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Article NOTITIÆ TEMPLARIÆ, No. 3. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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Notitiæ Templariæ, No. 3.
England , however , be it told , that no direct torture was ever used , as in France . Some few of the knights , less conscientious or resolute than their leaders , were tempted to make general admissions of the crime of entertaining heresy , and purchased an exemption from the severer penalties , being only adjudged to perform some purifying penances .
One of the heresies of ivhich they were accused , was that of receiving absolution from the Grand Prior without the special authority of the church : secrecy was also an article of accusation against them . " Quod clam consueverunt tenere capitula sua , " and " quod similem clandestinitatem observant et observare consueverunt , ut plurimum in recipiendo fratres . " Hence their supposed , but not very clearly established
connexion with the Freemasons . A certain Templar , on being interrogated why they thus held their chapters and initiations in secret , gives an odd answer— " Propter stultitiam ! " A school-hoy would translate this " For fun . " Thomas de Tocci , another prisoner , deponed on his examination , that when he was received into the Order , a Templar thus addressed him : — " Si sederes super campanile Sanct . Pauli ,
London : non posses videre majora infortunia quam tibi contingent antequam moriaris . " The reader must be left to form his own conjectures respecting the nature of these initiatory rites .
The Templars of England being , of course , found guilty , a papal bull was forthwith issued , assigning their estates to the Hospitallers of St . John . Edward the Second , in consequence , gave orders to deliver up the same to the commissioners appointed , thus consummating the destruction of this extraordinary Order in England . The only instance of the Society of the Temple substantially
surviving entire , occurred in Portugal , though for this end it sacrificed its peculiar and ancient name . Denys , prince of that country , averse to the destruction of an Order which he had taken under his special protection , adroitly avoided tbe fate which threatened it , by the nominal fiction of converting its title into that of the " Order of Christ , " the supremacy of which he declared from thenceforth vested in the crown . Nor was the change of name a violent one , or even new , as we frequently find the soldiery of the Temple indiscriminately and sometimes
conjunctly styled , in ancient documents , Militia Templi and Militia Christi . This politic substitution , however , greatly offended the See of Rome , ivhich refused to sanction the society ; but in the succeeding pontificate of John XXII . the Order of Christ was formally recognised . All their former property was secured to them under the new name , and they have continued to flourish , undisturbed , down to the present
day , with the exception of the effect which the different political contests in that country must have had upon them . During the last century , the cross ofthe Order was rather prostituted , in being bestowal
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Notitiæ Templariæ, No. 3.
England , however , be it told , that no direct torture was ever used , as in France . Some few of the knights , less conscientious or resolute than their leaders , were tempted to make general admissions of the crime of entertaining heresy , and purchased an exemption from the severer penalties , being only adjudged to perform some purifying penances .
One of the heresies of ivhich they were accused , was that of receiving absolution from the Grand Prior without the special authority of the church : secrecy was also an article of accusation against them . " Quod clam consueverunt tenere capitula sua , " and " quod similem clandestinitatem observant et observare consueverunt , ut plurimum in recipiendo fratres . " Hence their supposed , but not very clearly established
connexion with the Freemasons . A certain Templar , on being interrogated why they thus held their chapters and initiations in secret , gives an odd answer— " Propter stultitiam ! " A school-hoy would translate this " For fun . " Thomas de Tocci , another prisoner , deponed on his examination , that when he was received into the Order , a Templar thus addressed him : — " Si sederes super campanile Sanct . Pauli ,
London : non posses videre majora infortunia quam tibi contingent antequam moriaris . " The reader must be left to form his own conjectures respecting the nature of these initiatory rites .
The Templars of England being , of course , found guilty , a papal bull was forthwith issued , assigning their estates to the Hospitallers of St . John . Edward the Second , in consequence , gave orders to deliver up the same to the commissioners appointed , thus consummating the destruction of this extraordinary Order in England . The only instance of the Society of the Temple substantially
surviving entire , occurred in Portugal , though for this end it sacrificed its peculiar and ancient name . Denys , prince of that country , averse to the destruction of an Order which he had taken under his special protection , adroitly avoided tbe fate which threatened it , by the nominal fiction of converting its title into that of the " Order of Christ , " the supremacy of which he declared from thenceforth vested in the crown . Nor was the change of name a violent one , or even new , as we frequently find the soldiery of the Temple indiscriminately and sometimes
conjunctly styled , in ancient documents , Militia Templi and Militia Christi . This politic substitution , however , greatly offended the See of Rome , ivhich refused to sanction the society ; but in the succeeding pontificate of John XXII . the Order of Christ was formally recognised . All their former property was secured to them under the new name , and they have continued to flourish , undisturbed , down to the present
day , with the exception of the effect which the different political contests in that country must have had upon them . During the last century , the cross ofthe Order was rather prostituted , in being bestowal