Julia Navarro - The Brotherhood Of The Holy Shroud

Geoffroy de Charney, precept of the order in Normandy, was an austere, stern knight whose family had given other sons to the order, renowned knights such as his uncle Francois de Charney, may he rest in peace, who had died of melancholy years ago on a visit to the family estate.

Jacques de Molay trusted Geofrroy de Charney as he would trust himself They had fought together in Egypt and before the fortress of Tortosa, and he knew de Charney's courage and piety, as he knew that of Beltran de Santillana. It was for that reason he had chosen these two knights to carry out the most delicate of missions.

In his report, the Templar knight Pierre Berard had confirmed the worst. Clement was about to accede to Philippe's demands. The order's days were numbered-the death sentence abolishing it was soon to be issued from Vienne. Swift arrangements had to be made for saving the last, most fiercely protected treasures of the Temple.

Distant sounds of revelry from the streets of Paris broke the silence of the night.

De Charney and de Santillana quietly entered the Grand Master's study. Jacques de Molay serenely bade his knights take seats. There were many details to be discussed, and there was no need for preamble as the Grand Master began to outline his instructions. They all knew what they faced.

"Beltran, you must leave for Portugal at once. Our brother Pierre Berard has informed me that within days the pope will condemn the Temple. It is too soon to know what will happen to our brothers in other countries, but in France our cause is lost. I had thought of sending you to Scotland, for Robert Bruce, the Scottish king, has been excommunicated and is thus beyond Clement's reach. But I trust in good King Dinis of Portugal, from whom I have received assurances of protection for the order. Philippe has taken much from us. But neither gold nor land concern me, only one great treasure, the Temple's crowning jewel-the shroud of Christ. For years, the Christian kings have suspected that it lies in our possession, and they have longed to recover it. The rumors of its magical power to make the man who owns it indestructible have only grown with time. Still, I believe that good King Louis was sincere in his pleas to be allowed to pray before the true image of Christ.

"Events have affirmed the wisdom of our holding the knowledge of our order's policy to maintain our possession of the shroud in strictest secrecy. That secret must now be preserved and defended with more valor and devotion than ever before. Philippe intends, I am certain, to enter the temple and search every nook and corner. He has confided to his advisers that if he finds the Holy Shroud it will redouble his power and extend his supremacy as a Christian king over all the world. He is blinded by ambition, and we have already tasted bitterly of the evil that lies in his soul.

"Now, in our last hours in France, we must save this precious relic as your good uncle de Charney saved it once before. You, Beltran, will carry the shroud from France to our chapter house in Castro Marim, across the Guadiana. There, you will deliver it to the superior in Portugal, our brother Jose Sa Beiro. You shall take with you a letter in which I have given instructions for the manner of its protection.

"Only you, Sa Beiro, de Charney, and I will know where the shroud is, and Sa Beiro, at the hour of his death, will pass the secret on to his successor. You will remain in Portugal, Beltran, to guard the relic. If it becomes necessary, I shall endeavor to send you new instructions. During your journey you will pass through the territories of several Templar chapters in Spain. You shall take a document in which I give instructions to those superiors and priors on how to proceed if death comes, as I fear it will, to the Temple and to its knights. Others already ride across the Christian kingdoms with similar documents for our besieged brothers."

"When shall I depart, master?" the Spanish knight asked the man for whom he would gladly give his life again.

'As soon as you are ready."

Geofrroy de Charney could not hide his disappointment when he asked the Grand Master the question that was burning inside him:

"What, sire, is my mission, then?"

"Geoflroy, you shall go to Lirey with the cloth in which your uncle wrapped the holy shroud, and there you shall guard it. I think it best that this cloth remain in France, but in a safe place. For all these years I have wondered about the miracle that occurred on that piece of linen, for miracle it most surely was. Your uncle wept with emotion when he spoke to me of the moment he unfolded the cloth in the presence of the master at Marseilles, and I have come to believe that unto us was delivered the means by which to protect the Holy Shroud of Jesus for all time. Though the first was that in which the body of our Lord was laid, both pieces of cloth are sacred.

'All depends now upon the nobility of the de Charneys, your family, and I know that your brother and your aged father will protect and guard this cloth until the Temple reclaims it.

"Two times Francois de Charney crossed the desert through infidel lands to bring the shroud to the Temple. We face a desperate juncture once more. And once again the Temple requires the service of your valiant Christian family."

The three men remained a few seconds in silence, betraying no emotion yet moved to the core of their beings. That same night, the two Templars would each set out bearing precious cargo on journeys that began on separate roads, toward a destination only God could know For Jacques de Molay was right: God had worked a miracle upon the cloth that had enfolded the Holy Shroud during the long, perilous journey of Francois de Charney so many years ago-a cloth of soft linen, of the same texture and color as that in which Joseph of Arimathea had laid the body of the Christ to rest.

They had ridden for many days, but now, at last, they espied the valley of Bidasoa, in Navarro. Beltran de Santillana, accompanied by four knights and their squires, spurred his steed. They were anxious to enter Spain, to leave France and the agents of King Philippe behind them.

Knowing they might well be followed by assassins, they had hardly stopped to rest. Philippe had eyes everywhere, and it would not be surprising if someone had whispered to his spies that a group of men had left the fortress Villeneuve du Temple.

Jacques de Molay had asked them not to wear the Templar helmet or mail, so that they might journey unnoticed-at least until they were far from Paris. They were not to change their plain vestments until they were a few leagues past the frontier and safely in Spain. Then they would garb themselves again as what they were-knights, Templar knights, for there was no honor greater than belonging to the Temple and fulfilling its sacred mission-saving its most precious treasure.

Beltran de Santillana breathed easier as, along the road, he began to recognize the landscape of his near-forgotten homeland, and he savored the sounds of Castilian as he spoke with laborers and with the brothers in the Templar chapters in the lands they passed through.

After riding for days, they came near the town of Jerez, in Extremadura-Jerez de los Caballeros, it was often called, for it was the site of a Templar chapter house. Beltran announced to the knights and squires accompanying him that they would rest a few days there before beginning the last stage of their journey.

Now that he was in Castile, Beltran felt a yearning for his past, the days when he had not yet known what the future held for him and dreamed only of being a warrior who would free the Holy Sepulchre from the infidels and return it to Christianity.

It was his father who had encouraged him to enter the Order of Knights Templar and become a warrior for God.

It had been hard for him at first, for although he enjoyed wielding his sword and bow, his exuberant nature was not made for chastity. There were hard years of penitence and sacrifice, until he learned to tame his body, fit it to the motions of his soul, and be worthy of taking the oath of a Templar.