TUB KNIGHTS TBMPLAfiS. 69 consent ; that they administer the sacraments to excommunicated OIM on persons.and bury them with all theusual ceremonies of the church ; ^f'*™*, that they likewise abuse the permission granted the brethren of having divine service said once a year in places under interdict, and that they admit seculars into their fraternity, pretending thereby to give them the same right to their privileges as if they were really professed." To provide a remedy for these irregularities, the council forbad the military orders to receive tor the future any conveyances of churches and tithes without the ordinaries' consent ; that with regard to churches not founded by themselves, nor served by the chaplains of the order, they should present the priests they designed for the cure of tliein to the bishop of the dioeese, and reserve nothing to themselves but the cognizance of the temporals which belonged to them ; that they should not cause service to be said, in churches under interdict, above once a year, nor give burial there to any person whatever ; and that none of their fraternity or associates should be allowed to partake of their privileges, if not actually professed.* Several bishops from Palestine were present at this council, together with the archbishop of Csesarea, and William archbishop of Tyre, the great historian of the Latin kingdom. The order of the Temple was at this period divided into the three great classes of knights, priests, and serving brethren, all bound together by their vow of obedience to the Master of the Temple at Jerusalem, the chief of the entire fraternity. Every candidate for admission into the first class must have received the honour of knighthood in due form, according to the laws of chivalry, before he could be admitted to the vows ; and as no person of low degree could be advanced to the honours of knighthood, the brethren of the first class, i. e. the Knights Templars, were all men of noble birth and of high courage. * 3 ConcU. Lat. can. 9.