There were formerly numerous priests attached to the Temple church, the chief of whom was styled _custos_ or guardian of the sacred edifice. King Henry the Third, for the salvation of his own soul, and the souls of his ancestors and heirs, gave to the Templars eight pounds per annum, to be paid out of the exchequer, for the maintenance of three chaplains in the Temple to say mass daily for ever; one was to pray in the church for the king himself, another for all christian people, and the third for the faithful departed.[471] Idonea de Veteri Ponte also gave thirteen bovates of her land, at Ostrefeld, for the support of a chaplain in the house of the Temple at London, to pray for her own soul and that of her deceased husband, Robert de Veteri Ponte.[472] The _custos_ or guardian of the Temple church was appointed by the Master and Chapter of the Temple, and entered upon his spiritual duties, as did all the priests and chaplains of the order, without any admission, institution, or induction. He was exempt from the ordinary ecclesiastical authority, and was to pay perfect obedience in all matters, and upon all occasions, to the Master of the Temple, as his lord and bishop. The priests of the order took precisely the same vows as the rest of the brethren, and enjoyed no privileges above their fellows. They remained, indeed, in complete subjection to the knights, for they were not allowed to take part in the consultations of the chapter, unless they had been enjoined so to do, nor could they occupy themselves with the cure of souls unless required. The Templars were not permitted to confess to priests who were strangers to the order, without leave so to do. "_Et les freres chapeleins du Temple dovinent oyr la confession des freres, ne nul ne se deit confesser a autre chapelein saunz counge, car il ount greigneur poer du Pape, de els assoudre que un evesque._" The particular chapters of the Master of the Temple, in which transgressions were acknowledged, penances were enjoined, and quarrels were made up, were frequently held on a Sunday morning in the above chapel of St. Anne, on the south side of the Temple church, when the following curious form of absolution was pronounced by the Master of the Temple in the Norman French of that day. "La manere de tenir chapitre e d'assoudre."