The Gnostic Catholic Ecclesia in the Americas
The Krumm-Heller Order
Dr. Krumm-Heller was authorized in the early part of this century by Papus (Tau Vincent) to establish orders of the Great Work, i.e. The Martinist, Freemasonic and Rosicrucian orders of France, in Mexico and South America. He was also a keen Bishop of the Doinel line of the Gnostic Church. While very little documentation is available about his undertakings, it is known that he assumed the nom d'Eglise of Tau Huirarchoca, (Hauirachoca being the Mayan equivalent of Quetzalcoatl, "the feathered serpent", whom certain Mormon writers identified with the Hebrew figure Melchizedek). Krumm-Heller was certainly attracted to the mysteries of the Mayan and Inca civilizations and was known for spending much of his lengthy South and Central American trips in the highlands rather than in the major cities. Among the natives of these regions, he established the "Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua", which survives to this day. In Venezuela, Columbia and kindred regions, the members of this society are notable for their flamboyant rosy red robes and large turban-like hats reminiscent of those worn by the Assyrian High Priests. In the last few decades there has circulated a text constructed from Cathar sources bearing the name "the Krumm-Heller liturgy". Regetfully, we have been unable to secure this document for examination.
The Post World War II Recovery of the Universel
Gnostic Church and The American Expansion of the E.G.A.
Due to the efforts of Dr. Krumm-Heller at the behest of "PAPUS" earlier in this century, as well as the surge of migration of Europeans fleeing to South American from the Oppression manifested by World War II, the occult and esoteric population of Latin America grew to produce a strong renaissance. Meanwhile, in Europe, Robert Ambelain had ascended the patriarchal throne and began the recovery of the Gnostic Church in founding his own branch, and whose name he altered from the Universal (Catholic) Gnostic Church, as it was known since the patriarchate of Jean Bricaud (Tau Jean II) and the martyred Constant Martin Chevillon (Tau Harmonius), to the Gnostic Catholic Apostolic Church, or otherwise known as the Ecclesia Gnostica Apostolica (E.G.A.). During the period of the 1950's, His Beatitude Robert Ambelain (Tau Jean II) authored and translated many Gnostic and Masonic works and recovered the Gnostic Archives. Unfortunately, one of his most notable works, "Jesus and The Mortal Secret of the Templars", was greeted in Europe with such controversy that it ultimately led to his untimely departure from active leadership of the Church. Robert Ambelain, however, is also to be credited for his recognition of the growing gnostic spirit in the Americas. In 1956, he consecrated Pedro Freire (Tau Petrus) of Puerto Allegre, Brazil, as Bishop Primate of Latin America, who consecrated Fermin Vale Amesti (Tau Valentinus III), Primate of Venezuela and Central America. Later after his departure from the Patriarchal Office in the 1960's, Roger Pommery (Tau Jean IV) took over the American resurgence and, in 1967, Willer Vital-Herne was consecrated in Paris as Tau Guillaume, Primate of the Antilles and the Caribbean. Following the loss of Roger Pommery, in 1969, Andre Mauer (Tau Andreas) briefly ascended the Patriarchal throne and, under him, the consensus was made to elect a North American bishop. This was Roger St. Victor Herard, who was consecrated Bishop of Bethany (Tau Charles) on September 7th by Tau Gillaume in New York City. Tau Charles was a political refugee who had come to the United States to escape oppression and possible assassination from the Duvalier government in Haiti. Monsignor Roger Herard was a highly celebrated Mason and Martinist in his homeland as well as in North America and in Europe. He was much respected by the heads of numerous esoteric fraternities, especially L'Ordre Martiniste and Philippe Encause its Grand Master, who was the son of "Papus", Dr. Gerard Encause.
The Holy Gnostic Apostalate in the America's
Premier Patriarchate and The North American Primacy
The latter part of the decade of the 1960's presented the Gnostic Church with great advances as well as tremendous challenges. In 1967, the patriarch Mgr. Roger Pommery (Tau Jean,) upon learning that certain French Bishops had ordained a woman to the episcopate, called a World Wide Synod of the Bishops of this Church. This synod failed to resolve the issue with an overall consensus, and when certain French Bishops continued the practice, the Belgian Bishops deserted and gave way to the formation of an opposition church known as the New Alliance. Roger Pommery's health failed and, following his demise, the throne passed to Mgr. Andre Mauer (Tau Andrea's,) who retained it briefly due to poor health and eventually passed the chair to Dr. Pedro Freire. Before he had done so, he invested Bishop Willer Vital-Herne (consecrated the year before by Roger Pommery, Tau Jean) with the primacy of the E.G.A. for Haiti, Antilles and the Caribbean Islands. He also appointed Fr. Roger St. Victor Herard as Apostolic Prefect of North America.
