Secret Societies

The Priory of Sion

“Fact:

The Priory of Sion—a European secret society

founded in 1099—is a real organization. In
1975 Paris’s Bibliothèque Nationale discovered
parchments known as Les Dossiers Secrets,
identifying numerous members of the Priory of
Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli,
Victor Hugo, and Leonardo da Vinci.”

—Prologue to The Da Vinci Code

“The Priory of Sion . . . was founded in
Jerusalem in 1099 by a French king named
Godefroi de Bouillon, immediately after he had
conquered the city . . .

King Godefroi was allegedly the possessor of a

powerful secret—a secret that had been in his
family since the time of Christ. Fearing his
secret might be lost when he died, he founded
a secret brotherhood—the Priory of Sion—and
charged them with protecting his secret by
quietly passing it on from generation to
generation . . .
“. . . During their years in Jerusalem, the Priory
learned of a stash of hidden documents buried
beneath the ruins of Herod’s temple, which had
been built atop the earlier ruins of Solomon’s
Temple. These documents, they believed,
corroborated Godefroi’s powerful secret and
were so explosive in nature that the Church
would stop at nothing to get them.”

--The Da Vinci Code, 157-58

The Priory of Sion

„ First Historical Appearance—1956

– In 1956, the Priory of Sion was registered
in France as a society
– Pierre Plantard, a draftsman, and six
other Frenchmen were listed as the
charter members
– Its stated purpose was to defend the
rights of those in low-rental housing
– It dissolved in 1957
Mythology of the Priory
„ In 1957, Plantard heard the story of the Abbé
Saunière, who lived in the early 20th century
„ Saunière was said to have been able to reconstruct
his church from a treasure he found in the nearby
village from clues from a parchment found in the
pillars of his church
„ In fact, Saunière had gained his money from
charging for masses
„ Near the end of his life, Saunière was suspended
from his duties by his superiors for this reason
Les Dossiers Secrets
„ Plantard drew from Saunière’s story to create his
own parchments
„ With the help of Philippe de Chérisey, Plantard
forged parchments suggesting that Plantard was
the direct descendant of King Dagobert II (died
679) of the Merovingian dynasty
„ One of the parchments also claimed that the Priory
of Sion was founded in 1099 by Godefroy de
Bouillon
– Past Grand Masters listed included Leonardo da Vinci,
Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Claude Debussy
„ Plantard deposited these in the Bibliothèque
Nationale in the early 1960s
Exposure of the Fraud

„ With the help of Gérard de Sède, Plantard

published a book about the parchments,
L'Or de Rennes, in 1967
„ Following a dispute over royalties for the
book, in 1971 Philippe de Chérisey publicly
admitted that he had forged the parchments
deposited in the Bibliothèque Nationale
„ Plantard later confirmed this, though he
claimed that those parchments were copies
of an original set that had been lost
Holy Blood, Holy Grail

„ In 1982, three British journalists, Henry

Lincoln, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh,
published the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail
„ In the book, the journalists accepted the
Priory myth, but further argued that the
Merovingians were the descendents of Jesus
and Mary Magdalene
„ Plantard himself never accepted this view—
he was content to simply be the heir of
French kings
Plantard’s Demise

„ In 1989, Plantard created a new history of the

Priory of Sion, claiming it began in Rennes-le-
Château in 1681
„ He also drew up a new list of Grand Masters, which
included Roger-Patrice Pelat, an important French
official who had recently committed suicide
„ In the Official Inquiry, Plantard’s rooms were
searched, revealing new parchments, “certifying”
that Plantard was the true King of France
„ Under courtroom cross-examination, Plantard
confessed that he had forged the documents
„ He was released with a reprimand for consuming
the court’s time with nonsense
„ He died in 2000
“I have never claimed to be a descendant in the
male line of Dagobert II, nor a pretender to the
French throne, anymore more than I have ever
claimed to be a descendant of Jesus. All that is
a writer’s hoax, the aim of which was and
remains the generation of financial profit from
the publishing of books or the making of films”

—Pierre Plantard, 1990

The Knights Templar
“In order to retrieve the documents
from the ruins [of the Temple], the
Priory created a military arm . . . The
Knights Templar . . .
“Although unpaid and sworn to poverty,
the Knights told the king they required
basic shelter and requested his
permission to take up residence in the
stables under the ruins of the temple.
King Baldwin granted the soldiers’
request, and the Knights took up their
meager residence inside the devastated
shrine . . .
“The odd choice of lodging, Langdon
explained, had been anything but
random. The Knights believed the
documents the Priory sought were buried
deep under the ruins—beneath the Holy
of Holies . . . For almost a decade, the
nine Knights lived in the ruins, excavating
in total secrecy through solid rock.”

