Templar Globe

JOUSTING is making a welcome return to Berkeley Castle this summer.

In July the castle will play host to the Berkeley Skirmish, a new two-day event, which it is hoped will go someway to replace the popular Joust.

Last summer the two-weekend Joust event, which was in its seventh year, had to be cancelled because of the heavy flooding that affected the region.

advertisementThe Joust used to attract more than 10,000 people to the area and its cancellation was devastating for Berkeley and the company Grail Presents that organised it, which faced financial ruin as a consequence.

However, Chris Bruce and his wife Karen Hill from Cheshire-based company Plantagenet Events Ltd, are hoping the new Berkeley Skirmish will help boost tourism.

Mr Bruce said: “We used to get involved with the Joust and we know how good it was. This is going to be smaller than the Joust because we are only just starting out, but we hope it will grow.

“Last year was devastating for everyone, not just the show, but for Berkeley and the entire region.

“What we want to do is support each other and hopefully re-establish an event that was so popular and such a boost for the area and it will give Gloucestershire something positive to advertise.

“We are only a small company, we do not have the financial resources the Joust had, but the response we are already getting from people within the medieval re-enactment world is incredible, everyone wants to come back to Berkeley.”

The Berkeley Skirmish will include living history, 70 traders, battle re-enactments, archery and some jousting.

Tim Davies, marketing director for the Berkeley Estate, said: “The advantage of this company is that they have been involved with Berkeley before so they know how it was done and what is available.

“Losing the Joust was a big blow, not just to us at the castle but to the local area. The fact that we can establish a similar event is very, very pleasing and we are looking forward to it.”

The Berkeley Skirmish will be held at Berkeley Castle on Saturday, July 26 and Sunday, July 27.

Plantagenet Events Ltd is in no way connected to Grail Presents, the company that ran the Joust.

By Liza-Jane Gillespie

The term Candlemas (or Candelaia) derives from the late Latin “candelorum” or “candelaram” namely the blessing of candles and it indicates a holiday in astronomical time, coinciding with half winter in the rural cycle, when we approach the end of winter and the beginning of spring. The most famous popular saying about it states: “When we are at Candlemas, we are out of winter, but if it rains or the wind is blowing, we are still within winter” suggesting that if the day of Candlemas does not have good weather, you still have to wait several weeks before the end of the winter and beginning of spring. This is a moment of transition between winter / dark / end and spring / light / Birth: the passage is celebrated through the purification and preparation for the new season.

For the Catholic Church, Candlemas is the Feast of the Purification of Mary, celebrated by the Church and by the faithful on February 2 simultaneously with the presentation of Jesus in the temple which could not take place before 40 days had passed, which is the time required by the Jewish law for the purification of one who has recently given birth to a male.

The first account of the Candlemas in the Holy Land is by Eteria that describes it as a major public holiday. Later, from Jerusalem, the festivities spread throughout the East and particularly to Byzantium. With the Emperor Justinian I it became a public holiday and took the name of Ypapanté (= meeting of the Lord). The origins of Candlemas, however, have distant roots in time.

From Rome, Italy, we descend on Lupercalia which celebrated in the Ides of February, the last month of the year for the Romans, when they used to purify themselves before the advent of the new year to propitiate fertility. In this celebration, dedicated to Fauno Lupercus, two boys of a patrician family were conducted into a cave on the Palatine, consecrated to God, in which priests, having sacrificed goats, mark their forehead with a knife stained with the blood of the animals. The blood was then dried with white wet wool in milk, and then the two couples had to smile. They were dressed in skins of sacrificed animals; and the same skins were then cut into strips which were then used as whips. So dressed and whips in hand, the couple had to run around the base of the Palatine hitting anyone they might encounter, particularly women who voluntarily offered to be purified and whipped to obtain fertility. Another moment of the festival was the ‘februatio’, the purification of the city, where women ran through the streets with lit candles and torches, a symbol of light.

