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KNIGHTS TEMPLAR!

Freemasons!

Skullduggery and cover-up by the Roman Catholic Church!

So fascinating, fantastic, and fabulous are the mystique and mystery surrounding the world’s oldest secret society and the medieval Crusader knights that it is easy to accept fiction and myth as fact. Millions of people around the globe found credibility in the novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown with its theme that the Knights Templar and the church were at the core of a thousand-year conspiracy to suppress documentary proof that Jesus had wed Mary Magdalene, that she ranked first among the apostles, and that at the time of his crucifixion she was carrying his child. Following the birth of a daughter named Sarah, Mary fled Jerusalem and took the baby to Egypt. Twelve years later, they settled in the Roman province of Gaul (present-day southern France). When written evidence of this was discovered in Jerusalem by the Templars during the Crusades, the church suppressed knowledge of the evidence to sustain its authority in the Christian world. If all this were true, descendants of Christ are among us today and may be living in Europe and possibly the United States.

It is historical fact that a small army of French knights set out to liberate the Holy City of Jerusalem from Muslims and set up headquarters near the Temple Mount, the site of the Hebrews’ first temple. Built by King Solomon and destroyed by invading Babylonians, and then rebuilt by Herod the Great, it was the Temple in the time of Jesus. As protectors of the sacred ground that had been wrenched from Muslims, the knights became known as the Templars. In Brown’s book and in earlier treatments of the history of the Templars, including the nonfiction Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, also authors of The Temple and the Lodge, they discovered evidence of Jesus’s marriage to Magdalene and became keepers and protectors of the secret. In medieval tradition and the mythology of the Middle Ages, such as King Arthur and the knights of Camelot, the only surviving artifact of Jesus’s last supper was the cup he used to share wine with the thirteen apostles, including Judas Iscariot. This chalice became known as the Holy Grail because it signified the blood of Christ. In Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The Da Vinci Code, the Grail is not a cup, but Jesus’s daughter. According to Brown’s novel, the proof that Magdalene was Jesus’s closest apostle was encoded in Leonardo da Vinci’s fresco painting The Last Supper. The Knights Templar as a financial and political power in Europe came to an abrupt end when the order was crushed and its leadership executed by France’s King Philip IV with the connivance of Pope Clement V.

A film released in 2004 called National Treasure thrust Freemasonry into the history of the founding of the United States. It presented a story about a huge treasure of priceless loot accumulated by the Templars during and after the Crusades. These riches were eventually taken to the British colonies in America and hidden during the Revolutionary War by Founding Fathers who were Masons, including Benjamin Franklin. Clues to the location of this treasure trove were concealed in national landmarks and historical documents of the United States.

Being a writer of history and a few mystery and detective novels, but with almost total ignorance on the topic of Freemasonry, I became intrigued by the tidal wave of popular interest in the Masons that these fictional phenomena unleashed. The result of my quest for knowledge on the topic resulted in my book Freemasonry: Inside the World’s Oldest Secret Society. I learned that the Masons are an international fraternity, although some lodges admit women. Membership is open to adults who believe in a “Supreme Divine Being” and the immortality of the soul. While Freemasonry does not claim to be a religion, its beliefs are influenced by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century universalism and deism. Critics find in it influences of occultism, anti-Christianity, and even Satanism. The Vatican has banned Catholics from becoming Freemasons since the sixteenth century. While Masons are found all over the world, the fraternal society is not a monolithic organization with a central authority figure, such as a pope, international president, secretary-general, board of directors, or other overarching global executive. The governing body in a country is the “grand lodge.” In the United States, there is one for each state in which Masonry exists, but no national body. There are more Freemasons in the United States than anywhere in the world.

Members engage in rituals and rites that are said to date to the building of King Solomon’s Temple. Common ancient tools used in construction are employed symbolically in ceremonies. The trowel, plumb, level, and compass are related to building character and morality and the advancement of the members to the understanding of the “Universal Light.” The tools are at the center of a lodge meeting, along with a Bible, the Koran in Muslim areas of the world, or any book sacred to other religions. Also required to be displayed is the letter G. It stands for the “Great Architect of the Universe” (God). Although Freemasons are sworn to secrecy concerning what they call the Craft and because they pledge unquestioning loyalty to each other, the popular belief is that Freemasonry is a sinister organization that controls the United States and is trying to establish a “New World Order.”

Freemasons answer that they are idealists who study and celebrate common moral beliefs and individual improvement and perform charitable works. A man seeking membership begins as “entered apprentice” and by study moves up to “fellowcraft” and “grand master.” These stages are called “degrees.” A “lodge” is both the membership and the building where they meet. Because ceilings of American meeting halls are painted blue to represent the heavens, U.S. Freemasonry is known as “Blue Lodge.” A meeting place of Masonry named “York Rite” is a “temple.” Origins of the fraternity are debated by Masons themselves. Some accounts trace it back to the murder of the architect of King Solomon’s Temple, Hiram Abiff, who was killed by three apprentices who resented not being granted the title grand master, earlier accounts to Greece and Egypt, and to the men of the Middle Ages who built Gothic cathedrals. The style was intended to lift the devotion of the masses by using soaring lines and ascending curves in a graceful design to glorify God. In Britain, these men were categorized by those who handled hard stone (“hard hewers” or “rough masons”) and more highly skilled cutters of softer, chalky rock (known as “free stone”). Because these artisans were free to travel and set their own wage scale, they were called “free stonemasons.” This was eventually shortened to “freemasons.” By 1292, English masons called a hut near their worksite where they stored tools and had meals a “lodge.”

What is certain about modern Freemasonry is that in Britain in 1717 several small lodges formed the United Grand Lodge of England as a governing body. As the British Empire extended to America, Freemasonry followed, initially in military lodges. Many of the Founding Fathers were Freemasons. Masonic historians contend that it was at the heart of the American struggle for independence and became the cornerstone of the structure of the U.S. government.

In exploring these aspects as the primary purpose of this book, invaluable sources were found in the work of Masonic scholars and “research” lodges, which have shared their findings with brother Masons and the public in articles and on many lodge home page Web sites. Without their diligent work, completing this book would have been made considerably more challenging. Where possible, their work is noted in the text, and it is gratefully acknowledged here. Enlightening data was also found in numerous books listed in the Further Reading section.

Summaries of material covered in my previous look at Freemasonry’s general history and its rites and rituals are provided where needed to furnish background and a broad context to explain Freemasonry’s evolution in the United States. This book necessarily duplicates some material covered in Freemasons on the role of the Masonic brotherhood in helping to foment the Revolutionary War and other conflicts, the writing of fundamental national documents, and the role and significance of Freemasonry throughout the political and social history of the United States. The overall story and characteristics of the brotherhood in Britian and Europe are covered in my previous book and by other writers. At the end of this volume are answers to frequently asked questions about Freemasonry. Rites, rituals, and degrees of Freemasonry are provided in the text only to the extent required to illuminate Masonry’s controversial and very colorful participation in many aspects of American history.

Because this book deals with questions of credibility in the history of Freemasonry, I note for the record that I am not and never have been a Mason.