In 1307 - and presumably on Friday 13th (October)- that King Philip IV "The Fair" of France arrested all of the Templar Knights.
Even the Grand Master of the order, the famed Jacques de Molay, was arrested in Paris, together with 60 of his knights. The religious Order had been the subject of rumors of blasphemy and irreligious practices, but these were false. A large number, including the Grand Master Jacques DeMolay and three other leading Masters, confessed and were burned alive. The leaders ... moreIn 1307 - and presumably on Friday 13th (October)- that King Philip IV "The Fair" of France arrested all of the Templar Knights.
Even the Grand Master of the order, the famed Jacques de Molay, was arrested in Paris, together with 60 of his knights. The religious Order had been the subject of rumors of blasphemy and irreligious practices, but these were false. A large number, including the Grand Master Jacques DeMolay and three other leading Masters, confessed and were burned alive. The leaders were tortured into confessing.
Chinon Parchment
In September 2001, a document known as the Chinon Parchment dated 17–20 August 1308 was discovered in the Vatican Secret Archives by Barbara Frale, apparently after having been filed in the wrong place in 1628. It is a record of the trial of the Templars and shows that Clement absolved the Templars of all heresies in 1308 before formally disbanding the order in 1312, as did another Chinon Parchment dated 20 August 1308 addressed to Philip IV of France, also mentioning that all Templars that had confessed to heresy were "restored to the Sacraments and to the unity of the Church". This other Chinon Parchment has been well known to historians, having been published by Étienne Baluze in 1693 and by Pierre Dupuy in 1751.
The current position of the Roman Catholic Church is that the medieval persecution of the Knights Templar was unjust, that nothing was inherently wrong with the Order or its rule, and that Pope Clement was pressed into his actions by the magnitude of the public scandal and by the dominating influence of King Philip IV, who was Clement's relative.
Today there are many Templar Orders worldwide and we are one of them, OMSDT. We honor those that came before us, we respect the history for what they accomplished and we strive to serve God while holding to the warrior spirit.