When Tau Andreas resigned on August 1, 1969, the High Synod elected, in a strange move, the Primate of Latin America, Pedro Freire, who was consecrated originally in 1956 by Robert Ambelain. This was the first time in history that the patriarchate was moved not only out of France itself, but out of the hemisphere and to the Americas.
Dr. Freire was a much loved and respected man, not only in the Eglise Gnostique Apostolique, but also amongst many other clergy of Apostolic Rites around the world. He was given a very grand coronation and installation to the Patriarchate on December 17, 1970 by Mgr. Dom Antides Vargas, (Patriarche Titulaire of Theoupolis and Dean of the Cathredral of The Brazilian Ntional Catholic Church in the City of Lajes in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil.) Mgr. Vargas, who was assisted by Bishops of the Armenian Church, was famous for his own resignation from The Church of Rome after his criticism of Pope Pius XII for political collaboration with the Nazi troops in World War II. Mgr. Vargas was now the Patriarch of the Old Roman Catholic Church of Brazil. He named Dr. Freire Mar Petrus-Johannes XIII following eastern catholic style rather than Gnostic. It is worth noting that the reign of Petrus-Johannes XIII seemed to begin a trend of ecumenicism which continued into the career of Roger Saint Victor Herard, whom he appointed Primate of North America on December 31, 1970. Unfortunately, Petrus-Johannes was unable to heal, in his seven year Patriarchate, the deep division amongst the Bishops concerning the feminine ordinand.
Soon after Roger St. Victor Herard took his chair under the name Tau Charles I, he instituted churches in New York, Chicago and Washington D.C. These churches were predominantly of Haitian membership and, in 1972, he named an ex-Haitian military man, Clement Lucien Papillon (Tau Paul) to be his assistant in Chicago, where Mgr. Herard had made his home after moving from New York. In 1973, Herard made Gaspard Mervilus (Tau Louis) Archbishop of New York and, later, the title “coadjutor cum jure succcessiones,” i.e. the exclusive right to succession of him (Herard). Mgr. Mervilus was also an ex-Haitian military man and both commanded respect within their community. Roger Herard, on the other hand, was a refugee from the government of "Papa Doc" Duvalier, and, as a lawyer and school teacher in Haiti, he fought forces of oppression from the government, which was seeking to trample the peasant population. Alas, Mgr. Herard was obliged to leave his homeland in 1966 with the Ton Ton Mechauthe fast on his heels. As a Bishop of the Church and as a greatly and highly celebrated Mason of Haiti and a Martinist of the Parisian Ordre Martiniste de Papus, Herard commanded great admiration and respect. He sought to use this to help support and console his fellow citizens in Haiti; he wrote articles published in Masonic periodicals in Port au Prince, and spoke on Haitian radio with transmission for Haitians both here and in Haiti. However, in as much as he held national and international respect, difficulties in the ranks of the Haitian clergy became apparent. Mgr. Herard described, in a prior journal of the Athenea Theologica, power plays between his two Bishops, much to his consternation.
Things came to a head when Mgr. Heard registered appointment of Gaspard Mervilus as his coadjutor in Brazil with our Patriarch after learning of Mgr. Papillon's unsuccessful attempt to found a branch of the New Alliance Church in North America and in Haiti (The Haitian Church, not comprehending what he was trying to do, thought he was forming a "New Adventist" Church and pushed his effort away.) However, a final blow was yet to come, as, on April 23, 1977, Mar Petrus-Johannes XIII passed away. On September 22, 1977, Edmond Fieschi (Tau Siabul,) Primate of the Gauls, was elected by the Holy Gnostic Synod as Patriarch; however, it is related by Mgr. Herard that Mgr. Papillon held influence with Mgr. Fieschi and, in a scandalous move, persuaded him of the agreement of the New Alliance that the Hagio Pneuma (The Holy Ghost) had left the Gnostic Church. Tau Siabul resigned in December of 1977, abdicating in favor of his coadjutor Mgr. Fermin Vale-Amesti, Tau Velentinus III, Primate of Central America, having his Apostolic seat in Caracas, Venezuela, but Mgr. Vale-Amesti refused to accept this nomination and “proclaimed the independence of the ecclesiastical provinces on April 7, 1978” (Athena Theological No. 3, pg. 22). Roger Herard also notes that Papillon, for reasons unknown, attempted to influence the College of Primates to reverse this apparent abolition of an international patriarchate but without success. In the aftermath, Mgr. Papillon resigned his status in the Church and, in his letter to Mgr. Herard, he also cited the contention that the Hagio Pneuma had left the Church. In the absence of an international patriarche, the E.G.A. would claim autocephalaus status, which Roger Herard seconded in 1979 following Vale-Amesit's declaration. This left René Chambellant as a constitutional patriarch or patriarche titulaire in the south of France, since René Chambellant (Tau Renatus) had retained the title of "Primate of The Gauls" after having been elected successor to Chevillon.
