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Article NOTES ON THE TEMPLE AND HOSPITAL. Page 1 of 2 Article NOTES ON THE TEMPLE AND HOSPITAL. Page 1 of 2 Article NOTES ON THE TEMPLE AND HOSPITAL. Page 1 of 2 →
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Notes On The Temple And Hospital.
NOTES ON THE TEMPLE AND HOSPITAL .
BY BRO . EMRA HOLMES , , 3 / . Preceptor of the Prudence Preceptory of Knights Templar and Prior of the Prudence Priory of Knights of Malta : Grand Provost of England ( United Orders of the Temple and Hospital ) , cic .
I am very grateful to Bros . "Lupus '' and "A Masonic Student"' for noticing my articles on the above subject , and must beg leave to replyto them in as brief a manner as may be . Bro . " Lupus" will , I am sure , take in as good part as I have done my answer to his strictures .
" A Masonic Student , ' I am thankful to see , knows that I only desire to be just ; that I give the pros and cons as fairly as I can ; and that my sole [ desire is to seek after the truth and maintain it ; and that in all these questions I endeavour to give chapter and verse for all I put
forward , my single object being the elimination of truth . I am sorry that " Lupus '' should accuse me of making unsupported assertions , because that is just what I have aimed not to do , and in no case can I accuse myself of putting forward asseverations for which I had not some authority , good ,
bad , or indifferent . I fancy my authority for the statement that he was Grand Prior , was a newspaper paragraph , but I have ascertained from Sir George Bowyer himself that he is not appointed Grand Prior , that there are no dignitaries of any sort in England , and that the Pope has no power to create a Prior . I hasten to make this
correction . A mutual and distinguished friend wrote to Sit George respecting this discussion , and asked him whether heretics and schismatics could enter the Order ; to which Sir George answers , " No . "
My friend put the query - " How was the Emperor Paul elected Grand Master , he being a schismatic ; and why was such election recognised as valid ? " to which the reply is made " that it was recognised , though irregular , in a time ol revolution and trouble . "
"What is the position ol the Duke of Manchester , who claims to be Grand Prior in England ' - " was the next query addressed to Sir George , to which , he returns the significant answer , " Nothing '' ?
What is the order of St . John in Prussia and whence descended et
" Only in the case ol those who choose to take the vows , " Sir George replies . I hope Bro . Lupus is satisfied . " A Masonic Student , '' in canvassing the claims of the Cam ]) of Baldwin to a real descent from the Red Cross Knights , objects to the term
Encampment , as being a Masonic title not older than 1760 . This I admit . He also says that Preceptories in the old days were named alter places , not persons , and that the name Baldwin Encampment must be a misnomer , and betrays its Masonic origin .
I admit this also , but by parity of reasoning I would ask , does not the same rule apply to the ' craft r Were the old lodges named as at present , or were they not frequently , up to the beginning of the 18 th century , called after the hostelries at which they were held , rather than , as now , after the names of people , Masonic symbols , attributes ,
graces , and so forth ? Yet anyone who argued that , therefore , the present Masons had nothing to do with their Masonic ancestors of the 16 th and j 7 th centuries , or the travelling Freemasons of the middle ages , would surely be wrong , and " A Masonic Student , " the redoubtable opponent of the 1717 theory , would make short woik of Mich
specious reasoning . The fact that the Camp of Baldwin existed under its present name prior to 1780 , is no proof that the Templars as a bod y did not exist long prior to that in Bristol under another name . I
am glad to be corrected by my learned and courteous opponent as to my authority for stating that Richard 1 . left Palestine as a Templar , and especially glad to find that the statement its-.-h" is correct , though I gave Yinsau !' . instead of William of Tyre , as its author .
Notes On The Temple And Hospital.
Turning to Bro . Lupus , I will answer his statements in few words , and show by what authority I maintain my statement that the Protestant Order of St . John in England has no more rig ht to the title than we . the Masonic Knights of St . John .
Lupus , at page 24 of The Freemason , asserts , amongst a number of equally rash assertions , that the Russian Priories never had any connection with the Anglo-Bavarian languc . Well , I refer him to his friend Col . Porter ' s valuable work , where he will find the following at page 4 , 30 . I
like to be particular . " The late Polish Priory was largely augmented and converted into a Russian Priory with a revenue of , 300 , 000 florins , or about c £ y , ^ oo . This Priory was to be divided into ten
commanderies for knights , and three for chaplains , and was incorporated into the Anglo-Bavarian languc . " 1 leave your readers to judge , after this , who is in the habit of makinsr unfounded assertions .
