Lately, a group of Templar women and men, have re-established the ancient order of Holy Mary of Mountjoie, of  Holy Redeemer and of Temple of Jerusalem under the name of Soberana Orden de Montegaudio y del Temple de Jerusalén (Sovereign Order of Montegaudio and the Temple of Jerusalem).

This was an order of chivalry founded by Count Don Rodrigo Alvarez from León, and some others knights, on July 9th 1172 to assist and protect the pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela and the Holy Land and come in defense of Christianity, being approved by the Pope Alexander III between that date and the 24 of December of 1173 adapting the rules of the order to the Cistercian ones.

The emblem of the order was the Red and White Templar Cross as it appears above.

The headquarters of the order was located on the top of Mount Joie or Monte-Gaudio, the hill where the pilgrins had the first vision of Jerusalem, hence its name (“Mont de joie in french, contracted in Montjoie ”,  and “Mons gaudii” in Latin ). The Monte Gaudio, Mount Gioia or Mount Joia is a hill of 895 metrers hight above the sea level, located in eastern Medirerranean. In Middle age, Pilgrims from Europe traveling to the Holy Land, having croosed Syria, they get  this mountain, from which they saw for the first time, a glance, all of Palestine and Jerusalem at its feet.

On October 2 of 1187 Saladin conquered Jerusalem and the members of the Order had to leave their home and set in differents places along Castille and Aragón.

In October 1188 Alphons II, King of Aragón, seeing the decline of the Order added two new purposes to the prevoius they were already commissioned: hospital care and the redemption of the Christians that fall into the hands of the Moors. A the same time he chaged the name of the Aragón Order branch to Order of the Holy Redeemer and moved  its headquarters from Alfambra to the Hospital of this name founded in Teruel in 1178. 

The same year of 1188 there was a schism in the Order, though it does not appear to have broken down along the lines Castille and León on one hand and the  Crown of Aragon on the other, as sometimes supposed.

In March 1195,  Pope Celestine III issued a bull granting a "certain house", evidently the Holy Redeemer, to the Templars. The validity of this action was subsequently to be challenged by the knights of Monteguadio opposed to a merger with the Templars. When the final split occurred in 1196, over the successful amalgamation with the Templars, all opponents of the merger would have had to leave the lands of Alphons the II of Aragón a strong supporter of the Temple. The discontents managed to hold onto  the order of Monfragüe, which they made their centre of operations. 

Due to the lack of discipline in the Order (maybe because there were knights of many nationalities) and to ingratiate himself with the Pope, but above all, to defend the border of Aragon, that was in serious danger, King Alphons decided in 1196 to dissolve the Order and so persons and possessions were transferred to the Order of the Temple of Jersusalem. The dissatisfied with this decision came to Castille and joined the Comandery of Montegaudio in Monfragüe whose name finnally was adopted by the Order.

Ferdinand the III of Castille in 1221 ordered the dissolution  of the order and its integration into the order of Calatrava.

Despite its short life, this Order has the honor of being the first Spanish military order which had a permanent settlement on Holy Land.

Since its return from Jerusalem the order was also known as the Order of Trufac.

The main goals of the re-established SOMTJ are the defense of Christianity and religious freedom and the promotion, diffusion, practicing  and restoration of the Templar principles and values: honor, sacrifice, defending the weak and aid the needy.

We are a Christian, Non-Masonic Order of Templars. We recognize all other legitimate Knights Templar Orders and we seek to ally ourselves with other true Knights Templar Orders defending the same Templar values as we.

The Order is open to all Christians that expressly reject the Exoteric, Ocultist, Satanic and Masonic ideas and practices.

The Order is legally established in Spain and registered with the number 593205 in the official National Registry of Associations.