Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society

Volume 3, Number 2 • Fall 2015

©2016 Policy Studies Organization

Table of Contents

Foreword: Freemasonry: From its Roots to Today’s Issues____________________2

Pierre Mollier

A Strange Encounter: "Noble Orders of the Bow" and Masonic Lodges

in the Eighteenth Century______________________________________________3
Pierre-Yves Beaurepaire

The Masonic Orders of the Holy Sepulcher in Eighteenth-Century France_____20

Pierre Mollier

Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the World ______________31

Vincent Lombardo
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society - Volume 3 - Number 2 - Fall 2015

Ritual, Secrecy and Civil Society:

Issue No. 6, Fall 2016

Freemasonry: From its Roots to Today’s Issues

Foreword by Pierre Mollier, Editor-in-Chief

I
n continental Europe, Freemasonry is unquestionably a British import from the
beginning of the eighteenth century. French lodges thus have no connection with
building trade societies, for example, with the Compagnonnages (traditional French
craft guilds), which were still very active at that time in the kingdom. However, Freemasonry
is not a pure transplantation. As demonstrated in Pierre-Yves Beaurepaire's article, many
of the first lodges were rooted in older organizations. The Compagnies d'Archers—the
fellowships of archers known as Noble Order of the Bow—often dated back to the Middle
Ages. In the eighteenth century, a new kind of sociability—Freemasonry—developed out
of these ancient social organizations and then partially replaced them. Another example: in
his book, Francs-maçons et Pénitents dans l’ancienne Provence [Freemasonry and Penitents
in Ancient Provence], the great historian Maurice Agulhon revealed how "brotherhoods
of penitents" were important in the emergence of Freemasonry in southern France. Today,
there still remain hints of these "transitions" between ancient and new sociability. Readers
will thus be interested to know that the ceremony for initiation into French freemasonry
includes a sequence that does not exist in the lodges of other countries, and which comes
directly from the Order of Archers ritual.
Another fertile area of investigation for exploring the roots of Freemasonry is the
realm of chivalry. After the "Ramsay Oration," given in Paris in 1736 by the Grand Orator
of the First Grand Lodge of France, the idea of a strong link between medieval chivalry
and Freemasonry quickly spread to all the lodges of Europe. The high degrees represent
an attempt to revive the great Orders of Chivalry found throughout European history. Our
article seeks to explore the presence, in the high grades of the eighteenth century, of a topic
dear to medieval chivalry: the protection of the Holy Sepulcher. This also demonstrates
yet again the central role of French Freemasonry in the emergence of the Masonic high
degrees.
After this delving among the roots of Freemasonry, Vincent Lombardo presents us
with a fascinating study on the conditions for practicing Freemasonry today. His aim is to
identify the practices that respond to social needs and that ensure the ongoing development
of the lodges—and, on the other hand, to point to those that are no longer necessary and
which, if obstinately maintained, will push Freemasonry into an inevitable decline. The
article also provides a very interesting panorama of the diversity of social practices and
ideas hidden behind the imposing term, "Freemasonry."

doi: 10.18278/rscs.3.2.1
2
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society - Volume 3 - Number 2 - Fall 2015

A Strange Encounter: "Noble Orders of the Bow"

and Masonic Lodges in the Eighteenth Century

Pierre-Yves Beaurepaire

I
n 1984, the appearance of the work
by R. Halévi dedicated to the origins of
democratic sociability marked a turning
point in the approach to Masonic actions
during the Ancien Régime.1 The author
contrasts, term by term, a traditional
sociability, incapable of meeting the
new expectations of the elite, with a new
sociability, still evolving, on the fringes
of formal recognition, in fact challenging
the norms of the Ancien Régime through
the primacy given to the individual and to
horizontal solidarities, and of which the
Masonic Lodge would be the prototype.
Present throughout the Kingdom
of France, the “Nobles Jeux de l’arc, de
l’arbalète et de l’arquebuse,” (henceforth
Noble Orders of the Bow, the Crossbow
and the Harquebus) are on the contrary
symbols of the archetype of traditional
sociability doomed to disappear. The
knights who made up these groups were
equally members of brotherhoods honoring
Saint Sebastian, Saint Barbara and Saint
George. They made claim, at the same
these “novelty societies” for Y.-M. Bercé,2
victims of a “folkloric decline,” have been
discredited as subjects of historical study.
Yet, when studied more closely, we realize
that they were structures full of life, aware
of the great transfer of sociability going on
during the century of the Enlightenment,
but above all that the knights of the bow
and freemasons initiated a unique dialogue
in the last century of the Ancien Régime,
to their greatest respective benefit. Dual
ownerships, the foundation of lodges by
the Noble Orders, the organization of the
Orders by working groups, mutual influence
on the level of rituals, and so on, alIowed
them to approach eighteenth century
masonic sociability from a new angle, and to
call into question any divides that had been
too hastily drawn up.3 More than ever, the
freemasonry of the Enlightenment appeared
at a crossroads, trying to make a mark in a
changing society whose expectations were
rapidly being renewed.
A) An Innovative Project

O
time, to the memory of the urban militias
of the medieval period and chivalric codes n November 15 1784, in Clermont,
of honor. Long since relegated to the catch- the capital of the Auvergne, the
all category of “popular arts and traditions,” largest of the three Eastern lodges,

1
Halevi, Ran. “Les loges maçonniques dans la France d’Ancien Régime. Aux origines de la sociabilité
démocratique,” Cahier des Annales, No. 40, Paris (1984) 118.
2
Bercé, Yves-Marie. Fête et révolte. Des mentalités populaires du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle (Paris, Hachette: 1976)
116.
3
We began this study in: Beaurepaire, Pierre-Yves. "A la croisée des chemins de la sociabilité: chevaliers de
l’arc et francs-maçons au XVIIIe siècle" (PhD diss., under the direction of Professor Alain Lottin, Université
Lille III-Charles de Gaulle, 1992) 214.
doi: 10.18278/rscs.3.2.2
3
 A Strange Encounter

Saint-Maurice,4 united with the Knights of
the Order of the Bow. The Special Statutes
and Rules for the Government of the St
Maurice Lodge and the Company of knights
of the Order of the Bow joined together and
forming one Community then adopted,
in effect institutionalized, the ancient and
intimate links between the two societies.5
A list of knights for the year 1763 lists fifty-
two names, of which forty-two appear on
the table of members of Saint-Maurice for
the period between 1776-1779. Meanwhile,
the ten other knights had to either abandon
the work of the Art Royal, or move over to
the Orient Eternal.6 A plaque from June
17 1783, which the lodge addresses to the
Chambre des provinces du Grand Orient,
informs us that “the brothers went to the
Pavilion (the premises—the secretary of
Saint-Maurice specifies— carry the name of
Pavilion because it was the property of the
Company of the Knights of the Arrow, which
since had become common property by the
merger of the lodge with the Company).”7
The “Merger” of the two societies, having the
same composition and premises, is therefore
dated prior to November 1784. Right away,
the Clermont case can be distinguished from
the shift of Provençal penitents towards
the masonic lodges recently studied by
M. Agulhon. This is an important fact,
as it demonstrates the interest shown in
the exclusive lodge by the structures of
traditional sociability. If it is not possible to
definitively confirm that the Noble Order of
the Bow was invested into the lodge, after an
undoubtedly long period of dual affiliation
for its members, it is possible to notice that
many accounts highlight that the Order,
dynamic in the 1730s, was slumbering during
the 1750s, until in 1762 “many members of
the bourgeoisie, evidently desiring to create
a meeting place where you could not only
indulge in shooting exercises, but also relax
and discuss all the issues of the day among
your fellow citizens” gave it new momentum.8
We cannot in any case follow D. Ligou
who holds that in Clermont-Ferrand and
Dunkerque “the societies of the harquebus
were the origins of the workshop.”9

4
Regarding the lodge which initiated the member Georges Couthon and affiliated Count Stanislas de Cler-
mont-Tonnerre, future main leader of the “monarchists," see: Beaurepaire, Pierre-Yves. Les Francs-maçons
à l’orient de Clermont-Ferrand au XVIIIe siècle, (Publications de l’Institut d’Etudes du Massif Central, XLI,
Université Blaise-Pascal de Clermont-Ferrand, 1991) 365.
5
Thanks to André Siramy, in 1990 we were able to recover the book of the architecture of Saint-Maurice,
where the Statutes and Rulings were inscribed. Since that time, a copy of the entire document has been
placed with the Bibliothèque du Grand Orient de France. See Appendices for the "Third Section," entitled
“Common operations to the internal system of the two united companies."
6
These tables, which we can consult in the "dossier Saint-Maurice" at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Manu-
scripts Office, Masonic Collection, FM2 215, are the oldest conserved examples. The list of Knights in 1763
has been taken from: Bouillet Jean-Baptiste, Histoire des communautés des arts et métiers de l’Auvergne,
accompagnée des bannières que portaient ces communautés avant 1789, (Clermont-Ferrand: 1857) 401-402.
7
Dossier Saint-Maurice, planche du 17 juillet 1783, Masonic collection, Manuscripts Office, Bibliothèque
Nationale, FM2 215.
8
Mège Francisque, "Les populations de l’Auvergne au début de 1789" in Bulletin historique et scientifique de
l’Auvergne, Vol. 25, (February 1905) 73.
9
Ligou, Daniel. Franc-maçonnerie et Révolution française 1789-1799, (Paris, Chiron: 1989) 95. In an article
published by the Berlin review Lendemains, the same author is more precise: "the harquebusiers rented
their location to the Masons to establish a Lodge there, and, little by little they turned over to Masonry."
Ligou, Daniel. "Les mentalités maçonniques au dix-huitième siècle," in Lendemains, 46, (1987) 42. D. Ligou
notes first the existence of links between the knights and freemasons. But, setting aside any small errors (at
this time there was no Order of the Harquebus in Clermont; it was the Knights of the Crossbow that were

4
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society

A parallel is evident between the French masonic historiography as those

chivalric practice of archery among the
Noble Orders, and golf in Scotland, in sharp
decline during the eighteenth century, until
their revival by the freemasons by bestowing
them with rules, and by founding clubs
which were just as much annexes of the
lodges.10 The first club worthy of this name
is the Honorable Company of Edinburgh
Golfers, founded in 1744. Its first stone,
notes D. Stirk “was placed by William St.
Clair of Roslin, in the presence of the entire
committee of the Society of Masons. The
account of the ceremony names all the
Masons of the committee and gives their
status [sic] as a freemason.”11 The presence
of the hereditary Grand Master of the
freemasons of Scotland gives this founding a
special depth, but many other clubs were of
a masonic origin, such as the Royal Burgess
Golfing Society of Edinburgh and the St.
Andrews Club.12 In these clubs, receptions
were openly carried out in the masonic way.
The applicants were sponsored, balloted
-and sometimes blackballed- ; they had to
go through initiation rites. The archives of
the clubs mention that “they passed the test
bravely.” Just as golfers had to appear in the
club uniform, members of the Royal Burgess
Golfing Society of Edinburgh decided to buy
masonic aprons to wear on these occasions.
The relationships between golf clubs
and masonic lodges are as little known in
which connect the same lodges with the
Noble Orders, therefore it would be desirable
to extend this investigation by seeking
other accounts. But above all we must
examine the reasons which drove certain
freemasons to invest as a community, or to
found these exclusive centers of sociability,
where the affirmation of elite cohesion and
social excellence was just as important as
its recreational side. We clearly have here
the first signs of the leisure class of the
nineteenth century.13 The phenomenon
further merits our attention as it is already
possible to note other convergences between
the Noble Orders and masonic lodges.
On February 15 1786, “the
Brotherhood of the Knights of the Crossbow,
under the name of Saint-Georges in this
town of Dunkerque” approached the
Chambre des Provinces du Grand Orient,
because “it desires the Grand Orient to
legitimize the masonic works carried out
in its premises by most of them who are in
part already regular masons, to this effect
they need Patents, which they ask you to
kindly procure for them, and by this means
they will require, in their town, a regular
lodge under the name of Saint George.”14
The applicants attached to their request
the Table of the very respectable lodge under
the title of Saint-Georges in the Orient of
Dunkerque where silence, peace and unity

in question in Dunkerque, not those of the harquebus) it is regrettable that the author had not noticed the
structural relationship of the two examples of sociability in the Ancien Régime, their complementarity of
function which we will study later on. In a letter to A. Siramy, D. Ligou evokes the "bizarreness" of relations
between the knights and the freemasons.
10
I express here my sincere thanks to J. Léglise who made these links clear to me.
11
Stirk, David., Golf, the History of an Obsession, (London, Phaidon Press: 1987) [Golf, histoire d’une pas-
sion, trans. J.-P. Bergerat, (Paris, Gallimard: 1974) 61-62]. For the entirety of this issue, see Ibid., 61-76.
12
We also note here that when David Deas, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina, founded
a golf club in Charleston in 1743, he brought over clubs and balls from Leith, where the freemasons had
founded their first golf club (Ibid., 72-73).
13
The famous "Leisure Class."
14
Dossier Saint-Georges, planche du 15 février 1786, Masonic collection, Manuscripts Office, Bibliothèque
Nationale, FM2 229.

5
 A Strange Encounter

reign. Its confrontation with the titles of the
first lodge of the Orient, Amitié et Fraternité
(Friendship and Brotherhood), confirms the
individual affiliation of a notable fraction of
the members of Saint-Georges to this regular
lodge.15
The Dunkerque case is of special
interest. First of all, coastal Flanders is one
of the chosen grounds of the Noble chivalric
Orders. At the end of the eighteenth century
they still had a prominent place among the
leading bodies of urban sociability. The
Knights of the Crossbow carefully prepared
their annual celebration of the “tir à l’oiseau”
which assigned the king of the community.
They showed their affiliation to the urban
major et sanior pars, invested in the city
center, and bringing up the rich past of
the Companies of the Crossbow, asserted
themselves as the keepers of the memory of
the proud Flemish cities, devoted to their
independence.16 From the masonic point
of view, we can see that many freemason-
Knights of the Crossbow were no longer
content with individual masonic affiliation,
or with seasonal work. They aspired from
this point on to practice “l’Art Royal,” for
themselves,17 in a regular lodge, for which
the title made a clear reference to the
origins of the now united community. If
their request remained unanswered, we
must bear in mind that these brothers did
not hesitate to contact the Chambre des
Provinces, a request which was on the whole
unorthodox. They clearly thought they were
understood. Moreover, in the nineteenth
century, Amitié et Fraternité commemorated
the links between the Freemasons and
Noble Orders, by offering to Musée de
l’archerie et du Valois, in Crépy-en-Valois,
a piece of masonic ceramic, which can still
be found there. The Dunkerque approach
surely has a connection with the link that
the Parisian Noble Orders tightened at the
time with freemasonry, and notably with the
Administrator General of the Grand-Orient,
the Duke of Montmorency-Luxembourg.
In 1786 the Duke proceeded to
reform the Parisian Noble Order of the
Bow by signing a Ruling... centering on the
administration, and using the aforesaid
Statutes of the body of Knights of the Bow of
the city of Paris.18 Of course, we should not
draw any hasty conclusions from this double
commitment. But many sources allow
us to clearly bring to light the individual
and collective links between the Parisian
knights and freemasonry. 1789 saw the
production of the Almanach des compagnies
d’arc, arbalête [sic] et arquebuse, ou les
muses chevalières, pour l’année 1789 ; par
M. Pelletier, de l’ancienne Académie royale
d’écriture, Chevalier de l’Arc de la ville de
Paris19 (Almanac of companies of the bow,

15
Dossier Saint-Georges, table of members of the Lodge on 15 February 1786, Masonic collection, Manu-
scripts Office, Bibliothèque Nationale, FM2 229
16
During the procession which accompanied the solemn entry of the King of Denmark, Christian VII,
to the town, the knights took the place of honour. (Dossier 510, f° 192, May 1768, Municipal Archives of
Dunkerque).
17
In the same way, the people of Lille decided in 1743 to found an Order to unite "inter privatos parites."
[sic.] Dossiers 4, 10, 16, 18, Box 9, General Affairs, Municipal Archives of Lille.
18
This Statute was published by: Count Bertier, Albert, Cordier V., Guglielmini A., Archery, (Paris, Hachette:
1900) 295-328.
19
Paris, au Champ de Mars, 1789. The existence of this rare work is indicated by: Stein, Henri. Archers
d’autrefois, archers d’aujourd’hui, (Paris, D. A. Longuet: 1925) 149 ; and Dinaux, Arthur. Les sociétés badines
bachiques littéraires et chantantes, leur histoire et leurs travaux, (Paris, Bachelin-Deflorenn: 1857), Vol.1, 43-
48. One copy has been deposited at the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, under shelf number 8°
6108.

6
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society

the crossbow [sic] and the harquebus, or
the knightly muses for the year 1789; by
M. Pelletier, of the ancient Royal Academy
of Writers, Chevalier de l’Arc of the City
of Paris). The work contained the list
of members “of the body of Messrs. the
Knights of the Bow of the city of Paris,” and
that “of the body of Messrs. The Knights
of the Harquebus.” From this we know the
address, function in the Order, and the
date of reception of the various members.
The opposition of these lists with the
precious repertoire of the Freemasons of
Paris carried out by A. Le Bihan allows us
to establish that more than 60 percent of
the knights of the bow saw the light, and in
particular that 50 percent belonged to the
same lodge : Saint-Julien de la Tranquillité.20
If we only look at Knights-Freemasons,
this group brings together more than 84
percent of affiliations. The reception dates
into the Noble Order confirm the collective
dimension of the commitment: more than
35 percent of knights joined Saint-Julien de
la Tranquillité in the period 1787-1788, that
is to say following the reform of the Order
by Montmorency-Luxembourg. The lodge,
in which the majority of members belonged
to the world of art and design, is moreover
particularly standard. In order to attempt
to understand why sixteen knights out of
thirty-one headed for the same lodge, and
how eleven among them appeared almost at
the same time, we can propose the following
scenario.
Although the greater part of the
knights listed in 1789 were admitted into
the Noble Order during the 1780s, two of
them, Julien Coconnier and de Lafeuille,
were admitted in 1775. Similarly, they are
the first to feature on the columns of Saint-
Julien de la Tranquillité, long before most of
the knights. In 1788-1789, they occupied
important positions within the Order:
Coconnier was Captain-Commander,
and in the lodge, de Lafeuille was the First
Supervisor. They undoubtedly had a strong
influence over their brethren of the Noble
Order who became knights at the end of
the 1780s. We can hardly draw any other
conclusion from the general choice of Saint-
Julien de Tranquillité. The colorful Masonic
path followed by Coconnier also supports
the hypothesis.21
Longstanding mason Julien Coconnier
attended Saint-Julien de Tranquillité,
from its foundation in 1751. Adept of
the Grande Loge de France before 1760,
founder of several lodges, in Paris as well
as Soissons -one of the capitals of French
archery- this “King’s watermarker, expert
and auditor of the stamps of the kingdom”
became Secretary General of the Souverain
Chapitre de Rose-Croix on April 29 1773. He
joined the Grand Orient, without resolving
overall to leave the Souverain Chapitre. A.
le Bihan, emphasizes the fact that it was a
question of “exceptional behavior by an
honorable member of the Grand Orient,
and also of one of their deputies, and that
exclusion would have been seen as a simple
denunciation.” Coconnier reappears at the
Souverain Chapitre de Rose-Croix in 1785
and 1789. Montmorency-Luxembourg
could not ignore it.
By means of its overall less exclusive
model than the principle provincial Noble
Orders, the Paris Order came closer to the

20
Le Bihan Alain. Francs-maçons parisiens du Grand Orient de France [Fin du XVIIIe siècle], Commission
d’histoire économique et sociale de la Révolution française, Mémoires et Documents No. 19, Paris, (1966)
490.
21
Le Bihan Alain, Francs-maçons et ateliers parisiens de la Grande Loge de France au XVIIIe siècle [1760-
1795], Commission d’histoire économique et sociale de la Révolution française, Mémoires et documents No.
29, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, (1973) 240-241 ; 491.

