Post by giovanni on Oct 3, 2005 15:37:20 GMT
The Priory of Sion Secret and The DaVinci Code (part 1)
by Robert Richardson
www.alpheus.org/html/articles/esoteric_history/richardson4.htm#up
With the international success of the bestselling novel The DaVinci Code, esoteric subjects have been enthusiastically received by a large audience. But that audience does not realize information about the “Priory of Sion” presented in The DaVinci Code as “fact” is a fraud. Nor do the readers realize why that fraud was created and the reason why its existence has been maintained. Those who have embraced the novel’s subject matter will be shocked to find by believing The DaVinci Code claim that the “Priory of Sion” and its fabrications are real, they are embracing the hate and fear filled mindset of religious fanatics. The following pages are the first serious attempt to explain the secret “why” of the “Priory of Sion” fraud and the real goals its animators are trying to achieve.
Every person is the product of their environment and their experiences, and the traits exhibited by the so-called “Priory of Sion” are the products of intellectual constructs and life experiences from a particular period carried onward by the “Priory of Sion” founders and by its adherents. It is valuable to review the often-overlooked recurring themes at the foundation of the fabrications promulgated by the “Priory of Sion.” Those recurring themes are more mundane than mystical:
• It is extraordinarily Franco-centric. From the point of view of those behind the “Priory of Sion,” France is the center of all key events which have shaped Western history.
• It is intensely Catholic. The Catholic Church is a major player in the “Priory” playbook. A sub-theme is its portrayal of a recurring struggle for control of the church itself.
• Names of modern Catholic Ultra-Traditionalists are alleged as associates, supporters, and key members of the “Priory of Sion” and select Catholic Ultra-Traditionalist organizations are alleged to be, or proudly proclaimed as, predecessors or implied fronts for the “Priory of Sion”. (An Ultra-Traditionalist Catholic may be defined as someone who desires a return to a Catholic Church with pre-1960 institutions but more influence in spiritual, political, and personal affairs than in the past.)
* European politics appear repeatedly, but in relation to the Roman church.
* Monarchical restoration.
• Esoteric and Masonic allusions appear like a set in a play, a backdrop to the other five recurring themes.
Through these recurring themes we will come to see the “why” of the “Priory of Sion.”
While the tumultuous French cultural events of the 19th century raged - the constantly changing government and roles of royalty and the Catholic Church, the visible rise of esoteric studies as a cultural force in France, and the smothering atmosphere of the industrial revolution - one more critical change was fast evolving. The role of the Catholic Church throughout Europe was in astonishingly sudden transition, and that transition was a decline in power and in influence. Everything seemed to assail the Roman church in a sustained onslaught. In Italy, it was stripped of its role as a true landed state and of its worldly political influence. In its place, new democratic forces and a new societal order arose. The spiritual influence and temporal wealth and power of the French Catholic Church were castrated. In every old Catholic stronghold, once inconceivable governmental restrictions altered the traditional role of the church. Throughout Europe a generation of scholars employing new methods of academic inquiry were questioning and rewriting the very foundations of belief on which the Papal throne and church power had been constructed. As a response, the doctrine of Papal infallibility was created, and asserted, but it was laughed at. Even the fearsome power of the Inquisition, so recently the scourge of Europe and the ruthless enforcer of Papal will, withered rapidly and became a paper ghost. As a series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary were reported across France in the 19th century from Lourdes to La Salette, the power and influence of the church was crumbling in its own hands. No one seemed to realize this was the real end of the Middle Ages. The ancient institutions were finally confronted with the inevitable reality of time and change.
