Honoring 800 years
of BRIDGE BUILDERS
& Temple Keepers

The Path of the Pontifex

I carry an ancestral lineage of bridge builders.

For more than eight centuries, my family has carried the seal of the Pontifex, bridge builders, guardians of thresholds, serving the Vatican as keepers of passage between worlds.

Another branch has carried the name Sepulchre, guardians of the Temple, protectors of the sacred tomb, where death becomes rebirth. I was born at the crossing of these two lineages.

For a long time, I thought my path was mine alone, shaped only by my choices and my search for truth. But I came to realize that my journey is not limited to an individual story. I am here to honor and perpetuate a tradition much greater than myself.

The bridges I build today are the continuation of what my ancestors carried, transformed into a new form for our times: a passage between the human experience and the divine remembrance.

My name itself speaks the vow. Antoine, the seeker, the healer. Sepulchre, the tomb of light and rebirth. Together they reveal the archetype I embody: to guide souls across thresholds, to reconcile body and spirit, to restore intimacy with the sacred.

Our ancestral motto, Recte Faciendo Neminem Timeas, He who acts rightly fears no one, runs through me as a call to integrity. It is the compass that keeps me aligned in the face of rupture, silence, and fire.

Through Chi-Rho rituals, I carry forward the archetype of the bridge, offering a living passage back to the inner temple where human and divine meet.

My daily mantra, Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu, is my offering: may every act of my life contribute to the freedom and joy of all beings.

This is the path I walk. This is the bridge I am.

To all my relations,

Honouring our Ancestors

We are not only children of our parents, we are the continuation of a lineage. In our bodies run the victories and wounds of those who came before us. To incarnate is to choose a family, with its light and its shadow, and to embrace this legacy as both gift and challenge.

I chose to enter a line marked by both aristocracy and industrial power. With it came privilege, but also silence, secrets, and shadows that demanded to be faced. For me, this inheritance is not a burden, it is the ground I chose to stand on, so I could grow into my mission.

My name itself carries this thread. Sepulchre, given to pilgrims and guardians of the Temple in Jerusalem, ties me to the mystery of death and rebirth, to the sacred tomb where transformation begins.

Another branch of my family held the Pontifex role for centuries, bridge builders in service of the Vatican.

Together, these two currents, Temple Keepers and Bridge Builders, flow into my life as a call to embody the archetype of threshold and passage.

Synchronicities confirm this path. As a teenager, my scout leader gave me the nickname Comte de Champignac. Decades later, I discovered that my own great-grandfather, Comte Herbert van den Steen de Jehay, had inspired that very character.

My great-grandfather, the Comte Herbert van den Steen de Jehay, and his Château de Bassines, in the Belgium Condroz, where I spent my childhood nurturing my connection with nature, dreaming to become one day a farmer.

In 2016, after guiding a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, my father revealed that another ancestor had been the first Westerner to walk around the sacred mountain almost two centuries earlier. The thread was unmistakable: blood and soul weaving a story across time.

I honor this heritage not by clinging to it, but by living it forward. By choosing vulnerability over masks, truth over silence, and presence over distraction. Every shadow faced, every gift embraced, strengthens my service to the bridge I came here to embody.

This is how I walk: with gratitude for those who came before, and with devotion to the living flame of Love, Courage, and Wisdom that continues through me.

Antoine: A Personal Exploration of the Struggle Between Flesh and Spirit

The name Antoine, derived from the Greek "Antonios," evokes power and devotion through the ages. Historically, Saint Anthony is one of the fathers of Christian monasticism, known for his ascetic life and profound spiritual visions. His journey in the desert, his quest for truth, and his struggle against temptations are narratives that have inspired generations of spiritual seekers.

A particularly intriguing episode in Saint Anthony's life is his mystical vision, often associated with the inadvertent consumption of ergot (the ancestor of LSD) found in his moldy bread during his hermitage in the Egyptian desert. This experience triggered intense psychedelic visions, reflected in iconic artworks such as "The Temptation of Saint Anthony."

Salvador Dalí's "The Temptation of Saint Anthony" is a profoundly symbolic artwork that explores the inner struggles and temptations of the human soul. In this depiction, Saint Anthony is surrounded by allegorical figures embodying the various temptations he faces: seductive women, carnal acts, lust, and other symbols of earthly desires.

Saint Anthony's struggle against these temptations is not just a battle against external forces but also an internal fight against his own desires and impulses. It is a powerful representation of the universal struggle between flesh and spirit, between earthly desires and the quest for spiritual truth.

Saint Anthony's battle against his temptations resonates deeply with my own journey. For much of my life, I was captivated by the pursuit of carnal pleasures, often in settings as luxurious as Dali's paintings. The allure of the material world and earthly desires played a central role in my personal quest.

Today, with hindsight, I can look back on these experiences with a touch of humor and an enriching perspective. The inner struggle I faced, much like Saint Anthony's, has offered me valuable lessons and guided me towards a deeper understanding of myself and the nature of reality.

In Dali's vision, the temptation of Saint Anthony suggests that the saint's temptations might be illusions, mirages created by the mind rather than tangible realities. This interpretation offers a fascinating insight into the ephemeral nature of desires and temptations, reminding us that what often seems so enticing on the outside can be a deceptive illusion, leading us astray from our true spiritual path. This notion of illusion underscores the importance of vigilance and inner clarity in our quest for truth and spiritual alignment.

By recognizing and embracing these facets of my journey, I find a renewed appreciation for timeless teachings that invite us to balance our earthly desires with a greater quest for truth, love, and spirituality. With gratitude and humor, I continue to explore the depths of existence, seeking to harmonize the polarities of human experience in an eternal dance between flesh and spirit.