7
 A Strange Encounter

groups of the time of the Grand Lodge, This document is interesting in

where the working bourgeoisie were very
present, than during the years 1770-1780.
In any case, it does not seem to have had
an exclusive intimate relationship with
Parisian freemasonry. Four decades earlier,
when the Order suffered frequent police
raids, Sire Podevin made his report to an
extraordinary meeting of the Noble Order
of the Harquebus of Paris:
“[On Sunday January 23 1746], Gentlemen
knights of the crossbow of Palis [sic]
assembled to the number of forty-five at
Lejeune restaurateur, rue St-Paul were
interrupted by an Englishman bringing
a letter from Procope, Doctor, master of
the lodge who could not find himself at
the attendant assembly this day receiving
the Freemasons. The content of this letter
was that he urged his brothers to help an
Englishman who was part of the party of
the Pretender and one of his children, that
several respects. It shows how after the
Culloden disaster, Jacobite refugees turned
to freemasonry, not to prepare a supposed
reconquest of the British Isles, from then
on impossible, but to obtain indispensable
material aid: the majority of these refugees
lived in a real state of deprivation.23 But, we
maintain here that it clearly indicates the
massive membership of the knights in the
Masonic orders. Many other encounters
between the freemasons and Knights of the
Bow, Crossbow or Harquebus still remain to
be found, but the corpus brought together
up to now should encourage us to investigate
the reasons and the motifs behind this
unexpected dialogue between the two forms
of sociability, which R. Halevi places at the
two extremes of the range of sociability
during the Ancien Régime.
B) The Noble Order : A Society of
Initiations

is to say that he was a freemason and for
which reason one of the brethren of the
assembly, noting that among the forty-
five forming the assembly there were 40
freemasons, took his hat and did a tour
of the room for a collection and arriving
at a particular person who not being a
freemason said that he had already given
money this morning, and that he wondered
how Mr. Procope had exposed a man to the
confession of 45 people.” 22
I
n his Almanach des compagnies d’arc,
Pelletier makes a brief allusion to the
Orders adopting “what was practiced
in the groups of the Enlightenment, while
we avoid adding a mysterious element, the
assemblies of the Bow, the Crossbow and
the Harquebus required no mystery in their
combat, their assemblies or their games.”24
References to mysteries, to workshops, to
enlightenment, to the convergence between
enlightenment and workshop, leave little
doubt, it is indeed to the Art Royal, that

22
Dossier 11556, f° 343, Sunday 23 January 1746, report by Sire Podevin, Archives de la Bastille, Biblio-
thèque de l’Arsenal.
23
We return to this issue in: Beaurepaire, Pierre-Yves. L’Autre et le Frère : l’Etranger et la Franc-maçonnerie
en France au XVIIIe siècle, Chapter 2: "La solidarité en faveur des francs-maçons étrangers : vecteur d’une
conscience maçonnique universelle," prepared under supervision of President Alain Lottin, (Phd diss. in
history, Université d’Artois, 1996) 77- 131. Remembering that the Procope was known for his "Hanoverian"
patronage. We have here a supplementary proof that there was plenty of contact between "Hanoverians" and
"Jacobites."
24
Almanach des compagnies d’arc..., op. cit., 28.

8
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society
Pelletier, member of Saint-Julien de la
Tranquillité, makes reference in a publication
which received the approval of the Duke of
Montmorency-Luxembourg, the Marshal
of Soubise, the Merchant Provost and the
Lieutenant-General of police, the purpose of
which is to act as a link between the different
Noble Orders of the Bow of France. The
author takes care to stipulate the Orders’
loans. They are “figurative” and limited to the
songs which enlivened the masonic feasts.
The knights hoped to “bring together an
agreement on decency of exercise, as much
in the games as in the banquets ,” but there is
no question of introducing to the Pavillion,
the mysteries which the initiate gradually
discovers, to make the Order into a para-
masonic structure, working rough stone.
Pelletier and the knights stand by the practice
of the Art Royal and knightly shooting, two
distinct structures, each adapted to its own
ends and exempt from confusion with the
other, thus all corruption of the masonic
sphere by a lay activity is avoided.
However, the signs of a true chivalric
initiation clearly existed, even if the knights
knew, definitely much better than the
freemasons, how to demonstrate discretion,
even secrecy on this subject. E. Moreau-
Nélaton sums up their effort well, when
he writes : “If the rules of chivalry were set
out in the light of day, the same couldn’t
be said of the rites used for the initiation
of members, which were surrounded by a
staunchly guarded mystery.”25 For his part,
A. de Bertier highlights the importance
of “mysterious initiation” for the internal
cohesion of the chivalric society and for the
25
Moreau-Nélaton, Etienne. Fleurs et bouquets. Etude sur le jeu d’arc dans l’arrondissement de Château-Thier-
ry, 8th ed. (Paris, Champion: 1912), 44.
26
Count Bertier, Albert, et al., Le tir à l’arc..., op. cit., 100. Count Bertier, Albert. Les amis du Musée de
Blérancourt, exposition rétrospective d’archerie [24 juin-15 août 1928]. Catalogue des objets et documents
relatifs au Noble Jeu de l’arc, III.
27
Fouque Victor, Recherches historiques sur les corporations des archers, arbalétriers et des arquebusiers,
(Chalon-sur-Saône-Paris: 1852) 142.
9
Orders.26 Few of these initiation rituals have
been passed down to us, and the majority
of the approaches made to current persons
in charge of keeping the archives of the
traditional Companies of the Bow ended in
failure as soon as they raised the subject. V.
Fouque has shown that in Chalon-sur-Saône
from 1852, the knights had set everything
in order so that their initiation ritual could
never be revealed to the layman: “the current
Statutes of the archers [of Chalon] date
from 1813; they have been written with
the principle articles of the former rules.
Occult clauses with close analogies to those
of the same mysterious nature as seen in
freemasonry have then been added.”27 Then
the author states that “several years ago, the
archers had twenty-four copies printed of
a register containing the secret articles of
their rules. The print has been arranged so
that on each page, there are numerous blank
spaces destined for the inscription of the
secret events and actions which deserve to be
preserved. The first M. Dejussieu printed this
register. Not content with making him swear
to never divulge its contents, two archers
were present at its composition and printing,
and they were present in the printers for the
full time the operation lasted.” In fact, we can
find no traces of the documents alluded to by
V. Fouque in the Departmental Archives of
Saône-et-Loire and the Municipal Archives
of Chalon. However, the Observations of the
Deputy Prefect [of the province of Chalon-
sur-Saône] on the rules of this association,
namely the society of the Order of the Bow
called the Knights of Saint-Sébastien are
not without interest.28 The document is
 A Strange Encounter

certainly belated; dated March 14 1845, it province of Château-Thierry, it had initially

responds to the new rules adopted by the
knights on January 2, 1844. However, the
new rules attempt a return to the source of
the chivalric traditions. Its second article
stipulates that “if the officers and knights
give their votes for the reception of someone
who is presented, he will choose a sponsor
from the Company and bare-headed, on
his knees and armed, he will swear on the
Gospel and on Christ, by which he will
promise to never reveal the secret of his
reception, directly or indirectly.”29 The
Deputy Prefect wastes no time in reacting;
the first of his “Observations” concerns
article two precisely: “The oath should be
removed,” he writes without digressing, “as
it is useless when considering a recreational
society; it is improper to swear on Christ
and the Gospel not to reveal secrets which no
longer exist, and to faithfully observe almost
insignificant decrees and statutes.” The
authorities, in a tone ultimately very close
to that used in the eighteenth century, were
seeking a way to confine the Noble Order to
the narrowest recreational sphere possible.
We would undoubtedly never have found
a trace of the initiation rituals used by the
Noble Orders of the eighteenth century,
without the discovery of a memoir of 1751,
the work of Nicolas-Brice Legros, entitled La
manière de faire le serment à ceux qui veulent
se faire recevoir du noble jeu de l’arc (The
way to give the oath to those who wish to be
received into the Noble Order of the Bow).
Deposited in the archives of the Company
of the Bow of Seringes-et-Nesles, in the
been encoded to preserve its contents.
We find out here that the bow, the arrows,
and the targets were all given a symbolic
meaning. Initiation is the time of a journey
through the garden of the Order, where the
mounds which usually supported the targets,
provide the opportunity for many symbolic
tests and the expression by the knights of
their Christian faith. Here are the essential
parts of the initiation of a Knight of the Bow
Provisions to make for the Reception
« You will arrange on a table a strung bow,
the arrow on top ready to fire, not nocked,
with bread, wine and salt, all placed
between the string and the bow. Next,
you will ask the aspiring knight to choose
of his free will a sponsor from among the
knights. You will make him swear and
promise loyalty on the Holy Gospel, in
principio according to Saint Jean, which
will be read in its entirety, and to loyally
keep the secret.30 Then he will drink the
seasoned wine and take bread which he
will eat, and continue to drink to the health
of his sponsor and of the Company. After
explaining these rules, you will make out
his deed of reception which will be signed
by the members present. This being done,
you will explain to him what the bow and
all the following articles signify:
“1. Teach the knight the way of
holding and presenting his bow. The bow
should be presented in the left hand and the

28
Departmental Archives of Saône-et-Loire, M 407.
29
Extraits des Règlements et Statuts du Noble et ancien Jeu d’arc de Sainte Marie lès Chalons établi en 1540,
Departmental Archives of Saône-et-Loire, M 407.
30
J. Grandperrier confirms the use of the oath on the Gospel. At Bligny-sur-Ouche, where the author
studied especially the Noble Order and the brotherhood of Saint-Sébastien, the knight-brother was received
"before the crucifix, in presence of the three symbols, water, wine and salt," Grandperrier Jean, La confrérie
Saint-Sébastien de Bligny-sur-Ouche (Dijon: 1983) 29.

10
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society
arrow in the right. A knight should make
himself known as under oath31 without
saying anything, and the agreed signal
will be enough to make himself known. If
someone asks you if you are a knight, you
should reply: you, who are asking, are you
one? If you are, make yourself known to
me by the agreed signal. Then you should
kiss your right hand and then present it to
him; he should make the sign of the cross
in your hand and this will tell you if he is
under oath or not.
“2. Every knight should honor and
respect his leaders, particularly the king
and then to each one according to the
grade they occupy in the company. To pay
the brotherhood every year at the feast of
Saint Sébastian and attend the offices of
this day.
“3. Questions
- Who is your sponsor?
My sponsor is yours and yours is
mine.
- Where is he?
He is in heaven where he prays God
for you and me.
- Where were you received as a knight?
Between the earth and sky.
- Where have you made your first shot?
Between the bread, wine and the
Holy Gospel.
- What does the wine signify?
It signifies the bile and the vinegar
we showed Our Lord. Jesus Christ on
the Cross.
- What ceremony did you take part in
when you were received as a knight?
I have never drank such salted wine
since I was received as a knight.
- What do the cards we place after the
31
Former name of the Order when their military function was more predominant.
11
mounds represent ?
They represent the veil of Saint
Veronica, when she wiped the face of
our Lord during his agonies carrying
the cross.
- What do the pins represent?
They represent the nails which
attached Our Lord Jesus Christ on
the Cross.
- What does the flag represent?
It represents the shroud that
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea
used to bury the body of Our Lord
Jesus Christ.
- What does the drum signify?
It signifies the noise made in
Jerusalem when Our Lord was
crucified.
- What does the quiver signify?
It represents the tomb of Our Lord.
- What does the arrow signify?
It represents the lance which pierced
the side of Our Lord.
- What does the nock signify?
It represents the crown which was
placed on the head of Our Lord Jesus
Christ.
- What do the three vanes represent?
They represent God the Father, the
Son and the Holy Ghost.
- What does the bent bow signify?
The curve of the earth.
- What does the top of the bow represent?
It represents the sky.
- What does the bottom of the bow
represent?
It represents the earth.
- What does the horn at the top of the bow
represent?
It represents the vase in which the
balm was placed which was poured
on the head of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
 A Strange Encounter
-What does the Archery Garden represent?
It represents the Olive Garden.
- What does a knight walking in the
Archery Garden represent?
It represents Our Lord Jesus Christ
walking in the Olive Garden.
- What does a knight walking from one
mound to the next represent?
It signifies Our Lord Jesus Christ sent
from Herod to Pilate.
- What does a knight behind the mound
represent?
It represents Judas
- What does a knight in front of the mound
represent?
It represents Calvary.
- What does the bird we shoot every year
represent?
It represents that at the cock crow,
Saint Peter had denied Jesus Christ
three times.
- What does the back of the mound
represent?
It represents limbo
- What does the black part of the card
represent?
It represents the face of God
- What do the cords of the card represent?
They represent the ropes
which bound Our Lord Jesus Christ
on the Cross.
- What does the silk joining the three
vanes of the arrow represent?
It represents the ropes which bound
Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross.
- What does the bow represent?
It represents the crescent moon.
- What does a knight, his bow in hand
in front of the mounds, ready to fire,
represent?
It represents Saint Peter when the
32
Duvosquel, Jean-Marie, "Le procès de l’Oiseau à Comines en France en 1700-1702 ou la fin d’une coutume
au diocèse de Tournai : la bénédiction de l’oiseau des confréries de tir," in Mémoires de la société royale d’his-
toire et d’archéologie de Tournai, extraordinary publication, Vormezeele, I (1984) 79-80.
soldiers arrived and he cut off the
ear of Malchus.
- What does the firing line represent?
Judas’ avarice.
- What does the bracer represent?
The guidance of the Holy Spirit.
- What does the salute knights make to the
mounds represent?
It signifies: “Ecce homo,” behold the
man.
- How many times did Saint Sebastian
suffer death?
Twelve times.
- What does a knight opposite the mound,
his bow behind him, his feet in the form of
the cross represent?
It represents the martyrdom of Saint
Sebastian attached to his post.
- What does a knight, with a string or a
plume in his hat represent?
The work and the great courage
of Our Lord’s disciples in defending
the Catholic faith.
- What does a broken bow represent?
Death.
- What does it require?
The earth.
“Every knight in association with
the Company coming to the table without
washing his hands has to pay a fine. This
article represents the Passover made
between Our Lord and his disciples.”
C) Convergences and Complementarity
F
requently subject to attacks by the
ecclesiastical authorities during the
eighteenth century, who reproached
them for “Mixing the Sacred with the
Profane,”32 when they went to church all
12
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society

together to bless the bird slaughtered as part
of the yearly shoot,33 the knights were just
as clear about their commitment from a
Christian perspective. Their desire to make
the Archery Garden a holy place is evident. J.
Huizinga emphasizes furthermore in Homo
ludens, Essai sur la fonction sociale du Jeu
how “the demarcation of a consecrated area
also constitutes the first characteristic of
any sacred works. The necessity of isolation
within the cult [...] exceeds by a long way the
simple local and temporal scope. Almost all
the practices of ordination and initiation tend
to create artificial circumstances of isolation
for the ministers and the neophytes.”34
The relationship of structures between
the Noble Order and the masonic lodges
is indisputable.35 Just like the brethren, the
knights had “the impression of living together
in exclusion, of sharing together something
important, of separating themselves from
others as a group and of escaping general
norms.”36 Their common aspects of initiation
and chivalry contributed to their intimate
adhesion to the sacred sphere and promoted
them to the rank of other elective societies.
Significantly, the new initiate had to pass
through a transitory state, characteristic of
rites of passage, before becoming a fully-
fledged member of the community of
peers37. After a favorable ballot, the hopeful
knight then had to attend the Noble Order
over a period of six months, during which he
could participate in no debate and take part
in no shooting competitions. This period of
observation and evaluation guaranteed for
the elective community that the addition of a
new member would not disturb the concord
and harmony which prevailed in their
works. It was this common belonging to the
sacred sphere, which allowed the meeting
between the freemasons and knights of
the Noble Order to transform into a more
intimate relationship. Nor is it insignificant
to highlight that at the time that Joseph II’s
Edict of 1786 shook Freemasonry in the
Austrian Netherlands, the members of the
united brethren, Orient of Tournai, chose to
camouflage their lodge as the Brotherhood
of Saint-Sébastien, as in their eyes it was the

33
It was more usually a multicolored wooden bird, this is where the name "Papegay," comes from.
34
Huizinga Johan. Homo ludens. Proeve Eener Bepaling Van Het Spel-Element der Cultur (Haarlem, Tjenk
Willink and Zoon: 1938) [Essai sur la fonction sociale du jeu, Trans. Fr. from the Dutch, 1st ed., (Paris,
1951/1988) 44.
35
It should be noted here that in order to explain the frequency of these shared elements between the Lodge
and the Brotherhood of penitents, C. Mesliand concentrates on "the analogies existing between one type
of association and another." Mesliand, Claude, "Franc-maçonnerie et religion à Avignon au XVIIIe siècle"
in: Actes du colloque La Franc-maçonnerie au siècle des Lumières 2-3 décembre 1967, Annales Historiques de
la Révolution Française, 41, (1969) 467; while M. Taillefer calls on the "numerous structural and functional
analogies" which explain that "we found masons in all the brotherhoods and penitents in all the workshops."
Taillefer, Michel. La Franc-maçonnerie toulousaine: 1741-1799, Commission d’histoire de la Révolution
Française, Mémoires et documents No. 41, Paris, (1984) 220. For his part, M. Agulhon questions in his
pioneering work "if the contemporaries were not more sensitive to the relationships of all these associations
than to their differences." Agulhon, Maurice. Pénitents et Francs-maçons de l’ancienne Provence. Essai sur
la sociabilité méridionale, (Paris, Fayard: 1968) 1984 prefaced edition, 205.
36
Huizinga, Johan. Homo ludens..., op. cit., p. 33.
37
A. Van Gennep notes about this subject that "there is an incompatibility between the worlds of the sacred
and the profane, and to such an extent that the passage from one to the other without an intermediary
stage." Van Gennep, Arnold. Les rites de passage, (Paris-La Haye, Mouton: 1909, 1969 reprint) 2.

