: http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/s2.cfm?id=338412002
: Jesus or Jacques?
: Bradford University lecturer Robert Lomas and colleague
: Christopher
: Knight claim they can link science and history to prove that
: the face on the
: shroud is that of a priest whose followers helped Scotland to
: win independence
: from England in the 14th century.
: "The scientific facts leave me in no doubt," says Dr
: Lomas, a physicist
: who now lectures in Information Systems. "The cloth was
: used to wrap Jacques de
: Molay, the leader of a monastic order known as the Knights
: Templar and whose
: followers were given refuge by Robert the Bruce."
: This is the second article in a week about the Knights
: Templars.
Unfortunately, this theory isn't terribly new, as this book was written back in 1997, by two Freemasons, entitled "The Second Messiah", Century Books (London). The article was "regurgitated" by the media, just in time for 'Easter hype'. The 'gist' of the book was that de Molay was on the Shroud & not Christ, but, for the most part, this has been seriously questioned by not only the usual academics, but lots of popular authors (Masonic or not), too, as much of their 'scientific' evidence apparently didn't measure up---although the book does at least start asking some questions and getting a lively debate going. So, who knows?!
These authors, Knight & Lomas, are known to be prominent Freemasons in England who have written a number of popular books before this one, most notably 'The Hiram Key'.
But, judging from what one might believe about the Masons...?!-- who knows what their real motivations might have been in writing this book.
: The first article states that the Knights Templars were
: actually pardoned by the Pope who killed them.
:
: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RMNEWS_DAILY_EMAILS/message/24117
: VATICAN documents have come to light showing that the
: wholesale
: massacre of the Knights Templar in the Middle Ages for alleged
: "heresy,
: idolatry and sexual perversion" - an episode still
: shrouded in mystery - took
: place even though the Pope had exonerated them in a secret
: trial.
: The revelation will put pressure on the present Pope, who has
: asked
: the Muslim world for forgiveness for the Crusades, to
: apologise for the
: persecution of one of the main Crusading orders as well. The
: Templars, whose
: legendary power and wealth still exert a fascination, were
: disbanded by Pope
: Clement V at the Council of Vienne in France in 1312.
An update on this parchment from scholars: It is likely that the document itself may be genuine, as this article appears to be describing an independent piece of research by Dr. Barbara Frale, but says that it is sanctioned by the Vatican School of Paleontology. So it is doubtful that the medieval document would be a fraud, as they wouldn't want to risk their credibility, and, in fact, have been known to be conservative about even announcing things like this. So, all it really means in that sense is that she made an appointment at the library and saw the document.
BUT although this certainly sounds like exciting news, the main problem here is in the actual INTERPRETATION of it---i.e., the document itself apparently states that yes, the Pope DID absolve de Molay (Grand Master) and a few of the other top leaders of the Order---as individuals---but it is wrong to automatically assume that this means that he also exonerated the Order as a whole. It's worth noting that there were many medieval national investigations of the Templars that concluded that they thought the Templars were innocent---i.e., as with what happened in Germany, which was quite extraordinary!
In response to the Inquisition's demands, several local councils were called in the Rhineland in 1310/1. Peter of Aspelt, Archbishop of Mainz, had no easy time of it when he tried to go after the Templars---on 14 May 1310, while his council was in session going over the charges, he was suddently confronted by Hugh, Templar Preceptor of Grumbach, who burst in accompanied by 20 fully armed knights, who challenged him to a dual! The archbishop---at this point utterly terrified---asked them to please be seated and that he would listen to what they had to say. They protested about the unfair charges and proceedings, and the archbishop, fearing a riot in the streets outside if he dared so any further, cancelled the council, which didn't meet again for many months. In Germany as a whole, the Templars weren't found to be guilty, as they were in many other countries, including France.
So, a number of medieval historians (including this one) have always suspected that the French king Philip the Fair moved against the Templars after the trial, partly because he knew that there was a chance that the Pope might possibly exonerate the Order. This was as much because of fierce territorial 'in-fighting' between the Pope and the King, as it was about the Templars themselves.
As more information has come in over the last few days about this situation, it looks roughly something like this:
It is possible that at some future point, the Pope and the Vatican administration may decide to come out and acknowledge the innocence of the Knights Templar, & say that they remained true Christians. This would mean that they never were 'heretics' in the eyes of the Church.
BUT: such an acknowledgement would not, of itself, remove the force of the official Papal Bull which suppressed the Order in 1312. Given the Pope's recent apology for the excesses of the Crusades & the current state of world affairs, it actually seems rather unlikely that either the Pope or the Vatican administration would seek to re-found the Knights Templar as an official Order of the Catholic Church. They might consider an apology about the Templars, but many feel that it is unlikely for them to rescind a Papal Bull at this point.
Evidence that the medieval Order did remain true to the Christian faith might take some of the impetus out of some of those organisations and people that like to continue to accuse the Templars of all kinds of unthinkable heresies and/or idolatry, without any evidence, then, or now.
So, one view on this might be that this is how F2 could be helped by this parchment (or be behind its 'emergence' now?)---to stop the defamation of the Knights Templar by those in F1 (and/or others who are hostile to F2) by issuing some kind of a statement, while not going quite so far as to actually rescind a Papal Bull.
The current official position of the Catholic Church on the Templars, is that they still honour the Papal Bull of its suppression (1312) and therefore do not accord official recognition to any branch of modern Templary, however exemplary they might be. That they would reverse this policy is possible, of course, but (I think) highly unlikely. It is also unlikely that they would want to revive a medieval Crusading order in the midst of the current mess...
But then again---maybe truth really is stranger than fiction? Perhaps Gigi or someone out there closer to the heart of the matter, can shed some more light on this...
: As many of you know, I believe the Austrian contingent of
: "Faction Two" is made up from the descendents of
: the original Knights Templars. I find it very strange that
: these two articles have made it into the mainstream media.
: It makes me think that very soon we are going to hear
: something extraordinary coming from either Faction Two, or
: the Knights Templars.
This could be....but then again, last weekend was Easter Sunday, & the media are always looking for good stories, to 'hype' it up. The 'shroud' story is actually 5 years old (having originally been written in 1997) and this parchment is a fantastic find, but scholars have always thought something like this might surface. Its also possible that the 'timing' of all of this was orchestrated by F2? Who knows...
: Gunther told me about manuscripts that contained the original
: books of the Bible. He said that once they were released,
: the foundations of ALL three religions would be rocked.
I agree with Tonzal...if this is true, they certainly wouldn't have the name 'Jesus Christ' in them. Legend has it there is supposedly a 2000 year old document called The Talmud of Emmanuel that was said to have been uncovered in Jerusalem by a Palestinian researcher, who translated some of it into Swiss German. The translator was killed before he could finish the whole thing, or so 'legend' says....Emmanuel was said to have gone to India with his oldest son, & ended up buried in kashmir, while Mary Magdelene and her two youngest children, along with Joseph of Arimathea, set sail for the south of France. Dont'know anything else about this Emmanuel legend; remember reading something about it years ago and this is all I can remember.
: I can't help but think that these two articles are paving the
: way for something even bigger!! I can't wait!
Well, like the old Chinese saying: May you live in interesting times! Interesting times....we certainly seem to be in, but like you said before, we can really only see the 'footprints in the sand' and try to make at least some sense out of it...
: R.
Serving Freedom
and Liberty