But many conservatives among prelates and the devout could not accept this change. For them, the church was the only legitimate source of worldly power. Men were lost without its authority. They could not accept that the structures of the Middle Ages had come to the end of their time. For almost 2,000 years, the Church had maintained its power and influence. It had outlasted dynasties and nations. How could such a fall from power and grace happen to the elect of God? How could the world have turned against them so suddenly? The only answer could be hidden adversaries. And those adversaries were readily found. Freemasonry had become a publicly visible influence in Europe. Masons actively worked to lessen the power of Royalty, the Church’s traditional ally. Masonry advocated equality and freedom of religions, equal rights for all social classes, and the separation of church and state. Masonic lodges supported the rise of constitutional democracies - whose spokesmen and elected officials often happened to be Freemasons. Freemasons were successful in the new, rising commercial class. Freemasons supported the publication of esoteric books such as the H.P. Blavatsky’s Isis Unveiled, and The Secret Doctrine. All these things were anathematic to the Church’s sense of the right order of the universe. It was evident that Masonry was a tool of the Devil. Masonry was the archenemy of the church. And the more open Masonry became, the more other esoteric societies seemed to appear from hiding. And then, there were always the Jews.
In 1877, H.P. Blavatsky published Isis Unveiled. The New York World described it as “an extremely readable and exhaustive essay upon the paramount importance of re-establishing the Hermetic Philosophy in a world which blindly believes it has outgrown it”. The opening words of the author’s preface confirmed the worst fears of the Catholic Traditionalists by stating “The work now submitted to public judgment is the fruit of a somewhat intimate acquaintance with Eastern adepts and study of their science. . . . It is an attempt to aid the student to detect the vital principles which underlie the philosophical systems of old.” Not only were the philosophical systems of old examined, but they introduced the books’ wide readership to what Blavatsky claimed were Hidden Masters guiding the destiny of humanity. Unfortunately, none of the Hidden Masters proved to be Catholic. Rather inconveniently, they all seemed to be from Somewhere In The Far East. To compound matters, when Blavatsky published The Secret Doctrine in 1888, her preface emphasized that while her work might be appear to be Eastern, it was not about any religion, but rather about the truths which under girded all faiths.
Blavatsky’s books symbolized the new ideas and heretofore seemingly hidden wisdom that created a cultural explosion and found a receptive and long-suppressed lay audience. For years the complacency and authoritarian power of the Catholic Church had inbred corruption, and abuses had worn on its lay people like a yoke. Periodic internal efforts to reform it were met with opposition. Of more concern to the church was the priest who strayed from the official church position. They were subject to harsh internal punishments. Orders sprang up inside the church to fight its external enemies but also to police its own. In 17th century France, a group called the Compagnie du Saint Sacrement arose. A genuine secret society, its real aims were understood by no one and it seemed to frighten just about everyone, from the church to the state. Eventually it was disbanded, to the relief of all. It has been accurately described as “a bastion of rigidly entrenched and fanatical orthodoxy” that “devoted itself to weeding out heretics”.(1) It was a precedent as much intellectually and spiritually as physically for the groups which would fight to restore the Roman church’s traditional role in midst and aftermath of the chaos that the 19th century created for the Catholic church. Centuries later the “Priory of Sion” would make references to the Compagnie du Saint Sacrement and regard itself as its heir.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries the ardently faithful, in particular Royalist Catholics and some members of the priesthood, fought back fiercely against what they perceived as worldly depredations against the rightful position and prerogatives of monarchy and the church. In Rome, in the heart of the Vatican itself, a secret society called Sodalitum Pianum was formed under the direction of Monsignor Umberto Benigni. Benigni sacrificed his rising clerical career and his future role in the Society for the Propagation of the Faith to found and run Sodalitium Pianum. The basic function of Sodalitum Pianum was to gather information for key Curia officials - the Vatican administration - and for the Pope on what was actually happening inside the Church. It received its support from several influential Cardinals and from the defender of traditional Church privileges, Pope Pius X.
Sodalitum Pianum was for all intents and purposes a secret police force. Its job was to fight the challenge posed by Modernism to the traditional church teachings. Internally, it would make rebellious priests march to the dictums of the church hierarchy, and it hunted to uncover any sources of internal heresy. It was founded in 1909 and terminated in 1914, when Pius died. But it was reborn in 1915 and continued until 1921, when it was formally disbanded. Despite formal cessation of its activities, the heritage of Sodalitum Pianum would continue. As Sodalitum Pianum waged its battle from Rome, in France another Catholic secret society thrived. It had appeared some thirty-six years earlier. The roots and the ideas of the latter day “Priory of Sion” come directly from this group, the Hiéron du Val d’Or.