13
 A Strange Encounter

most apt structure of sociability to allow
them to carry out the works of the Art Royal
in peace...38
But the mutual interest shown between
freemasons and knights can equally
be explained by the fact that the Noble
Orders and lodges offered complementary
responses to the requirements of sociability.
The Noble Order acquired a reputation
early on as a welcoming meeting place, and
their banquets rivalled the brotherly feasts.39
As R. Renson highlights, “They were never
surpassed as specialists in the organization of
huge shooting festivities and banquets with
plenty of good food and heavy drinking.”40
Elsewhere, in Burgundy, the other chosen
land of archery, the Abbot Rose, speaker
of the lodge of Saint Jean, surnommée
l’Harmonie, Orient of Dijon, sent any
brothers who preferred noisy festivities
to the works of geometry and architecture
across to the Noble Orders of the Bow and
the Harquebus.41 It is true that certain Orders
did not hesitate to take up the motto in vino
veritas, and “a little Bacchus sitting on a cask
and holding a bottle in one hand and a glass
in the other” as a symbol. But outside of this
festive dimension, of which the importance
cannot be underestimated, the Noble
Orders offered the urban elite the chance to
show their cohesion publicly during annual
parades. Their sumptuous feasts were just
as much the chance to pursue the quest for
social recognition, which the upper strata
of the third estate attempted through this
field of sociability. In Dunkerque, the Noble
Order of the Crossbow planned that “the day
after shooting the prize bird, we will hold a
buffet at the Hotel [de l’arbalète] and invite
the Ladies of the brotherhood and follow it
with a ball.”42 When the knights-freemasons
were inviting, “all of Clermont arrived.” The
Noble Order, just like the masonic lodge,
allowed the bourgeois access to otium, the
ultimate noble value.43 The distinction
and the excellence that the freemasons
cultivated in the shelter of the temple were
equally maintained within the Pavilion by
the knights, but they also showed it in the
public eye. Ever since Chartres celebrated
the victory of Fontenoy in 1745, it was the
knights of the Royal Bird that went in search
of the town community to send them to
hear the Te Deum at the cathedral. B. Garnot
observes that “the ceremony was calm and
ordered, as it should be in society, each
person staying in place, the people passive
and receptive, the elite active and generous.”44

38
Van Der Schelden, Bertrand. “La Franc-maçonnerie belge sous le régime autrichien [1721-1794],” Recueil
des travaux publiés par les membres des conférences d’histoire et de philologie, 2nd Series, 1st instalment, Lou-
vain Librairie universitaire, (1923) 339-340.
39
Frans Hals previously echoed this idea in 1627 by painting the Banquet des officiers des arquebusiers de
Saint-Georges, today in the Haarlem Museum.
40
Renson, Roland. "The Flemish archery gilds from defense mechanisms to sport institution" in Renson, Ro-
land; De Nayer, Pierre-Paul; Ostyn, Michel eds., The history, the evolution and diffusion of sports and games
in different cultures, (Proceedings of the 4th International HISPA Seminar, Leuven, Belgium, April 1-5 1975,
Bruxelles, BLOSO, 1976) 137.
41
Discours contre les abus de la maçonnerie ou plaintes du frère orateur de la loge Saint-Jean surnommée
l’Harmonie contre le mépris que quelques uns de ses frères ont des illustres sciences de géométrie et architecture
qui distinguent les vrais maçons des ignorants, cited by Ligou, Daniel, “Les origines de la Maçonnerie bour-
guignonne,” in Dix-huitième siècle, No. 19 La Franc-maçonnerie (1987), 198.
42
Dossier 510, f° 219 r°, f° 242 r°, f° 247 r°, Municipal Archives of Dunkerque.
43
It is in the name of the famous law of mutual exclusion of otium and neg/otium that tradesmen notably
prohibited access to the majority of academies under the Ancien Régime.
44
Garnot, Benoît. Le Peuple au siècle des Lumières, échec d’un dressage culturel, (Paris, Imago: 1990) 104.
14
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society

Therefore, investing the Noble Orders
allowed the urban elite who populated the
masonic lodges to complete their coverage
of the field of sociability in the Ancien
Régime. It is unsurprising to note that at the
same point in time, freemasons and knights
attempted to limit access to the temple and
the Pavilion by the lower strata of the third
estate, in order to continue to benefit from
their reputation for social excellence. At
Pont-de-Vaux, new statutes adopted in 1763
stipulated that in order to “forever assure
to this [society of the Royal Exercise of the
Harquebus] their acquired reputation, of
being of all the companies in the Province,
one where good order, unity and politeness
especially reigned,” “we will only receive
as Knights officers of the sword or robe,
Gentlemen, Lawyers, Doctors, Surgeons,
Notaries, Prosecutors, Commissioners,
Bourgeois and notable Merchants.”45
The study of this strange encounter
between Noble Orders and masonic lodges
therefore concerns not only masonic history
but, beyond this, the changes in sociability
which were operating at the end of the
Ancien Régime, when the outlines of the
“Leisure Class” theorized by T. Veblen were
emerging.46 The current investigation should
allow us to extend the documentation with
new items.47 It deserves to be extended
beyond the boundaries of the Kingdom, as
in Scotland, the Noble Order seems to have
competed with Freemasonry at the end of
the seventeenth century.48 But, it already
appears clear that the joint aspirations of
the knights and the brethren to form “a
community of chosen people within an
enclosed world”49 allowed them to break the
artificially placed boundaries between the
moribund so-called traditional sociability,
and a booming supposed new sociability.

45
Relation du Grand Prix rendu à Beaune en août 1778 par l’abbé Courtépée, prêtre, préfet du collège de Dijon,
(Causse: 1779) 88-89.
46
Veblen, Thorstein. The theory of the leisure class, (New York, A.M. Kelley: 1899); [Théorie de la classe de
loisir, Trans. Fr. 1899, (Paris, Gallimard, 1978) 278. Significantly, the author dedicated two chapters to "The
conservation of archaic traits," and the "Modern survivals of prowess."
47
In parallel, we undertook the study of the transition between the Order and sport; for this see: Beaure-
paire, Pierre-Yves. “A la croisée des chemins de la sociabilité. Les Nobles Jeux de l'arc en France au 18e
siècle," Actes du 119e Congrès national des sociétés historiques et scientifiques, colloque Jeux et sport 4, Amiens,
1994, Paris, CTHS, (September 1996) 275-287.
48
D. Stevenson notes that "Another type of institution created to meet the new craving for sociable groupings
based fraternities on sporting activities." [...] In 1676 a group of nobles and gentry met in Edinburgh and
formed themselves into a company for encouraging the noble and useful recreation of archery, on the pretext
that it had been much neglected for many years. President, councilors, treasurer and clerk were elected, and the
privy council gave its blessing to the needy and agreed to provide money for an archery prize." "It is interesting,"
the author continues, "that the small settlement of Kilwinning should have both a masonic lodge and a compa-
ny of archers: though the lodge had in the previous decade admitted a number of prominent landowners, it was
not doing so in the 1680s, and the Company of Archers perhaps provided an alternative pretext for socialising
and dining together ." Stevenson, David. The origins of Freemasonry, Scotland’s century 1590-1710, (Cam-
bridge, Cambridge University Press: 1990) 188-189.
49
Mauzi, Robert. L’idée du bonheur dans la littérature et la pensée française au XVIIIe siècle (Paris: 1960) 606.

15
 A Strange Encounter

Appendices the summer, Saint John in the winter, Saint

Maurice, patron of the lodge, and the royal
Special Statutes and Rules for the Government banquet on the day of the bird shoot.
of the Lodge of St. Maurice and the Company
of Knights of the Order of the BowArticle Six
united and forming one single CommunityIn all the knightly assemblies, the king will
stand with the Company and the Venerable
[...] will stand on the right. In Masonic assemblies
Third section the King will place himself at the right of the
Venerable as long as he holds a dignitary
Operations common to the internal system place in the lodge
of the two united companies
Article Seven
Article One In order to support the charges and other
The register of receipts and expenditures held common expenses of the two untied societies,
by the treasurer as a consequence of Article each member, whether brother or knight, will
thirteen of the first section will be numbered contribute the sum of twenty four pounds a
and initialed by the king [of the Noble Jeu de year, payable every six months, half at Saint
l’arc]50 and the Venerable of the lodge. John in the summer and the other half at
Saint John in the winter.
Article Two
The treasurer will pay no expense and make Article Eight
no other use of funds than on the mandate of By means of the contribution taken from
the king or the Venerable at risk of being held the last article, the members will be exempt
responsible. from providing for all expenses of ancient use,
such as the fees for the upkeep and rental of
Article Three buildings, bird shooting, costs designated by
All expenditure for any cause will be settled articles ten and eleven of the second section
and fixed during a regular meeting of the as well as the four compulsory banquets
brethren or knights according to its nature indicated by article five of the current section,
and object. which will be funded from the common
treasury.
Article Four
The king and the Venerable can nonetheless
Article Nine
provide for urgent objects which concernThe present set of rules divided into three
them reciprocally, where the expenditure does
sections, the first containing forty articles,
not exceed twelve pounds at the expense of
the second seventeen articles, and the third
the lodge or the first assembly. comprising nine articles, will be executed
according to form and content after, however,
Article Five having been read, examined and approved
Each year there will be four compulsory by all members of the two united societies
banquets, namely those of Saint John in regularly convened.

50
Denotes the first knight to hit the bird placed at the top of the perch during the annual shoot.

16
 The present rules presented at
the regular assembly of the lodge by us,
undersigned by the Venerable of the lodge
according to his decree

Signed Venerable ALBARÈDE

In the year of the light five thousand seven

hundred and eighty four and the fifteenth
of the ninth month, the lodge regularly and
extraordinarily convened to this effect, the
present ruling containing sixty-six articles
divided into three sections has been read, it has
been unanimously approved to be executed
following its form and content according to its
decree from the same day it is entered in its
register of architecture, made and decreed on
the aforesaid day and year above in the open
lodge and below signed by all the brethren .

Following the above decree entered by the

company of knights of the arrow, regularly
convened and assembled by the king and
presided over by him on twenty-seventh April
one thousand seven hundred and eighty five,
the current ruling, seen and examined with
reflection by the company, will be fully and
completely executed as stated by the aforesaid
decree, and this document will be transcribed
in full in the special register, and the king and
the knights have signed it on the minutes.

17
 Table of the Community of Messrs. the Knights of the Bow of Paris
Potential Masonic Date of Entry to
Name Lay Profession Grade
Affiliation the Noble Order
Lodge of
Montmorency-
Montmorency-
Luxembourg ; general
Luxembourg Colonel
administrator of
(Duke of)
the Grand Orient of
France
La Candeur, 1776-
Rieux (Count) Field Marshal Honorary major
1778
Gosez July 3 1774 Major
King's watermarker,
Saint-Julien de la
expert and auditor
Tranquillité, 1751- Captain-
Coconnier Julien of the stamps of March 5 1775
1789, Deputy of the Commander
the kingdom, gold
Grand Orient
merchant
Saint-Julien de la
Mauduit Michel Gold merchant August 13 1786 King
Tranquillité, 1788
First Company
Mauraux May 31 1778 Lieutenant
Second
Petit March 6 1785
Lieutenant
Saint-Julien de la Former sub-
GODARD May 31 1785
Tranquillité, 1787 lieutenant
Saint-Julien de la
Adam Tranquillité, 1784- May 14 1783 Warrant officer
1787
Sergeant of arms
Taillard May 16 1786
and exercises
RAY Etienne-Bar- Saint-Julien de la
Harquebusier February 13 1785
thélémy Tranquillité, 1788
Counsellor in the
Saint-Julien de la
Vilatte Jacques area of St-Amand January 3 1788
Tranquillité, 1788
[Berry]
Saint-Julien de la
Barbier51 May 13 1788
Tranquillité, 1788
Dumon May 13 1788
Houdan June 12 1788
Foulon June 13 1788
Louvet June 15 1788
Sources: Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, No. 8 6108, “Tableau du Corps de MM. les chevaliers de
l’arc de la ville de Paris,” in Almanach des compagnies d’arc... op. cit., 47-50. Dossier Saint-Julien de la Tranquillité,
Masonic collection, Manuscripts Office, Bibliothèque Nationale, FM2 105. Le Bihan, Alain. Francs-maçons
parisiens... op. cit.
51
Also from St-Amand, in Berry.

18
 Table of the Community of Messrs. the Knights of the Bow of Paris Continued
Second Company
Potential Masonic Date of Entry to
Name Lay Profession Grade
Affiliation the Noble Order
Saint-Julien de la
Pontus Charles Master tailor June 10 1781
Tranquillité, 1788
Saint-Julien de la
Mater founder, gilder First
Robquin Pierre Tranquillité, 1787- August 29 1786
and engraver lieutenant
1788

Second
Cornuot February 13 1785
lieutenant

Saint-Julien de la
Tranquillité, 1781-
Lafeuille de Master clockmaker September 3 1775
1788, first supervisor
in 1788
Nouzet May 8 1785
Saint-Julien de la
Tranquillité, 1787-
Gouzy Antoine Tabletier merchant July 10 1785
1788, second expert
in 1788
Pelletier François-An- Saint-Julien de la
Master-of-Arts January 20 1788 Secretary
toine Tranquillité, 1788
Saint-Julien de la
Romatier Michel Jewelry seller May 13 1788
Tranquillité, 1788
Geoffroy May 24 1788
Le Bon Zèle, 1777-
Spitte [or Spitz] Jean- Engraver at the Hôtel
1787, deputy of the August 1788
François de la Monnaie
Grand Orient
Saint-Julien de la
Desales Louis-Corneille Painter of the king 1788
Tranquillité, 1788
Veterans
Minette
Saint-Julien de la
Maupas
Tranquillité, 1784
Chaplain
Chaplain of the
Sainte-Chapelle, Saint-Julien de la
The abbot Vavasseur
originally from Tranquillité, speaker
Mortagne

Sources: Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, No. 8 6108, “Tableau du Corps de MM. les chevaliers de
l’arc de la ville de Paris,” in Almanach des compagnies d’arc... op. cit., 47-50. Dossier Saint-Julien de la Tranquillité,
Masonic collection, Manuscripts Office, Bibliothèque Nationale, FM2 105. Le Bihan, Alain. Francs-maçons
parisiens... op. cit.

19
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society - Volume 3 - Number 2 - Fall 2015

