Eni Wellbeing Studio

20/08/2026

20/08/2026

On the feast of St Bernard of Clairvaux, we remember a remarkable medieval Christian whose influence reached from the quiet monastery of Clairvaux to the courts of kings and the councils of the Church — a man who sought, above all, to call Christians back to faith, discipline, humility and the love of God.

His life was marked by prayer, fasting, contemplation and devotion to Christ. He was frequently in poor health, partly because of the extreme austerity of his monastic life, yet he continued to travel and undertake demanding responsibilities.
He was a man of action, but his action flowed from a deeply contemplative spirituality.

Bernard died at Clairvaux on 20 August 1153, aged approximately sixty-three. He was canonised only a few decades later, in 1174, by Pope Alexander III, and was later declared a Doctor of the Church.

St Bernard of Clairvaux left an extraordinary legacy. He helped transform the Cistercian movement into one of the most important religious forces of medieval Europe, influenced popes and rulers, defended Church reform, opposed persecution, preached in the Second Crusade and produced spiritual writings that have remained influential for centuries.

For those interested in the history of Christian chivalry, St. Bernard is also an important figure. His understanding of knighthood was closely connected with Christian duty, discipline, sacrifice and service. His famous association with our brothers in Christ, the Knights Templar and his composition of In Praise of the New Knighthood helped provide a theological framework through which some medieval Christians understood the vocation of the religious warrior.

St Bernard therefore stands at a fascinating crossroads of monastic spirituality, Christian reform, theology and medieval chivalry.
His life reminds us that true Christian leadership was understood not simply as possessing authority, but as accepting responsibility, discipline and sacrifice in the service of God and others.

13/08/2026

THE TEMPLARS ARE NOT YOUR POLITICAL WEAPON

If you use the Templar cross to preach white supremacy, anti-Muslim hatred or political extremism—

you are not defending the Templars.

You are abusing their history.

The Knights Templar were founded in the 12th century as a Christian military order in the Holy Land.

They were not an American political movement.

They were not nationalists.

And they certainly were not white supremacists.

The modern concept of racial supremacy cannot simply be projected backwards onto the Middle Ages.

The Templars belonged to a transnational Christian world that was far more complex than the simplistic “White Christians versus Muslims” fantasy promoted by extremists today.

THEN CAME THE MODERN MYTH

Centuries after the Templars disappeared,
their image was revived through romanticism,
Freemasonry and later neo-Templar organisations.

Especially in the United States, the Templar name became part of established Masonic and Christian traditions.

And here is something that needs to be understood:

Many modern Templar organisations are explicitly non-political.

They do not exist to promote parties, nationalism, racial ideology or political movements.

They use the Templar tradition as a religious, charitable, historical or fraternal tradition.

THEN CAME 9/11

After September 11, 2001, a new political narrative became increasingly powerful:

the so-called Counter-Jihad movement.

Its extremists began presenting the modern world through a medieval lens:

Christian West versus Muslim enemy.

And suddenly the Templar
was transformed from a historical figure
into a political warrior-symbol.

The cross became a political statement.

The Crusader became a modern identity.

And the Templar became a symbol for a war that belongs to the 21st century—

not to the 12th.

AND THIS IS WHERE THE EXTREME RIGHT ENTERED

White supremacists and other extremists took that imagery even further.

They took the knight.

The cross.

The Crusader.

The words “Deus Vult”.

And tried to turn them into symbols of racial superiority and hatred.

Let's be absolutely clear:

A racist wearing a Templar cross does not become a Templar.

A white supremacist calling himself a Crusader
does not inherit the history of the Crusades.

And someone using medieval Christianity to justify modern racial hatred is not preserving history.

HE IS DISTORTING IT.

The Templars did not fight for a modern concept of a white race.

They did not belong to a modern nation-state.

They did not know the racial ideology these extremists are trying to impose upon them.

Their world was religious, political, multilingual,
international and enormously complex.

SO LET'S DRAW THE LINE

Templar history is not White Supremacy.

Templar tradition is not Counter-Jihad propaganda.

Christian faith is not racial nationalism.

And the Templar cross does not belong to the political extreme right.

IT BELONGS TO HISTORY.

And history is not your propaganda.

TEMPLAR LEGACY

We remember the Templars.

We do not allow extremists
to rewrite them.

07/08/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/1DJD45Ltxg/

"England's Forgotten Knightly Order – Have You Ever Heard of the Order of Saint Thomas of Acre?"

Almost no one knows about them—and that's exactly what makes their story so fascinating. Alongside the Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights, another military order fought in the Holy Land. Why has it been almost completely forgotten?

In 1191, during the fierce Siege of Acre in the Third Crusade, a small brotherhood was founded. At first, it had nothing to do with warfare. Its members cared for wounded crusaders, treated sick pilgrims, helped the poor, and ensured that the fallen received a proper Christian burial. They placed service to others above combat and dedicated their community to Saint Thomas Becket of Canterbury, one of England's most revered saints.

The brotherhood soon gained the support of the English Crown. King Richard the Lionheart became one of its greatest patrons, and the order gradually emerged as the most important English religious order in the Holy Land.

Over time, its mission changed. Around 1228, it was reorganized along the lines of the Teutonic Order and transformed into a military order of knights. From then on, its members combined two callings: caring for the sick and pilgrims while also taking up sword and shield to defend the Christian territories in the Holy Land.

The order's headquarters stood in Acre, the last great capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Unlike the powerful Templars or Hospitallers, however, the Order of Saint Thomas remained relatively small. Most of its knights were English, making it unique as the only major English military order to serve permanently in the Holy Land.

Its distinctive habit was a white mantle bearing a red cross with a white scallop shell at its center—a symbol that set the order apart from every other military order of the Crusades.

When Acre fell in 1291 and the Crusaders lost the Holy Land forever, the order was forced to leave as well. The brothers first relocated to Cyprus before eventually establishing their main base in London, where they continued their charitable work for many decades.

The order's history finally came to an end during the English Reformation. In the 16th century, King Henry VIII dissolved the order and confiscated its possessions, just as he did with many other religious institutions.

Today, the Order of Saint Thomas of Acre is almost forgotten. Yet its history reminds us that the Crusading world was far more diverse than most people realize. Beyond the famous Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights, other remarkable orders also combined faith, charity, and knighthood—and they deserve to be remembered.

Had you ever heard of this forgotten knightly order?

22/11/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1aQ9g5e8Nj/