72 THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS
The Temple is declared to be in perpetuity under the safe-
guard and protection of the Holy See, with all the possessions
that the Order has or may have in future* Complete control
is given to the Master, and no lay or ecclesiastical authority
(with the exception of the Pope) is to venture to interfere in
any way with the brethren. Withdrawal from the Order
is not prohibited, but any brother who does so must enter into
another religious community which is stricter in its discipline
than the Temple. The Temple, as the defender of the
Church, is to be free from the payment of tithes and, like
other religious institutions, may receive tithes from laymen.
The bishop is, however, to be consulted before any tithes are
taken within his diocese, but this is no hardship to the
Templars for " if the bishop refuse, you are empowered, by
the authority of the holy apostolic see, to receive and retain
them ". Later Popes confirmed and added to the privileges
of the Order. The Temple is permitted to have its own
burial-grounds and its own churches—the latter because it
would be improper and highly dangerous to the souls of the
religious brethren if, in going to church, they were to be
brought in contact with a crowd of secular persons. If a
church has been laid under interdict, the Temple is authorised
to over-ride the ecclesiastical ban and conduct services once a
year (subsequently twice a year). The brethren were to
confess to the chaplains of the Order and could confess to any
other priest only in exceptional circumstances. The Temple
was later excluded from any papal censures unless expressly
mentioned.
Such concessions were naturally bitterly resented by the
ecclesiastics, for they made the Temple and the Hospital
almost entirely independent of all control by the bishops.
Both Orders owned vast properties, which, by the authority of
the Bull of Alexander III, were now free of tithe, and the
permission given to the Orders to maintain their own
churches and have their own chaplains meant in effect the