The Masonic Orders of the Holy Sepulcher in

Eighteenth-Century France
Pierre Mollier

W
e are a long way from Jerusalem! into one sole Fraternity the individuals of
The few Chivalric Orders of the all nations [... and] to form in the course
Middle Ages that still existed of ages a spiritual empire2[...]. At the time
in the eighteenth century had become of the Crusades in Palestine many princes,
decorations, primarily a way of according lords and citizens associated themselves and
pensions to the King’s most faithful servants. vowed to restore the Temple of the Christians
In around 1730–1740, various Masonic in the Holy Land, to employ themselves
circles wanted to recreate a true chivalric in bringing back their architecture to its
path, combining a new spiritual ideal with first institution. They agreed upon several
worldly action. This is the origin of Masonic ancient signs and symbolic words drawn
chivalry and several of its High Degrees.1 from the well of religion in order to recognize
They wanted to put back together what themselves amongst the heathen and the
history had scattered: the spirit and rites of Saracens. These signs and words were only
chivalry. From the end of the Middle Ages communicated to those who promised
to the Age of Enlightenment, the spirit of solemnly, even sometimes at the foot of
chivalry continued to thrive in a whole body the altar, never to reveal them. This sacred
of constantly read literature. As for the rites, promise was therefore not an execrable
we can still see them practiced in 1740, for oath, as it has been called, but a respectable
example in the ceremonies of the Orders of bond to unite Christians of all nationalities
Saint-Lazare or Malta. Indeed, a connection in one confraternity. Some time after, our
has been made between the Order of Saint- Order formed an intimate union with the
Lazare’s receiving of Ramsay and his famous Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. From that
and highly successful oration in the Lodge. time our Lodges took the name of Lodges
In this speech, Ramsay defends the idea of of St. John. This union was made after the
a line of descent between Medieval Chivalry example set by the Israelites when they
and Freemasonry. erected the second Temple who, whilst
they handled the trowel and mortar with
Our ancestors, the Crusaders, gathered one hand, in the other held the sword and
together from all parts of Christendom buckler.3
in the Holy Land, desired thus to reunite
1
This is the issue we attempted to clarify in our study: La Chevalerie Maçonnique : Franc-maçonnerie, imag-
inaire chevaleresque et légende templière au siècle des Lumières, (Paris: Editions Dervy Collection Renaissance
Traditionnelle, 2005, 230 p.)
2
Andrew Michael Ramsay’s oration, “Discours préliminaire pour servir d’introduction aux obligations” in
Louis-François de La Tierce, Histoire, Obligations et Statuts de la Très Vénérable Confraternité des Francs-
Maçons... (Francfort sur le Meyn: F. Varrentrapp, 1742), 129. La Tierce’s text corresponds to the supposedly
definitive version, or the “Grand Lodge” of the Discours (early 1737). English version taken from http://www.
freemasons-freemasonry.com/ramsay_biography_oration.html, consulted March 9, 2016.
3
Andrew Michael Ramsay’s oration. English version taken from http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/
ramsay_biography_oration.html, consulted March 9, 2016.
doi: 10.18278/rscs.3.2.3
20
 The Masonic Orders of the Holy Sepulcher in Eighteenth-Century France
Was it Ramsay who “launched the
idea?” Or, as we think, did he merely pass on
a belief found in certain circles lying at the
roots of modern Freemasonry. Whatever the
case may be, in the 1730s–1740s, the Lodges
began practicing chivalric ceremonies and
giving Degrees of “Knight of the Orient” or
“Knight Kadosh” (in its primitive form of
“Sublime Knight Elect”). The main model
that Masonic chivalry seeks to pick up on
is of course the Order of the Temple, with
its prestige and its halo of mystery... Certain
legendary tales which accompany it and
which legitimate the first Templar Degrees
do in fact already refer to the Holy Sepulcher.
Thus, in the 1750s–1760s, a text entitled “De
la Maçonnerie parmi les Chrétiens” (“On
Masonry Among Christians”),4 explained
that the first Knights of the Temple were
welcomed by the canons of the Holy
Sepulcher and that these canons then united
with the Templars, realizing that their
mission was the same. This idea of the first
canons of the Holy Sepulcher participating
in the foundation of the Order of the
Temple can be found in several Masonic
systems of the eighteenth century, for
example the famous and highly interesting
“Clerks of the Temple” of the theosophist
and crypto-Catholic pastor Johann August
Starck.5 However, from the 1760s, we find
various documents containing the traces of
a specific Masonic Degree of Knight of the
Holy Sepulcher.
I. The Mythical Order of the Holy
Sepulcher
T
he Order of the Holy Sepulcher is
among the Great Orders born in the
heart of the Middle Ages. Following
4
René Le Forestier, La Franc-Maçonnerie Occultiste et Templière aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, second edition
published by Antoine Faivre with addenda and index, 2 volumes (Paris: La Table d’Emeraude, 1987), vol. I, 68.
5
Le Forestier, La Franc-Maçonnerie Occultiste et Templière, 157.
21
the publication of André Favyn’s Théâtre
d’Honneur et de Chevalerie in 1620, the
many treatises which, from the seventeenth
to the early eighteenth century, report the
history of the Orders of Chivalry all devote a
significant chapter to it. Favyn explains that:
The Order of the Holy Sepulcher is the first
and oldest of all those in Palestine and the
Holy Land. The City of Jerusalem having
been conquered from the Emperors of
Greece by the Saracens, the Guard of the
Holy Sepulcher & of the Mount Calvary
were left by these Saracens to certain
regular noble Canons.
Godfrey of Bouillon, first King of Jerusalem
and of the French Nation, did much good
for the Canons [...].
Baudouin, the first of his name, successor
to his Brother Godefroy, made these regular
Canons (from the monks that they were)
into men of arms & Knights of the Holy
Sepulcher [...]. This institution was carried
out by the aforementioned King Baudouin,
in the year of Grace 1103. He gave them
for leader & Grand Master the Patriarch of
Jerusalem, to whom he granted the power
to confer this Order.
The Pope Alexander VI of the name, in the
fourth year of his Pontificate, & the year
of Grace 1496, transported to the Holy See
and to him the power to confer this Order
of Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, & declared
himself and his successors Popes, Chiefs
and Sovereign Grand Masters of this Order,
giving power to its Vicar General Guardian
of the Holy Sepulcher (still of the rule of
Saint Francis of Assisi) to confer the Order
to Pilgrims & travelers of the Holy Land,
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society

married or not married, in exchange for the Order of the Holy Sepulcher itself
their vowing on the aforementioned Holy never really existed (in any case, not as an
Sepulcher that they are of Noble birth...6 organization with its administrations and
its hierarchy). One thing that encouraged
However, a little further on Favyn, confusion is that once they were back in
worthy apologist of the society of orders, Europe, these pilgrims who had become
which at the time was the basis of the French Knights of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem
monarchy, laments that: often joined pious confraternities under
the patronage of the Holy Sepulcher. Some
it has come about by necessity of the family of these confraternities, like that of Paris,
of the Cordeliers of the Holy Sepulcher became important organizations. In the
that the Guardian gives and confers this eighteenth century, exploiting the reduced
Order to any who requests it, without vigilance of the public authorities regarding
precise inquiry, or authentic testimonial these matters, a few individuals were quick
concerning the nobility of the person to confer Knighthood of the Holy Sepulcher
presenting himself, in exchange for thirty themselves, but this time in Paris, Lyon or
sequins of gold, given to the Convent, Marseille.
such that most of the Knights of the Holy From the 1760s, the whole strategy of
Sepulcher are commoners... the Parisian Fraternity of the Holy Sepulcher
consisted in trying to obtain recognition
Thus, because of the symbolic as an order of chivalry, particularly from
power of the site, at the end of the Middle the royal authorities. In a few cases, the
Ages, it became customary for noble (or Knights of the Holy Sepulcher that we find
less noble!) pilgrims to have themselves in France in the eighteenth century were
received as knights in the church of the therefore received during a pilgrimage to
Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Consequently, Jerusalem, by the Franciscans who since
unlike other great Orders such as “The the Middle Ages had guarded the holy
Temple” or “the Hospital” (Malta), the places. However, in most cases they were
Holy Sepulcher has no pyramid structure received in one of the major Fraternities
with commanderies and provinces. It is, in of the Holy Sepulcher, found in several
fact, more a tradition than a true Order. In cities. What unites them is their shared
2004, Jean-Pierre de Gennes brought out a reference to the mythical Order of the Holy
scholarly and well-researched study,7 which Sepulcher, the story of which is reported in
became an important reference work. The many treatises on the Orders of Chivalry.
author’s first task is to show that, before These were one of the most fertile sources
the Pope established the “modern” Order of the chivalric imagination in the Age of
of the Holy Sepulcher in 1847, in a way, Enlightenment. An anecdote reported by
contrary to everything written beforehand, Tschoudy in his classic 1766 work, L’Étoile
although there had been Knights of the Flamboyante, shows that there were many
Holy Sepulcher since the Middle Ages, Masons in the Parisian archconfraternity of

6
André Favyn, Le Théatre d’Honneur et de Chevalerie ou l’histoire des ordres militaires..., (Paris: Robert Fouët,
1620), 1595–1598.
7
Jean-Pierre de Gennes, Les Chevaliers du Saint-Sépulcre de Jérusalem (Versailles: Editions Mémoire &
Documents, 2004), vol. 1, 481 p., vol. 2, 507 p. + 567 p.

22
 The Masonic Orders of the Holy Sepulcher in Eighteenth-Century France

the Holy Sepulcher.8 This may be the origin
of the Masonic Degree of Knight of the Holy
Sepulcher.
II. The Masonic Degree of Knight of the
Holy Sepulcher in around 1760
To the North, the closed Sepulcher is
represented, the Sword of Godfrey of
Bouillon is placed on top, with his spurs
and his gold collar of the Order, on the end
of which hangs a gold Jerusalem cross.

T
he 1760–1770 decade appears to have
been particularly fertile and creative
in terms of the High Degrees,
especially the High Chivalric Degrees.
Although we cannot precisely date it, we
can identify a Degree of “Knight of the Holy Grand Master asks:
Sepulcher” which seems to appear in the
1760s, in various manuscript collections9 of
rituals:
The Respectable Grand Master is dressed
in prelate’s clothing and the whole assembly
is dressed in black, with white gloves and
aprons.10
Upon the opening of the works, the
Why were you received as a Kgt of the Holy
Sepulcher?

This reception is respectable because it - To fight the enemies of the Faith

is established to support the faith and
because the order is the first origin of the What brings us together in this holy place?
first Masons who were Canons in rule.
- Honor, strength, and wisdom.
The Chapter is draped in red, as are the
throne and altar. My dear noble knight brothers, let us
practice with fervor the three principles of
The tracing board in the center represents virtue, the Chapter is open, let us act there
the sepulcher of J? C? [with] an angel above with the decency due to this great mystery.
pointing to the sky with its index finger.
The reception of the new Mason
Around the tracing board are twenty lights Knight of the Holy Sepulcher is quite simple.
placed at the four corners of the tomb, in The recipient is brought into the Chapter
groups of five forming triangles. and the “tracing board” (the symbolic
representation of the Holy Sepulcher at the
center of the Lodge) is unveiled to him. Then

8
“A confrere from Jerusalem died a little while ago. He was a Freemason, the Master of the Confraternity that
year was also a Freemason; at the funeral ceremony, which all the confreres attended, the question arose of who
would be the pallbearers [...] the Master assigned these sought-after roles to Freemasons...” [Baron de Tschoudy],
L’Étoile Flamboyante ou la société des francs-maçons considérée sous tous les aspects (Paris: Antoine Boudet,
1766), 63. The “Confraternity of Jerusalem” was the abridged name for the Parisian archconfraternity of the
“Knights, Pilgrims and Travelers of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem”; see: Ancien statut de l’Ordre Hospitalier
et Militaire du Saint Sépulcre de Jérusalem (Paris, Cailleau, 1776), 174–184.
9
For example, in the Manuscript Cabinet at the National Library of France (BnF), the documents: NAF 10958,
f°185-197; Baylot FM4 103; FM4 1046(e). Aside from a few copy errors, all of these manuscripts describe the
same ritual.
10
Collection maçonnique, 5e partie, Les Chevaliers du St Sépulcre, 7–24. Library of the Grand Orient de France,
A.R. 5330.
23
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society
the Grand Master knights him before the
assembly with a sword, which he is told is the
sword of Godfrey of Bouillon. The Masonic
ceremony basically follows that described by
Favyn and several others authors of Treatises
in their chapters on the Order of the Holy
Sepulcher, including the giving of the spurs.
In conclusion, again as stipulated in Favyn,
the recipient is given the insignia of the
order: the classic cross of Jerusalem. The
duty sworn by the new Knight clearly shows
the ethos of the Degree:
I swear to fight the enemies of the Apostolic
and Roman Catholic faith, to respect the
prelates of the Church, to support the arms
of my prince; and, should the Christian
princes go to war to fight the enemies of our
Holy Religion in the Holy Land, I commit
to be there in person, or if I am prevented
from doing so, to send another worthy of
fulfilling the vow I have made.
As for many vows proposed upon
obtaining Degrees, the formulas should
undoubtedly not be taken literally, even
in the eighteenth century, as their role is
primarily symbolic. That said, the Degree of
Knight of the Holy Sepulcher clearly belongs
to the family of the Christian High Degrees.
This family is still represented by the
Rectified Scottish Regime today, using very
different methods. In the eighteenth century,
there was a somewhat marginal current of
High Degrees, presenting themselves as a
defense and illustration of the Christian
faith in a Masonic context. Examples include
the Knights of the Aurora and of Palestine,
or the Knights of the Triple Cross. These
Degrees remain symbolically connected
to the medieval chivalry of the Holy Land
seen, following Ramsay, as the origin of
Freemasonry. The particularity of this first
See the entry on this by François Lotz on page 1758 of the Nouveau dictionnaire de biographie alsacienne; H.
11
Haug, “Trois artistes méridionaux à Strasbourg au XVIIIe siècle”, 113–170. Entry on François Isnard (v. 1699–
24
Masonic Knight of the Holy Sepulcher is that
it goes further by proclaiming itself Catholic.
This is a curious claim, when we consider that
the Pope excommunicated Freemasons from
1738. However, this excommunication had
little effect in France before the revolution.
The parliaments did not “record” it, so it
could not lawfully be applied to French
Masons. For our part, we will interpret this
claim of Catholicism as a will to connect
Freemasonry to medieval Christianity. We
do not know how this Degree of Knight of
the Holy Sepulcher was practiced originally
or in the 1760s. It is probable that like many
High Degrees, it was conferred after various
other Degrees, depending on the meetings
of its promoters and the Lodges they visited
or frequented. The Degree itself proposes
no specific esoteric teaching, but the simple
fact of putting the recipient, in spirit, in the
presence of the Holy Sepulcher naturally
had a strong spiritual dimension for an
eighteenth-century man with his mind full
of Christian references.
III. Pierre-François Isnard’s Masonic
Order of the Holy Sepulcher in 1780
A
lthough between 1760 and 1780 we
find scattered traces of a Degree
of Knight of the Holy Sepulcher
being practiced in a Masonic context, from
1780, we discover the existence of a specific
Masonic order, with the Knight of the Holy
Sepulcher as its cornerstone. This true
Masonic Order of the Holy Sepulcher was, in
particular, active in Strasbourg and Toulon,
and its leader is known: Pierre-François
Isnard.
Pierre-François Isnard, from
Strasbourg, was a very committed Mason
from the 1750s to the early nineteenth
century. Born in 1727,11 the son of an
 The Masonic Orders of the Holy Sepulcher in Eighteenth-Century France

engraver, he was a soldier from 1747 to in a highly religious atmosphere, and

1777, a lieutenant of Dragoons (specifically
in the Legion of Lorraine and in the Berry-
Cavalerie), and a Knight of Saint-Louis. A
poet and at times a writer,12 he participated in
various literary circles, but is also known…
as an author of uniform collections. He is
also thought to be the father of the classic
Petits soldats de Strasbourg (“Little Soldiers
of Strasbourg”). He died in the Alsace
capital in 1807. Received as a Mason at
a very young age, in around 1753,13 he
founded the Strasbourg Lodge Le Parfait
Silence, on February 4, 1764. This workshop,
which remained active (with its ups and
downs) until the Revolution, originally had
a heavy contingent of soldiers and nobles.
Its tumultuous history was the product of
disputes between these Brothers and those
from the bourgeoisie.
In the Masonic system promoted
and spread by Isnard, the Degree of Knight
of the Holy Sepulcher appears as the final
Degree of the Rose-Croix Chapter, of
which it is a sort of “Inner Order.” From
1750 to the Revolution, the “Rose-Croix”
often represents the end of the Masonic
path. It is a very specific Degree, because
after “discovering” the three theological
virtues and “a new law,” the candidate is
invited to relive “allegorically the events of
the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
The whole ceremony is of course steeped
probably aims to reconnect with what was
imagined to be primitive Christianity,14
one of the great myths which haunted the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is
pointless to emphasize that in the Age of
the Enlightenment, the Rose-Croix was
the ultimate Christian Masonic Degree. In
1763, the ritual of the Marquis de Gages
even specifies that “he takes the title of
Christian knight.”15
The Knight of the Holy Sepulcher
therefore fits naturally into this context.
However, beyond a shared symbolic
atmosphere, the consistency between the
two Degrees is even stronger, because the
last sequence in the ritual of the Rose-Croix
is held in front of “the tomb and the instant
of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ [...] and,
on the altar, which is well decorated, is the
representation of Jesus Christ emerging
triumphant from his tomb.” By being
ultimately received as a Knight of the Holy
Sepulcher, the Knight of the Rose-Croix
participates symbolically in the end of the
story. He is instituted as guardian of the
tomb, the highly sacred and holy nature of
which has been revealed to him as a Knight
of the Rose-Croix.
It is therefore in a real “symbolic
logic” that Isnard makes the Knight of the
Holy Sepulcher the inner Order of the
Chapter of the Rose-Croix. In fact:

1765), P.F. Isnard (1727-1807) and P.M. Isnard (1723–1795), the first two of whom were engravers and the
latter an architect, in Archives alsaciennes d’histoire de l’art, 6e année, (Strasbourg: Imprimerie strasbourgeoise,
1927)
12
The BnF manuscripts cabinet contains under shelf-mark NAF 6456, Lettres et poésie de Pierre-François
Isnard, officier de Dragons en retraite à Strasbourg (1799–1805), XVIIIe-XIXe siècles, Pap, 80 sheets.
13
In a letter to the Grand Orient, in 1789, he writes that he “worked for 36 years for the glory of the Order.” (BnF,
FM2 426, f°102) This means he entered the Lodge in 1753.
14
See Pierre Mollier, “The Masonic Degree of Rose-Croix and Christianity: The Complex Links between
Religion and Freemasonry during the Enlightenment”, Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society, Volume 1, Issue 2,
(Winter 2013), Policy Studies Organization, 14–24.
15
BnF, FM4 79, f°101 v°.

25
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society

Art. 4: There will be two types of members asserted their determination to follow the
in the chapter, and these will be the knights path of Benevolence and join the Order, the
of the R?+? And the kgts? who have passed Commander declares:
into the Degree of Kgt? of the Benevolence
of the Holy City of the Holy Sepulcher of The veil of symbols will fall & the Masonic
Jerusalem in Palestine. 16
shadows which surround you will
disappear & you will know the respectable
We were able to identify the texts order which has perpetuated its existence
used by Pierre-François Isnard’s Masonic through Masonry.
Order of the Holy Sepulcher. Thus, the
collection BnF NAF 10956 (ff.° 228-237) The recipient then pledges loyalty to the
gives a very full copy of the ritual of “Knight Order and the Commander makes a short
of Benevolence of the Holy City and the speech to him, where following Ramsay, he
Holy Sepulcher.” The “lodge tracing board” explains the connections which unite the
features a large image of the Holy Sepulcher Temple of Solomon, the desert hermits, the
in the center of the Chapter. This is presided first chivalry and the Freemasonry which
over by a Commander, who proclaims: served as a refuge for the persecuted or
pursued Knights. All these institutions
In the name of God the all-powerful Master having over time and according to the
of the Universe & by the permission of our circumstances arbitrated “The safekeeping of
legitimate superiors, I open this assembly. the primitive science of man preserved in the
ancient mysteries.”
The Brother Procurator then announces:
Then comes the knighting, which
Entry is permitted to any free man who repeats the first Degree of the Knight of the
comes for Faith and by Charity in the Holy Sepulcher described above, and goes
silence of hope [...], Brother Commander, a on to the classic entrance ceremony for the
Knight of the Rose-Croix solicits the honor Order of the Holy Sepulcher as described
of being employed in the guard of the Holy in treatises on the Orders of Chivalry. The
Sepulcher […]. He comes from Judea, he Commander announces:
has come via Nazareth, Rafael led him,
and he is of the tribe of Judah. Upon the order of my Brethren & fellows &
you my Brother, repeat with me:
The Commander then counsels the
candidate on the nobility of Benevolence I … promise to God, to our L.J.C. & to the
and of “The Order of chivalry into which you blessed virgin Mary that I will religiously
have just entered & which is founded on our observe with all my power the rules of the
divine religion & the exercise of social and Order, as a true soldier of J∴C∴.
patriotic virtues.” After the candidate has

16
Règlement pour le Chapitre R∴+∴ A l’orient de Toulon approuvé le 13 avril 1786, BnF, Manuscripts Cabinet,
Fonds maçonnique/Masonic collection, archives of the Grand Orient de France, Dossier on the workshops
of Toulon, FM2 438. We only know this regulation from the copy made by the Brothers of Toulon in 1802, for
the revival of the Chapter, as the eighteenth century texts have disappeared. The Toulon copy explains that it
is faithful in all points to the text transmitted by Strasbourg.