I may here remark that Porter says . * "In 17 S 2 also a new language was created in Bavaria , and joined to the extinct language of England under the title of Anglo-Bavarian . " Lupus impugns the election of the Emperor Paul as illegal , because he was made Grand
Master during the lifetime of Dr . Hompesch . Turning to Porter , } I find Raymond Dcspui g was elected Grand Master by the suffrages of all the knights , even during the life of his predecessor , on the 16 th December , 17 . 36 . Lupus fails to find a statement in Porter ' s
work bearing the complexion I put upon the paragraph , which he proceeds to emote , and from which 1 draw the inference that , though reestablished , the Protestant Anglican langne . has no connection with the foreign branches of the Fraternity .
Well , I put it to any impartial reader of The Freemason whether the inference I draw from the very quotation " Lupus " gives , and which is to be found at p . 4 6 4 of Col . Porter ' s book , is not tin ; natural and most reasonable one , and that
Col . Porter meant what he said when he wrote that " the dormant language of England was once more revived and again established , although without connection with the foreign branches of the Fraternity . " I have to thank " A Masonic Student" for his
interesting notes on my lecture , at page 4 6 of The Freemason . " Lupus" has already replied te ) some of his queries respecting the Order of St . John , so 1 need say but little upon that score . I may , however , observe that I have a trenchant
letter before me on this subject from a learned friend ( himself a knight of several orders , who refused the knighthood of the Holy Sepulchre ) , who tells me that Sir Richard Peat , who called himself Grand Prior of England , was declared an impostor .
I am inclined to agree with him ( "A Masonic Student" ) that the Templars received their apurreta from the Masons , and not the Masons from the Templars , and I contend that your correspondent ' s note is , on the whole , favourable to my view . I do not the least favour Hr .
tehenson s view that Masonry descends to us from the Crusaders , and that it is of chivalric ori gin ; on the contrary , I have always held " A Masonic Student ' s'' views as to its connection with the Operative Masons of the middle ages ; but still
the actual connection , whatever it was , is a vexata qn .-cstio , and we can at best theorise , according to our views . I do not even yet despair of making " A Masonic Student" a very good Templar , even though he never joins the Order .
My genial critic will find much suggestive matter in Joining ' s " Rosicrucians . " The author of that interesting but very curious work speak- of th .- Templar flag , the Beause ' -ant ( Be . m Si ' . int ) , " as the grandly mystic banner , revealing a whole occult the ¦ . isophy to the initiate ,
which the leaders of the Templars undoubtedl y were . "} Jennings goes on to say--- " Yon Hammer ' s Mystery of Baphomet revealed , " contains much suggestive matter relative to these mysterious
Notes On The Temple And Hospital.
Templars . The Parisian "Templiers" ( no doubt he meanst he Ordre du Temple of France ) assert that there is a connection between the recent Niskhi character and the Cufic characters , and that the origin of the secrets of the Order of the Temple is contemporary with the prevalence of
the latter alphabet . " Your readers know that the Templars were accused of being Gnostics , and Jennings adds to some comments on the subject , "It is well known that the preservation of gnostic symbols b y Freemasons was , and remains so to this day , exceedingly sedulous . "
In another portion of the work , the author says " The character of the Head which the Templars were charged with having worshiped ( sic ) in their secret encampments or mystic lodges had been the subject of much dispute , some say it was the head of Prosperpine , or of the mother
of nature , presented under certain strange aspects . Others assert that the figure was malee of Dis or Charm , according to the classic nomenclature . The object was reputed to be a talisman , and that it is called by some to be the head of Medusa , orthe snake haired visage , dropping blood
which turned to snakes , and transforming the beholder to stone . It was this head , or one of a similar description , which was supposed to serve as the talisman or recognitive mark of the secret fraternity or society headed by Pichegruand others which was suppressed by Napoleon . "
To return once more to Brother " Lupus ' and his strictures , I may say that Sir George Bowyer , through a friend , very courteously placed at my disposal the other day a very important
document touching the Anglican claims . He also lent me a book , which I had in my possession till this last day or two , the General Roll of the Order , published at Rome in 1872 , entitled Ruolo Generate del Sov . S . M . Online Gerosolimitano .