by Robert Richardson
www.alpheus.org/html/articles/esoteric_history/richardson4.htm#up
With the international success of the bestselling novel The DaVinci Code, esoteric subjects have been enthusiastically received by a large audience. But that audience does not realize information about the “Priory of Sion” presented in The DaVinci Code as “fact” is a fraud. Nor do the readers realize why that fraud was created and the reason why its existence has been maintained. Those who have embraced the novel’s subject matter will be shocked to find by believing The DaVinci Code claim that the “Priory of Sion” and its fabrications are real, they are embracing the hate and fear filled mindset of religious fanatics. The following pages are the first serious attempt to explain the secret “why” of the “Priory of Sion” fraud and the real goals its animators are trying to achieve.
Every person is the product of their environment and their experiences, and the traits exhibited by the so-called “Priory of Sion” are the products of intellectual constructs and life experiences from a particular period carried onward by the “Priory of Sion” founders and by its adherents. It is valuable to review the often-overlooked recurring themes at the foundation of the fabrications promulgated by the “Priory of Sion.” Those recurring themes are more mundane than mystical:
• It is extraordinarily Franco-centric. From the point of view of those behind the “Priory of Sion,” France is the center of all key events which have shaped Western history.
• It is intensely Catholic. The Catholic Church is a major player in the “Priory” playbook. A sub-theme is its portrayal of a recurring struggle for control of the church itself.
• Names of modern Catholic Ultra-Traditionalists are alleged as associates, supporters, and key members of the “Priory of Sion” and select Catholic Ultra-Traditionalist organizations are alleged to be, or proudly proclaimed as, predecessors or implied fronts for the “Priory of Sion”. (An Ultra-Traditionalist Catholic may be defined as someone who desires a return to a Catholic Church with pre-1960 institutions but more influence in spiritual, political, and personal affairs than in the past.)
* European politics appear repeatedly, but in relation to the Roman church.
* Monarchical restoration.
• Esoteric and Masonic allusions appear like a set in a play, a backdrop to the other five recurring themes.
Through these recurring themes we will come to see the “why” of the “Priory of Sion.”
While the tumultuous French cultural events of the 19th century raged - the constantly changing government and roles of royalty and the Catholic Church, the visible rise of esoteric studies as a cultural force in France, and the smothering atmosphere of the industrial revolution - one more critical change was fast evolving. The role of the Catholic Church throughout Europe was in astonishingly sudden transition, and that transition was a decline in power and in influence. Everything seemed to assail the Roman church in a sustained onslaught. In Italy, it was stripped of its role as a true landed state and of its worldly political influence. In its place, new democratic forces and a new societal order arose. The spiritual influence and temporal wealth and power of the French Catholic Church were castrated. In every old Catholic stronghold, once inconceivable governmental restrictions altered the traditional role of the church. Throughout Europe a generation of scholars employing new methods of academic inquiry were questioning and rewriting the very foundations of belief on which the Papal throne and church power had been constructed. As a response, the doctrine of Papal infallibility was created, and asserted, but it was laughed at. Even the fearsome power of the Inquisition, so recently the scourge of Europe and the ruthless enforcer of Papal will, withered rapidly and became a paper ghost. As a series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary were reported across France in the 19th century from Lourdes to La Salette, the power and influence of the church was crumbling in its own hands. No one seemed to realize this was the real end of the Middle Ages. The ancient institutions were finally confronted with the inevitable reality of time and change.
But many conservatives among prelates and the devout could not accept this change. For them, the church was the only legitimate source of worldly power. Men were lost without its authority. They could not accept that the structures of the Middle Ages had come to the end of their time. For almost 2,000 years, the Church had maintained its power and influence. It had outlasted dynasties and nations. How could such a fall from power and grace happen to the elect of God? How could the world have turned against them so suddenly? The only answer could be hidden adversaries. And those adversaries were readily found. Freemasonry had become a publicly visible influence in Europe. Masons actively worked to lessen the power of Royalty, the Church’s traditional ally. Masonry advocated equality and freedom of religions, equal rights for all social classes, and the separation of church and state. Masonic lodges supported the rise of constitutional democracies - whose spokesmen and elected officials often happened to be Freemasons. Freemasons were successful in the new, rising commercial class. Freemasons supported the publication of esoteric books such as the H.P. Blavatsky’s Isis Unveiled, and The Secret Doctrine. All these things were anathematic to the Church’s sense of the right order of the universe. It was evident that Masonry was a tool of the Devil. Masonry was the archenemy of the church. And the more open Masonry became, the more other esoteric societies seemed to appear from hiding. And then, there were always the Jews.