26
 The Masonic Orders of the Holy Sepulcher in Eighteenth-Century France

He puts the sword in his hand with the Benevolence of the Holy City & of the very
words: Holy Sepulcher of our Lord J∴C∴ in the
name of the Father & the Son & the Holy
Be loyal, hardy, good & strong, Kgt of the Spirit, Amen.
Benevolence of the Holy City & of the Holy
Sepulcher of our L∴J∴C∴ so that with The Commander kisses his forehead:
his elect he might deign to place you and
gather you in his heavenly court. Amen. Receive the sign of the order so that in
carrying it you will always be a victor.
Giving him the spurs, he says: Lord God, by this sign deliver us from our
enemies. Amen.
Take these spurs for the salvation of he who
helps you so that you can reach the Holy Finally, giving him the shield, he says:
City, walk around it & contribute to the
Guard of the Holy Sepulcher. My brother, finish arming yourself; kgt∴
receive the shield of knowledge to help you
He takes the sword and gives it back to the ward off the blows of the ungodly.
candidate:
Then he gives him the lance, adding:
Receive this sword in the name of the father,
the son & the Holy Spirit; use it to defend This lance must serve you against the enemies
the Holy Church & to confound the enemy of God, the Prince, the Fatherland, your
of the cross of J∴C∴ & of the Christian Mason Brethren and the Order as a whole.
faith; offend no-one unless authorized in By giving you the accolade, I separate you
the name of he who lives and reigns &c. from the corrupt world, from the path of the
Amen. evildoers & ungodliness. Live for justice and
for truth. Let the Very High law be engraved
He re-sheaths the sword: in your heart so that you might meditate on it
every day of your life.
Gird yourself with this sword. Let it hang at
your thigh in the name of our L∴J∴C∴& And since we are, after all, in a
know that the Saints did not win the Masonic context, the Commander then
kingdoms with swords but with faith. gives the new Knight the signs, words and
grips of the Degree. The “sacred word” is
At this point, the candidate draws his sword “Melchizedek.” After a prayer and another
and gives it to the Commander, then kneels, exhortation to fulfil the duties “of the
bowing, placing himself before the sign of first Christian knights,” the orator of the
the good shepherd, he says: Chapter reads a long “historic speech.” This
explanation reveals that the Knights of the
Deus protector meus Holy Sepulcher and Masons are simply two
successive veils to conceal the true nature
The Commander makes him a knight using of the Order which is none other than...
these words: that of the Templars. The text uses classic
elements from the discourse of the High
I make and create you a Kgt∴ of the Templar Degrees of the eighteenth century.

27
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society
The great riches which were at the origin of
the persecution of the Templars by Philip
the Fair were just a consequence of their
esoteric knowledge. In fact:
Hugues de Payens & the first Templars
worked to repair the house given to
them by Baudoin II in the Temple. They
searched the ruins to take materials from
them. While searching, they came across
an iron box containing, among other
precious things, the process to achieve the
great work.
A few Knights survived the
suppression of the Order and managed to
preserve the “great secret.” After fleeing for
a long time, they found refuge in Scotland,
where they were welcomed by the Knights
of Saint Andrew. Then, to evade all danger,
they joined the Masons, whose secret
Lodges offered the ideal shelter.
You are too prudent not to see how
essential it is to hide our operations & even
our name. This is why we bear the name
of Benevolence of the Holy City under the
allegory of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.
After the prayer and the incensation
of the Chapter, which follows the historical
speech, the Commander says:
My Brethren, let us disguise ourselves as
Masons to better hide our state & ensure
our survival, to hide our motives from our
enemies, let us take for emblems the name,
the customs and the tools of the Masons
who have served us for 478 years.17
Transierunt vetera a cuncta nova facta
sunt.
17
This allows us to date the original of our copy to 1785: 1307 (arrest of the Templars by Philip the Fair), plus
478 years, gives us 1785.
28
Here, all remove the costume of Kgts∴ &
dress as Masons. Five Brothers take the
tools of Masonry & walk a lap around the
temple.
After a short speech on the symbolism of the
phoenix and the pelican, the Commander
closes the works of the Chapter.
As in the Degree of the Holy
Sepulcher of the 1760s which served
as its basis, the Knight of Benevolence
of the Holy City of the Holy Sepulcher
must profess “the Apostolic and Roman
Catholic religion.” Even more curiously, in
the “historical speech” for the Degree, the
Pope’s responsibility in the persecutions
against the Order of the Temple is not
played down. Perhaps this high claim to
Catholicism should actually be placed in
parallel with the internal controversies of
Strasbourg Masonry. It is not impossible
that behind the proclaimed equality, the
religious divisions between Protestants and
Catholics also overlaid social and cultural
divisions, for example between soldiers
or civil servants “from inside” (as they
say in Alsace!) and from mainly Lutheran
Strasbourg men. This hypothesis is based,
in particular, on the full name of Isnard’s
Degree of the Holy Sepulcher: “Knight of
Benevolence of the Holy City of the Holy
Sepulcher of Jerusalem in Palestine.” This
name unambiguously betrays a rivalry, or at
least a positioning, in relation to the great
Strasbourg Masonic system of the 1770s to
1780s: The Benevolent Knights of the Holy
City, Inner Order of the Rectified Scottish
Regime… a Rectified Scottish Regime
whose leaders in Strasbourg were great
Lutheran nobles such as the Turckheims or
the Saltzmanns.
 The Masonic Orders of the Holy Sepulcher in Eighteenth-Century France
Isnard’s Masonic Order of the Holy
Sepulcher seems to have been active in the
mid-1780s. Due to its somewhat marginal
position in relation to the major Masonic
organizations, we have few traces of it. The
copies made at the start of the nineteenth
century by the Chapter of Toulon testify
to the existence of this Chapter and the
“father” Chapter of Strasbourg. Were there
others? Possibly, but in any case, it was
a small Masonic system which probably
never had more than a few dozen Knights.
We should note the presence of several
Knights of Malta in the Chapter of Toulon,
for example the young Aimé de Framond,
whose diploma has been preserved and who
trained in the port as a “Naval Guard.” This
is unsurprising, because in France at the
time, almost 20% of Knights of Malta were
Masons. Elsewhere in our work, we have
shown the close links between Freemasonry
and the Order of Malta in the eighteenth
century.18 We can add to this that the Order
had women’s Lodges, “of adoption” (to use
the classic terminology), of which we know
one “Ritual for the adoption of Women
in the Order of Chivalry of Benevolence
under the allegory of the Holy Sepulcher of
Jerusalem in Palestine.”19
What is evident in Isnard’s Order
is this will to establish a connection to the
founding legend described by Ramsay in
his speech in the mid-1730s. Freemasonry
maintains close relationships with
Chivalry, or in any case with this spiritual
and “initiatory” Chivalry which, in the
heart of the Middle Ages and in the Holy
Land, sheltered a Christianity closer to its
(particularly Jewish, and in part esoteric)
sources. The fact that this had only a
18
See Pierre Mollier, “Malta, the knights and freemasonry”, Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society, Volume 2, Issue
1, (Spring 2014), Policy Studies Organization, 15–25.
19
BnF, NAF 10958, f°179–184.
20
Chevalier du Saint Sépulcre, 50e grade, 6e série, BnF, FM4 1046 (E).
29
distant connection with historical reality
is ultimately secondary. The Mason Knight
received not a history lesson, but a founding
legend which had to make sense. After
Ramsay in 1736, Tschoudy would, in 1766
in his work L’Etoile Flamboyante, be the
great apologist of a chivalric and Christian
Masonry. For Tschoudy, after the three
Degrees of Apprentice, Fellow, and Master,
Freemasonry concentrated its teachings in
two High Degrees. The Scot of Saint Andrew
of Scotland and the Knight of the Aurora
and of Palestine. This latter degree, directly
derived from the Medieval Chivalry of the
Holy Land, offers the ultimate teachings of
the Order. “The Knights of Palestine are thus
the first and the true Masons,” Tschoudy
tells us. A further clue of this is the Masonic
Order of the Holy Sepulcher’s connection
to Ramsay and Tschoudy: in the diplomas
that he delivers, Isnard presents himself as
“Knight of the Holy Sepulcher, Commander
of Palestine.”
In 1802, the Toulon Brothers tried
to revive the Chapter of the Perfect Silence.
After various events, they finally succeeded.
However, the Degree of the Holy Sepulcher
fell into disuse, and the Perfect Silence
became a classic Rose-Croix Chapter
without its “inner Order”. In the great
inventory of the High Degrees compiled
by the Metropolitan Sovereign Chapter of
the French Rite in 1807, Knight of the Holy
Sepulcher is listed in the 6th series of the 5th
Order, as the 50th Degree.20 However, the
“Arch of the 5th Order” is more a collection
of rituals for study than a true site for the
initiatory implementation of the Degrees.
In any case, the 5th Order in turn died out
in 1813. Yet the Masonic Degree of the Holy
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society

Sepulcher did not disappear.21 Its trace can the Duke of Sussex, who was very hostile
be found right at the end of the eighteenth to them. In 1865, Robert Wentworth Little
century... in the United States! We thus find organized the “modern” Grand Conclave of
it mentioned in the great revelation of David the Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine,
Bernard, Light on Masonry,22 which came of which the Knight of the Holy Sepulcher
out in 1829, but includes many rituals from became an “appendant order.” From the
the end of the eighteenth century that were nineteenth century to the present day, it is
still in use at the start of the nineteenth. It is still practiced in this context, including in
likely that the Masonic Knight of the Holy France.
Sepulcher crossed the Atlantic via Toulon,
Marseille or Bordeaux in the baggage of
traveling Masons. It is worth emphasizing
that the Irish played a major role in American
Masonry of the High Degrees, and that
there were quite a lot of Irish people in the
French ports. From the United States, the
Degree of “Knight of the Holy Sepulcher”
was transported to England, undoubtedly by
British soldiers returning from the American
wars in around 1790.23 It seems to have been
practiced around Thomas Dunckerley with
a collection of Christian chivalric High
Degrees: Knight Templar, Knight of Malta
and Knight of the Red Cross. This is the
first time that we see the Knight of the Holy
Sepulcher associated with the Degree of the
Red Cross of Constantine. This association
also appears in the papers of Alexander
Dalziel in the 1830s. The Knight of the Holy
Sepulcher thus continued to be practiced
in the few small Masonic circles which
maintained the High Christian chivalric
degrees during the long Grand Mastery of

21
Also worthy of our attention is the attempted creation of an Order of the Holy Sepulcher, with a few
survivors of the eighteenth-century Parisian archconfraternity led by the German admiral count at the start
of Louis XVIII’s reign. Jean-Pierre de Gennes wrote a history of this (“Une résurgence éphémère de l’Ordre
sous la Restauration,” in Les Chevaliers du Saint-Sépulcre de Jérusalem, volume II, second part, 261–387) and
emphasized the many connections with Freemasonry. In fact, almost all of its members and leaders were
Masons, particularly from the Admirers of the Universe Lodge. The quaint thing is that in 1847, the creators of
the pontifical Order used elements coming from the (crypto-Masonic) Order of the German Holy Sepulcher.
22
David Bernard, “Knights of the Holy Sepulchre,” in Light on Masonry, a collection of all the most important
documents on the subject of speculative Free masonry… (Utica: William Williams, 182), 170–178.
23
See: The history and origin of the Masonic and Military Order of the Red Cross of Constantine and the
appendant order of the Holy Sepulchre and of St. John the Evangelist: an analytical Survey (London: published
under the authority of the Grand Imperial Conclave, 1971).

30
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society - Volume 3 - Number 2 - Fall 2015
Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the
World
Vincent Lombardo
Preliminary Report
T
he purpose of this research is to
form a snapshot of the Present
Conditions of Masonry in the
world, as compared to the past, and draw
from it lessons that may help us Masons
work to address present issues, recognize
successes or failures, and find solutions for
the better future of our Craft. My research
was structured in a list of 35 questions
intended to cover all significant aspects of
today’s vitality of Freemasonry. The data
and opinions collected are reported below
according to this list.
From the very beginning I was told
by several brethren that my project was too
ambitious, far reaching, time consuming
beyond practical, and the data collected
would be too difficult to analyze and be of
any use. For these very reasons I will not
reproduce here all the pages of information
I have collected, but sift through it and share
in extract only what, to my best judgement,
may be of some use to lodges, or Grand
Lodges, concerned with their declining
membership; and also to those lodges or
Grand Lodges which enjoy prosperity —
so they do not fall into the errors of others.
The information I have received might, in
some cases, be not strictly factual, but just
the opinions based on someone’s personal
experience or information.
I was also told that “hundreds of
similar studies have been conducted in the
past, looking for the reasons behind the decline
of Freemasonry all over the places; that books
have been written about the subject; that
31
Internet forums and blogs are littered with
the same; that we all pay a certain amount
of lip service to those opinions, as many of
us have seen those things happening right in
front of us. However, at the end of the day,
it’s all gossip.” One respondent also noted:
“As we know however from observation,
bodies die when the soul is weak or the spirit
has left.” Wherefore I asked myself: is this
the “why” we had paid lip service to those
opinions, and done nothing, or ineffectually,
or foolishly? Is the body of Masonry dying?
Has its spirit (principles and purpose) left
us?
It was also suggested that a lot of my
questions would be best answered by Grand
Secretaries, because members are likely to
supply guesses rather than facts; that I was
asking too many questions, appearing to
make an undue claim on these secretaries’
time. Indeed, I knew this already when I
started this project, and I was also aware that
asking my Grand Secretary to contact on my
behalf the 4671 Grand Lodges in the world
would have been too much to ask of him, and
without hope; so I decided to write directly
to the Grand Lodges, starting with the
Grand Lodges in my own country, and with
some other jurisdictions in North America.
Apparently a great number of those Grand
Lodges I had contacted complained to my
Grand Lodge (for breach of protocol); thus
followed the injunction of my Grand Master:
not to contact by letter or email any Grand
Lodge outside my own, under the penalty
of suspension (or expulsion) — because it
doi: 10.18278/rscs.3.2.4
 Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the World
would take them too much time and effort
to find the answers to my questions, time
and effort the Grand Secretaries cannot
afford. I suppose that is the reason even
my own Grand Lodge declined to give me
the information I was looking for, and also
declined to address my questions to a person
in its jurisdiction who could answer them,
which was my original request to my Grand
Secretary and to all other Grand Secretaries
I had contacted.
Fortunately, a small number of those
Grand Lodges I had originally contacted
weren’t stuck on protocol, and generously
either gave me detailed and useful
information, or referred my questions to
knowledgeable people in their jurisdictions,
who also asked me to share with them the
results of my research when completed.
Someone suggested a simple letter
of introduction sent with a few clicks of
the mouse by my Grand Secretary to all his
counterparts in all jurisdictions in amity
with my Grand Lodge would have opened to
me the door to more accurate information.
Probably so but, my Grand Secretary had
already told me that my Grand Lodge did
not support my Study, therefore nothing
was left to me other than reach out to as
many brethren I had corresponded with
in the past, and to reach out to other
brethren wherever dispersed upon the face
of the earth by whatever means possible.
Thus I made my request to the secretaries
of individual lodges and of research
lodges, and of other masonic bodies (not
part of my Grand Master’s injunction) I
could find on the Web (worldwide), and
also, with the same intent, I joined a few
forums dealing in masonic matters. I also
1
looked into some of those “hundreds of
similar studies … conducted in the past,”2
using their statistics to corroborate the
information given to me by individuals.
As for my own Grand Lodge, I found the
32
little pertinent information available on the
Website of Brock University, Proceedings:
Grand Lodge, A.F. & A.M. of Canada in
the Province of Ontario - 2014, authored
by my very own Grand Secretary and other
Grand Officials, (see in this publication:
CONDITION OF MASONRY, pp. 31- 34,
and GRAND SECRETARY’S REPORT, pp.
92 - 93.) I deem this information reliable
and accurate, and I have included it in my
Study.
According to my Grand Lodge’s
Website, (2016) there are 3.2 Million Masons
across the world. I take that number at face
value, since I have no means to verifying
it, and the number itself is not material to
my research, but rather its variations in
time and place, and the reasons for such
variations. I also went by the assumption
that these 3.2 Million Masons are members
of “regular” Grand Jurisdictions in amity
with my Grand Lodge, and recognized by
the UGLE. The information I have so far
received relates to 1,677,000 such Masons
in 21,079 Lodges, under the jurisdiction of
70 such Grand Lodges in 5 continents. That
represents approximately 52% of the ideal
target I had set to canvass, and I am satisfied
the information I now have is sufficient to
realize that snapshot I intended to form,
and I report it below, referencing material
information to its sources, when I deem
it necessary, and at the same time keeping
the promise of anonymity I made to my
informants. This Study does not included
any Prince Hall Jurisdictions, since all my
attempts to get in touch with several of their
individual lodges have not succeeded.
These are my Findings
Membership. The total number of
members in the 70 Grand Lodges/
Grand Orients reported stands
presently at 1,677,000.
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society
1.1 To the question whether this
number is up or down, compared to 10 - 20
years ago, the answer varies from region to
region, but is generally negative for 19,185 of
the lodges reported. Only 1,894 lodges, with
a combined membership of 83,500 members
(5% of the total sample) have reported an
increase in membership in the past 10 years,
Italy showing the greatest increase (40%)
With the exception of the Grand
Lodges of Continental Europe and Southeast
Asia, whose membership has on average
experienced a steady increase over the past
ten years (30 to 40%), and the Gran Logia de
Cuba, whose membership in the same period
has slightly increased from 30,000 to 32,000
members, the membership in all other Grand
(Source: Grand Oriente d’Italia – Relazione Amministrativa Gran Secretario – 2015)
2. On the whole, are lodges prospering or
declining?
This question was poorly worded. “On
the whole” should have been more clearly
defined; however, the answers of many
respondents, which cannot be quantified
and only be taken as “personal opinions,” are
noteworthy. For example:
33
Jurisdictions (Australia, Canada, England,
and U.S.A.) has experienced an average
steady decline of 2.8% per year. Membership
in my own Jurisdiction (Ontario, Canada)
has decreased from 54,837 members in 2005
to approximately 40,000 in 2015, a loss of
14,837 members (27%) in ten years. Telling
are the statistics published by the Masonic
Service Association of North America
and others (see note 2),) where the U.S.
membership total is shown to have declined
from its highest point of 4,103,161 members
(in 1959) to 1,211,183 members in 2014
(70% decline). There is a small spark of hope
with the Grand Lodge of North Dakota,
whose membership from 2013 to 2014 has
increased by 28 members (1%) to 2,913.
§ One respondent for Italy, the
most prosperous in number
upswing (40%), the strictest in
the admission of new members,
generally better educated, and the
richest in candidates education,3
reported that the Italian lodges are
“prospering, but the education’s level
is mostly unsatisfactory.” [This is
quite astonishing, when compared
with the widespread, acknowledged
 Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the World
and documented ignorance (of
Masonry) on the part of North
American Masons, the worst in the
(Masonic) world, who are typically
required to memorize just a few lines
of the ritual, in order to advance
from one degree to the next, and
they do it in a very short time!]
§ Our lodges are definitely prospering.
[Central Europe.]
§ The respondent for Cuba, though
admitting a modest increase in
membership, laments the general
decline in lodge vitality, especially
when a Master of little Masonic
experience is elected to the Chair,
causing conflicts and divisions
within the lodge.
Typical for all lodges in the declining
Jurisdiction is the answer given by two
Canadian sources, quoted here word for
word:
§ “Freemasonry in this jurisdiction is
in a great deal of trouble and over the
next five years is going to be greatly
diminished from what it is now with
far fewer lodges.” [This source has
requested to remain anonymous.]
§ GRAND LODGE OF A.F. & A.M.
OF CANADA in the Province of
Ontario, Proceedings, July 16th,
A.D. 2014, CONDITION OF
MASONRY, page 32:
“Although, last year, we took time to
celebrate the arrival of 1,366 new members
to our Craft, we must also be vigilant in our
effort to gain a clearer understanding of the
membership trends over the past couple of
decades.
So, you ask, why are we still in a
state of decline? Have we lost our “Mystic”?
Again, the Condition of Masonry reports
34
the reasons are three-fold; one mitigating
factor is completely out of the control of
our lodges, while the other two are very
much controlled by each lodge, not by your
Grand Lodge. We must make our resources
available to all our members and improve
our customer service delivery. We have the
material to educate members about one the
most important aspects of Freemasonry, that
is, education and a learning institution. [See
here.]
First, we are a Fraternity that has a
high percentage of veteran members and as
a result, many of these brethren are taking
their final journey. [See note 8).
The second factor that lodges do
have control of is Degree Progression.
When we review how well new members
are being progressed through their degrees,
the results suggest that on[c]e new members
are initiated, a significant number are not
progressing. The third factor, again that lodges
control, is Demits and Suspensions. In and of
themselves, they are the largest contributing
factor of our membership decline and many
would suggest that the seeds for demits and
suspensions are sown during the candidates,
degree journey. These are the brethren whom
we have welcomed into the Craft, but have
now become disinterested.
It is generally accepted these brethren
continue to pay their yearly dues for a time,
but eventually they become a Non-Payment
of Dues issue for the lodge, which results in
demits or suspensions.
We have tracked the total dollar value
of arrears across Ontario for three years.
Jurisdiction arrears totaled some $345,000
to $405,000 per year, some lodges having
$15,000 or more on their books.”
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society

