Knights Templar with the dean Hans Bouman in Heerlen ©communications-unlimited.nl
On Sunday 12 March in the medieval Sint Pancratius Church in the Dutch City of Heerlen Templar Investiture Ceremony of four postulants to Knighthood took place during the Holy Mass under the spiritual direction of Dean Bouman and ceremonial direction of the Grand Prior of the Order, Fr. Ennio H.A.R. Senese, di Sisto (ST) GCTJ.
It was a solemn event according to an ancient ritual. Watch it here:
Every year Knights Templar hold their General Meeting of Members, whether or not together with an investiture.
Honorary Consul of Lithuania, Aloys Bruggeman, RE RA was invited to attend the investiture and meet the Grand Prior of the Order, Fr. Ennio H.A.R. Senese, di Sisto (ST) GCTJ and the Knights Templar after the solemn ceremony.
The Order of the Knights Templar, official name in full “Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani”, Latin for “The Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem or “Knights Templar” is the only Order of the Knights Templar recognized by the United Nations Economic and Social Council with special consultative status.
More than 7,000 members come from over 40 countries and, given the ecumenical nature of their Order, counts more than 17 denominations, of which Roman Catholics, Lutherans and Orthodox make up 90%.
Today’s Order is based on the principles of chivalrous service and Christian charity, first adopted by the original Knights Templar in the Holy Land in AD 1118 and conducted from their headquarters on the Temple Mount in the Holy City of Jerusalem in those early days, which had been provided to them by the then King of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, Baldwin the Second.
In current times they are:
• International in nature,
• Ecumenical Christian in their religious outlook, welcoming members of all Christian denominations;
• Focused, in their charitable activities and international advocacy, on issues such as human rights, freedom of religion, cultural preservation, sustainable development and humanitarian aid to the less fortunate global citizens.
The Order of the Knights Templar is accredited by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with Special Consultative Status and has delegations at the United Nations Offices in New York, Geneva and Vienna. In the Netherlands, the Order was reintroduced in 2010, after the Order had become “extinct” in the Netherlands in the 1980s. As of 2019, the Order is again an autonomous Great Priory with more than 50 members.