By the end of the 1970's, Roger Herard had consecrated two more bishops in Chicago: Mgr. Carl St. Cyr (Tau Patrick) in 1978, and Mgr. Alphonse Douyon for Washington D.C.; both men were clergy of Haitian descent. During this time, Mgr. Herard also began to broaden his relations to these clergy belonging to other churches of Gnostic acclaim, though not necessarily of the E.G.A. First of all, he recognized the patriarchate of Mgr. George Boyer in England (Tau Georgius de Londres,) whose gnostic lineage descended from Richard Powell, Duc de Palatine, and also another George, Mgr. George Brister (Tau Georgius,) the Archbishop of Oklahoma City for the Old Catholic Church, and a Bishop in concordat with the Ecclesia Gnostica in Hollywood, California, under the Regionary Bishop, Stephen A. Hoeller, also of the de Palatine lineage. The drawing closer of these two successions eventually becomes more prominent, as we will later see. However, from these relationships, Mgr. Herard began to receive various items of gnostic interest in English print, including the de Palatine Mass, which Mgr. Herard eventually would approve for American adherents of our Church. At the beginning of the 1980's Mgr. Herard turned his focus toward other communities of American culture, especially with a view toward "opening" the Church to all Americans whose primary language was English, and who were natural born citizens of the United States. It was in this period that the author was introduced to Mgr. Herard through a mutual friend and disciple of the Church, Rev. Steven A. Godlewski. Roger had inspired my interest in the Gnostic Church. Although my sole original intent was to seek studies in the Martinist Order of France (L'Ordre Martiniste,) I completed the necessary courses to presbyterate ordination in June of 1985. Mgr. Herard had turned his attention at this time to the expansion of the Ecclesia Gnostica Apostolica to the greater American (especially English-speaking) population and the subcultures therein. I was presented by Mgr. Herard with a gnostic mass in English, which he had received from our very good and dear Brother Mgr. Georgius in Oklahoma City, and was told that, with a few adjustments, this would be the preferred liturgy for the American Church. At this time, the majority of our church was using a French form of the Novus Ordo mass, adopted, at some points, to gnostic usages. In August of 1984 I was elected Bishop of Wisconsin and Auxiliary Metropolitan of Chicago, with the mandate to develop Churches for the American people (especially of primarily English speech) and after my consecration in November of the same year, I was authorized to incorporate the Church in the United States and to select American clergy for its Board of Trustees/Rectors, which I did on November 29, 1984. Mgr. Herard approved the administrative title of Diocese of the Midwest for our registered offices at that time, since our main mission to American congregants focused on the Midwestern states. Mgr. Herard did not include the Haitian clergy in this corporate structure, stating that it was his plan to have a separate corporation for Haitian congregations. Mgr. Herard had the same policy in mind for other cultures immigrating into the U.S. and early in 1985, Mgr. Herard ordained and consecrated Jorge Enrique Rodriguez Villa as an Archbishop of Bogota, Columbia and Miami, Florida, in order to oversee a ministry for Spanish speaking constituents of the church. Mgr. Rodriguez founded churches in Columbia and maintained a church in Chicago. His liturgy was exclusively Latin and tridentine in nature, and in addition, Mgr. Rodriguez preferred orthodox adaptation, perhaps following the practice of our friend and also a concordat Bishop with our Church, Archbishop Roberto Toca of the Catholic church of the Antiochene Rite. Late in 1985 or early 1986, Mgr. Rodriguez founded the Iglesia Catholica Orthodoxa Apostolica and incorporated it in the State of Illinois, assuming the title of Patriarche for this Church, which functioned on Old Catholic lines and was non-gnostic. Mgr. Herard's attention at this period was focused on his Haitian congregations on the east coast, when there again emerged certain rivalries and difficulties. This time it was between Bishops Alphonse Douyon and Mgr. Gaspard Mervilus, who were in dispute over jurisdiction in that Mgr. Douyon was allegedly recruiting priests in New York. Mgr. Douyon was warned by Mgr. Herard to desist this activity; however, Mgr. Douyon failed to heed this warning and allegedly ordained two men in New York without the primate's permission, at the cost of being deposed from the Church by Mgr. Herard. The problems were not over, however, as Mgr. Mervilus, who had a reputation for asserting his interests over others' within the Church, sought to limit correspondence from