The Priory of Sion might be Europe’s oldest and most influential secret society, but it is also hugely controversial, a group in which two heretical strands, the Magdalene and John the Baptist, come together. The underlying power of the Priory of Sion is that its members are guardians of a great secret which could shake the very foundations of Church and State.1Within a collection of documents called the Dossiers secrets are statements claiming that the Priory has been responsible for heresies perpetuated by various groups, from the Cathars and Templars to the Freemasons. The Priory was part of a Johannite tradition, even calling their Grandmasters John. Although most of the Grandmasters have been men, four have been women, and some names as illustrious as Leonardo de Vinci, Isaac Newton, Claude Debussy, and Jean Cocteau.

-- Picknett, Lynn and Clive Prince, The Templar Revelation, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1998. Pages 39-54.