The use of lit torches and candles during the religious procession had two functions: the first, of a spiritual nature, showed the victory of light over darkness, the social presentation of the Divine on earth, and the other of a practical nature, resulted from the need to have visibility in travelling night in the cities where the celebrations took place. The blessing of candles, then as now, is a significant moment in the great procession called Cerorum luminibus coruscans (or “shining through candles and lights”), and it is able to generate in the hearts of the participants a strong sense of communion with the mother of Jesus. Today, the solemn offer of candles to the Pope is done by many Italian cities, as in Trapani, where popular representations recall the purification of Mary, and people bring candles, flashlights and torches to their windows, as it used to happen in Naples. The blessed candles are then kept at home by the faithful and are lit to appease the wrath of God, during violent storms, on waiting for an absent person who does not return or is kept away in serious danger, when attending to a moribund, or anytime you feel the need to invoke divine help.

The character that of a Marian feast was introduced by Pope Sergio. But it will be the Eastern mysticism that sings more profusely in its liturgy about the Virgin’s gesture especially in the antiphonal “, oh Zion, the wedding room, receive Christ your Lord…” sang in response to the first reading of the office readings. This mystical intuition is made possible by following these steps: Christmas is considered the “husband” (antiphon to the Magnificat Vespers first and second readings at antiphon) as the sun is rising on the horizon; and the Church is considered as a bride adorned, its joys are the wedding feast of Christ with the Church. The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, though celebrated for a time “during the year,” is the final point of the Christmas season. The same antiphon, mentioned above, places Mary in the correct position by singing: “… (Oh Zion) hail Mary, gate of heaven, because she holds on her arms, the king of glory, the new light. The Virgin recoils, presenting the Son, born before the first-born star of the morning. Simeon keeps him in the arms, and announces to the people that he is the Lord of life and death, the Saviour of the world “. Towards the eleventh century comes to revelationem antiphon Lumen Gentium that characterizes faith and prayer of the Church in this circumstance, and the song of podsejani Simeon Nunc dimittis.

For this reason the Vatican II Council invites us to understand the intimate nature of these festivities: “The union of the Mother and the Son in redemption occurs upon virginal conception of Christ lasting until his death. And when presented to the temple by offering the gift of the poor, Simeon was heard saying that the son would become a sign of contradiction and that a sword would pierce the soul of the mother, because they revealed the thoughts of many hearts “(LG 57).

Candlemas in some places is called “Day of the bear”. In this particular day, the bear is emerges from hibernation and out of his burrow to see weather and assess whether or not he should put the nose out. A proverb from Piedmont says that if the bear has its dry bed (which would indicate a good weather for that day) for forty days he no longer exits. Another proverb similar to the first, but in this case Southern, argues that if the 2 February the weather is not good, the bear has a chance to stay in winter continues.

The bear was also the main character of some rural rites of February, placed in the rural cycle: at the end of a simulated hunt, the bear is caught and brought inside the country where it is the object of jokes and games. The epilogue can vary either with its release or an escape and return to nature. The character of the bears is played by actors in disguise who should not be recognized until the end of the ritual show.

At Urbiano they celebrate the “feast of the bear”: a few days before the feast, hunters with the face blackened, went in search of bears, (played by a man in costume) who were invariably found the eve of the evening. Hunters, “bear”, and a tamer visited the public houses and inns with the pretext to scare people (and girls), left to become transgressivelly drunk. The day after, the bear appeares in the country and, after the tour of the village, dances with the most beautiful girl before disappearing only to be transformed in a man.

This festival occurs not only in Piedmont and areas in the Alps, but also in other regions (and nations) and, at distant times bears in the party were true animals, led around by a mountaineer who took the bear dancing in the squares of villages around the country. Then he used to disappear. In some countries, to maintain tradition, the bear was then replaced by a masked person that specifically performed the same pantomime.
At Putignano, in Puglia, bear impersonators toured the streets of the country, stopping in the squares: there, with the sound of drums, they danced the tarantella, among those present arranged in a circle. Sometimes, depending on the weather, the bear wouls mimic the act of building his refuge (u pagghiar ‘).