3.What are the causes of this prosperity, or of [Masonic] laws and imposing their
decline? will above all; this phenomenon now
occurs quite often, and is widespread,
In the prospering regions the success and threatening prosperity.”
prosperity of lodges is attributed generally § There seems to be a lack of
to: knowledge/awareness in the general
community regarding Freemasonry.4
§ Masonic experience and longer § Masonry is perceived by the general
tenure of the W. Master (re-elected public as irrelevant.5
for several terms), bringing stability, § Many of the younger generations
harmony, and the carrying out of lack time for fraternal activities, such
long-term programs. as lodges.6
§ The influx of many young people § Travel time between home and
hoping to find in Masonry their work has increased. Work itself is
values, because they are deluded taking increasing amounts of time,
by politics and religion; to get an including having to keep up with
opportunity to study Masonic ever changing technology.
history, symbolism, philosophy, § Failure to attract new members, and
ethics, laws, and traditions together exhaustion of the leaders.7
with like-minded people. § Reported by one jurisdiction: “This
§ Vibrant membership, supported was in part due to the ethnic makeup
by periodical get-togethers outside [of the local population], which
the lodge stated meetings, such as precluded membership among Roman
dinners, festivities, cultural and other Catholic men.”
events, where families participate § The passing away of the soldiers
and the brethren truly treat each returning from WWII, who joined
other like brothers. the fraternity in the thousands.
§ Our population is basically very
group-oriented. We like hanging out This last reason is the consolation
and socializing. Joining masonry is for many leaders in the fraternity — it is
one way of socializing unavoidable, they say — and therefore
nothing can be done about it; and little
In the declining jurisdictions, typically: or nothing is done. The Marquis of
Northampton, then Pro Grand Master,
§ Many new, younger members initially in an article based on an Address to the
show up at meetings and then no Cornerstone Society in June 2015, disproved
longer attend, because either they do this reason: “Our recent losses are often
not find what they were looking for, blamed on the fact that we consecrated 1,000
or are bored. Some feel their absence Lodges in the five years following the Second
won’t be notice or missed. World War to accommodate men returning
§ Reported in one jurisdiction: from active service and wanting to join a
Internal conflicts, “the struggles for fraternity. But that is not the whole story as
power on the part of new Masters, most of those brethren have long since passed
making them dictators, authoritarian, away and we have continued to shrink at the
omnipotent and all powerful, violators rate of between 2-3% every year.”8

35
 Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the World
Very pertinent to this Study, and
instructive, is an article written by M.W. Bro.
Dwight L. Smith, P.G.M. of the Grand Lodge
of Indiana in 1962, titled “Whither are we
travelling?” and reproduced by the Grand
Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon on
its Website in 1963.9 I strongly recommend
to any Mason, who is passionate about the
well-being and future of his lodge, to read
it attentively, and to bring it to the attention
of his brethren in his lodge, especially the
younger members, and to act upon it, for Bro.
Smith›s observations (1962) are not obsolete
— but even more actual and pressing today.
4. Which sectors of the population/
professions constitute the membership in
your area?
In the prospering regions membership
includes in great part university level
professionals, graduates, teachers, mid-
class white collar workers, civil servants,
policemen, soldiers, lawyers, some students,
and a few blue collars workers. In the declining
regions membership appears to include all
classes; but in most of these jurisdictions this
information is not tracked.
In my own jurisdiction, in an article titled “A
Personal Note to a Potential Candidate from
an Old Past Master”10 published in 2014, the
late M.W. Bro. Raymond S. J. Daniels, PGM,
qualified our new candidates as “serious-
minded, well-educated, well-read young men
… thoughtful and with superior intelligence.”
Bro. Daniels also stated that “Each year about
1300 candidates are initiated in Ontario.” It
is a shame they don’t stick around, in some
cases known to me leaving the Craft even
before receiving their Master Mason degree,
which is not difficult in this jurisdiction, and
possible with a small effort, often lasting as
little as 3 months, or three lodge meetings.
36
5. What is the average age now found among
the members? Has the age average changed
(up or down) as compared to the past?
In the prospering regions:
§ Central America: 25 to 30, as
compared to 15 years ago, when the
majority of members were over 40.
§ Southeast Asia: 40, and younger men
are now joining up.
§ Continental Europe (North and
Central): 60 - 65, trending down;
(South): 50, trending down to 40.
Where there is membership decline:
§ U.S.A. and Canada reported 65 to 70,
trending up.
§ Many jurisdictions, according to my
sources, do not track this information.
6. What is the average membership size of
your Lodges?
This varies from lodge to lodge and in all
regions. In the prospering regions, however,
the size of lodges is generally smaller (25
to 65 members); whereas in the declining
regions there are lodges with hundreds and
even 1,000 members in its urban centers, and
as low as 13 in rural areas. (See note 7, page
18, Lodge Jordan #148.)
While socio-demographic factors
may explain the existence of a lodge with
13 members, and foretell its demise either
by going dark or by amalgamation, both
contributing to the general decline of its
jurisdiction, lodges with several hundreds
of members are, in the words of M.W. Bro.
Dwight L. Smith, nothing more than “an
impersonal aggregation of strangers” (see note
9, page 35, point 4) contributing nothing to
the vitality and future of Masonry in their
jurisdiction
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society

7. What percentage of the membership is § New Brunswick: only once a month.

usually present at the lodge meetings? A few of its lodges hold social events,
but they are not monthly.
The contrast between the prospering and § In all other jurisdiction reported [the
the declining jurisdictions is striking: majority], members meet only once
a month, and no social activities
§ In the prospering regions 50 - 60% have been reported.
of members regularly attend lodge.
§ In all the declining regions 5 to 9. Do your lodges meet in the summer
10% is the norm, with Pennsylvania months?
faring a bit better (15 - 20%) and
New Brunswick 20%. With the exception of Cuba, Denmark,
and Germany, where lodges meet weekly
8. How often do members meet, in lodge and recess in the summer only for one or
or socially, each month? two weeks, and California and Philippines,
where there is no recess, some lodges (in
Not just the frequency of meetings appears some jurisdictions) do occasionally meet in
to be a definite factor in the prosperity or the summer once or twice. All other lodges
decline of Masonry in the jurisdictions in all other jurisdictions (all with declining
reported, but the quality (style and content) membership) do not meet in the summer
of meeting may explain such prosperity or months.
decline. For example:
10. With the exception of members who
In the prospering regions: cannot attend the meetings, due to illness
or distance, a) what remedies or sanctions
§ Cuba: lodges meet weekly, rarely are enforced against the defaulting
socially, due to economic constraints. members (e.g. complaint, summons
§ Germany: meetings are held usually to appear and to justify their absence,
once a week, plus 3 - 4 get-togethers expulsion or other …); b) how common
monthly, variously to discuss and are these cases?
plan the affairs of the lodge, to
present papers and discussion or to This question caught the special attention of
attend cultural events or concerts, most of the respondents. I deem it useful to
with the participation of seekers as the purpose of this Study to report verbatim
guests. the most telling answers:
§ Italy: Twice a month, usually
with presentation of papers and § California: No sanctions. They
discussion. are welcome back anytime — no
question asked.
In the declining regions: § Cuba: These cases are frequent, a lot
of brothers do not show up in lodge
§ California, Illinois and Pennsylvania: for long periods of time without
3 - 4 times monthly, variously for justification. They are then visited
practices, social or family dinners, and summoned to appear (in lodge)
fundraising. and explain the reasons for their

37
 Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the World
absence. Yet, many do not comply,
and they are terminated according
to law. Most never return.
§ Germany: One who does not
attend lodge for one year without
justification is morally reprimanded,
and could be expelled.
§ Illinois: None.
§ Italy: Expulsion after 6 consecutive
months of (unjustified) absence, or
misbehavior, or non-payment of
dues over 12 months in arrears.11 Not
very common. Brethren are urged to
demit.
§ New Brunswick: None.
§ Pennsylvania: a) Telephone calls,
letters; after a certain amount of
time, members are suspended for
non-payment of dues. According
to my “assistants” on this project,
Dan and Mike, each lodge has a
“hospitaller” who keeps in touch
with especially sick members and
gives a report to the lodge, and asks
the brothers if they know of anyone
who needs help. b) How common
are these cases? Very, especially
given the average age of members.
§ Victoria: Default, as in dues?
(The question could be clearer).
Automatic exclusion after 3 years
non-payment.
§ Philippines: A member must attend 3
meetings a year to avoid suspension.
This is very common but the lodges
usually do not implement this
suspension on the members. Almost
all lodges have sunshine committees
who visit and reach out to non-
attending members
11. Are the temple buildings generally the
property of a lodge, co-owned with other
lodges, or rented from others (commercial
enterprises)?
38
Lodge Building Ownership or Rental
varies in all regions. Temples are mostly
owned by a lodge and are rented out to other
lodges. Typical is the account reported by
Pennsylvania:
§ “All three: Many Pennsylvania
cities e.g. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh,
Reading have Masonic centers (co-
owned by several. Those that meet
in the Masonic Temple pay rent, as
the Grand Lodge owns the Temple).
Lodges in small towns rent from
commercial enterprises or have their
own lodge buildings (maybe with
more than one lodge meeting there
— who owns, who pays rent is up
to the lodge — to my knowledge).
Other Masonic bodies have their
own similar arrangements.”
Somewhat curious is the situation
in Havana, where the Masonic Temple is
(apparently) owned by the Gran Logia de
Cuba, but several floors of the building are
occupied by State Agencies, paying no rent
or any form of compensation.
12. Are the membership fees sufficient
to pay for the maintenance [upkeep] of
the Temple, or are some of the Temple
facilities rented to the public, to balance
income and expenses?
On this subject we have fallen far from our
former glory. For the purpose of this Study,
I reproduce here verbatim some of the most
salient answers:
§ California: No. A large fraction
of the income comes from trust
fund proceeds and the profit from
building rentals. The life membership
fund does not see even interest
withdrawals. The combination of
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society
building rental profits and trust fund
proceeds puts our lodge far above
the majority of lodges for income.
§ Cuba: [translated] “Although we
have increased the amount of
several fees, they are still insufficient
for making various repairs to the
Temples, since the prices for labor
and materials have increased a lot
and very quickly in recent times.
What a year ago would have cost 10
[Cuban] pesos now costs up to 50
times as much, and by consequence
we have to impose extra levies on
the brethren in order to solve some
of the problems. Some lodges have
been fortunate to be visited by
brethren from other jurisdictions,
who have made their donations in
USD, allowing them to repair their
temples and buy other necessary
equipment, fans, air conditioners,
refrigerators, etc. Moreover, our
personal finances are not very good,
and the collections of our sacos de
beneficencia [a bag or pouch passed
around the lodge at the closing of
every meeting to collect money for
charity] are quite poor. Generally
there are more expenses than
income, our treasuries are depleting
rather than growing, preventing us
from helping those brethren who are
going through hardship.”
§ Germany: Barely.
§ Illinois: Varies by location. My own
lodge’s holding company rents part
of the building to a public agency.
Some rent to non-Masonic fraternal
organizations. Since alcohol
generally cannot be served, rental
opportunities are limited.
§ Italy: They are sufficient. Fully paid
by membership fees.
39
§ New Brunswick: Generally speaking
lodge dues are far too low in this
jurisdiction. The Masonic Temple in
XXX has commercial properties on
the ground floor of the building.
§ Pennsylvania: Often not enough.
Many (including the Masonic
Temple in Philadelphia) rent to the
public.
§ Philippines: Membership fees
are not sufficient to maintain the
temple unless it is a residential type
bungalow building. Those in the
commercial areas usually have their
lodge room on the second floor
and rent out the ground floor for
commercial use.
Pertinent to this study by extension,
is the practice of one lodge and of one
temple in my jurisdiction. This lodge has
for many years assisted several Cuban
lodges bringing to them money, medicines,
office equipment for the use of these lodges,
and medical equipment for individuals,
the value of which would be immaterial
if donated to a charity in my jurisdiction,
but of incredibly great value to the Cuban
brethren. The temple, 10 years ago hosting
23 lodges, is now the home of only nine
lodges, all shareholders in the temple, one
of them having majority vote. These lodges
meet in it once a month for their regular
(stated) meetings, but meet elsewhere
(private homes, pubs, public libraries, other
temples) for their other meetings — because
the fee charged for extra meetings is for the
majority of these lodge unaffordable. So, this
temple remains unoccupied and dark for
two thirds of the time, with a very spacious
empty parking lot facing the street, bearing
witness to the present vitality and glory of
Freemasonry in this part of the world.
 Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the World

13. What is the average cost of admission
(Initiation), [13.1] and the annual fees
(proportionally to the average daily earning
from employment in your country)? [13.2]
Are there additional fees charged for each
degree?
These fees vary greatly from lodge to lodge, below either verbatim or translated, may be
but most significantly from region to region. useful for the purpose of this Study:
It appears the cost of belonging to the Craft
is a factor in the success or decline of lodges.
These fees are highest in the prospering
jurisdictions; lower and lowest in the
declining ones.
The samples illustrated below are
the highest and lowest reported as average
or range converted from the currency of
the Jurisdiction into Purchasing Power
Parity (PPP) expressed in USD12 divided by
364 (days), and expressed in days of work
needed to pay for the fee, based on median
individual income, in descending order.
14. What are the most common reasons
today in your Grand Jurisdiction that
entice a petitioner to join a Lodge?
Most lodges and Grand Lodges do not track
this information. Some of the opinions
expressed by my informants, which I report
§ To be a better man, in every respect.
The quest of spirituality, free from
dogmas, plays a significant role,
too, even not for the majority of
petitioners, good culture and interest
in our traditions.
§ Generally they are attracted to the
Craft because are related to a mason;
others do it because they see in us
persons of honor and respect; we
behave differently from the rest of
the population and we are always

Initiation Annual Fees Degree Fees

400 70 - 140
Philippines13 none
(21 days) (4 - 7 days)
500 - 800 500 250 - 270
Italy
(9 - 15 days) (9 days) (4 - 5 days)
150 - 200 300 - 600
Germany none
(2 - 3 days) (4 - 8 days)
100 180
Cuba yes, but not specified
(5 days) (9 days)
300 - 600 100
Pennsylvania none
(2.4 - 4.8 days) (0.8 day)
150 - 1000 50 - 150
Illinois none
(1.2 - 8 days) (0.4 - 1.2 days)
250
Australia not reported none
(1.5 days)
75 - 250 60 - 150
New Brunswick none
(0.5 - 1.7 days) (0.4 - 1.0 day)