—The Da Vinci Code, pp. 158-159

Origins of the Knights Templar

„ Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

– In 1128, Bernard of Clairvaux, head of the
Cistercian order of monks, created a new order
of Pilgrim Knights, originally nine in number
– Bernard himself wrote their Rule, which
committed them to poverty, chastity and
protection of Pilgrims to the Holy Land
– In 1139, Bernard convinced Pope Innocent II to
grant the order official recognition, with the
proviso that they report only to the Pope
Crusader Jerusalem
„ In 1099, Godfrey de Bouillon captured Jerusalem
from the Muslims
„ At the time, the Dome of the Rock had been
standing on the site of Herod’s Temple for four
centuries
„ The Crusaders turned both it and the nearby al
Aqsa mosque into churches (until 1187 when
Saladin recaptured Jerusalem)
„ The Knights Templar were involved in activities in
the Holy Land from the middle of the century
„ They lost a decisive battle to Saladin at the Horns
of Hattin (Sea of Galilee) in 1187
„ The Crusaders fell back to Acre (Mediterranean
Coast), which fell to the Muslims in 1287
Dome of the Rock
“The Knights found what they had been
searching for. They took the treasure from the
temple and traveled to Europe, where their
influence seemed to solidify overnight . . . Pope
Innocent II immediately issued an
unprecedented papal bull that afforded the
Knights Templar limitless power and declared
them ‘a law unto themselves’—an autonomous
army independent of all interference from kings
and prelates, both religious and political . . .
“By the 1300s, the Vatican sanction had helped
the Knights amass so much power that Pope
Clement V decided that something had to be
done. Working in concert with France’s King
Philippe IV, the Pope . . . Issued secret orders
to be opened simultaneously by his soldiers all
across Europe on Friday, October 13, 1307 . . .
“On that day, countless Knights were captured,
tortured mercilessly, and finally burned at the
stake as heretics . . . The Templars’ potent
treasure trove of documents, which had
apparently been their source of power, was
Clement’s true objective, but it slipped through
his fingers. The documents had long since been
entrusted to the Templars’ shadowy architects,
the Priory of Sion, whose veil of secrecy had
kept them safely out of range of the Vatican’s
onslaught.”

—The Da Vinci Code, pp. 159-60

The Demise of the Knights Templar

„ After the Battle of Hattin, many of the Knights

Templar returned to Europe
„ Corruption emerged, with their wealth arising from
charging tolls on bridges and highways
„ Though usury was outlawed, they found a way to
charge interest legally, earning large sums
„ In 1307, King Philippe IV, who held Pope Clement V
in the “Avignon Captivity,” influenced the Pope to
order the arrest of the Templars on various
charges:
– These included heresy and the use of illegal means to
acquire property and increase their wealth
„ Many were tortured, condemned and burned at the
stake
„ The Order was disbanded
Opus Dei
“Fact . . . The Vatican prelature known as Opus
Dei is a deeply devout Catholic sect that has
been the topic of recent controversy due to
reports of brain-washing, coercion, and a
dangerous practice known as ‘corporal
mortification.’ Opus Dei has just completed
construction of a $47 million National
Headquarters at 243 Lexington Avenue in New
York City”

—The Da Vinci Code, Preface

Opus Dei

„ Founding
– Founded by Msgr. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, a
Spanish Priest, in 1928
– Conceived as a way of encouraging lay people to aspire to
holiness without changing their occupation
– In 1939, he wrote The Way, containing 999 maxims,
which reads as a Christian book of Proverbs
„ Expansion
– The movement soon spread to many countries, and in
1950 it received recognition from the Vatican as the first
“secular institute”
– After that time, it moved into the Americas and in 1982
was made a Personal Prelature of the Pope
– It currently reports 77,000 members in 80 countries,
including 3,000 in the United States
Opus Dei

„ Organization
– Prelate: Bishop Javier Echevarría in Rome
– Numeraries: Single members who live celibate
lives in community (20% of Membership)
„ Have daily masses, devotional reading, private prayer
and physical mortification (usually fasting)
– Supernumeraries: Married couples who
contribute financially and attend weekly
meetings
– Associates: Single members who do not live in
community
Opus Dei

„ Rule of Life
– Daily devotions
– Financial Support of organization
– Continued vocation “In the World”
– Recruitment of new members
Opus Dei

„ Controversial Aspects
– Secrecy
– Surreptitious recruitment methods
– “Monasticizing” of the laity
– Devotion to a worldview seen by some as
excessive and intolerant
The Da Vinci Code and Opus Dei

„ Does the Da Vinci Code cross the line?

– It attributes Opus Dei’s status as
originating from a massive financial “bail-
out” the Vatican—an untrue claim
– It portrays the Opus Dei Prelate and his
underling at the center of a massive
conspiracy involving murder and
corruption
Question:

Would the American public tolerate a

novel in which the head of B’nai B’rith
and his henchman set about assassinating
Christian scholars to prevent the release
of a secret Dead Sea Scroll that portrays
Moses as an Egyptian priest who taught
the worship of the earth goddess Ishtar?
To Ponder:

The plot of The Da Vinci Code does all

these things and more—only with
Catholics and Jesus, instead of Jews and
Moses

It has been at the top of the NY Times

Bestseller list for over a year

What does this say about sanctioned

religious bigotry in America?