These rites reprised an ancient tradition that celebrated the festival of the return of light for the summer, with the defeat of the forces of darkness and cold. By performing these rituals the symbolism of bears is revealed (they go into a winter hibernation and awaken back in spring), interpreting a primitive force of nature. The bear can also be understood as representing “wild man”. In both representations there is still represent the binomial nature - man.

The number “Forty” in the Bible
The day of Candlemas is connected with the number 40, a number that represents the purification. The Book of Genesis, for instance, tells us that the deluge lasted forty days and forty nights (7.12), and, according to Matthew, chapter 4.2, Jesus’ was fasting in the desert for forty days and forty nights. On the other hand, St. Paul in his writings to the Christians in Corinth, he recalls when he received 40 lashes by the Jews. (2Cor. 11.26)

In the Bible, the number 40, with its precise religious meaning is used many times: Abraham implores to God to save Sodom if there he would find at least 40 righteous people (but had come down to less than ten in the end), and when saved from Esau he had offer 40 cows in sacrifice. In Egypt, Joseph took 40 days to embalm the body of his father, and left Egypt, Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights, and when the tabernacle was built it took 40 silver bases to stand on. The explorers of the land of Canaan arriving to the Promised Land: it took them 40 days, but in return they had 40 years of punishment. Judge Abdon had 40 children, and the philistine persevered for 40 days, according to Samuel (1 Sam. 17.14).

Even the great prophet Elijah remained on Mount Horeb for 40 days and 40 nights and Jonah preached repentance to the inhabitants of Nineveh for 40 days. Therefore really lent 40 days (40 nights) of true inner penance, fasting, is not just a physical stance but spiritual experience.

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Translation with the help of Google Tools from the article published last Friday in Italian sent in by the Priory of Italy at the occasion of the publishing of the video depicting the Candlemas celebration of 2008. We apologise for any mistranslations.

El próximo día 1 de Marzo reunirá la encomienda de Málaga del Priorato de España en ceremonia y investidura a realizar en Marbella. Los miembros del Priorato de España que deseen participar, por favor contacten vuestro Comendador o el Prior General Fr+ Manuel Quintanilla.

El Canciller de la Orden ha confirmado su presencia a los actos.

It has been controversial for centuries.

The Shroud of Turin, a 4.3-metre linen cloth bearing the hidden image of a crucified man, is held by some to be the burial cloth that covered Jesus - and by others to be an elaborate medieval hoax.

Now a special exhibit at Trinity Western University in Langley will allow local believers and skeptics alike to learn more about the mysterious artifact.

A replica of the shroud will be on display along with 30 museum boards and numerous replicas of the items used in Roman crucifixions.

For Dr. Phillip Wiebe, Trinity Western philosophy professor and shroud expert, the exhibit provides an opportunity to bring together the spiritual and intellectual aspects of his faith.

“We shouldn’t tell people to ‘just believe,’” he said.

“The questions raised by popular culture about faith are legitimate.”

And the shroud raises further questions.

The real Shroud of Turin has been housed in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, for about 500 years.

It is shown to the public just a few times each century and is next scheduled for display in 2025.

The debate over its origin ranges from theories about Jesus to others about Leonardo da Vinci and the Knights Templar, in addition to numerous scientific theories that some critics say have never truly explained the strange markings on the cloth.

In Wiebe’s office at Trinity Western, the seven-foot-tall replica looms over a room laden with books. But its weighty presence pales in comparison to the professor’s life-changing experience when confronted with the real thing.

Wiebe had been lecturing about the shroud for about 20 years before he actually went to view it in 2000.

Standing in awe before the artifact, he heard a voice tell him: “The resurrection is real, Phillip.”

The moment trumped his doubts and led him into deeper belief.

But Wiebe is adamant that intellectual questions about its authenticity must be discussed.

