On behalf of our more
than 5,000 Knights and Dames of the Knights Templar worldwide, we
welcome you to our page for the largest Knight Templar
Order in the world, and the only Templar Order recognized in Special
Consultative Status by the United Nations.
Our official name is Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani,
Latin for “The Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem”, and
often shortened to the initials OSMTH or SMOTJ. Our Order was founded on
the principles first adopted by the original Templar Knights in France
in the Year 1118 and carried out in those early days from their home in
the Temple of Solomon in the Holy City of Jerusalem, provided for them
by then King of Jerusalem Baldwin, the Second. In these modern times,
OSMTH is international in nature with members from over 40 nations,
ecumenical Christian in our religious beliefs welcoming Members of all
Christian religions, and focused on matters of human rights, political
and religious freedom, and humanitarian aid to the world's less
fortunate. We are officially recognized by the United Nations in Special
Consultative Status and furnish OSMTH Official Delegations to the United
Nations in New York City, Vienna, and Geneva.
Like the Knights Templar of old, we operate as a modern-day worldwide
network of educated professionals in such widely diverse protocols as
senior government officials, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, senior
clergy, military officers, physicians and surgeons, engineers,
historians, and humanitarian aid caregivers. OSMTH represents many of
the most respected and credible senior officials in their home nations,
providing both a highly respected body of expertise, an influential
voice to support commitment to the less fortunate of the world, and to
promote the time-tested chivalric ideals of honor, honesty, civility,
tolerance, care for our fellow man, and support for ecumenical religious
faith throughout our individual nations and throughout the world
community.
We often find ourselves working with and through other Chivalric Orders,
the senior leadership of other nations, and with other Non-Governmental
Organizations [NGO] in order to provide humanitarian aid and other
involvement in resolution of serious humanitarian needs or political,
ethnic, and religious conflict. Engaging the respect and credibility of
our world membership in their home nations, we are able to bring
resolution and assistance in matters that quite often become bogged down
in the bureaucracy of governments and regulations. Our objectives
include the international promotion of inter-cultural and
inter-religious contacts and worldwide networks in order to help build
bridges of brotherhood between nations and cultures, as well as
individual good works performed by individual anonymous Knights and
Dames. As ecumenical Christians, we also seek to increase awareness of
conflicts and their causes and in so doing, work towards their future
prevention and ultimate peaceful coexistence of all nations. Because our
Order began it's first work in The Holy City of Jerusalem in the 12th
Century, The Holy Land and it's Cradle of Christianity are of the
highest interest to us in this regard as evidenced by our most recent
Trip To Jerusalem and our work there with the Senior Leadership of every
Christian Church in Jerusalem.
OSMTH aspires to foster a cosmopolitan society in which differences
among peoples, cultures, and governments will be both respected and
appreciated. We seek the betterment of humanity through education, world
brotherhood, chivalric principles, and civil behavior and treatment
among one-another.
Our membership standards are purposely very high, our financial and time
commitments are not for everyone, and our dedication to a more caring
world requires significant expectations that not everyone can meet. But
for those who qualify, the OSMTH Knights Templar Order offers an
unequaled World class Chivalric Order with an international network of
some of the most sophisticated and influential professional men and
women from over 40 different nations.
Here in Canada we have Priories in
Windsor, Toronto and Ottawa all in the Province of Ontario and a
Commandary in Edmonton. We are also in the early stages of working on
developing a Commandary in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Brussels Declaration of the Order
It states our vision as...
Today, OSMTH – Knights Templar International looks for a world in which:
a constructive dialogue between the great religious faiths, and the
individuals and nations that adhere to them, is conducted in an
atmosphere of mutual respect, understanding and peace;
the holy sites of Christianity and the other great faiths are respected,
protected and maintained, and pilgrims can travel to them in safety;
the dedication, generosity and integrity of all those engaged in
providing humanitarian aid are recognised and valued, and aid workers
carry out their vital work in an ethical manner without fear of
discrimination;
the principles of active charity, courtesy, dedication and honesty,
inherent in the highest ideals of a code of chivalry and a personal rule
of life, are spread wider and wider in society;
and
the contribution of the Knights Templar, medieval and modern, with
regard to agriculture, construction, transportation, crafts, medicine,
finance, inter-faith affairs, diplomacy and philanthropy is both well
researched, and also widely understood and valued by the public.
Alastair McIntyre, GOTJ,
FSA Scot was the newsletter editor for the "Canadian Templar", the
newsletter of the Grand Priory of Canada, copies of which can be
downloaded below. He completed his four years work on the newsletter
with the September 2016 edition.
Newsletters of the Grand Priory of Canada in pdf format
Group shot at the St. James Priory
Investiture Sept. 2016
Our new Prior on the left and new
Chancellor on the right
And Sir Alastair McIntyre your web master
and ex newsletter editor
On Sunday 20th August 2017 it was
announced that H.E. The Rev. Dame Nola Crewe was to take over as Grand Prior of
Canada at the September Investiture of St. James Priory in Toronto. See her CV here
Our New Grand Prior, H.E. The Rev. Dame
Nola Crewe, invested on 9th September 2017
Here are her opening words at the Banquet
after...
Investiture Banquet
the 9th of September 2017
Thank-you. Each and everyone of you, for the honour bestowed upon me
this day. I commit myself and my term to doing all I can for the
betterment of the Knights Templar Order: here and everywhere.
As you know, I am following in the very large footsteps of those who
established and expanded our Order in Canada.
Clearly my high heels will leave different footprints on our journey.