members of the clergy, who were also members of the Supreme Consul of L'Ordre Martiniste, to the Grand Master in Paris, suggesting the such correspondence should only go through him, as he was the Grand National Delegate for the Order to the United States. Mgr. Herard, who had appropriated that position to Mgr. Mervilus, was greatly angered at this, citing that such a restriction was a violation of a right accorded to initiators of the Order by virtue of the "sacred chain of initiation." This controversy eventually ended with Mgr. Mervilus' resignation from both L'Ordre Martiniste and the E.G.C.A. of which he was coadjutor to the Primat. This sparked a number of changes in both organizations. The Grand Master of L'Ordre Martiniste (now Emilio Lorenzo, following the death of Philippe Encausse) decided that no longer would an initiator of the Ordre hold simultaneously the rank of Bishop in the Church. This was a blow to Mgr. Herard and the Church, given the close concordat between the two orders since 1911, when then Patriarch and Grand Master of L'Ordre Martiniste, Jean Bricaud (Tau Jean I,) put them together in exclusive union. This was so much in vogue up to the present time that, in the late 70's Roger Herard initiated the process of election in a document naming his good friend, The Grand Master Philippe Encausse (Papus' son) in Paris, as a Bishop of the E.G.A. However, Philippe declined this dignity. Following the departure of Mgr. Mervilus, Mgr. Herard abolished the Archdiocese of New York and made the new Bishops preside over the Dioceses of Brooklyn and Queens. They were Mgr. Louis Etienne (Tau Franciscus) and Mgr. Luxy Achille Claude (Tau Jean.) Mgr. Herard continued to keep his sights on ecumenical relations with other gnostic churches in the U.S. and also began to work toward his long intended goal of ordaining and consecrating a woman within the church in the near future. At about this same time, with enthusiastic endorsement from Mgr. Herard, I began a series of correspondence and telephone conversations with the renowned female Evêque Lady Rosamonde Miller (Tau Rosa) in Palo Alto, California. At about the same time, we gained association to Mgr. Stephan Hoeller (Tau Stephanus,) Regionary Bishop of the Ecclesia Gnostica, whose apostolic residence was Hollywood, California. He was the Bishop to convey the successions of late Richard Duc de Palatine to Bishop Rosa Miller and to our Concordat Brother, Tau Georgius in Oklahoma. Mgr. Herard was quite eager to see a unification with those two important figures of gnosticism in America.
In November of 1988, I had an opportunity to meet Mgr. Hoeller (Tau Stephanus,) who was to lecture at the headquarters of The Theosophical Society in America, located in Wheaton, Illinois. Mgr. Herard was very encouraging of this. I did so and was most warmly and affectionately greeted by Tau Stephanus, who immediately recognized me from a photo of my consecration. He had seen the photo at the home of Rosamonde Miller (Tau Rosa) while visiting her. Tau Rosa had been consecrated by Tau Stephanus, Neil P. Jack and Gregory Forest Barber in January of 1982, and we spoke much concerning the feminine episcopate in general, and other important inter-ecclesiastical affairs, including the already firm relationship between Tau Georgius and Tau Charles (Mgr. Herard.) Mgr. Herard was extremely pleased to know of the exchange of information (much of which was new to him) and he hoped very much for a more personal contact with Tau Stephanus.
In February of 1989, I met at the home of Mgr. Herard with Mgr. Karl St. Cyr, Mgr. Herard's Chancellor Bishop. At this time, we were advised of Mgr. Herard's intention to elect Rev. Yanick Morin, a lady of Haitian descent, as the first female bishop of our church in the United States; both Mgr. St. Cyr and myself were in full consent of this decision. Mgr. Herard requested that Bishop Rosamonde Miller be the actual consecrating Bishop, thus fusing her succession into ours in an intercommunal way, much the way he had wished that Tau Georgius could do in the case of my own consecration, though it was impossible at the time, due to a number of difficulties. Tau Rosa informed Mgr. Herard that, as much as she so also desired, she regretted that she could not attend due to her being scheduled to travel to France at the time officially designated for this event (July 22nd, the feast of Mary Magdalene.) Mgr. Roger Herard himself presided and officiated the consecration of Rev. Yanick Morin as Tau Magdalen, Bishop of New Jersey, and with the special mandate to protect subsequent successions of feminine ordinands in the U.S. so that it would not be ignored or overlooked by masculine Bishops in the future, who may not be in agreement with this decision. Mgr. Herard knew well the perils that might occur due to the decision.