Jn the table ol Grand Masters I find the names of Emmanuele Pinto de Fonseca as 68 th Grand Master , from 174110174 , 3 ; Ferdinando Hompesch as 71 st Grand Master , from 1797 to 1 798 ; Paolo I . Impcratore de Russia as 72 nd Grand Master , from 1798 to 1800 ; and Giovanni
lommasi , as 7 , 3 rd Grand Master , from 1802 to 1805 . I also find the name of Filippo di Colloredo as Luogotenent , del Magistero ( Lieutenant of the Mastery ) from 15 th Sep ., 1 S 45 to 9 th Oct . 186 4 ; and Giovanni Battista Ceschidi SantaCroce in the same important post , to which he was elected
14 th Feb ., 1 S 72 . I find also an account of the names and rank of the Kni ghts who form the Grand Priory of Rome , and the rest of the dependent bodies which constitute the Italian languc—including the Grand Priories of Lombardo-Venetia and the Two Sicilies ! : I also see
the German Langue , which includes the Grand Prior of Bohemia and its dependant bodies , together with the association of knights in Silesia and Westphalia . I further trace the names of Sir George Bowyer and Count TrafFe , whose Book on the Order I have noticed , but I fail to
find that of His Grace of Manchester , or that of many others who claim to be Kni ghts of St . John of Jerusalem . The fact is , as I have stated , the so-called English langue is repudiated b y the authorities of the Order at Rome , and whatever my worthy and esteemed Brother
Lupus may say to the contrary , we , as Masonic Knights of Malta , have as much ri ght to the title as the Protestant gentlemen whom I have ri ghtly called " the Manchester Body . " Indeed , I have reason to believe that the Catholic
Order has less objection to us as a body , inasmuch as they deem us only ad imitationem , than they have for the body which was , as many think , illegally revived in England as the Order of St . John in Anglia , and which claims a legitimate s icccssion .
'I'he document to which I have referred I propose to publish in next week ' s Freemason . Your readers will then see whether T do or do not make unsupported assertions . So far as the Duke of Sussex is concerned , I do not quarrel with Bro . Lupus' conclusions , though I may have a very clillerent view of the matter to my learned antagonist .
The Duke would not care to join a branch of the Order which he , in common with others , might look upon as spurious , but he was far too courteous to say what he meant . I don ' t see anything in what Bro . Lupus has printed ( of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Notes On The Temple And Hospital.
NOTES ON THE TEMPLE AND HOSPITAL .
BY BRO . EMRA HOLMES , , 3 / . Preceptor of the Prudence Preceptory of Knights Templar and Prior of the Prudence Priory of Knights of Malta : Grand Provost of England ( United Orders of the Temple and Hospital ) , cic .
I am very grateful to Bros . "Lupus '' and "A Masonic Student"' for noticing my articles on the above subject , and must beg leave to replyto them in as brief a manner as may be . Bro . " Lupus" will , I am sure , take in as good part as I have done my answer to his strictures .
" A Masonic Student , ' I am thankful to see , knows that I only desire to be just ; that I give the pros and cons as fairly as I can ; and that my sole [ desire is to seek after the truth and maintain it ; and that in all these questions I endeavour to give chapter and verse for all I put
forward , my single object being the elimination of truth . I am sorry that " Lupus '' should accuse me of making unsupported assertions , because that is just what I have aimed not to do , and in no case can I accuse myself of putting forward asseverations for which I had not some authority , good ,
bad , or indifferent . I fancy my authority for the statement that he was Grand Prior , was a newspaper paragraph , but I have ascertained from Sir George Bowyer himself that he is not appointed Grand Prior , that there are no dignitaries of any sort in England , and that the Pope has no power to create a Prior . I hasten to make this
correction . A mutual and distinguished friend wrote to Sit George respecting this discussion , and asked him whether heretics and schismatics could enter the Order ; to which Sir George answers , " No . "
My friend put the query - " How was the Emperor Paul elected Grand Master , he being a schismatic ; and why was such election recognised as valid ? " to which the reply is made " that it was recognised , though irregular , in a time ol revolution and trouble . "
"What is the position ol the Duke of Manchester , who claims to be Grand Prior in England ' - " was the next query addressed to Sir George , to which , he returns the significant answer , " Nothing '' ?
