Templar Edification

The Templars were Latin—that is, Catholic—Christians. Their faith was the faith of pre-Reformation Europe, a broad Church which expected believers to attend church only three times a year and did not expect the laity to take an active role in church services. The Templars were not educated in theology and would not have been aware of or even interested in the complex theological debates that were taking place in the Latin Church in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Their function was to serve the Holy Land, not to engage in intellectual debate. The Templars’ admission ceremony instructed that new members should make their vows to “God and Our Lady” (the Blessed Virgin Mary, Christ's Mother). They swore to be obedient to the master of the order, to preserve their physical chastity, and live without personal property. They also promised to keep the customs of the order, to help to conquer the Holy Land of Jerusalem, never to leave the order without permission from the master, and...

In Western Christendom, and especially Roman Catholicism, the month of October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary, due to the 7 October 1571 Battle of Lepanto, at which the naval powers of Europe soundly defeated the Ottoman Turks, definitively settling the question of which empire would dominate the Mediterranean. The Holy League dedicated their victory to the Virgin Mary, whose intercession they had sought by praying the Rosary—though the presence of newly-developed Venetian galleasses surely didn’t hurt. When given the choice between devotion and firepower, Europe historically has opted for both. The resultant sinking of the Turkish fleet massively popularized the Rosary throughout Italy and Spain. Humans have been using prayer beads for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Ba’hai, and neopagans all have their own variations. Indeed, the Old English “bede” means a bid, or a prayer. Christians classically speak of three broad forms...

Holidays are often accused of being pagan, when in fact they are simply seasonal. Every culture that knows winter knows a winter feast; and a spring celebration; and a harvest festival come fall. Such are our shared natural responses to our shared natural world. They are pagan only in the sense that G.K. Chesterton used the word: as a synonym for human. Last month I spoke of the Loaf-Mass, or Lammas, a traditional Christian observance thanking God for the firstfruits of the grain harvest. This of course coincides most cleanly with the climate of northern Europe and the British Isles; other Christians would harvest at other times. And just as we solemnized the firstfruits, so now we salute the gathering of last sheaves at harvest’s end. In the Hebrew Bible, the Festival of Ingathering—also known as Sukkot, the Festival of Booths—corresponds to the end of Israel’s agricultural year. For 2023 this falls on 29 September  (Mon, Oct 6, 2025 – Mon, Oct 13, 2025) , a day that Christians ma...

 

I find that life is better with holidays. Wouldn’t you agree? St Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome that holy days are a matter of adiaphora; that is, of something neither commanded nor forbidden. We can take them or leave them. Yet I find that special seasons and celebrations add a certain spice to life, as well as a yearly pattern of festival and fasting, of darkness and light, which brings a magic and a mysticism into our hearth and our home. Blame my mother. She was the one when I was growing up who cooked and baked and decorated for all the holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Independence Day, the sacred and the secular alike. It made my childhood wondrous; my adulthood too, now that I have children of my own. And it certainly does improve one’s mood to ever have something to which one looks forward. As I’ve aged, my love for the holidays has only deepened. I still prepare for the big festivities a little too early and a little too long, but now I also champion...

 As we stand here on this sacred day of Independence, let us remember the timeless wisdom that guides our path. For in the pursuit of liberty, we must tread with caution, as Plato once reminded us that the excess of freedom can lead to the chains of slavery. Our forefathers fought valiantly to secure the blessings of liberty for us, and as we bask in the glory of this day, let us heed the call to never falter in our vigilance. Throughout history, the struggle for freedom has been an arduous journey, one that demands unwavering dedication and sacrifice. As Knights Templar, we embody the virtues of courage and conviction, and we stand as beacons of hope in a world yearning for the light of truth. Let us be reminded that the price of apathy is the submission to evil forces, and in the face of tyranny, we must rise with indomitable spirit. Just as our founding fathers proclaimed their resolve to stand united against oppression, we too must unite as brothers and sisters, bound by the un...