The Priory of Sion Part 1: A “secret society”

 

Possibilities

The man at the centre of the Priory of Sion is one Pierre Plantard. Who is Pierre Plantard? Conman? Descendent of Christ? To quote Dan Burstein: “It is often hard in the case of Plantard to find the line what is known and what is a good story.” At the same time, it is clear that the available evidence has often been interpreted in more complex ways than is really required. In this analysis, we will specifically try and interpret an overarching principle or consistent behaviour in the man – and his mysteries.

Birth

The Priory of Sion came into existence when it was registered on May 7, 1956, at the Sub-prefecture of St-Julien-en-Genevois, in the Haute Savoie. By French law, associations need to be registered, so there is nothing unusual in this fact. But it does provide us with first-hand evidence, uncorrupted by later spin – from the horse’s mouth.
Its officers were: as president, André Bonhomme (profession listed as press correspondent). Intriguingly, he also lists his alias Stanis Bellas – we can only wonder what they were intending to do that it required their pseudonyms to go on record. Pierre Plantard – alias Chyren – was secretary (profession: journalist). Chyren is used by Nostradamus in his prophecies. Jean Deleaval was vice-president, a draughtsman in Geneva and Armand Defago, treasurer – a technician from Annemasse.
The address of the association was a house called “Sous-Cassan” in Annemasse – Plantard’s address, which is not too uncommon seeing he was the secretary.
Officialdom then took its course and the sub-prefecture then passed it on, which resulted in the organisation being announced in the Journal officiel on June 25, 1956. Some researchers have made a lot of this “official announcement”, but it is nothing more than rubber stamping by the bureaucracy. An organisation is “official” as soon as it is submitted to a prefecture; the announcement in the Journal is purely internal governmental bureaucracy, executing the letter of the law. Researchers have also noted that the association was listed as for “study and mutual assistance”, which is a common term, like the English “friendly society” that covers a myriad of purposes.

Photograph © Paul Smith

Of the four officers, only Plantard and Bonhomme have been traced. We also note that in August 1973, Bonhomme wrote to the sub-prefecture to say that he had resigned as president of the “Association du Prieuré de Sion”. As far as we are aware, no-one has validated what the statutes of the organisation specify regarding an election of a new president, and whether there ever was any subsequent statement from the other officers to the sub-prefecture regarding a new president. Finally, we checked the Journal officiel and note that it does not have an active listing for the Priory of Sion, which would mean that at some point, it was dissolved. We are not aware of anyone mentioning the date when the association was officially dissolved. The sub-prefecture normally has to be sent minutes of the General Meeting of the association. If no communication is received from an association for more than ten or twelve years, the authorities will automatically dissolve the association, on the premise that the association ceased to function long before. It is unclear whether any such communication was ever received by the sub-prefecture post the Priory’s creation in 1956. If not, it would imply that by 1970, the prefecture dissolved the Priory. It would mean that the letter by Bonhomme to the prefecture stating his resignation was futile.

In 1996, Bonhomme told the BBC: “The Priory does not exist any more. We were never involved in any activities of a political nature. It was four friends who came together to have fun. We called ourselves the Priory of Sion because there was a mountain by the same name close by. I haven’t seen Pierre Plantard in over twenty years and I don’t know what he is up to, but he always had a great imagination. I don’t know why people try to make such a big thing out of nothing.” Bonhomme does seem to confirm the organisations’ dissolution, which would mean that since an unidentified moment in time, there is no such thing as a French association registered as the “Priory of Sion”. If so, then statements from Gino Sandri as “secretary general” – a position not defined in the 1956 statutes – would not exist and he would be spokesperson for a non-existent organisation. Of course, at any moment in time, a “Priory of Sion” could have been created in another country, with statutes and bank account for its members, but as far as we are aware, no-one has ever identified any such organisation, nor has the “Priory of Sion” made any communications about this either.

Purpose?