40
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society
ready to offer our help and do charity
no matter whom we help; and to a
lesser extent, by simple vanity.
§ It appears to be reading about us on
the web and a search for meaning
in one’s life. Many already know
someone, such as a relative or friend,
who is a member. For the most
part this seems to be an unknown.
[I have discussed this with new
members that I have worked with as
an “intender” (trainer) and seldom
received a good answer.] Probably
many expect some sort of financial
or social status gain.
§ The Fraternity’s good repute, and
because of our charitable programs:
children, youth, veterans… High
opinion of the order.
§ The main reason of joining
masonry now in my jurisdiction
is camaraderie and networking. I
believe very few now join because
they want to explore and learn
the mystery of the fraternity. But
once they become a member, most
brethren become interested and
started learning and exploring. This
is why most of our brethren are very In the declining Jurisdictions:
proficient in the degree works and
are active in the lodges.
15. Must the Petitioner be known to one
or more members of the Lodge?
Generally yes, but some of the answers
[reproduced here verbatim] are revealing:
In the prospering Jurisdictions:
§ Yes. A Brother must sign his petition,
too, vouching for him. But it is not
indispensable, though preferred.
If unknown, the time required for
acceptance is longer. See note 3)
41
below.
§ The Petitioner is introduced to the
lodge by two Master Masons who are
members. Must supply 6 photos neck
tie and jacket, and a certification that
he has no criminal record.
§ An applicant need not be known,
but is checked [examined] at length
through discussions during several
preceding attendances to “Guest
Evenings”, so to become known to
the members.
§ Yes but we also entertain walk-ins.
Even if the petitioner is known to
a member, it takes at least 1 year
(average is 2 years) before a lodge
accepts and processes his application
form. This is not a Grand Lodge rule
but rather a tradition among lodges.
The reason is to know the person and
see how determined a knocker (as
we call them) is in joining masonry.
He is expected to be in the temple in
every stated meeting as well as join
us in the fellowship. On the average
it takes about 2 years to become a
MM.
§ No at all.
§ In theory, yes. In practice if you pull
out a petition pens start pointing at
you immediately.
§ No. They can be proposed by GL
via dispensation. It is becoming
common. It’s helping us build
membership. They are still
interviewed and some declined.
§ In theory he must be known to
three Masons including at least one
from the lodge that he petitions for
membership. However he can come
to a few before meeting dinners and
get acquainted before submitting a
 Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the World
petition. (Our online petition form
still says three from the lodge that he
is petitioning.)
§ Yes. Ideally, one must ask a member
to become a member. The potential
Candidate should be known at least
to someone in lodge for about a
year. However, “walk-ins” are given
a petition to sign on the spot, and
two Brethren are asked to sign the
petition as “Sponsors” even if they
do not know the Applicant.
16. What investigations about the
Applicant for membership are conducted
by the lodge after receiving an application
for membership — how thorough are
these investigations?
This varies in thoroughness and length
from lodge to lodge, and from Jurisdiction
to Jurisdiction. Here are some of the most
telling answers:
In the prospering Jurisdictions:
§ Usually, three Brethren have a chat
with him, trying to understand the
true reasons of his request. Then
an investigation follows in the
workplace, and an investigation on
family behavior. Then … [See note
3).]
§ Before the application of a seeker
is considered, several interviews
take place in order to ascertain the
Applicant is “a free man” [he has
the freedom of his time, and is able
to regularly participate in the works
of the lodge], that he is of good
reputation. “Regular Income” is an
important factor.
§ The W. Master appoints two Master
Masons who are responsible for
investigating the Applicant in his
42
place of residence and in the place
where he works, to see if it really meets
the requirements for admission into
the Order, the investigations are
aimed primarily to ascertain he is a
good son, a good husband, a good
brother, of good manners, of good
prestige among the other citizens,
in short everything related to moral
qualities and ethical principles.
§ The investigating committee will
visit the petitioner in his home and
get the approval of his immediate
family. Police and court clearances
are required.
In the declining Jurisdictions:
§ A cursory investigation takes place.
§ They are interviewed in person or by
telephone.
§ In theory three members of a
committee are to interview the
petitioner at his home. If he is
married, his wife should be present.
Frequently he is just asked a few
questions over dinner before lodge.
The investigations are not very
thorough in most lodges of which I
am familiar. This is in contrast to the
local Prince Hall lodges, which have
very thorough investigations.
§ The big problem with these
investigation is that sometimes are
not carried out thoroughly, and
Applicants, who do not meet the real
requirements, are accepted due to
the negligence of the investigating
Brethren.
§ A committee of three goes to
the house of the Applicant and,
preferably in the presence of the
spouse, explains what the Fraternity
is, and what commitment is expected
in time and money on the part of
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society
its members, and tells them what
they might expect as (intangible!)
benefits. Nowadays, the fraternity
does a criminal background check
on the Applicant.
17. Are Applicants ever rejected — What
are usually the reasons for rejection?
Here are some of the answers:
In the prospering Jurisdictions:
§ Yes, when from the reports of the
investigating Brethren the Applicant
is found to have “problems” in his
neighborhood or workplace; or
is known by a brother for being a
liar, or an immoral man, with bad
behavior at home, to be not good
with his parents, beats his wife, for
neglecting his children, living apart
from them, etc.
§ No, it is not. Some 10% are rejected
due to bad information from the
Brethren, for not believing in GADU
(Great Architect of the Universe) …,
a petitioner is rejected if he appears
to be neither a free man [financially,
and master of his time] nor of good
report.
§ Unstable home life, disapproval
by the man’s spouse; of course he’s
rejected if the background check
isn’t good or they sense that he wants
to come in for all the wrong reasons.
§ Yes. Applicant with criminal records
are always rejected.
In the declining Jurisdictions:
§ Rejection of an applicant is a very
rare occurrence in this jurisdiction.
§ It is unusual to reject a candidate.
§ I have only heard of one recent
43
rejection for new membership
and one for affiliation throughout
my jurisdiction. The one for new
membership was because the
petitioner was looking for a weird
esoteric experience. I am not 100%
sure why the one for affiliation was
rejected, but suppose it is because he
is openly gay. Since these rejections
are not generally discussed, there
could be more.
§ GL does not keep statistics on how
many are rejected.
18. How does an Apprentice qualify for
the next level; and the Fellow-craft for
the Master’s degree? How long does it
take for these qualification as a rule?
Here are some of the most telling answers:
In the prospering Jurisdictions:
§ It depends on the lodge. Some
lodges require his regular attendance
as well. The elapse of time between
each degree is one year, but in some
lodges is longer. The behavior of the
Apprentice and Fellow in the Lodge
and outside the Lodge is a factor. For
the Fellow Craft also the quality of
the papers he presents in the Lodge
is also a factor. Typically it takes 3
years from Apprentice to Fellow, 1
to 2 from Fellow to Master. [See also
note 3), point 4)]
§ The qualification for the next level
is an internal matter of each lodge,
usually one year.
§ There is a statutory time [attendance
to 20 meetings of the lodge or a
minimum of six months] before an
Apprentice can be advanced to the
next level; a Fellow may be raised to
the sublime degree of Master Mason
 Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the World
after a year, in addition of having
shown a dignified conduct and
having performed fraternal work,
visiting sister Lodges, brethren in
sickness or distress. For each degree,
before advancement, he is examined
in his ability in the rituals, steps
and signs, grips, and knowledge of
Masonic law. These examinations
are rigorous, but never intended
to disrespect the Brother, and he is
even helped when he is uncertain.
§ A candidate must be proficient in
the exams before going to the next
degree. At least 1 month before he is
allowed to take the next degree.
In the declining Jurisdictions:
§ In this jurisdiction there is a
proficiency requirement consisting
of an examination and, in some
lodges, reciting the obligation is also
required. All of our lodges, with the
exception of one (my lodge, XXX
No. X,) employ the 3x3 rule, three
degrees in three months. In my
lodge there is a minimum of three
months between degrees.
§ There is a memorized proficiency
of a few lines to be delivered in
tiled lodge between EA and FC,
between FC and MM. Often this is
down [memorized] before the next
meeting.
§ Proficiency exams for each degree,
before going on to the next. How
long does it take for this qualification
as a rule? About a month each time,
sometimes longer.
§ There must be a wait of either one
meeting or one month. In theory he
must learn some basic information
on Freemasonry and pass a test
on some portions of the ritual and
44
the means of recognition. The
“Intender” or person conducting
the training can certify to this
knowledge, but there probably is at
least a short form examination in
open lodge to placate older brethren
who went through a more rigid long
ritual examination years ago. I have
taught candidates what they need to
know within a month.
§ EA to FC, not less than 12 weeks. EA
to MM, not less than 52 weeks. They
must undertake education courses
as an EA before advancing to each
degree.
19. Is a Candidate required to present
in lodge one or more Papers (Lectures,
Essays) to qualify for the next level?
In the prospering Jurisdictions, typically:
§ Yes, three for each degree, out of a
list of 15 subjects.
§ Yes, most lodges ask for the
presentation of one or more papers.
§ The candidate must basically have
presented or have performed [ritual]
work, essays, toasts, lectures etc.
In the declining Jurisdictions none
is required, with the exception of one lodge
reporting:
§ “There is only one lodge in
this jurisdiction that has that
requirement and that is my lodge.”
20. Are apprentices permitted to speak in
Lodge?
Common in the prospering Jurisdictions:
§ Not at all! Unless so required by the
W. M.
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society

§ In earlier times Apprentices were § Roman Catholics have been excluded

forbidden to speak; today they may until recent times.
speak only when asked by the W.M. § Unitarian-Universalists are not
§ Apprentices are not allowed to speak admitted.
in Lodge, but they have the right § Only Protestant Christians are
and duty to vote. They can make admitted.
requests and petitions through the
Junior Warden, who is the one who 23. Is the belief that the Scriptures (of any
represents and teaches them. religion) constitute the will of God — a
§ No. We open on the 3rd degree. EA.s determining factor for the approval of an
and Fellowcrafts are not allowed applicant?
in the lodge meeting but they are
required to be in the temple while Here also, with the exception of two
we are meeting. jurisdictions, the answer to this question is
uniformly: No
In the declining Jurisdictions the answers
are typically: 24. Universality and Tolerance. — As
an Example, would a just, righteous and
§ Yes, but cannot vote. reputable North American Indian (true
§ Yes, and also can vote. believer in its traditional spirituality)
be admitted in a lodge of your Grand
21. Is the belief in a “Creator” an Jurisdiction? — such an Indian having
indispensable condition for the admission no Bible or equivalent Holy Scriptures,
of an applicant? but his spirituality and his faithfulness is
represented by the Eagle Feather, holding
The answer to this question is uniform in all which he swears and feels bound by it. You
jurisdictions: Yes. Noteworthy is, however, will find the reasons for this strange question
that given by one of the most prosperous here: The Eagle Feather
jurisdiction:
This question caught by surprise all the
§ No. The sense of transcendence is respondents, especially those in regions
sufficient. where such an occurrence has never taken
place, or will likely occur. Their answers,
22. Are any believers of other (not however, are revealing the degree of
mainstream) faiths excluded from Tolerance and the understanding of the
membership? term “Universality” that is perceived in their
Jurisdictions and in their lodges. I report
Again, with very few exceptions, all here some of the most interesting answers,
jurisdictions appear to be very liberal in which, understandably, are opinions
respect of faith, as long there is a belief and not facts, except for my own Grand
in some kind of a “Supreme Being” in Lodge (one of those in decline), where the
whatever form the petitioner intends it. question arose not too long ago, and was
These exceptions (all within the declining ruled negatively. Here are those answers,
jurisdictions) are: reproduced verbatim:

45
 Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the World
In the prospering Jurisdictions:
§ Yes, there is nothing in the const.
prohibiting such an initiation. I
would support such an applicant.
§ Yes, absolutely.
§ Yes. The Great Spirit is most
acceptable! — I don’t know, but I
would be delightfully surprised if the
Grand Lodge of XXX permitted the
Eagle Feather (Wow! I didn’t know of
this deeper significance of the Eagle
Feather!). The next time I see XXX,
I may ask one of the Grand Line,
who would understand and take the
question seriously. I fear that those
ahead of him in the Line would say
“Huh?!” or “Nah!” or at least look at
me as if I had two heads …
§ Yes, that American Indian, if he were
to decide to reside permanently in our
country, had met all our mandates,
and meets the requirements of our
laws and ancient limits, if he were
a free and decent man, good son,
good father, good husband, of good
repute, of high moral and believe in
the existence of a supreme being,
even if he had no Bible, and were
to revere the feathers of birds, as we
revere our Bible, we would accept
him as a brother and initiate him as
a Mason. [Translated.]
In the declining Jurisdictions:
§ Good question. Not sure what
the response would be in this
jurisdiction.
§ If he wants to bring his own VSL it
would have to be a book. The book
would have to be approved by vote of
the lodge members at the initiation.
The GL publishes a list of pre-
approved VSLs of numerous well
46
known faiths. Some lodge members
might prefer the book be vetted by
members of Lodge of Research. I
know that a book on Scientology
has been declined by local vote at
one point. Putting a feather into the
book would not be an issue.
§ The American Indians that I have
known probably all took their
obligations on a King James Bible.
It might depend on the Grand
Master at the time. [I think that the
XXX Grand Lodge in a search for
members might be liberal on this
point, but we many members who
would strongly object.]
§ In our Jurisdiction is the Bible and
nothing but the Bible, no feather,
no “white book” or anything else.
[Translated]
§ We don’t have an experience on
this as most of our members are
Christian and Muslim. I believe
he can be admitted as long as he is
willing to take the obligation upon
the VSL.14
25. Besides the Bible, what other holy
writings are permitted to be displayed
on the altar of the Lodges in your Grand
Jurisdiction?
Here are some typical answers:
§ The Bible and nothing else.
§ Normally none.
§ So far we only have Koran but the
Bible must also be open.
§ ALTERNATE HOLY WRITINGS -
When an alternate Holy Writings is
used during a degree, a closed Holy
Bible of any size must be on the altar.
§ The Koran and the Tanach are
available from our Grand Lodge, but
may be obtained elsewhere. A Ghita
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society
was used for a Hindu in my lodge.
Except for conferral of degrees, there
is usually only a King James Bible on
the altar.
§ They are not regulated.
§ Only the Holy Bible, but the
petitioner may ask to take his Oath
and Obligation on a Koran, Torah,
Vedas … a Volume of the Sacred Law.
It is put on the altar for the duration
of the degree only. See above about
whether that could be stretched to
include the Eagle Feather.
§ Besides the VOSL of the Jewish faith
I am not sure that any other VOSLs
are in use at the current time. We did
have a Muslim member in my lodge
but he has moved west. During his
time in lodge the Koran was opened
on the altar.15
26. Except for the conferral of degrees
(Rituals), what other activities are usually
undertaken by the lodge?
Here are verbatim some of the most telling
answers:
In the prospering Jurisdictions:
§ Discussion on lectures delivered
by Brethren regarding a big variety
of subjects, except those regarding
Politics and Religion. All the Brothers
(except Apprentices) are encouraged
to comment on the presentation.
§ Monthly: lodge of instruction,
officers planning meetings,
theatre nights (concerts and
plays), Christmas festivities, guest
evenings, lectures open to profane In the declining Jurisdictions:
guests, open-ended evenings
among brethren, presentation and
discussion of books, picnics, etc. etc. § Some of our lodges have been making
§ [Translated] - In our lodges only
we gather once a week to address
administrative lodge matters,
to confer degrees and practice
rituals, but we usually conduct
conversations on important issues
of historical, philosophical, and
educational nature. Outside the
lodge meetings we hold conferences
on issues of significant importance,
both Masonic and professional,
and of ethical and cultural
interest involving our families and
friends; we organize tours, parties,
construction work to help brothers
who are building their homes and
have limited financial resources to
pay for labor. All our work is aimed
to the progress of humanity and
to the progress of the community
in general: we visit terminally ill
children in hospitals and bring them
toys, magicians, clowns to brighten
a bit their short life; in case of
necessity, we do all we can to provide
to them drugs or anything else they
need; we also do other work of much
more human value, as we do with
our elderly at the National Masonic
Home, we visit them, we share with
them cultural moments, we give
them birthday parties, we work on
the repairing and upkeep of their
premises to make their stay more
pleasant and feel happy and cared
for in the last years of their lives, to
the extent of our limited possibilities,
we make donations to help support
their main needs, toiletries, food,
medicines etc.
§ Not much.
an effort to include some form of
47
 Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the World
Masonic education as part of their
programming. In the case of my lodge
and one other we hold a number of
Agapes each year.
§ Talks, socials, fundraising.
§ Business meeting, program (which
may be done by outside speakers.)
Sometimes lodges schedule special
visits to the Masonic Temple in
XXX, the Masonic Villages, or have
“outings”: golf, district- or even state-
wide events.
§ Social events. Charity fund raisers.
District meetings don’t always teach
ritual. Regional conferences generally
don’t include rituals.
§ I can only give mine as an example.
Business meetings, dinners before
meetings, frequent dinner events
at restaurants with wives and other
guests, ladies nights at the lodge,
monthly Saturday breakfast, Past
Masters recognition, Awards Night
with financial grants given to students.
Open Installation, Picnic, and Pizza
Party for Children at Masonic home.
Some other lodges have Masonic In the declining Jurisdictions:
education nights, dinners for active
military personnel, local charity
events.
27. What public activities for the benefit
of the community do the lodges carry on?
I include here verbatim some of the typical
answers.
In the prospering Jurisdictions:
§ Conventions open to the public. We
do charity work both at the central
level (Grand Lodge) and at the
local level, based on the economic
capabilities of the lodges and of the
regional district. We help individuals,
48
and also we have institutions for
helping homeless and poor people.
§ Donations for charitable purposes,
participation in GL charities, lately
fundraising and involvement with
refugee resettlement.
§ Almost all lodges do charity work
in their community once a year.
Examples are dental or medical
mission, visit to orphanage and
hospital, food distribution etc.
§ [Translated] For the past few years we
have been able to make known our
Masonic work outside our temples;
infrequently and in a simple way we
have appeared in television spots,
where it is spoken of our charitable
work; some books have been
published on the subject of Masonic
work, and some of our events have
been mentioned in the press; at
least we have been recognized as
an institution, allowing us certain
freedoms that years ago were not
permitted.
§ [Generally] None.
§ Some volunteer events like painting
a school. Blood drives at the district
level.
§ Various local charitable activity,
holiday meal for service members,
and ID program for children, facility
for civic functions.
§ Charitable work in their
neighborhoods; e.g. breakfasts
(to benefit the lodge or a charity)
building playgrounds, maybe
something like a wheelchair ramp
for a family.
§ The primary activity in this
Jurisdiction are fund raising efforts
for Camp Goodtime, a yearly
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society

weeklong camp for children afflicted § The perception of FM in this country

with Cancer that is put on by the is rather low. [Translated]
XXX Cancer Society. This camp is
fully funded by the Masons of XXX In the declining Jurisdictions:
through our charitable arm the XXX
Masonic Charities and Housing. § Very high in XXX [U.S.A.]
§ Food banks, charitable donations; § Everything from the brother of
scholarships; sub for Santa. Satanism/Anti-Christ to great
respect. Most are neutral.
28. What is the perception of § It seems to be little known in the
Freemasonry by the general public overall Caucasian community in the
in your area? (City, State, Province or XXX area but is highly respected in
Country.) the Afro-American community. It
is probably respected in the smaller
Again, a few samples, verbatim. communities in the rest of the state.
§ Not sure that the general public is
In the prospering Jurisdictions: all that aware of Freemasonry in
this Area and further to that not all
§ Masons are morally upright people. that sure that they want to be. The
§ [Translated] Over the years, since general public really does not care as
the first Lodges were founded in our to whether we exist or not.
country, the profanes have always § Many people have never heard of
seen Freemasonry as a prestigious Freemasonry.16
institution within our society, we
are very loved and respected by all 29. Does the assertion: “Masonry is not
the people who see in us men of only the most ancient, but the most moral
high culture, excellent manners, human institution that ever existed”
of exemplary behavior both in the sounds true to your members?
family and in the community where
we live, in the workplace we are 30. Does this assertion sound true to the
example of thoughtfulness, with general (profane) public in your area?
a great sense of belonging, so that
the opinion of the profane world The text in the previous two questions is
towards Freemasonry has always quoted from the ritual of the first degree
been one of the best compared with practiced in the lodges under the Grand
other Institutions and Fraternities. Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario.
§ Bad. Here, the Catholic Church, It appears, with three exceptions, none of the
the Fascism and then the respondents in all other regions are familiar
Communist Parties have demonized with this assertion, and therefore the few
Freemasonry as a secret society answers received are omitted here.
with unclear targets. But the Grand
Lodge is actively pursuing the target
to change this sentiment through
transparency, good beaviour and
public activities.