“I insist on not separating the intellectual aspects from the way it touches people,” he said.

“Questions need to be allowed. If we just believe, it produces an inner conflict between the intellect and the heart . . . I feel there’s room for both.”

The display can be viewed at Trinity Western from March 10 to 14. The exhibit belongs to the Vancouver Shroud Association, of which Wiebe is a founding member. A series of lectures on the shroud’s authenticity and significance is also planned.

By Glenda Luymes, The Province, Canada

The Priory of Slovenia will be conducting a seminar for members and an Investiture ceremony in the Castle of Turjak this coming February the 24th.

Recently the Prior of Slovenia, Fr+ Marin Zen, has lead a pilgrimage of the Templars to the Marian Sanctuary of Medugorge where they celebrated mass and chanted the “Non Nobis” in a spontaneous choir that filled the celebration with a true sense of mystic elevation.

 The Magisterial Council will announce very soon the dates and agenda of the next two International Meetings and General Assemblies, to take place in Madrid, Spain in early April and Lubljana, Slovenia, in early June. Members of the Council will be present, but both meetings are to be attended by all Priors and opened to the participation of all regular members of the Order of all ranks.

Photo: Fr+ Marin Zen, Prior General of Slovenia

Editor del Globe con Fernando de Toro-Garland y esposa Dueña Paricia Oyarzun en Italia  

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El próximo Martes, 15 de Enero, presenta en Madrid su nuevo libro “La Rosa del Desierto” el poeta, escritor, abogado y ensayista Fernando de Toro-Garland, Maestro Emerito de la Orden del Temple. Al acto tendrá lugar en la Asociación de Escritores y Artistas Españoles y será presentado por Juan Ruiz de Torres.

Autor de una vasta obra literaria que repasa desde estudios lingüísticos y literarios, hasta la poesía, el ensayo y la misma novela, Fernando de Toro-Garland es un nombre de referencia obligatoria en el mundo Templario moderno. Esta presentación marca un punto alto (uno más), en una vida dedicada al saber y a las artes, como profesor universitario en Estados Unidos y España, como promotor de encuentros entre autores, escritores y artistas y como autor de gran talento y sofisticación.

La presentación será a las 8 de la tarde en la Calle Leganitos, 10 - 1º Derecha, Madrid.

Dickens, in Barnaby Rudge, got it right when he wrote “who enters here leaves noise behind”. You go through a door from honking, endless traffic and bustling pavements into a different world. Peaceful, slower, quiet. You feel you have stepped outside central London.

This is Temple, 20 acres of land which is one of London’s best kept secrets. Although primarily a large lawyer oasis between Fleet Street and the Embankment, it has a diverse cultural history which runs the gamut from Shakespeare to Robert Louis Stevenson, and John Tavener to The Da Vinci Code.

This month sees the beginning of events to mark the 400th anniversary of the signing of the royal charter giving Inner and Middle Temples a level of independence from church and crown control which they have ferociously guarded ever since. There were two conditions: the Inns must “serve for all time to come for the accommodation and education of the students and practitioners of laws of the realm”; and maintain the Temple church and its Master’s House. Both of these terms have been kept.

Events for the 2008 Temple festival kick off with an open weekend on January 19 and 20 giving access to the history soaked galleries, halls and gardens - the largest private gardens in London. “I think it’s true that a lot of Londoners don’t know we’re here and we want them to know we’re here,” said the festival’s artistic director, Kenneth Morrison.

One of the most striking parts of Temple is the Elizabethan Middle Temple hall which, unlike its Inner counterpart, largely survived German bombs in the second world war. The hall, with its double hammer beamed roof, has been the venue for all manner of performances down the years with the most impressive being the first performance of Twelfth Night in 1602 in which, it is said, Shakespeare appeared.

At the time it was the place to be seen, and to this day there are bits from Francis Drake’s galleon Golden Hind still in the hall, which Drake would have given as he partied and celebrated success against the Spanish. They include the table on which Middle Templars sign the roll of members when called to the bar: it is known as the cupboard and came from a hatch cover on the ship.

