Mgr. Gérard Willery (left on the picture) had been an Honorary Knight of our Order, since his investiture in 2010 at the castle of Salach (Germany)

HE. Fra. Walter Groenewegen

HSH. Mgr Fra. Gerard Willery

Mgr Fra. Robert Adelsohn Bels.

Our very last picture of Fra. Gerard

taken at the Investiture of the Grand Priory of the Netherlands, in Roermond, on 23.4.2022.

Monsignor Walter Groenewegen.

Fratres carissimi, sororibus carissimi,

It was with unspeakable consternation and profound sadness that we learned of the cruel news of the death of His Serene Highness, Monseigneur et Frater Gérard, Edmond, Louis Willery, on Thursday June 29, 2023. The shock was all the more violent as it was, for us, totally unexpected.

For many of us, the loss of such a kind-hearted person is an incomprehension, an injustice, and for others, more down-to-earth, an insolence and an insult to the divine.

Frater Gérard was one of those persons who should never have left us. He belonged with us, embracing his brothers and sisters of all backgrounds and nationalities like a good father. He radiated an intense human warmth, and warmed the hearts of everyone he met along the way. Everyone who had the blessing of approaching him felt his beneficent aura. You could see his kindness in his face and in his smile. He was a father to us all.

Frater Gérard's devotion to the Knighthood knew no bounds. Merging his activities and dedication, during his years as Grand Prior of France and Grand Master of the Order, we must face the fact that he belongs to the pantheon of the greatest Knights Templar of the last centuries of the Order, if not of all time, succeeding his illustrious predecessor, Mgr. Fra. Jacques de Molay. No knight in the world could match him, and we are left in doubt as to those of the future.

Our Magister Supremus personally knew some of the leading lights of traditional chivalry, such as Chevalier André-Louis Saumier d'Albis, Chevalier Michel Swijssen, and Chevalier dom Fernando Pinto de Sousa Fontes. But none of them had the planetary dimension, the boundless wisdom and kindness that characterized our late Frater Gérard. He was unique in every way.

We congratulate ourselves, and thank cosmic intelligence, for having inspired us to award him the title of "Chevalier d'Honneur" of the Ordo Balliolensis. It was at Salach Castle, Germany, in 2010.

We are all aware that our Frater Gérard could never have achieved the incredible organizational and operational level that characterized his reign - first as Grand Prior of France and standard-bearer of the Temple, then as 52nd Grand Master of this prestigious Order of all - without the invaluable help and unconditional support of his faithful companion, spouse and collaborator, our beloved Sister Sissi.

As an inseparable part of a happy and fulfilled couple, our Sister is now sailing alone on a boat, without a captain at the helm, and adrift far beyond the ocean's horizons.

Dame Sissi knows that the love and respect that knights the world over, had for Frater Gérard is the same for her. For they are all perfectly aware that, without her, our late Grand Master would never have reached the summit of the Temple and would never have developed the wisdom and kindness that are the infallible signs of great inner peace, to the point of opening his heart to the world. Only a harmonious family environment can help a person to reach his or her limits, to live out his vocation, his reason for being here among us.

We wish our beloved Sister Sissi, and her deeply wounded little family, whom Frater Gérard cherished above all else, our sincere condolences. In the hope that this sentence, which has become anodyne through use and the wear and tear of time, may reflect our true and heartfelt state of mind.

We would like to tell her how much we share her grief, and wish to help her, through our affection, to find the courage to overcome her pain, which must be immense. A separation between people who love each other is always heartbreaking, a tragedy. May Sister Sissi be assured, in these painful moments she is going through, of the great and unique friendship that has united us for many years now.

Our Order would also like to extend its most sincere condolences to her beloved son and daughter, and to their entire family.

Our condolences also go to the leaders of the Order, in particular to his second, and now first, the 53rd Grand Master of the OSMTH, our beloved HSH. Mgr Fra. Walter Groenewegen, to all the Grand Priors urbi et orbi, and to all the Knights Templar of the world.

Thursday June 29, 2023, at 18:00, will be a milestone in the history of the Temple. The all too premature death of our beloved Frater Gérard was a blow to the Order of the Temple at a time when it is taking root on every continent.

We remain with countless wonderful memories of memorable encounters in Paris, Bucharest, Moscow, Avignon, Ludwigslust and elsewhere.

May our beloved Frater Gérard rest in peace and know that he will never be forgotten by any Knight, Templar or otherwise. His passing marked not only the history of the Temple, but also that of Traditional Knighthood. We are eternally grateful to him for all he accomplished, so that our great ideals may live on.

Many thanks again, and big hugs, to his loving wife, our Sister Sissi, who supported him with love and passion in all his endeavours.  These are, without doubt, two examples to follow.

Vive le Chevalier !

La présente Communication Magistrale CM 1021, revue et corrigée, fut rédigée pour le Bien Supérieur de notre Ordre, à Magistropolis, ce 6e jour de juillet 1063 de notre lignage et de l’an 2023 de l’Ere Grégorienne.

Bien Fraternellement.

PAX NOBISUM

  Non Nobis ...

Fra. Robert Adelsohn Bels

Magister Supremus Ordinis Balliolensis. GCOB. GCOSMTH (ro). GCOSS.

Baronobis. Sire de L´Ormier et Belcastel-et-Buc, Drs.h.c

Chevalier Banneret