Upon returning from New York to Chicago at the end of July, 1989, Mgr. Herard was noticeably fatigued and he remarked that our next effort was to further advance the American Church and to ordain an assistant Bishop (Fr. Godlewski) with me, so that our efforts could expand and gain foundation. This however was not to be, at least not according to Herard's plan, for in the early hours of an August morning, Mgr. Herard collapsed at his home and was brought to the University of Chicago Hospital in a coma. Ironically, on August 16th, a day after the Assumption of the Holy Sophia, the Bishop's favorite feast day, and with the full moon in eclipse, his brain waves ceased and he emerged into the Light beyond the shadow, as we initiates often say. His life was celebrated at that time by many dignitaries and initiates around the world and he was cremated after high and holy gnostic and masonic ceremony. His ashes still await consignment to a family crypt in Port au Prince, when a friendlier government so permits. Thus went the gnostic upon his way (as our prayer states,) not merely a man of wisdom and gnosis but a compassionate man, a lawyer who sought to protect the land of poor Haitian farmers, a teacher who sought to uplift the uneducated in society.
In 1990, the synod of Bishops in North America met in New Jersey in order to begin discussion on the future of the Church without its Primate. No significant changes were made in the operational activities of the Dioceses. A moment of great significance occurred on July 13th, 1991, the eve of Bastille Day, when I celebrated the High Mass of the Hagia Pneuma and exchanged successions with Mgr. Hoeller, Tau Stephanus I, at the chapel in Villa Park, Illinois. This historic event was witnessed and assisted by Mgr. Karl St. Cyr (Tau Patrick,) Rev. S. Godlewski and Rev. Carmen Izguerdo. This event represented to many a culmination of earlier concordats and fraternal relations of the Duc de Palatine lineage which Mgr. Herard recognized as parallel to our own French heritage. As the strength of our Church appeared to be gaining, there were still difficulties in reconciling cultural differences as well as governing issues in the absence of our Primate and without a coadjutor or clear successor.
In remembering the advice given to me long ago by Mgr. Herard, ("If anything happens to me, contact Rene. He will help you.") I entered into a correspondence with His Beatitude René Chambellant in Ecclesia Tau Renatus, patriarch according to the Synesius constitution of 1906, since Tau Renatus had retained the title of "Primate of Gauls", which granted him automatic patriarchal succession. Tau Renatus offered informed and comforting advice and was quite supportive of our efforts toward ecumenism of the associated gnostic rites, which had been our focus at that time. Sadly, however, we last saw Chambellant on September 1, 1993. Though the saying "when a door closes, another opens," is true enough in this case, Rene's passage brought us into closer relationship with his surviving Episcopal college, led by Tau Johannes, Tau Gilbertus and Tau Christianus. The following year brought yet another loss and also, another find, when our very dear friend Brother Peter Maydon passed away. A good friend of Mgr. Herard, a high Martinist, Rosicrucian and Masonic initiate of Canada, he was internationally respected and admired. He had been raised to the Episcopate for Canada and all provinces by the Primate of the Church, Mgr. Ronald Cappello (Tau Mikael,) on September 12, 1994, in the Old Templar Church and taken the name Tau Petrus. Tau Petrus passed away in his sleep almost exactly a month from his elevation. In our Sanctuary of Gnosis in Villa Park, Illinois, I entered our dear brother into posthumous communion with Eglise Gnostique Apostolique, on November 4th. We notified Bishop Cappello of this and announced our desire to seek spiritual communion with the Old Templar Church as well, and Mgr. Cappello agreed. News of this development was announced to our Brethren in France where both our late Brother Peter and Bishop Cappello were well-known, and where this decision was hailed enthusiastically as well.
This leaves us at the end of 1996, on the threshold of the next century and, no less, the beginning of another millennium for the Christian theology, of which gnosticism has also been an integral part (though least appreciated by past history of the churches.) We can only hope that the fortitude, and sometimes in the face of horrendous peril, the ecumenicism of our Past Masters, will prove a greater foundation for future collegiality with dedication to The Great Work of Our Lord.
- Tau Charles Harmonius II (L'Eternelle Acolyte)
