The Knights Templars.

a new Order to replace the Templars * . Clement refused this , as the Templars had been established for the advantage of the Holy Land , which was now lost beyond recovery . There were many grave reasons for not creating a new Order , more

especially as the Hospitallers of St . John were becoming every day more powerful , having conquered Rhodes , and assumed the title of the "Knights of Rhodes . " They ivere in close proximity to the heathen , Avith whom they were

waging daily warfare , and the ivealth of the Templars could not be better employed , than , by bestowing it on them , to increase their strength , and encourge them to serve Christendom , of which , since the fall of the Templars , they had

become the chief bulwark . Besides the process against the Templars , the Council had been summoned for reforming the clergy , and to deliberate upon the affairs of the Holy Land . The last two were never referred to , even in the interviews

between the Pope and prelates , ivhich took place between the first and second sittings of the Council . The King had urged his creatures to press the Pope to create -ye j . new Order , but Clement again refused to cj . ' . so , declaring his

intention to bestoiv the whole of the Templars ' goods and lands upon tbe Knights of Rhodes , so that they might be enabled to wage a perpetual war against the infidel . The ambassador of the King of Arragon , represented to the Pope , that

since it ivas the intention of his Holiness , to employ the Templars' wealth in the destruction of the infidel , he could not do anything more appropriate , than to apportion the goods situated in the territories of his sovereign , to the expulsion of the

Moors , who had now become so formidable in the Spanish Peninsula . The Pope would not at first agree to this , but the ambassador remained firm , and declared that his sovereign ivould never obey a Bull , ivhich gave the lands situated in his

territories , to an Order already so rich and powerful , rather than to those whose danger ivas so imminent from the attacks of the Moors . The Pope , finding the ambassador resolute , yielded , and consented to the funds of the Order being

employed in carrying on the war with the Moors ; but he insisted that anew Order should be founded in Arragon , to fight the infidel , and who should receive the wealth of the Templars . The ambassador agreed to these terms , and the property was

given to Our Lady of Montesa , which was founded in 1317 . The habit was similar to that of the Templars , many of the Knights joined its ranks , and it might almost be called the same Order . Diniz , the able and enlightened sovereign of

Portugal , to preserve the Order in his realms , and at the same time to yield a show of obedience to the commands of the Pope , made it change its name , and the Grand Prior of Portugal became the Grand Master of the Order of Christ , which

continues at the present day . The presence of Phillip at Vienne soon completed the destruction of the Order . The Pope assembled the Cardinals ancl prelates favourable to the King ' s project in a secret consistory , when ,

by his sole authority , on the 22 nd March 1312 , he prepared the following Bull : — "Not without bitterness and grief of heart , with the approbation of the Holy Council , not by way of a definite

sentence , with it , hereupon , according to the inquisitions and proceedings taken herein , Ave cannot destroy the state , habit , and name of the Order , by right , but by way of provision , or , with the sanction of an apostolical ordinance , of irrefragable

and perpetual validity , we have abolished it and its supporters with a perpetual prohibition , especially forbidding any one henceforth to enter into the said Order , or to take or wear the habit thereof , or to presume to represent a Templar : If

any one act contrary hereto , he shall incur the sentence of excommunication by the very fact . " A provisional sentence to be executed in perpetuity ! What mockery there is in the Pope ' s pre * - tended grief , and what falsehood in the statement

regarding the " approbation of the Holy Councih " But the illegal proceedings against the Order would not have been complete without the precious document . It is curious tbat the Jesuits were

suppressed in almost the same manner , and on the same charges . The second sittings of the Council commenced on the 3 rd April 1312 , shortly after Easter . The assembly ivas considerably augmented by the

arrival of certain prelates of high standing . The King was present , seated by the side of the Pope , attended by his three sons and his brother , while the royal guards appeared , for honour , for protection , or for intimidation . The other matters being

settled , they took up the case of the Templars , the principal object of the meeting . The Pope did not allow himself to be embarrassed about the condemnation aqd abolition of tbe Order . Finding