The Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (Latin: Ordo Supremus Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani, OSMTH, French: Ordre Souverain et Militaire du Temple de Jérusalem, OSMTJ) are a group of associations commonly originating from the revivalist Ordre du Temple (Order of the Temple) which was formed in 1804 by Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat.
See main article: article and Neo-Templarism. The l'Ordre du Temple, a revivalist organization, was founded in 1804 by Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat, later founder of the Johannite Church, who claimed that he had discovered that the Knights Templar had never gone away and that there was a continued line of Grand Masters to the present day.
The Ordre du Temple was then under the administration of the Martinist KVMRIS lodge in Brussels beginning in 1894 until it was registered as OSMTJ in 1932. In 1970, a schism occurred within the Order when General was unexpectedly elected as the new Grand Master at the Convent of Paris in September, 1970. Zdrojewski was succeeded by as the new head of the OSMTJ until his death in 1994.
The faction which remained with de Sousa Fontes after the 1970 election used the Latin acronym OSMTH. In 1997, OSMTH voted to expel Grand Master Fernando de Sousa Fontes from the order. This resulted in another schism with those loyal to Fontes forming a new organization presently known as OSMTH-Regency while the remainder of the organization continued on as OSMTH.
During WWII, the order's records were transferred to Portugal, where they were taken care of by Antonio de Sousa Fontes. After the war ended, Fontes believed that the status of Grand Master had been transferred to him, but this was contested by the members who remained in Belgium. Legal battles ensued, especially after Fontes died and gave the position to his son.
They formerly claimed to be direct descendants of the Knights Templar through the Larmenius Charter, but have since recanted this.