Every direction you turn there is something of interest. The 29ft table that was made in the hall from a single oak barged down from Windsor on the orders of Elizabeth I. The portrait of Charles I on a white steed from the studio of van Dyck, with the horse’s head disconcertingly small “so as not to look more imposing than the king”. And in the window, two stained panes with the shields of one Josephus Jekyll and Roburtus Hyde - one can imagine young Middle-bencher Robert Louis Stevenson staring up at the window and something lodging in his mind.

Over at the church, with its effigies of Knights Templar lying on the floor staring up to the sky, the Temple choristers are rehearsing carols in the place that the makers of the film The Da Vinci Code used for one of its scenes. The church was also the venue for the world premiere of Sir John Tavener’s seven-hour meditational The Veil of the Temple in 2003 using four choirs and several orchestras.

The open weekend kicks off four months of events including guided tours, mock trials and advocacy demonstrations. There will also be music, film and drama including a performance by the Holst Singers; a showing of the 1922 film Nosferatu (by Inner Temple’s Bram Stoker) accompanied by an improvised organ performance; a new production of Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas in Middle Temple hall; and recitals by singers including Angelika Kirchschlager, Carolyn Sampson and Sergei Leiferkus.

There will also be a series of public discussions on Islam in English law in Temple Church - an appropriate venue given that the church was built by the Knights Templar 800 years ago during the Crusades. On February 7 the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, will give a lecture entitled Civil and Religious Law in England: A Religious Perspective.

Robin Griffith-Jones, who is the Temple’s Anglican priest - or the Reverend and Valiant Master of the Temple, as he can call himself if he ever feels insecure - hopes the festival will lift the mystery which surrounds the 20 acres of land. “We are rather tucked away and we’re seen as a little bit secretive or covert, which is not the case. Most people haven’t got a clue we’re here and when people discover Temple they’re bowled over. It’s a magical place.”

· Visit temple2008.org for details of the festival

in The Guardian

For the first time in Italy in the last 700 years and 889 years since of the foundation of the Order, the International Chapter of Investiture of the Order of the Temple of Jerusalem will meet in the Basilica of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples, Italy.

The Order will be represented by a Spanish delegation with H.E. Fr+ ManuelQuintnilla, Prior fo Spain and magistrates and high officers of the Spanish Armed Forces, a delegation of the United States with Sor+ Janet Wintermute being the Italian representation made by Fr+ Raffaele Pariente, Prior of Italy with his Consiglio Priorale and Knights and Dames of the Bailiff of Magna Grecia, under Bailiff Fr+ Gennaro Nappo. 

The Chapter will be followed by a Eucharist Celebration, presided by Fr. Egidio Silviglia (OFM) and con-celebrated by the Chaplains of the Order, in memory of all those who have fallen fighting for Peace. The musical service will be performed by the “Agape Fraterna” Choral.

Chapter Knights and Dames with their guests will be invited to a fraternal meal at the Palazzo Petrucci.

Ufficio Stampa Priorato Generale d’Italia
OSMTJ-OSMTHU

Per la prima volta in Italia dopo quasi 700 anni, e a 889 dalla fondazione dell’Ordine, il prossimo 11 novembre 2007, si Riunisce il Capitolo Internazionale d’Investitura dell’Ordine del Tempio di Jerusalem, Presso la Basilica di San Domenico Maggiore in Napoli.

Saranno presenti una folta delegazione Spagnola, guidata dal Priore Generale di Spagna S.E. Manuel Quintanilla, composta da magistrati e alti graduati delle forze armate spagnole, la delegazione degli Stati Uniti d’America guidata dalla sr. Janet Wintermute, la rappresentanza Italiana guidata dal Priore Generale fr. Raffaele Pariante, composta dal Consiglio Priorale e dai Cavalieri del Gran Balivato Magna Grecia, guidati dal Balivo Ing. Gennaro Nappo.

