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Opus Dei is Latin, “Work of God”, or Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, international Roman Catholic organization dedicated to applying the principles of Christianity to secular life and work. A lay organization, Opus Dei is divided into two sections, one for men and one for women. The vast majority of members are drawn from the general public and encouraged to retain their professions. They may live with their families. Priests make up a small percentage of the membership.
Opus Dei operates cultural centers, schools, residence halls, business schools, charities, and international training centers in crafts and farming. It also provides spiritual guidance to universities in Chile, Colombia, Italy, Peru, the Philippines, and Spain. Opus Dei has about 84,000 members and is represented in nearly 60 countries. Opus Dei was established in 1928 by Spanish priest Josémaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albas and was approved by the papacy in 1950. In 1982 Pope John Paul II agreed to the organization’s request to become a prelature. This status allowed the papally appointed head of the organization, Monsignor Alvaro del Portillo, to change his title from president-general to prelate. The jurisdiction of a prelate of Opus Dei is comparable to the jurisdiction of a bishop over a diocese. However, dioceses are geographic units and prelatures like Opus Dei need not be limited to a certain area. Opus Dei remains under the supervision of local Catholic bishops. Escrivá, who died in 1975, was canonized (made a saint) by John Paul II in 2002.
Opus Dei has generated controversy, with critics charging that it is unduly secretive and advances a highly conservative theological and political agenda. During the rule of Spanish Fascist dictator Francisco Franco (1939-1975), members of Opus Dei served in the cabinet and helped draft and implement reforms intended to stimulate the economy. Other members of the organization opposed Franco, however, and the organization claims not to represent a political viewpoint.
More recently, Opus Dei has been criticized for sanctioning rituals of self-mortification, during which certain adherents fast or whip themselves to recall the pain endured by Jesus Christ. Supporters praise the organization’s focus on the spiritual importance of all vocations and its sponsorship of education and charity.
Alleged Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion
The Priory of Sion was supposedly led by a Grand Master or Nautonnier.
Ugo de Blancheford (1150-1151)
Bernard de Tremblay (1151-1153)
Guillaume de Chanaleilles (1153-1154)
Evrard de N...? (1154-1154)
Andrè de Montbard (1155-1156)
Bertand de Blanchefort (1156-1169)
Philippe de Milly (1169-1170)
Eudes de Saint-Amand (1170-1180)
Arnaud de Toroge (1181-1184)
Gérard de Rideford (1184-1188)
Jean de Gisors (1188-1220)
Marie de Saint-Clair (1220-1266)
Guillaume de Gisors (1266-1307)
Edouard de Bar (1307-1336)
Jeanne de Bar (1336-1351)
Jean de Saint-Clair (1351-1366)
Blanche d'Evreux (1366-1398)
Nicolas Flamel (1398-1418)
Rene d'Anjou (1418-1480)
Iolande de Bar (1480-1483)
Sandro Filipepi AKA Botticelli (1483-1510)
Leonardo da Vinci (1510-1519)
Charles III (Duke of Bourbon-Montpensier) (1519-1527)
Ferdinand de Gonzague (1527-1556)
Michel de Notre-Dame AKA Nostradamus(1556-1566)
Duc de Longueville & Nicolas Froumenteau (1566-1575)
Louis de Nevers (1575-1595)
Robert Fludd (1595-1637)
Johann Valentin Andrea (1637-1654)
Robert Boyle (1654-1691)
Isaac Newton (1691-1727)
Charles Radclyffe (1727-1746)
Charles de Lorraine (1746-1780)v
Maximillian de Lorraine (1780-1801)
Charles Nodier (1801-1844)
Victor Hugo (1844-1885)
Claude Debussy (1885-1918)
Jean Cocteau (1918-1963)
Pierre Plantard (1963-1981)
The Prieuré de Sion, translated from French to English as Priory of Sion (or "Priory of Zion"), is a name that refers to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, it refers specifically to a marginal French fraternal organization founded and dissolved in 1956. However, it has come to refer to a mythical secret society plotting to restore the Merovingian dynasty to the thrones of Europe and Jerusalem since the Middle Ages, which was speculated about in, and popularized by, the 1982 controversial non-fiction book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, and later claimed as factual in the preface of the 2003 conspiracy fiction novel by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code. Although it came to be believed by many to be the most influential cabal in Western history, the mythical Priory of Sion has been exposed as a ludibrium started in 1961 by Pierre Plantard, a false pretender to the French throne. The evidence presented in support of its historical existence and role prior to 1956 was discovered to have been forged and then planted in various locations around France by Plantard and his accomplices. Nevertheless, many conspiracy theorists persist in believing that the Priory of Sion is a 1000-years-old secret society which conceals a subversive secret. Despite the exhaustive debunking of the Priory of Sion as one the great hoaxes of the 20th century by journalists and scholars, some skeptics have expressed concern that the proliferation and popularity of books, websites and films inspired by this hoax have contributed to the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories, pseudohistory, superstition and other confusions but also of the romantic reactionary ideology promoted in these works.
Further readings:
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