So, let me tell you a bit about my leadership style. I am a
collaborative, committee-type of person. I like everyone to know what is
going on . . . so that all can be held accountable for getting done what
needs to be done. And all can bask in our successes.
And that is only going to be possible when old foggies like me learn to
use modern means of communications EFFECTIVELY to ensure that in this
vast country, every Templar truly feels that they are CANADIAN Templars
. . . well represented on the international scene and driven by the
efforts and talents and wishes of their home priories.
To that end we have to acknowledge that being a Templar means more than
donning a mantle and turning out in one's best duds for the annual
investiture. Delightful though that may be in our most public persona.
It is the day-by-day living the values of the Templar that impacts our
lives, our families, our communities, and, ultimately, our world.
Combating modern paganism and decadence; defending and teaching our
Christian faith and uniting its many parts; reasserting the spirit of
chivalry; preserving and perpetuating our traditions and customs; giving
aid to those in need whether of infirmity, material goods or protection.
That is what being a Templar means. And each
In the months ahead, each Templar will be asked to work on a committee,
on a project, on an event and all will be expected to pray regularly for
all our efforts.
Some will drive a car, some will write a cheque some will sew a mantle.
Others will represent Canada on the international scene, and others will
assume offices at home. Whether you choose to host a fund raiser, feed
the hungry, share your knowledge of Templar history or sites on a
pod-cast, chase down skates or bottles of water, eye glasses or running
shoes . . . there is a role for you.
We need to take advantage of the time and talents and gifts of our
members. So, look about your table tonight and discover the talents
lying before you. Look within yourself.
And then make the commitment to share what you discover to make a better
world the Templar way.
And finally, my joy in your confidence in me cannot be overstated.
My commitment is to give all I am to the challenge of leading our Order
in Canada and representing it abroad. To each of you I say, call me out
should I fail and disappoint you. I too must be accountable.
And here, before you, I pledge my term to using the gifts God gave me to
the service of Our Order . . . God willing. AMEN.
[Toast] To you, the Templars!
To the Order!
Sir George Jackowski
becomes the fourth Grand Prior of Canada on 24th October 2020.
A short bio of him...
Dr. Jackowski has been
instrumental in the founding of 12 biotechnology companies in his
career, four of which became publicly traded. Furthermore, he has
contributed to the creation of 12 additional biotechnology companies. He
is responsible for the creation of over 1,000 high tech jobs in a hard
to fund biotech sector. He has grown companies to market caps of over
$350 million, raised from public capital markets over $125 million and
completed deals with Big Pharma of over $100 million USD in
transactions. Dr. Jackowski is currently Chief Scientific Officer of
Pivotal Therapeutics Inc. and holds Directorships in numerous biotech
companies. Prior to creating Pivotal, he was founder, Chairman, CEO and
CSO at SynX Pharma Inc. He has served as the Chairman of Bio Canada
Connect, a Board Member of the Ontario BIO Council and on the Board of
Directors for the Canadian Stroke Network. Dr. Jackowski has also served
on many federal and provincial governmental biotechnology committees and
is on the Scientific Board of Advisors for the Innovation Cluster, Trent
University. Dr. Jackowski has been intimately involved in the
enforcement of patent claims, patent litigation and patent interference
proceedings. As one of the pioneers of Canadian Biotech over the past
thirty years, Dr. George Jackowski was recently recognized and awarded
the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his significant
contribution to the Canadian Biotech and Pharmaceutical Industries by
the Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Dr. Jackowski also received the 1996
MEDEC Award for Medical Achievement for his invention of the Cardiac
STATus™ CK-MB/Myoglobin / Troponin Card Test. He developed and holds the
patents on the rapid format immunoassays measuring cardiac enzymes, in
particularly Troponin, which aids in the early diagnosis of myocardial
infarction and is commercialized worldwide in hospital emergency rooms.
Dr. Jackowski, a respected cardiovascular biochemist, was trained at the
Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of San Francisco,
California and at the Department of Clinical Biochemistry at the
University of Toronto. Dr. Jackowski holds academic positions at the
University of Toronto in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and
Pathobiology and the Department of Surgery and the Florida Atlantic
University, the Centre for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. His
scientific resume includes authoring 44 publications and 61 abstracts,
holding over 153 patents filed and issued.
An update on May 2022
is just to say I can find nothing on this Grand Prior anywhere on the
Internet in relation to his role as Grand Prior. No newsletters can be
found and any reference to the Knights Templar in Canada stops in
October 2020 when he took over. I just wondered if he died of
Covid as it's very unusual not to hear anything from the Grand Prior.
Some copies of other
Newsletters from our International Order
On the 10th of
October 2020 a ZOOM meeting for all GPs was held to discuss the
impact of COVID on the activities, plans, well-being of members,
recruitment and so much more. Here is a video of the event:
http://u.pc.cd/2r7rtalK
The Knights Templar and
Historical Revisionism in the Modern Era
H.E. The Rev. Dame Nola Crewe at the
Investiture in Windsor
2nd November 2019
The Sovereign Great Priory of Canada
Of the United Orders of Malta and the Temple Supreme Grand Masters, Compiled and Edited by
Michael Jenkyns, K.T. (2016) (pdf)
History of The Knights
Templars of Canada
From the Foundation of the Order in A.D. 1800 to the Present Time
with an historical retrospect of Templarism culled from the writings
of the historians of the Order by J. Ross Robertson (1890) (pdf)
The History
of Freemasonry in Canada
From its introduction in 1749, compiled and written from official
records and from MSS covering the period 1749-1858, in the
possession of the author by James Ross Robertson, Past Grand Master
of the Grand Lodge of Canada in two volumes (1900)
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