Il Capitolo sarà preceduto da una Celebrazione Eucaristica, presieduta da fr. Egidio Siviglia (OFM) e concelebrata dai cappellani dell’ordine, in suffragio di tutti i caduti per la Pace. Il servizio musicale sarà curato dalla Corale “Agape Fraterna”.

I Cavalieri Capitolari a termine della cerimonia spezzeranno il pane fraterno presso Palazzo Petrucci.

Ufficio Stampa Priorato Generale d’Italia
OSMTJ-OSMTHU

 Investigadores de la historia y del patrimonio se reunirán la semana que viene en Monzón para poner al día los conocimientos sobre la presencia de esta Orden en las encomiendas aragonesas. Los aspectos esotéricos son difíciles de rastrear en los archivos.

Por segundo año consecutivo, Monzón va a ser sede de las Jornadas sobre la Orden del Temple en la Corona de Aragón, un foro donde especialistas en distintos ámbitos del conocimiento histórico y del patrimonio van a poner en común las últimas investigaciones sobre la presencia y actividades de las distintas encomiendas que los templarios sostuvieron en territorios de la Corona aragonesa.

Las jornadas, organizadas por el Centro de Estudios de Monzón y Cinca Medio (Cehimo), se celebrarán durante toda la semana próxima y ayer, como prólogo, se inauguró una exposición en la Sala Xauradó de la Casa de la Cultura montisonense, titulada “Castillos de la Ruta del Temple”, con fotografías de José Bravo Santamaría.

Las distintas ponencias que se desarrollarán profundizarán en la “indiscutible importancia de la Orden del Temple en zonas del Cinca Medio, Litera y parte del Somontano”, según el responsable del Cehimo, Jaime Peralta. Este experto en patrimonio participará en una de las conferencias, como director del equipo de investigación histórica y arqueológica del Cehimo, titulada “Nuevas aportaciones arqueológicas sobre la Orden del Temple y el Camino de Santiago en Monzón y Cinca Medio”. Se van a presentar los resultados de los últimos trabajos arqueológicos en torno al castillo de Monzón, una de las más importantes fortificaciones que ocuparon los templarios en Aragón y donde resistieron los últimos caballeros hasta mayo de 1309, por la persecución de que fueron objeto tras su caída en desgracia en el Papado y en las monarquías europeas. Estos trabajos han conseguido sacar a la luz al menos tres tumbas de otros tantos peregrinos que hacían el Camino de Santiago, lo que refuerza la teoría de que la Ruta Jacobea pasaba por este localidad aragonesa. También están ayudando a conocer mejor la estructura de los edificios del perímetro del castillo en la época que esta fortificación estuvo ocupada por los templarios y que fueron modificados por necesidades defensivas en siglos posteriores.

Un pasado oscuro

Este año, las jornadas se van a desarrollar pocos días después de la publicación de un libro, con el beneplácito del Vaticano, que rehabilita la memoria de los templarios, al hacerse públicos determinados documentos que confirman que las acusaciones de herejía de que fueron objeto los miembros de la Orden del Temple se debieron a un montaje.

En opinión de Jaime Peralta, nunca es tarde para retractarse y reconocer que los templarios fueron maltratados injustamente, siguiendo el ejemplo del anterior reconocimiento de errores y tropelías que llevó a cabo la Inquisición. “Fueron unos hechos que se produjeron en un contexto histórico determinado, que tuvieron su razón de ser histórica en el momento en que los poderes establecidos deciden acabar con el enorme poder de los templarios, de quienes tampoco se puede afirmar que fuese oro todo lo que reluce”, afirma el director del Cehimo.

