OSMTH^® - Knights Templar - SMOTJ^®

ORDO SUPREMUS MILITARIS TEMPLI HIEROSOLYMITANI^®

^{A UK Registered International Charity}

A non-governmental organization (NGO) non-profit, voluntary Christian group organised on a local, national and international level

The Magistral Grand Priory of The Holy Lands

(Notre Dame, Saint Mary of Magdalene)

Patron Saint of our Grand Priory

St. BERNARD of CLAIRVAUX

Also known as

Mellifluous Doctor of the Church; Last of the Fathers of the Holy Church

Memorial

20 August

Profile

French nobility. At age 22, fearing the ways of the world, he, four of his brothers, and 25 friends joined the abbey of Citeaux; his father and another brother joined soon after. Benedictine. Founded and led the monastery at Clairvaux which soon had over 700 monks and 160 daughter houses. Revised and reformed the Cistercans. Advisor to, and admonisher of, King Louis the Fat and King Louis the Young. Attended Second Lateran Council. Fought Albigensianism. Helped end the schism of anti-Pope Anacletus II. Preached in France, Italy, Germany. Helped organize the Second Crusade. Friend and biographer of Saint Malachy O'More. Spritual advisor to Pope Eugenius III, who had originally been one of his monks. First Cistercian monk placed on the calendar of saints. Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius VIII.

Every morning Bernard would ask himself, "Why have I come here?", and then remind himself of his main duty - lead a holy life.

Born

1090 at Fontaines-les-Dijon, Burgundy, France

Died

20 August 1153 at Clairvaux

Canonized

1170 by Pope Alexander III

Patronage

beekeepers, bees, candlemakers, chandlers, Gibraltar, Queens College Cambridge, wax-melters, wax refiners

Prayers

Rythmic Prayer to the Sacred Members of Jesus Hanging on the Cross

Representation

Cistercian having a vision of Mary; Cistercian with a beehive; Cistercian with a chained demon; Cistercian with a mitre on the ground beside him; Cistercian with a swarm of bees nearby; Cistercian with a white dog; Cistercian writing and watching Mary; beehive; bees; book; instruments of the Passion; pen; white dog .  

Annual Magistral Grand Priory Feast Day of St. Mary Magdalene July 22nd

Sister of St. Lazarus and St. Martha, she is called "the Penitent". St. Mary was given the name 'Magdalen' because, though a Jewish girl, she lived in a Gentile town called Magdale, in northern Galilee, and her culture and manners were those of a Gentile.

St. Luke records that she was a notorious sinner, and had seven devils removed from her. She was present at Our Lords' Crucifixion, and with Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, at Jesus' empty tomb. 

Fourteen years after Our Lord's death, St. Mary was put in a boat by the Jews without sails or oars - along with Sts. Lazarus and Martha, St. Maximin (who baptized her), St. Sidonius ("the man born blind"), her maid Sera, and the body of St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin. They were sent drifting out to sea and landed on the shores of Southern France, where St. Mary spent the rest of her life as a contemplative in a cave known as Sainte-Baume. 

She was given the Holy Eucharist daily by angels as her only food, and died when she was 72, an exceptionally long life for those days. St. Mary was transported miraculously, just before she died, to the chapel of St. Maximin, where she received the last sacraments.

In the year 1099 the Crusaders were victorious. In the years following the Knights Templar were formed and cathedrals were built under the patronage of 'Notre Dame', 'Our Lady' known by many to refer to Mary Magdalene and NOT, as so many believed, Mary, the mother of Jesus.

The Order of the Templars, or 'The Poor Knights of the Temple of Christ and Solomon' was, recorded by a Frankish history writer, founded in 1118 by nine Knights under their leader Hugues de Payen, a noble man from Champagne, France. They are said to have presented themselves to the King Baudouin I in Jerusalem, who had replaced his brother Godfroi. They were invited to stay in the King's palace and seem to have been very interested in the stables of Solomon, the only part that remained from the temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.

Our Order had as its motto Poverty, Chastity and Obedience and claimed their aim was to protect pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land. In 1127 the group returned to France and in 1128 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, nephew of one of the original nine succeeded as the clerical head of the Order. For two hundred years after this, Gothic cathedrals dedicated to Notre Dame were erected all over Europe. Saint Bernard became one of the church leaders of the century and has left behind 200 lyrical sermons dedicated to the Madonna with themes of love inspired by 'The Song of Solomon' from the Old Testament.

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