International Order

The United States Grand Priory of The Supreme Military Order of the Jerusalem Temple was founded in 1973 by Father Philip Guarino with the permission and appointment of then Grand Master Antoine Zdrojewski and Swiss Grand Prior Alfred Zappelli.  Read more about our founder here:Philip-Guarino

The OSMTJ strives to the highest ideals of and draws its inspiration from the ancient Order of the Temple. Although no group can claim direct descendancy from the ancient Order, we strive to be the spiritual and philosophical heirs to the ancient Knights Templar founded by Hugues de Payens in 1118.  Our Grand Masters are elected and serve for 5 years, originally they served for life just as it has been done since the beginning of the Order.  The position of Grand Master can not be passed on through anyone’s will or by being the son of a Grand Master.  Any, so called, “Templar” Order that uses those claims to support Grand Master succession is not legitimate.  Our Grand Master in the year 2023 is Philippe Ghostine Matta.

Our Order was restored by His Imperial Majesty, Napoleon Bonaparte, by imperial decree in 1807.  In 1853, it was given recognition by Emperor Napoleon III.  In 1918, the Order was re-registered in France in accordance with French law.  On January 19th, 1932, it was registered in Brussels, Belgium: 1957 Namur / Belgium BE-410 20708.  This recording was done by three Belgian Templars in Brussels, Joseph Cleeremans, Gustave Jonckbloedt and Théodore Covias.  The record of the registration of the “Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem”  appears in the Belgian Monitor on January 20, 1933.  Lastly, our Order was re-registered in Namur, Belgium, on November 15th, 1975.  These registrations can be viewed by clicking on our osmtj knights templar Document Pages.