El aspecto esotérico

Esa huella, la del supuesto esoterismo que rodeaba a esta orden, es la más difícil de investigar, dada la escasa documentación histórica en la que se pueden rastrear las presuntas prácticas contrarias a la ortodoxia cristiana, según confirma la historiadora zaragozana Ana Isabel Lapeña, quien cerrará las jornadas con una conferencia titulada “La vida interna de una encomienda templaria”. En todo caso, señala, todas las especulaciones se basan en los silencios que envuelven al origen de la orden, y recuerda que los templarios fueron absueltos en el proceso a que fueron sometidos en Aragón, pese a lo cual la orden fue disuelta con la fuerte resistencia de encomiendas como las de Castellote y Monzón.

Más fácil es acercarse a la organización y funcionamiento interno de las encomiendas, gracias a los documentos de carácter económico que pueden encontrarse en los archivos, aunque todavía queda mucho por investigar en torno a la mayoría de las encomiendas templarias de la Corona de Aragón, coinciden en afirmar Jaime Peralta y Ana Isabel Lapeña. Esta historiadora tratará en su intervención aspectos como el organigrama de una encomienda, en cuya cúspide se situaba el comendador. Otros cargos importantes eran el claviger, que se ocupaba de las cuestiones económicas, el capellán -ya que los templarios no tenían por qué ser clérigos-, y el consejo de la encomienda. Se detendrá especialmente en el caso de la encomienda de Novillas, la primera que hubo en la Corona de Aragón.

By J. Zaragoza, in Heraldo.es

Those who have read Dan Brown’s best-selling novel “The Da Vinci Code” are already familiar with some of the mystique surrounding the Knights Templar, a medieval organization formed in 1120.

Thursday, two days shy of the 700th anniversary of the Templars’ arrest by French King Philip IV, California University of Pennsylvania will stage a daylong series of events, open to the public, meant to explore some of the truths and falsehoods of this fascinating but often misunderstood order.

“The Templars, a fusion of the monastic impulse and chivalry, were not monks,” said Paul Crawford, the event coordinator and Cal U assistant professor of ancient and medieval history. “Rather, they were what’s best termed ‘fighting religious.’”

Besides a series of afternoon and evening lectures by academic experts, Cal U’s exploration of the Templars will include demonstrations of broadsword and rapier-style sword fighting by John Lennox, a historical combat specialist and doctoral candidate from Wayne State University in Michigan. The event will also include a viewing of Friesian horses, the closest living descendants of the medieval war horses used by the order’s knights.

“The Templars were originally formed to protect pilgrims on the route from Jaffa, the area around present day Haifa and Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem,” said Dr. Crawford. “They then quickly became a part of the army of Jerusalem and lasted almost 200 years until their arrest by the French king and subsequent suppression by Pope Clement V in 1312.”

At dawn on Friday, Oct. 13, 1307, Philip the Fair arrested the Templars residing in his kingdom and charged them with a long list of reprehensible crimes. After a long and muddled trial, some were burned at the stake, and an elaborate mythology grew up around the order.

“While we know a lot about what happened to the Templars in general, we’re not sure about what happened to them as individuals, which accounts for the subsequent legends,” said Dr. Crawford.

To dispel some of the erroneous notions about the Templars, three speakers will address the audience starting at 12:30 p.m. when professor Constance Bouchard of the University of Akron will discuss medieval Catholic religious orders in general. Professor Bouchard will again take to the podium at 2 p.m. to deliver a talk on medieval chivalry.

At 3:30 p.m., professor Jochen Burgtorf of California State University-Fullerton will speak on the general history of the Templars, while Malcolm Barber of the University of Reading in England and one of the world’s foremost experts on the Templars, will deliver the keynote speech at 7:30 p.m.

All talks, free and open to the public, will take place in the Performance Center of the Natali Student Center.

“Dr. Barber, author of the authoritative book, ‘The Trial of the Templars,’ will speak at a total of eight universities in the U.S. during this anniversary year, including California University of Pennsylvania,” said Dr. Crawford, an ancient history and medieval scholar selected as one of the commentators by the History Channel for the production of its 2006 documentary on the Templars.

