope this helps in your seeking truth.

  20. OK, this is kinda weird, considering what we’re discussing right now. A few moments ago I received a Google Blog Alert (targeting the keyword “freemasonry”) titled “The Masonic Chicken and Templar Egg Scenario.”

  21. An Excellent researched article,
    revealing the false Temple…….

    The Inns of Court (see below, The Four Inns of Court) to the Crown Temple use the Banking and Judicial system of the City of London – a sovereign and independent territory which is not a part of Great Britain (just as Washington City, as DC was called in the 1800s, is not a part of the north American states, nor is it a state) to defraud, coerce, and manipulate the American people. These Fleet Street bankers and lawyers are committing crimes in America under the guise and color of law (see definitions for legal and lawful below). They are known collectively as the “Crown.” Their lawyers are actually Templar Bar Attornies, not lawyers.

    The present Queen of England is not the “Crown,” as we have all been led to believe. Rather, it is the Bankers and Attornies (Attorneys) who are the actual Crown or Crown Temple. The Monarch aristocrats of England have not been ruling sovereigns since the reign of King John, circa 1215. All royal sovereignty of the old British Crown since that time has passed to the Crown Temple in Chancery.

    http://www.tpuc.org/node/367

  22. Terry,

    That info on the Lodge of the Orient of Narbonne was out of “The Secret History of Freemasonry”, by Paul Naudon. At least we do agree that many Catholics, including priests and Bishops, have been and are Masons. We can also agree that Templars do admit Masons and vice versa. There are no hard and fast barriers between the various sects and orders. This is my main point, despite all the obfuscation to the contrary. We can also agree that as you put it “there are also clandestine Freemasons of the cloth. That’s what makes Masonry so detrimental to society. It is – and always was – a perfect vehicle for subversion.” I totally agree with that.

    I also believe there are many clandestine Masons in politics throughout the world. We usually only learn of their membership or their full memberships after they die. The reason for this is to distance themselves publicly from the conspiracy.

    PJ

  23. Thanks for getting back to me on the source. It’s good one, with good sources, and I look forward to reading it (I’ve downloaded it from ConCen). Actually, the “Lodge of the Orient of Narbonne” should be, Lodge “l’Amitié à l’Épreuve” of the Grand Orient in Narbonne.

  24. I think the Templar-Mason chicken and egg problem gets resolved after one realizes they have always worked together and still do today. All these various occult streams do dovetail together, especially at the top of the hierarchy. I put forth one other example of the Knights of St John and SMOM. Members claim there is no relationship, but we only need to look at the fact that Elizabeth is head of Knight of St John and that her cousin Andrew Bertie ran SMOM until Festing took over and he of course is another one of the Queen’s men being an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Then you simply look at the facts: they share the same Hospitaller legacy and root history. They share the exact same symbols. Etc.

  25. “Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”

    – Seneca the Younger, (5 BC – 65 AD)

  26. hey, iv done loads of research for months , and templars were organised to protect pilgrims and the needy give charity not satanic as you described earlier , they where sent asunder by kings as they where more powerful in politics than kings and christianity push’s any other ideas out the window try’s to hide and smuther all other religions and ideas of life , i am christian but most christians believe in god and god only , its stupid there are other people out there like templars that are christian and want to help peopel but in there own way,, if your such a christian and love god os much you follow him that means you must kill people that commit adultry ? kill your child if they are stubburn and do not listen to you accordign to the bible,, people use the bible as they want listen to the statements they want and disregard the ones they dont want just like laws, people agree with some laws and not with others, a murderer could kill someone but disagree with rape therefor braking one law but following another, same with the bible people listen to the commandments they want to and only follow some it is stupid ,, live your life and do what you can to help others , do what you believe is right and do what you believe is morally correct and helpful. as the bible has been changed years down the line leaders and higher archy could of changed it to fit what they want the world to be like they have the power and everyone has the way of corruption in there heart ,, so just because templars do not follow full christian ways and there old text saying they were traitors and satanic doesnt make it true

  27. and to pj walker
    love the quote on your last comment
    it is so true

    as i believe that is why nearly every leader is religious as it helps them control the public gives them reasons for war and making laws …

    leaders have always used religion as a way forward to the people and to control the people some people see through it others dont

  28. finally by the writer of the labyrinth to the holy grail, who has researched this topic and the Templar way of life and foundlings form the start.

