CHAPTER OF PROVINCIAL PRIORY 6TH
OCTOBER 2007
The ninety seventh annual Chapter of the Provincial
Priory of Lincolnshire was held at Lincoln Cathedral on
Saturday 6th October 2007 .

The meeting was preceded by a Service in the St Hugh’s
Choir this being the twenty ninth consecutive year that
the Dean and Chapter had allowed us to hold our service
in the Cathedral and the service was attended by one hundred
and forty Knights from this and other Provinces plus their
ladies. The St James School Boys Choir sang during the
service and the preacher was the Sub Dean Rev Canon Alan
Nugent and a copy of his address follows on from this
article.
The Dean, the Very Reverend Philip Buckler
(pictured right) and the Sub Dean joined us for the meeting
and together with the Knights then processed out of the
Choir to the Chapter House where the meeting took place.
During his address the Provincial Prior
R E Kt Gordon Walkerley Smith KCT welcomed the Dean and
Sub Dean and thanked the Dean and Chapter for once again
allowing us to use the Cathedral for our service and meeting.
He went on to welcome all of our visitors and the various
Heads of Orders and thanked his officers and welcomed
those taking up office for the first time. He reminded
every one that whilst the number of Knights in the Province
had decreased by three we still had to be cautious who
we put forward as members and that we needed to be selective
in who we admitted to this very special Order.
He
reported that we had again made donations to the St John
Eye Hospital totalling £1100 00 and to the Cathedral
£980 during the past twelve months and he thanked
all of the Knights for their support.
He concluded by reporting on the very successful Christian
Orders Service which this Order had organised at The Church
of the Holy Trinity at Tattershall and reminded the Brother
Knights that the Great Priory Family Service would again
be held in Lincoln at the Cathedral on Saturday 9th August
2008.
The meeting was then closed and one hundred and seventy
Brother Knights and their ladies lunched at the Assembly
Rooms.
A
Service held in Lincoln Cathedral for the
Provincial Priory of Lincolnshire of the Order of Knights
Templar on Saturday 6 October 2007 at 10:30am
Preacher: Canon Alan Nugent, Subdean of Lincoln (below
ight) 
'...such are they whom God chooses for himself and
gathers from the furthest ends of the earth, servants
from among the bravest in Israel to guard watchfully and
faithfully his Sepulchre and the Temple of Solomon, sword
in hand, ready for battle.'
Words of St. Bernard of Clairvaux the great theologian
of the 12th century, the powerful defender of the Christian
faith - who has been described as 'the greatest moral
force of his day' and he was speaking of the Knights Templar.
In 1127 Bernard met Hughes de Payens, founder of the
Knights Templar. The Templars had been founded to give
new direction and spirit to the impetus of the Crusades.
The first crusade had ended in division, acrimony and
jealousy. Its leaders had set up petty kingdoms throughout
the Middle East which warred on each other. It was a mess.
True, forces led by Godfrey de Bouillon had in 1099 captured
Jerusalem and Godfrey had set himself up as Ruler of Jerusalem.
But after his death the rivalries and battles between
the various rulers grew worse and the threat that the
Muslims would recapture Jerusalem was very real. So Hugh
de Payens and eight companions bound themselves by a solemn
vow to defend the Holy City. They lived simply in a house
near the site of Solomon's Temple - hence their name.
They remained thus, in relative obscurity for 10 years,
indeed the new order was near to collapse, until Hughes
de Payens met Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux in 1127.
Bernard
had already revived the monastic life of Europe. He had
transformed the Cistercian order creating many new abbeys
and preparing a new rule of living for the order. All
his reforms though were focused on the image of the Crucified
Christ. We are used to crucifixes, painting of the passion
of Christ; images of the dead Jesus. But that only began
to be significant in the life of the Church from the 12th
century onwards. Even though Paul in 1 Corinthians1 verse
23 had said 'But we proclaim Christ crucified' it
was only really in the 12th century that this entered
deeply into the life-blood of the Church; transforming
its devotional life. It is in this context that we see
the powerful significance in the early 13th century of
St Francis, his life of sacrifice, even to his receiving
the marks of the stigmata of Christ.
Bernard led this movement of sacrifice, self denial even
a high valuing of suffering and death - focusing it all
in the image of Christ crucified. It was all this that
Bernard brought to his meeting with Hughes de Payens in
1127. Bernard saw the possibility of these Templars being
both Soldiers and Monks: dedicated to the religious life
but living under military discipline. In a special way
they would fight the battle of the Lord and also be Soldiers
of Christ. Monk and Soldier it was a powerful combination.
Bernard drew up a rule of life for the Templars - they
became in effect military Cistercians. A new vocation
had been defined Monk and Soldier and men flocked to it
from all over Europe. Its Churches, houses and Castles
were to be found all over Europe and the Middle East.
Its hierarchy of Masters, Seneschals, Marshals was soon
recognised. New brothers joined the order not just to
fight but also to pray. They were committed to a life
of contemplation and also fighting for Christ. It is a
heady combination. Difficult for us to understand.
For us today the only current expression of St Bernard's
view that 'killing for Christ' was not homicide but malecide
- it was the killing of evil people, the eradication of
evil - and the promise by several Popes that those who
died fighting for the Church would inherit the Kingdom
of God and go straight to Heaven - the only thing comparable
to that in our society are Islamic fundamentalist suicide
bombers. Their language is reminiscent of this.
I hope that Christianity in our day has sufficiently
matured not to speak in such ways - which would be contrary
to the way of the Cross.
So has this sermon just been a history lesson. I hope
not. In a time of crisis and uncertainty in the life of
Christendom there came together Bernard and the Templars
and the Church was transformed right up until the brutal
repression of the Templars by Philip the Fair in the early
12th century.
What as I hope I have shown in that what was significant
about the Templars as influenced by Bernard was that special
combination of spiritual discipline, of a commitment to
the life of prayer and devotion with a commitment to soldiery.
Today the Christian faith in Britain is at a time of
crisis. A few years ago a very powerfully argued book,
with a persuasive thesis had as its title "The Death
of Christian Britain.' There are many evidences to support
this view. Most of all the privatisation, the marginalization
of the Christian faith, I give two instances:
Polly Toynbee of the Guardian on Radio 4 recently said
that religion should have no place in public policy and
life - it was and had to be kept in the private reserve;
what an individual does with their private life.
Very
able young people have told my wife, an RE teacher, that
they admire Muslims because they believe in something
are deeply committed. By contrast they say Christianity
stands for nothing - except being nice.
Put those two scenarios together and you see the problem
we face.
Somehow I look for a renewal of faith in which men and
women in business, in commerce, in the law, in education
and other professions will publicly profess their faith
and are bound together in a devotion to the Christian
faith: a new order of Christian men and women bound by
a rule of life, who will resist all attempts, even by
senior politicians of all parties, to relegate the faith
to the margins. For be clear; our values, those that created
our civilisation are built upon the Christian faith and
without the faith our civilisation is empty.
In very different ways the challenge of Bernard and the
Templars remains and so I come to my text which for me
captures my concerns and my hopes.
From Ephesians 6 verse 10
'Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength
of his power. Put on the whole armour of God so that you
may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil.
For our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood
but against the rulers, against the authorities, against
the cosmic powers of this present darkness.
Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
'