For more information and a complete schedule of events, phone 724-938-4054.

in the post-gazette

The next General Convent and Magisterial Council Meeting of the OSMTHU will take place in Madrid, Spain, the 21st, 22nd and 23rd of September, hosted by the Priory General of Spain.

Fr+ Manuel Quintanilla, Prior general of Spain and Secretary General of the Magisterial Council has sent the summons to all Magisterial Council members and Priors. This is a very special meeting, for several reasons. It will be a General Convent, in which all Priories and Priors should be present, but also opened to all regular members of the Order, Dames and Knights of any Priory that wish to take part in the decision making of the Order and have their valuable views discussed and considered by the Order’s leadership.

The current situation of the Order is better than it was one year ago, but there is a lot to be done and the tasks ahead require the involvement of every Templar. Several cultural activities are in preparation, there will be a public conference and we are making a great effort to release a new book about the Order at the event. A full detailed calendar will be send by the Secretary General shortly. If you haven’t received the information, please, contact us on osmthu@mail.com so that we can include you on the list. I stress again that attendance is opened to everyone, regardless of rank.

Finally, if you want to have news on the General Assembly of the Grand Priory of England and Wales, held this past weekend, please visit this post from our English webmaster.

The annual General Assembly and Investiture of the Priory of England and Wales has been called for the 30th of June in Llandudno, North Wales.

As always, the ceremonies will be directed by Fr+ Leslie Payne (on the left, with the Editor), Prior General of England and Wales, Seneschal of the Magisterial Council of the OSMTHU.

So, if you are a Templar and you are in England and wish to attend the meeting, do contact the Chancellor of the Priory of England and Wales, Fr. Mike Davies on dmwd@btinternet.com

A General Assembly of the Priory of Brazil has been called for the 10th of February. The main point in the Agenda of the day is the election of the new Prior General of Brazil. The Assembly will take place in the Itaici Monastery, in Indaiatuba, São Paulo.

The only candidate is Sor. Rosali de Oliveira Gato, Dame of the Temple and currently Seneschal of the Priory of Brazil. We wish her luck in the election and hope the event to be a good occasion for fraternal friendship to be lived by our Brazilian brethren.

So, if you are a Templar and you are in São Paulo around the 10th of February, and wish to attend the meeting, do contact Sor. Roasli at rosaligato@uol.com.br.

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 Uma Assembleia Geral foi convocada no Priorado do Brasil para o dia 10 de Fevereiro. O ponto principal da agenda é a eleição do novo Prior Geral do Brasil. A Assembleia terá lugar  no Mosteiro de Itaici, em Indaiatuba, São Paulo.

 A única candidadta é a Sor. Rosali de Oliveira Gato, Dama Templária e actualmente Senescal do Priorado do Brasil. Desejamos-lhe muita sorte para a sua eleição e esperamos que o evento seja uma boa ocasião para um fraternal e amistoso convívio entre os Irmãos Brasileiros.

Por isso, se é Templário, está em São Paulo por volta do dia 10 de Fevereiro, e deseja estar presente no reunião, por favor contacte Sor. Rosali em rosaligato@uol.com.br.

The Priory of Spain held its election for Prior General recently and the Priory of Portugal has an election comming up. It has been decided that the new elected Priors will be invested during the upcoming meetings and investitures in New Jersey.

The new Prior General of Spain is Fr+ Manuel Quintanilla (in the photo). We expect to have news from Portugal shortly.

So, if you are a member of the Order and wish to attend this very special occasion, please add to your calendar the following event:

Investiture of the Prior General of Spain, Fr+ Manuel Quintanilla

Investiture of the Prior General of Portugal, to be announced

December 17th., 2006

Elizabeth, NJ

United States

Please add to your calendar the following event:

The 16th and 17th of December the Commandery of New Jersey under the Priory of Portugal will be holding an investiture. All Knights and Dames of the Order are welcome to attend. If you wish to do so, please contact the “Templar Globe” and we will forward your request to Fr+ Dantas, Commander of New Jersey.