What is the order of St . John in Prussia and whence descended et
" Only in the case ol those who choose to take the vows , " Sir George replies . I hope Bro . Lupus is satisfied . " A Masonic Student , '' in canvassing the claims of the Cam ]) of Baldwin to a real descent from the Red Cross Knights , objects to the term
Encampment , as being a Masonic title not older than 1760 . This I admit . He also says that Preceptories in the old days were named alter places , not persons , and that the name Baldwin Encampment must be a misnomer , and betrays its Masonic origin .
I admit this also , but by parity of reasoning I would ask , does not the same rule apply to the ' craft r Were the old lodges named as at present , or were they not frequently , up to the beginning of the 18 th century , called after the hostelries at which they were held , rather than , as now , after the names of people , Masonic symbols , attributes ,
graces , and so forth ? Yet anyone who argued that , therefore , the present Masons had nothing to do with their Masonic ancestors of the 16 th and j 7 th centuries , or the travelling Freemasons of the middle ages , would surely be wrong , and " A Masonic Student , " the redoubtable opponent of the 1717 theory , would make short woik of Mich
specious reasoning . The fact that the Camp of Baldwin existed under its present name prior to 1780 , is no proof that the Templars as a bod y did not exist long prior to that in Bristol under another name . I
am glad to be corrected by my learned and courteous opponent as to my authority for stating that Richard 1 . left Palestine as a Templar , and especially glad to find that the statement its-.-h" is correct , though I gave Yinsau !' . instead of William of Tyre , as its author .
Notes On The Temple And Hospital.
Turning to Bro . Lupus , I will answer his statements in few words , and show by what authority I maintain my statement that the Protestant Order of St . John in England has no more rig ht to the title than we . the Masonic Knights of St . John .
Lupus , at page 24 of The Freemason , asserts , amongst a number of equally rash assertions , that the Russian Priories never had any connection with the Anglo-Bavarian languc . Well , I refer him to his friend Col . Porter ' s valuable work , where he will find the following at page 4 , 30 . I
like to be particular . " The late Polish Priory was largely augmented and converted into a Russian Priory with a revenue of , 300 , 000 florins , or about c £ y , ^ oo . This Priory was to be divided into ten
commanderies for knights , and three for chaplains , and was incorporated into the Anglo-Bavarian languc . " 1 leave your readers to judge , after this , who is in the habit of makinsr unfounded assertions .
I may here remark that Porter says . * "In 17 S 2 also a new language was created in Bavaria , and joined to the extinct language of England under the title of Anglo-Bavarian . " Lupus impugns the election of the Emperor Paul as illegal , because he was made Grand
Master during the lifetime of Dr . Hompesch . Turning to Porter , } I find Raymond Dcspui g was elected Grand Master by the suffrages of all the knights , even during the life of his predecessor , on the 16 th December , 17 . 36 . Lupus fails to find a statement in Porter ' s
work bearing the complexion I put upon the paragraph , which he proceeds to emote , and from which 1 draw the inference that , though reestablished , the Protestant Anglican langne . has no connection with the foreign branches of the Fraternity .
Well , I put it to any impartial reader of The Freemason whether the inference I draw from the very quotation " Lupus " gives , and which is to be found at p . 4 6 4 of Col . Porter ' s book , is not tin ; natural and most reasonable one , and that
Col . Porter meant what he said when he wrote that " the dormant language of England was once more revived and again established , although without connection with the foreign branches of the Fraternity . " I have to thank " A Masonic Student" for his
interesting notes on my lecture , at page 4 6 of The Freemason . " Lupus" has already replied te ) some of his queries respecting the Order of St . John , so 1 need say but little upon that score . I may , however , observe that I have a trenchant
letter before me on this subject from a learned friend ( himself a knight of several orders , who refused the knighthood of the Holy Sepulchre ) , who tells me that Sir Richard Peat , who called himself Grand Prior of England , was declared an impostor .
I am inclined to agree with him ( "A Masonic Student" ) that the Templars received their apurreta from the Masons , and not the Masons from the Templars , and I contend that your correspondent ' s note is , on the whole , favourable to my view . I do not the least favour Hr .
tehenson s view that Masonry descends to us from the Crusaders , and that it is of chivalric ori gin ; on the contrary , I have always held " A Masonic Student ' s'' views as to its connection with the Operative Masons of the middle ages ; but still
the actual connection , whatever it was , is a vexata qn .-cstio , and we can at best theorise , according to our views . I do not even yet despair of making " A Masonic Student" a very good Templar , even though he never joins the Order .
