KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
According to legend, the Knights Templar was founded in 1118 AD to protect pilgrims heading for Jerusalem and the Christian Holy places, where the small band of warrior monks established a headquarters. In the year 1118 AD King Baldwin II granted the Templars quarters on the Temple Mount and this forms the link to the Royal Arch.
Many men, of noble birth, joined the ranks of the Templar Order. Those who were unable to join often gifted the Templars with land and other valuables.
Modern Masonic association with these medieval defenders of the Christian Holy places is linked by the ceremony of Installation in which the Candidate takes the part of a Pilgrim who, by symbolically embarking on a Crusade, is elevated to Knighthood.
The earliest reference to modern Masonic Knight Templar activity in England can be found in the minutes of the Chapter of Friendship (Royal Arch) in Portsmouth, dated 1778, where it was worked as an Appendant Degree. In 1791 a Grand Conclave was formed comprising seven ‘Encampments’ with Thomas Dunckerley as Grand Master. By 1873 ‘Grand Conclave’ was now known as ‘Great Priory’, and ‘Encampments’ were now known as ‘Preceptories’.
The ceremony is very realistic and the regalia spectacular, based upon that worn by the Medieval Knights.
THE PROVINCIAL PRIORY
The Provincial Priory of South America consists of 10 Knight Templar Preceptories and Malta Priories, which enjoy a total membership of over 250 Templar Knights. The Preceptories are distributed throughout Brazil, from the South to the Northeast region, meeting in 8 locations.
The first two Preceptories of Knights Templar in Brazil were constituted with a time span of almost 20 years between the first and the second, being, Crux Meridionalis Preceptory in São Paulo, in 1968 and Rio de Janeiro Preceptory, in Rio de Janeiro in 1985 both preceptories are subject to the Grand Priory of South America, which, at the time, had its headquarters in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the time, the South American Province consisted of only three units, the oldest being the San Martin Preceptory, founded in 1911 in Argentina. The Provincial Priory of South America was founded in 1913 and its headquarters was transferred from Argentina to Brazil in 2002 when Rt. E. Kt. Francis McCormick took over as Provincial Prior.
TEMPLAR PRECEPTORIES
- Crux Meridionalis Preceptory, 412, São Paulo
- Rio de Janeiro Preceptory, 532, Rio de Janeiro
- Santa Catarina Preceptory, 634, Santa Catarina
- Espírito Santo Preceptory, 635, Vitória
- São Sebastião Preceptory, 636, Rio de Janeiro
- Campos Salles Preceptory, 639, São Paulo
- Wanderers Preceptory, 655, Santos
- Cavaleiros da Abolição Preceptory, 706, Fortaleza
- Serra Gaucha Preceptory, 707, Caxias do Sul
- Barão de Batovi Preceptory, 722, Campo Grande