In 1877, H.P. Blavatsky published Isis Unveiled. The New York World described it as “an extremely readable and exhaustive essay upon the paramount importance of re-establishing the Hermetic Philosophy in a world which blindly believes it has outgrown it”. The opening words of the author’s preface confirmed the worst fears of the Catholic Traditionalists by stating “The work now submitted to public judgment is the fruit of a somewhat intimate acquaintance with Eastern adepts and study of their science. . . . It is an attempt to aid the student to detect the vital principles which underlie the philosophical systems of old.” Not only were the philosophical systems of old examined, but they introduced the books’ wide readership to what Blavatsky claimed were Hidden Masters guiding the destiny of humanity. Unfortunately, none of the Hidden Masters proved to be Catholic. Rather inconveniently, they all seemed to be from Somewhere In The Far East. To compound matters, when Blavatsky published The Secret Doctrine in 1888, her preface emphasized that while her work might be appear to be Eastern, it was not about any religion, but rather about the truths which under girded all faiths.
Blavatsky’s books symbolized the new ideas and heretofore seemingly hidden wisdom that created a cultural explosion and found a receptive and long-suppressed lay audience. For years the complacency and authoritarian power of the Catholic Church had inbred corruption, and abuses had worn on its lay people like a yoke. Periodic internal efforts to reform it were met with opposition. Of more concern to the church was the priest who strayed from the official church position. They were subject to harsh internal punishments. Orders sprang up inside the church to fight its external enemies but also to police its own. In 17th century France, a group called the Compagnie du Saint Sacrement arose. A genuine secret society, its real aims were understood by no one and it seemed to frighten just about everyone, from the church to the state. Eventually it was disbanded, to the relief of all. It has been accurately described as “a bastion of rigidly entrenched and fanatical orthodoxy” that “devoted itself to weeding out heretics”.(1) It was a precedent as much intellectually and spiritually as physically for the groups which would fight to restore the Roman church’s traditional role in midst and aftermath of the chaos that the 19th century created for the Catholic church. Centuries later the “Priory of Sion” would make references to the Compagnie du Saint Sacrement and regard itself as its heir.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries the ardently faithful, in particular Royalist Catholics and some members of the priesthood, fought back fiercely against what they perceived as worldly depredations against the rightful position and prerogatives of monarchy and the church. In Rome, in the heart of the Vatican itself, a secret society called Sodalitum Pianum was formed under the direction of Monsignor Umberto Benigni. Benigni sacrificed his rising clerical career and his future role in the Society for the Propagation of the Faith to found and run Sodalitium Pianum. The basic function of Sodalitum Pianum was to gather information for key Curia officials - the Vatican administration - and for the Pope on what was actually happening inside the Church. It received its support from several influential Cardinals and from the defender of traditional Church privileges, Pope Pius X.
Sodalitum Pianum was for all intents and purposes a secret police force. Its job was to fight the challenge posed by Modernism to the traditional church teachings. Internally, it would make rebellious priests march to the dictums of the church hierarchy, and it hunted to uncover any sources of internal heresy. It was founded in 1909 and terminated in 1914, when Pius died. But it was reborn in 1915 and continued until 1921, when it was formally disbanded. Despite formal cessation of its activities, the heritage of Sodalitum Pianum would continue. As Sodalitum Pianum waged its battle from Rome, in France another Catholic secret society thrived. It had appeared some thirty-six years earlier. The roots and the ideas of the latter day “Priory of Sion” come directly from this group, the Hiéron du Val d’Or.