My genial critic will find much suggestive matter in Joining ' s " Rosicrucians . " The author of that interesting but very curious work speak- of th .- Templar flag , the Beause ' -ant ( Be . m Si ' . int ) , " as the grandly mystic banner , revealing a whole occult the ¦ . isophy to the initiate ,
which the leaders of the Templars undoubtedl y were . "} Jennings goes on to say--- " Yon Hammer ' s Mystery of Baphomet revealed , " contains much suggestive matter relative to these mysterious
Notes On The Temple And Hospital.
Templars . The Parisian "Templiers" ( no doubt he meanst he Ordre du Temple of France ) assert that there is a connection between the recent Niskhi character and the Cufic characters , and that the origin of the secrets of the Order of the Temple is contemporary with the prevalence of
the latter alphabet . " Your readers know that the Templars were accused of being Gnostics , and Jennings adds to some comments on the subject , "It is well known that the preservation of gnostic symbols b y Freemasons was , and remains so to this day , exceedingly sedulous . "
In another portion of the work , the author says " The character of the Head which the Templars were charged with having worshiped ( sic ) in their secret encampments or mystic lodges had been the subject of much dispute , some say it was the head of Prosperpine , or of the mother
of nature , presented under certain strange aspects . Others assert that the figure was malee of Dis or Charm , according to the classic nomenclature . The object was reputed to be a talisman , and that it is called by some to be the head of Medusa , orthe snake haired visage , dropping blood
which turned to snakes , and transforming the beholder to stone . It was this head , or one of a similar description , which was supposed to serve as the talisman or recognitive mark of the secret fraternity or society headed by Pichegruand others which was suppressed by Napoleon . "
To return once more to Brother " Lupus ' and his strictures , I may say that Sir George Bowyer , through a friend , very courteously placed at my disposal the other day a very important
document touching the Anglican claims . He also lent me a book , which I had in my possession till this last day or two , the General Roll of the Order , published at Rome in 1872 , entitled Ruolo Generate del Sov . S . M . Online Gerosolimitano .
Jn the table ol Grand Masters I find the names of Emmanuele Pinto de Fonseca as 68 th Grand Master , from 174110174 , 3 ; Ferdinando Hompesch as 71 st Grand Master , from 1797 to 1 798 ; Paolo I . Impcratore de Russia as 72 nd Grand Master , from 1798 to 1800 ; and Giovanni
lommasi , as 7 , 3 rd Grand Master , from 1802 to 1805 . I also find the name of Filippo di Colloredo as Luogotenent , del Magistero ( Lieutenant of the Mastery ) from 15 th Sep ., 1 S 45 to 9 th Oct . 186 4 ; and Giovanni Battista Ceschidi SantaCroce in the same important post , to which he was elected
14 th Feb ., 1 S 72 . I find also an account of the names and rank of the Kni ghts who form the Grand Priory of Rome , and the rest of the dependent bodies which constitute the Italian languc—including the Grand Priories of Lombardo-Venetia and the Two Sicilies ! : I also see
the German Langue , which includes the Grand Prior of Bohemia and its dependant bodies , together with the association of knights in Silesia and Westphalia . I further trace the names of Sir George Bowyer and Count TrafFe , whose Book on the Order I have noticed , but I fail to
find that of His Grace of Manchester , or that of many others who claim to be Kni ghts of St . John of Jerusalem . The fact is , as I have stated , the so-called English langue is repudiated b y the authorities of the Order at Rome , and whatever my worthy and esteemed Brother
Lupus may say to the contrary , we , as Masonic Knights of Malta , have as much ri ght to the title as the Protestant gentlemen whom I have ri ghtly called " the Manchester Body . " Indeed , I have reason to believe that the Catholic
Order has less objection to us as a body , inasmuch as they deem us only ad imitationem , than they have for the body which was , as many think , illegally revived in England as the Order of St . John in Anglia , and which claims a legitimate s icccssion .
'I'he document to which I have referred I propose to publish in next week ' s Freemason . Your readers will then see whether T do or do not make unsupported assertions . So far as the Duke of Sussex is concerned , I do not quarrel with Bro . Lupus' conclusions , though I may have a very clillerent view of the matter to my learned antagonist .
The Duke would not care to join a branch of the Order which he , in common with others , might look upon as spurious , but he was far too courteous to say what he meant . I don ' t see anything in what Bro . Lupus has printed ( of