The statutes give the Priory a subtitle: CIRCUIT, which stands for Chevalerie d’Institution et Règle Catholique et d’Union Indépendante Traditionaliste, or Knighthood of Catholic Institution and Rule and Traditionalist Independent Union. This belaboured acronym is clearly present to arrive at the word Circuit. What is the meaning of a circuit? It is a path to be followed… a walk of life to be walked. When we break it down into components, we are left with Catholic, which is unsurprising for France; Knighthood, which brings us to medieval times and perhaps notions of chivalry and echoes of the Knights Templar; Independent, suggesting the Priory is not linked with other organisations. In short, to quote from the statutes: “The constitution of a Catholic Order, intended to restore in a modern form, while retaining its traditionalist character, the ancient chivalry, which, through its actions, promoted a highly moralising ideal and the element of constant improvement in the rules of life and the human personality.”
This is a very high-level scope and the statutes do provide some more specific purpose: to establish a “Priory, which will serve as a centre of study, meditation, rest and prayer”, on Montagne de Sion, which we know is a 785 m high mountain, 30 km from Annemasse and 8 km from St-Julien. It suggests that the association will be a group of people that are going to climb the mountain, in order to convene and discuss traditional values in life.
The statutes note that membership is open to Catholics, over the age 21 (then the age of majority). Members are organised in nine grades, membership in each multiplying threefold, hence arriving at a total possible membership of 9841.
The “president” will be known as “nautonier”, which is either helmsman or navigator. It suggests that the community needs to be steered, rather than led or “presided over”. In essence, it suggests a group of people walking up a hill to meditate, which is in essence a pilgrimage to this site.

Though presumably this is an organisation focused on the region of the Haut Savoie and thus quite localised in space, the statutes nevertheless specify how membership will be divided into 729 provinces, 27 commanderies and a “high office”, the Arche ‘Kyria’, made up of the top four grades, or 40 members in total.

Certain questions need to be asked about these statutes: why have such an elaborate organisation in the statutes, so many degrees, so many subdivisions? It is a highly ambitious plan and suggests a mass movement, to encompass the youth of France, rather than an organisation that seems to promote spiritual retreats on Mount Sion near Annemasse. And did they ever think so many people would join? Would they find and get them to subscribe 10,000 people in France who are interested in bringing back traditional, yet modern, Catholic Knighthood, centred on Mt Sion?
Finally, let us note that the most famous Mount Sion, of course, is Jerusalem and that “Catholic Knights” could be a reference to the Knights Templar – or any other chivalric order. In fact, the statutes of the Priory of Sion make it quite specific that this is a neo-Templar/neo-chivalric order, which thus makes sense of the several provinces, commanderies and “grand council”. The centre of their universe is not Jerusalem, but their own holy mountain, Montagne de Sion, near Annemasse… so the statutes go.

The Work begins… and ends

The mechanism of the organisation was a newsletter. A dozen issues of CIRCUIT were produced, for free, in 1956. All whom have read the material agree that there is little of interest in them and that their scope is definitely not esoteric in nature. Picknett and Prince note: “There must be more to Circuit than meets the eye – and it seems that there was. As we stared at the everyday articles about rising damp and buying pencils in bulk, something began to niggle at us, something strangely familiar. A pattern was emerging – for example in the remorseless singling out of particular locations, publishing of contact addresses and telephone numbers, and veiled references to political figures …. Then it hit us. Circuit read exactly like the publications of the wartime Resistance.” Picknett and Prince thus present the idea that CIRCUIT was a “street paper” freely distributed to the masses, but actually to be understood by a small subsection of these people, who will understand what this is all about.
If so, then it means that over these dozens issues, its purpose was accomplished, and that the true focus of the Priory of Sion was the publication of a “Resistance newspaper”. If so, then the true purpose of the Priory of Sion was largely limited in time to 1956, limited in space to those who got it for free, and with a specific goal. It would imply that from 1957 onwards, the Priory’s work was done – or had failed, but everything to do with it, was finished. If so, it would also suggest that the statutes and its actual purpose are different and that the statutes were actually a cover for the true purpose, which could have been illegal or politically subversive.

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