Knights Templar
Although referred to as Knights Templar, the correct
title of this wonderful Order is:
The United
Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and
of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes, and Malta,
of England and Wales and Provinces Overseas
The Order was first worked in England in 1777, having
probably originated in France. There are two Degrees:
Knights Templar and Knights of Malta, these being joined
by a 'passing' Degree of Knight of St Paul.
A candidate for the first Degree is in the position of
a pilgrim travelling symbolically through hardship and
dangers until he is received as a Knight. It teaches humility
and urges the candidate to live his life as a Christian
Knight, learning that penance and meditation play their
vital part in preparation for Christian knighthood.. Whilst
no claim is made for any connection with the medieval
Military Orders, the degree of Knight of the Temple commemorates
the actions of a band of knights who were granted a place
of habitation within the sacred precincts of King Solomon's
Temple by Baldwin, the King of Jerusalem in 1118.
The second Degree recounts the history of Knights of
Malta and their long struggle against the infidel. It
traces the period when the Knights left Jerusalem and
travelled to their final home on the island of Malta,
emphasising their Christian virtues.
The regalia of the Order is most impressive, being based
on that of the medieval Templars, consisting of a mantle,
tunic, cap, sash, star, belt, sword and gloves. The Knights
of Malta regalia is different but not obligatory.
Candidates for installation must profess the Christian
faith and be both Master Masons and Royal Arch Companions

Seal of the Knights Templar showing
two knights sharing one horse.