Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

408 KNIGHTS
KNIGHTS
"Do you promise God and Mary, our dear
Lady, never to hold this Order for stronger or
weaker, for worse or for better, but with the
permission of the Master or the convent which
has the authority? "
"Yes, Sir, God willing ."
"Finally, do you promise God and Mary,
our dear Lady, that you will never be present
when a Christian shall be unjustly and unlawfully
despoiled of his heritage, and that you
will never by counsel or act take part therein?"
"Yes, Sir, God willing."
Then the Master said : "Thus, in the name
of God and Mary our dear Lady, and in the
name of St . Peter of Rome, and our Father the
Pope, and in the name of all the Brethren of
the Temple, we receive you to all the good
works of the Order which have been done from
the beginning, and shall be done to the end,
you, your father, your mother, and all your
lineage, who you are willing shall have a share
therein . In like manner do you receive us
into all the good works which you have done
or shall do . We assure you bread and water,
and the poor clothing of the Order, and toil
and labor in abundance."
The Chaplain then read the 133d Psalm and
the prayer of the Holy Ghost, Deus qui cords
fidelium, and the brethren repeated the Lord's
prayer . The Prior and the Chaplain gave the
recipient the fraternal kiss . He was then
seated before the Master, who delivered to
him a discourse on his duties and obligations
as a member of the Order .
These duties may be thus summed up : He
was never to assault a Christian, nor swear,
nor receive any attendance from a woman
without the permission of his superiors ; not
to kiss a woman, even his mother or sister ; to
hold no child to the baptismal font ; and
to abuse no man, but to be courteous to all .
He was to sleep in a linen shirt, drawers and
hose, and girded with a small girdle ; to attend
Divine service punctually, and to begin
and end his meals with a prayer .
Such is the formula of reception, which has
been collected by Munter from the most authentic
sources . It is evident, however, that
it is not complete . The secret parts of the
ritual are omitted, so that the formula is here
something like what a Freemason would call
the monitorial part of the instruction . Munter
does not even give the form of the oath taken
by the candidate ; although Raynouard says
that it is preserved in the Archives of the
Abbey of Alcobaza, in Aragon, and gives it in
the following words, on the authority of Henriguez
in his Regula, etc., Ordinis Cisterniensis:
"I swear to consecrate my discourse, my
arms, my faculties, and my life, to the defence
of the sacred mysteries of the faith, and
to that of the unity of God . I also~ promise to
be submissive and obedient to the Grand Master
of the Order . . . At all times that it may
be necessary, I will cross the seas to go to battle;
I will contribute succor against infidel
kings and princes ; Twill not turn my back on
three foes ; and even if I be alone, I will fight
them if they are infidels ."
The fact that the Templars had a secret
initiation is now generally conceded, although
a few writers have denied it . But the circumstantial
evidence in its favor is too great
to be overcome by anything except positive
proof to the contrary, which has never been
adduced . It is known that at these receptions
none but members of the Order were admitted
; a prohibition which would have been
unnecessary if the ceremonies had not been
secret . In the meetings of the General Chapter
of the Order, even the Pope's Legate was
refused admission .
It would not be fair to quote the one hundred
and twenty accusations preferred against
the Templars by Clement, because they were
undoubtedly malicious falsehoods invented by
an unprincipled Pontiff pandering to the
cupidity of an avaricious monarch ; but yet
some of them are of such a nature as to indicate
what was the general belief of men at the
time. Thus, Art . 32 says : "Quod receptiones
istius clandestine faciebant" ; i. e., that
they were wont to have their receptions in secret.
The 100th is in these words : "Quod sic se
includunt ad tenenda capitula ut omnes januas
domus et eccleshe in quibus tenent capitula
ferment adeo firmiter quod nullus sit nec
esse possit accessus ad eos nec juxta : ut possit
quicunque videre vel audire de factis veldictis
eorum" ; i . e., that when they held their
Chapters, they shut all the doors of the house or
church in which they met so closely that no one
could approach near enough to see or hear what
they were doing and saying . And the next
article is more particular, for it states that,
to secure themselves against eavesdroppers,
they were accustomed to place a watch, as
we should now say a tiler, upon the roof of
the house, "excubicum super tectum," who
could give the necessary warning .
Of course it is impossible to obtain an accurate
knowledge of all the details of this
secret reception of the ancient Templars,
since it must have been generally oral ; but
I have always been inclined to think, from
allusions here and there scattered through
the history of their customs, that many of its
features have descended to us, and are to be
found in the ritual of initiation practised by
the Masonic Knights Templar .
The dress of the Templars was prescribed
for them by St . Bernard, in the rule which he
composed for the government of the Order,
and is thus described in Chapter XX .
"To all the professed
knights, both in
winter and summer,
we give, if they can
be procured, white garments,
that those who
have cast behind them
a dark life, may know
that they are to commend
themselves to
their Creator by a
pure and white life ." The white mantle was
therefore the peculiar vestment of the Templars,
as the black was of the Hospitalers .