The General Council of Vienne
The End of the Knights Templar, 1311-1312 A.D.
The Fourteenth General Council Vienne came about because of a feudal relationship between the French King, Philip IV the Fair and Pope Boniface VIII. Philip the Fair was constantly suppressed by Pope Boniface VIII because of his evil deeds and Pope Boniface refused to relent upon him during his lifetime. The next elected Pope was Benedict XI but he died within eight months. It was Clement V who summoned and presided over the General Council of Vienne.
The Knight Templar and their Demise
Philip IV the Fair was determined to have Pope Bonface VIII dug up from his grave and excommunicated from the church as a heretic. He wanted him to be buried in a heretics graveyard. And when Clement V encouraged him to let go of his obvious vengeful desire, Philip IV the Fair decided he would go about things in an entirely new way.
Instead, since the French government owed the Knights Templar a lot of money, he called them all forward, tortured them mercilessly until they confessed to anything he could think up including idolatry, and then when they recanted later no longer under the duress of torture – deemed them guilty and sentenced to death by burning at the stake. He even made sure that the superior general of the order was included in this sordid affair.
Pope Benedict XI was Pope during this time and was known as a good and holy man. However, he was unable to stop the French Army from carrying out their orders and as a result, he excommunicated them all.
Of course, Philip IV the Fair didn’t take kindly to his stance an appeared in the papl courts demanding that this excommunication be rescinded and one of his men attempted to assassinated Pope Benedict XI, but instead only hit him in the face. But the weight of the matter took its toll, and Pope Benedict XI died within three week.s
Pope Clement V held out for as long as felt he could, but fell to the weight of the pressure. He felt the only way to stop Philip IV the Fair who was going after all the Knights Templar worldwide was to hold a General Council.
The General Council of Vienne
Philip IV the Fair had a difficult time in finding any evidence to support his claims, but despite this, the Knights Templar and their order was suppressed worldwide although no more executions took place because they were all acquitted of heresy. Their properties were distributed and the issue of the innocence or guilt of the Templars was pushed aside as an irrelevant point in this whole dramatic affair.
Ironically, despite this highly immoral procedure, many moral laws were enacted during the General Council of Vienne, as well as, further clarification of laws regarding religious orders which were becoming more necessary as more and more continued to come into being despite the ban on this procedure in the previous General Council.
Legends of the Fall
There is a great legend regarding the Grand Master Jacque de Molay as he stood upon the burning stake on the island of Seine where he and the other members of his order had been put to death prematurely as they would’ve been cleared as had all the others had there been no rush to judgment.
Philip IV the Fair, the Clement V and a certain William de Nogaret stood before the condemned man who prophecied from the burning pyre that all three of them would be summoned to the judgment seat of God within the year. And indeed all three men died within the year. Philip IV the Fair – although he left three sons – not one of them had their own son and his ‘royal’ line became extinct less than fourteen years after his death.
It is a sad end for Clement V, who defended Boniface VIII with great rigour and truly felt that he could overcome the power of the French King. But in the end, he gave in and participated in the evil which was done to the Order of the Knights Templar and Grand Master Jacque de Molay who were acquitted in the courts of their own peers later.
The Second General Council of Lyons, 1274 A.D.
The General Council of Constance, 1414-1418 A.D.
Sources: The Church in Crisis: A History of the General Councils, 325 – 1870 – By Philip Hughes, The General Councils: A History of the Twenty-One Church Councils from Nicaea to Vatican II – By Christopher M. Bellito, The Documents of Vatican II – By Walter M. Abbott, S.J. and the Very Reverend Monsignor Joseph Gallagher, A Short History of Christian Doctrine: From the First Century to the Present – By Bernard Lohse, The Reform of the Liturgy – Annibale Bugnini, www.catholicdigitalstudio.com/councils.htm
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