History
The original Knights Templar who inspired our modern order existed from 1119 to 1312, and in those 193 years became the most renowned chivalric Christian religious order of all time. The order consisted of Knights from noble birth, ordained clergy, farmers, merchants and workers. As a religious order, the full members were “the Monks”: non-ordained celibate warrior Knights, non-warrior celibate ordained clergy and celibate non-ordained religious brothers, all of whom took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Married knights and some others made vows of marital chastity. Part-time members took temporary vows during periods of service in the order. Under the political intrigue of the French King Philip the Fair in 1307 with his influence over Papal authority, the Knights Templar ceased as a Church entity in 1312. The order was reconstituted in France in 1804 at the beginning of the reign of its new patron, Napoleon Bonaparte. The Ordo Supremis Militaris Templii Hierosolymitani (OSMTH), the international order with which our Priory is affiliated, and the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (SMOTJ) that serves as OSMTH’s Grand Priory for the USA, are continuations of this recreated order that is now itself over 200 years old. The order maintains a spirit of chivalric and military traditions, is ecumenical in works defending Christian values, and philanthropic in humanitarian service to all men, women and children.
On 01 May 2006 the first seeds were planted that would eventually sprout the Priory of St. Mother Theodore Guerin. On that day, under the encouragement of H.E. RADM James Carey, Past Grand Master and HE Terrence J. Quandt, GCTJ, GMTJ, then Deputy Grand Prior of Region IV, appointed CAPT Charles A. Jindrich II, USN (ret) as Preceptor/ Commandeur Pro Tempore to form a Preceptory in Indiana under the sponsorship of the Priory of St. Norbert, of Chicago, Illinois. This Preceptory (the smallest organizational unit in our Order) initially consisted of three knights: HE Chev. Terrence J. Quandt, CAPT. Chev. Charles A. Jindrich II, CAPT. Chev. Dean Larsen, and the group’s first Indiana postulant, the Honorable Dave Shafer, Clerk Treasurer of Munster Indiana.
Through the tireless efforts of the Preceptory leadership, membership steadily grew from 4 members to 15 members, and finally to 25. Shortly after the 2010 Convent & Investiture, anticipating that the preceptory would soon be eligible for elevation to a Commandery, the Preceptory knights and dames voted unanimously to name it in honor of St. Mother Guerin, “an Indiana home grown saint“ and her life so exemplified the ideals of the Order.
On 17 April 2011, having achieved the required membership of fifteen member knights and dames, the Preceptory of Indiana was elevated to the Commandery of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin. A little more than one year later, with ten additional knights and dames, the Commandery became the Priory of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin on 27 October 2012.