    Qoute:
    “By 1314 the Templars had transformed themselves into a body of men who were loathed by the church and certainly not admired for their heroic actions. On 18 March, Jacques Molay, the last Grand Master of the Order, Godffroi de Charney, the head of the Order in Normandy, and a third man were burned to death in Paris. It was claimed that they were devil worshippers – a rumour which seems to be untrue and which was almost certainly created to accentuate the charges of heresey brought against them. The simple facts were that they owned large tracts of valuable land which other people wanted to get their hands on! The Pope dissolved their order and warned that anyone thinking of joining would be excommunicated and charged as a heretic.

    The “Rubant Document” claims that the Templars were very advanced for their time, thanks to secret knowledge they had obtained from books. Somehow, the Knights had managed to find a sort of “complete and absolute knowledge”, a secret wisdom that was only known to the initiated. Raoul de Presle, a lawyer from the time, said that there was a strict secret held within the Order, the nature of which was so sensational that men would prefer to have their heads chopped off rather than divulge it! What on earth was this secret? Jacques de Molay had told the Inquisition just before his death that he would like to tell them “certain things” but they weren’t authorised to hear them. Did this involve the secret doctrine of the Templars, something that might threaten the very foundations of normal Christianity, or did it merely involve the guarding of an object?

    When the Knights Templar were founded in 1118-1119 in Jerusalem, it was a ‘poor order’ whose primary function was the protection of pilgrims along the main roads between the coast at Jaffa and the inland city of Jerusalem. But an important transformation took place when this nascent Order came under the patronage of St Bernard of Clairvaux, nephew of André de Montbard, one of the founding group of the Templars. Until his conversion at the age of twenty, St Bernard himself had been destined for a knightly career, and when he came to patronize the Knights Templar that Order was imbued with the ideals and convictions of the knightly class of Burgundy.

    It was Hugues of Champagne who donated the site of Clairvaux to Bernard, where he built his abbey and from whence he expanded his ’empire’. He became the official ‘sponsor’ of the Templars, and it was his influence that ensured papal recognition at the Council at Troyes, this being the capital of Hughes’ land….It was a disciple of Bernard’s, Pope Innocent II, (formerly a monk at Clairvaux) who freed the Templars from all allegiance to anyone except the Pope himself In 1128, Bernard of Clairvaux “was just twenty-eight years old when the Council of Troyes asked him to help create a Rule for the Templars. He did more than that. He became their most vocal champion, urging that they be supported with gifts of land and money and exhorting men of good family to cast off their sinful lives and take up the sword and the cross as Templar Knights

    St Bernard, who took a strong liking to Hughes, recognized a means of channeling the feudal nobility’s surplus energy which would convert ‘criminals and godless, robbers, murderers and adulterers’. He promised Hughes that he would compile a rule and find recruits. ‘They can fight the battle of the Lord and indeed be soldiers of Christ’. Military Christianity had found it real creator Bernard urged young men to take up the Templar sword, comparing the Templar’s holy way of life, so pleasing to God, to the degenerate ways of the secular knights, whose lives were dedicated to vanity, adultery, looting, and stealing, with many sins to atone for. The dedication to Christ, to a life of chastity and prayer, to a life that might be sacrificed in battle against unbelievers, was enough penance to atone for any sin or any number of sins. On that basis, Bernard appeared to sceleratos et impius, raptores et homicidas, adulteros, ‘the wicked and the ungodly, rapists and murderers, adulterers’, to save their own souls by enlisting as Kings of the Temple. That guaranteed absolution was also a way out for those suffering under decrees of excommunication. The taking of the Templar oath would evidence submission to the Church, and the supreme penance of a lifetime at war for the True Cross would satisfy God’s requirement for punishment of the contrite.

    The warriors are gentler than lambs and fiercer than lions, wedding the mildness of the monk with the valour of the knight, so that it is difficult to decide which to call them: men who adorn the Temple of Solomon with weapons instead of gems, with shields instead of crowns of gold, with saddles and bridles instead of candelabra: eager for victory — not fame; for battle not for pomp; who abhor wasteful speech, unnecessary action, unmeasured laughter, gossip and chatter, as they despise all vain things: who, in spite of their being many, live in one house according to one rule, with one soul and one heart Another pools of recruits was provided by the poor knights who lacked the funds to acquire horses, armor, and weapons. All of those things would be given to them upon their entry, along with personal attendants and servants. They were certain of adequate food and a place in which to live. Their self-respect, no matter how low it might have sunk, would be instantly restored”

  29. Pingback: 13 October 1307 – The day that changed the world « wonderinspirit

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