49
 Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the World
31. Is any activity of the lodge made
public in the media?
The answers to this question were
unexpected.
In the prospering Jurisdictions the answer is
typically:
§ No, rarely, or:
§ Very seldom but we usually have
banners when doing these activities.
§ The activities of the lodges are made
public, but not all the activities are
identified.
Some typical answers in the declining
Jurisdictions:
§ Our charity fund raising events are
listed in the local newspaper. Rental
events at our building are often listed
[advertised?] in the local building.
§ Yes, in the smaller communities
where it is considered newsworthy.
It is not of interest to the major city
papers.
§ Yes, open days, open socials, open
installations.
§ Yes, especially in local newspapers or
online. Such activities might include
participation in (patriotic) parades,
Masonic awards, open installations
of Grand and Blue Lodge officers.
§ On a very limited basis the answer
is yes. Certainly the amount of press
that Freemasonry receives is greatly
diminished from what it was years
ago.
32. Do lodges advertise in their Website or
in the media, to entice new candidates to
join the lodge? (To join Freemasonry.)
50
Generally in all regions this is limited to the
“2B1ASK1” or similar tags, and /or links
to “How can I join?” posted on almost all
Lodges and Grand Lodge Websites. The
following are a few exceptions:
In the prospering Jurisdictions:
§ No. We don’t entice new candidates.
§ Advertisement for new members is
definitely not done.
§ Lodges usually do not do any
advertisement in order to attract new
recruits, they come on their own free
will or attracted by the actions of its
members or by what they know of
the Order.
In the declining Jurisdictions:
§ Yes.
§ Our GL has a published PR program
with camera ready artwork. No lodge
I know of has ever used the material.
§ Yes, but not all lodges. Our Grand
Lodge does and my own lodge does.
[I am the webmaster for my lodge
and post information of our public
activity on the site. There is a link to
send a message to the secretary for
more information.]
§ Our Grand Lodge web site has a
section on how to join as do the
Websites of the few lodges that
utilize this technology. There are
frequent inquiries to our webmaster
from individuals who are interested
in joining. Our webmaster forwards
those inquiries to a lodge closest to
the individual who has made the
inquiry.
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society
33. After a Brother has completed his term
as Master of the Lodge, does he keep his
W. Bro. title, or is addressed simply as
Brother?
Here is quite remarkable the contrast of what
is practiced in different regions.
In the prospering Jurisdictions, with one
exception, at the end of his term the retired
Master is addressed simply as Brother. In
some of these jurisdictions his name may be
followed by the suffix: P.M. or Past Master.
One respondent aptly answered: “In our
Jurisdiction, after he has been Worshipful
Master, no one is Worshipful anything.” The
exception:
§ He keeps his title. A common custom
among the lodges is to appoint the
immediate Past Master as Tyler. This
is for him to practice humility after
being a WM. We do not have the role
of the IPM in our lodges.
In the declining Jurisdictions the rank
is retained at both the lodge and Grand In the declining Jurisdictions:
Lodge level and the Brother is addressed
as Worshipful, Very Worshipful, Right
Worshipful, Most Worshipful, as the case
may be, for life.17
34. How common is the resignation
(Demit, Renunciation, Withdrawal from the
Order) of a brother? — What are usually
the reasons for resigning?
Again, very telling is what has been reported.
A few replies are included here for your
consideration.
In the prospering Jurisdictions:
§ Resignations or departures § It depends, but very few formally
approximately 3%, due to
expectations that did not materialize.
§ It is uncommon (2 to 3%). A Brother
resigns if he did not find what he
had sought. Some people look for
political aid, some others for occult
mental powers, others hope to
facilitate their business.
§ It is not very common. Usually
the root cause is due to lack of
communication between the Master
and his Officers with the dissatisfied
Brother. In recent times, Masters of
lodges are young, inexperienced,
and begin to want to impose their
will or the will of a small group that
put them in power, and this results in
divisions and disagreements in the
lodge, and then to disengagement
and resignation of members.
Masters usually do not resign, they
make such mistakes resulting in
Masonic charges brought against
them, are prosecuted and they are
mostly expelled from the fraternity
[Translated].
§ Never happen. They just don’t pay
their dues.
§ Very few actually resign. They
usually just stop paying dues and get
suspended. I can only guess, but it
appears that most just did not find
whatever they were looking for or
did not have the time to be active.
Some, maybe many, were curious
as to what Freemasonry was and
only experienced what appeared
to be some strange ritual. Others
join hoping for some financial
benefit, such as business contacts or
promotions at work.
resign. What are generally the
51
 Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the World

reasons for this? They are usually through by an experienced brother

suspended for non-payment of dues.
Lodges will remit dues for financially
strapped members, but some are too
proud to ask … Some drift away also,
because of lack of interest …
§ By resignation I assume that
you are referring to taking a
demit. In this jurisdiction we are
seeing approximately 2.5% of our
membership requesting and taking
a demit each year. There has been
a significant increase in the yearly
number of demits since 2007. Not
sure why.
who gives him some idea what to
expect and sticks with him for a
year or two after being raised. This
supposed to start as soon as his
petition is accepted and he is visited
by a member of the investigation
committee. [I can supply more
information regarding this.]
[From the author: On this subject, please see
note 3), point 4.]
What can be learned from this
information?

I
[From the author: See M.W.Broght L. Smith’s have spent six months soliciting,
“The Level of Leadership” in his paper titled collecting, sifting through and
Whither are we travelling, page 36, published categorizing an enormous volume of
in 1962.] information, including studies and surveys
conducted by various Masonic bodies in
35. Is there any other information about the past. I am of limited education, and
the present practice of Masonry in your by no stretch of the imagination can I be
Grand Jurisdiction that would render this viewed as a professional researcher. No one
study more complete and useful? is paying me for this work, and the product
of my work cannot be purchased: it is free
Two samples may be useful here, both from to anyone who wants to read it. Therefore,
the declining Jurisdictions: I leave it up to the reader to decide whether
in what I have reported there are lessons or
§ I could go on for hours and hours information useful to his lodge, and/or to
on this subject. Certainly it is far too use them as he wishes.
long to type out and I am not sure
that I would want it recorded for My conclusions

M
posterity anyway. Freemasonry in
this jurisdiction is in a great deal of embership. The most important
trouble and over the next five years is factor (but not exclusive)
going to be greatly diminished from determining the prosperity or
what it is now with far fewer lodges. decline of membership and attendance
§ The Grand Lodge of Ancient Free in lodges is the time men have available
and Accepted Masons of the State of for fraternal associations. The second
XXX has been promoting something most important factor is the quality of
known as the Intender Program that our activities and practices which, if rich
is not always accepted by lodges in content and exclusive to our Art, that
and their Masters. If this program is to say, not found in other associations,
is followed, a new brother is guided will induce those men to join a lodge,

52
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society
and those who have joined, to attend as
many of its meetings as their time makes
possible. I will deal with the factor of
quality shortly. Now let us look at time.
As found in the Phase I Research,
Masonic Renewal Task Force, conducted by
the Masonic Service Association of the U.S.
in 1988, page 13, the free time the majority
of prospective members in the age group
under 40 to 54 have available for a fraternal
association is limited to 5 hours monthly
(their spouses set this limit even lower:
3 hours). This holds true generally for all
regions, and, from 1988 to the present,
this situation has certainly not gotten any
better, but worsened, as the demands on
the time of these young men, especially of
the “thinking” kind we (Masonry) need to
attract in order to replace in our lodges the
older members who naturally pass to the
Grand Lodge Above, demands imposed by
their profession, commuting to and from
work, and family have steadily increased.
I know from experience, however, and
anyone reading these pages can confirm
that, if there is anything one desires really
badly to have or do, he will find the time
to get or do it — especially if this young
man is good and upright, and is looking
for a social, intellectual and cultural society
where he can “be made better” and no other
association is like it.
Free by Birth, in most Jurisdictions
a requirement for being admitted into
Masonry, can probably be claimed by
the majority of people in the world; but
freedom to dispose at will of one’s own
time is generally a rarity in all regions. We
ought, therefore, to cultivate and make our
Masonry as close as possible to the model
offered by the lodges in the prospering
Jurisdictions (questions 3, 7, 8, 14, 16, 18,
19, 26, 27, openness, tolerance, etc.) so to
make of our institution that Thing that will
entice those young men to want to have and
53
to join, even at a substantial cost, and at the
expense of their precious little time of rest.
Quality of Activities and Practices.
What can or should we offer to the
prospective or newly admitted members,
in order for them to feel their limited spare
time is well spent with us in our lodges, and
so satisfying and rewarding that they will
look forward to our next meeting and do all
they can not to miss it?
The comments made by M.W. Bro.
Dwight L. Smith in 1962, at page 34, FAULTY
DIAGNOSIS, points (a) and (b), have been
ignored all this time. Even now the portrayal
of Freemasonry published on our lodges
and Grand Lodges Websites paint a glorious
past and an ambitious promise, that fall far
short in the actuality and irrelevant works
of lodges in the declining regions. The
boring Reading of Minutes, debates over
puny expenses; day-in and day-out repeated
and rushed incomprehensible rituals with
no further explanation or study regarding
history, symbolism, philosophy, ethics, law,
or tradition of them; pompous enunciation
of titles within and outside the lodge flying
in the face of our most cherished principle
— Equality; the giving of Grand Honors
(as they are known in my Jurisdiction);
childish games (masonic football, masonic
family feud-type games and similar
exercises) promoted by District Deputies
Grand Masters who have exhausted or
never had any sense of true Masonic work,
which would prove wrong our ancient Bro.
Fichte in his denial of childish play. Protocol
and Etiquette publications and workshops,
advertised by those DDGMs and my Grand
Lodge as “daily advancement” in Masonic
Knowledge, (certainly necessary for the
harmonious unfolding of our works in
lodge and at the banquet hour, but by no
means the Alpha and Omega of Masonic
Knowledge) will not entice today’s better-
educated young men — to cut down their
 Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the World
limited time for rest in joining — or the
existing non-attending members to return
to lodge. Soon they go dormant, never to
be seen again in lodge, and demit or are
suspended for non-payment of dues.
Desperate and ignorant of the
practices that had made our Institution
great, as a lodge or district we follow our
leaders in the occasional emulation of
other institutions dedicated to a single
specific purpose, in which they are good
at it; worthy causes, indeed, but to which
a Mason would and can contribute
personally and according to his taste,
without going to lodge; whereas, as a lodge
or district, such endeavors result puny and
inconsequential. (See on this Bro. Daniel
Gardiner, The Montana Freemason, August
2015, page 13, “Throwing Money At It.”
If we want to attract and retain these
better-educated young men, the practices
and activities of the prospering lodges
(questions 2, 3, 8, 10, 14, 16, 18, 19, 26, 27,
33) should become the model to all lodges
now caught in the terminal spiral of decline.
Fees and Dues. More than 50 years
ago here too Bro. Dwight Smith sounded the
alarm, at page 35, paragraph 3, and page 38 et
seq., in his “Pearl of Great Price”: Masonry
ought to be had at a significant cost in order
to be valuable and valued. Memberships
costing one of two hours of employment
earnings are cheap, and disposable. We
applauded him then, we paid lip service
to his words, and we kept our foolish
practices. According to the Masonic Service
Association of North America, Membership
Totals since 1924 has declined in his region
(U.S.A.) from 1962 to 2014 by 70% (from
4,063,563 to 1,211,183 members). It cannot
be claimed that cheap fees are the ONLY
cause of decline; but this is a factor common
in all the declining regions, in contrast with
the more expensive, prospering regions.
(See question 13.)
54
Frequency of Meetings. One meeting
a month for a fraternity practicing “brotherly
love, relief and truth” and claiming to be
engaged in “researching the hidden mysteries
of nature and science” in order to make a
“good man better” is absurd, insignificant and
like an afterthought, especially when nothing
of importance or uplifting ever occurs at its
meetings, which are readily forgotten and
easily replaced by the football game on TV.
Meeting once a month leads to the chronic
and pervasive absence from lodge, as the
answers to questions 7 and 8 indicate.
Lodge Size. (See question 6.) A
lodge with 700 or 1,000 members is not
conducive to close fraternal intercourse — a
13-member lodge is a bleak experience, and
ought to amalgamate with a more prosperous
lodge without delay. Compelled by financial
constraints we relaxed our standards for
admission and made it easier, cheaper and
faster to join. Here too pertinent, are the
words of Bro. Daniel Gardiner, in “Saving
Masonry”, page 12, point 1. and also those of
Bro. Dwight Smith, The Closed Corporation
at page 40.
Inactive Members. The contrast
between the attendance in the prospering
and that in the declining jurisdictions is
striking. (See questions 7.) The observations
of the authors I have quoted above are
sufficient explanation of this phenomenon.
What can we do about it? For a
start, let us follow the example in activities
and practices of the lodges in the prospering
jurisdictions, so to entice the existing able
members to resume their participation in the
lodge (see question 26.) We can then also pay
heed to Bro. Daniel Gardiner’s observations
in “The 10-20% Who Show Up”, page 15, —
to maintain constant contact with the absent
members by phone or letter, announcing
our “new and improved” programs, which
may draw them back to the lodge and
make them feel still part of the family. This
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society
constant contact should be maintained also
with the dues-paying brethren who are no
longer able to attend lodge, due to infirmity
or distance. We should also purge from
our ranks (see question 10) the defaulting
members, either for non-attendance or for
non-payment of dues, as they are useless to
the lodge, and do not portray a good image
of our Institution, and their example will
certainly not bring us new members. What
do we have to lose? The loss of income to
the lodge (annual dues) and to the District
and to Grand Lodge (capitations)? We, as
“the most ancient, and the most moral
human institution that ever existed” (as we
boast in the ritual of my Grand Jurisdiction)
should not even consider this question — it’s
immoral — like Esau selling his inheritance
for a bowl of lentils, or we our soul, for thirty
pieces of silver, or even less (see question 13).
Moreover, our Grand Lodges should
make readily accessible to their members,
and to the public as well, free of charge, all
the books, papers, and research material they
have in electronic form, (now often hidden
behind a member’s password). What do we
have to hide? Is our purpose and mandate
not the education and betterment of the
whole of mankind? And if our libraries are
a pitiful pretense of a Library, with only half
a dozen titles, let’s make our librarians and
webmasters earn their title, by collecting and
publishing on our Websites the hundreds of
free books and papers available on the net
from open sources and private members.
The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and
Yukon is an admirable example to follow.
Secrecy. Most of GL Websites and
some lodges advertise on their home page
the greatness of the institution and how
to join it; but the content of their website,
however rich or poor, or ridiculous in some
cases, of great value or little or no value to
the inquiring eyes of today’s young men and
prospective members — is hidden behind a
55
“Members Only” door. Is this a subterfuge
intended to trick the gullible into joining, in
the expectation of purchasing into something
arcane, powerful and wonderful, to which
only a member has entitlement? Is the
purpose of Masonry not — the betterment
of mankind, one good man at a time? So, let’s
give these good and upright young men all
the information we have, except the “secrets”
pertaining to the rituals, so their decision
to join is an educated one, and, having
joined with open eyes, they will not quit
disappointed after their initiation, or after
attending a few meetings. The discerning
young man, on the other hand, may see in
this “Members Only” feature a ruse, and
moves on, amused.
Secrecy, except for the secrets
pertaining to our initiatory rites, has been
throughout all of our history the source of
great troubles, persecutions, suspicions, and
lost opportunities: the conscious young man,
upright and of good repute, will shy away
from what is shaded and not upfront. Bro.
Karl Christian Friedrich Krause 200 years
ago, here and also here, spoke sensibly and
well about (against) our secrecy, once justified
when practiced by our operative forefathers
to protect their trade secrets, but completely
out of place, absurd and counterproductive
today in our enlightened, gentle Craft.
Irrelevance. (See question 28.)
In many regions our existence, principles
and purposes are now hardly known. (See
the Masonic Renewal Task Force, page
35; and the Kansas Masonic Foundation,
page 8, 9. The little we do publicly (in the
declining jurisdictions) is competing with
other organizations whose reason to be
is exclusively and totally their declared
mandate, which we try to copy in a very
small measure and with little effect. Let them
do their job, as they are good at it, and let us
do ours, after we become good at it again, as
we originally were.
 Study on the Present Conditions of Freemasonry in the World

What’s next then? “One, who in viewing the deficiency

T
in human relations, the perverseness, the
o the prospering lodges I express my corruption among men, drops his hands
gratitude for disclosing the “secrets” and complains of evil times, is no man. Just
of their success, and I encourage in this that you are capable of seeing men
them to get ever better in what they are as deficient, lies upon you a holy calling
doing. to make them better. If everything was
To the faltering lodges, I dare to already what it ought to be, there would
suggest to consider attentively what has be no need of you in the world and you
been reported above about the successful would as well have remained in the womb
lodges and to what and how they do it within of nothingness. Rejoice that all is not yet
the lodge room, and with their families as it ought to be, so that you may find work
and guests outside the tiled lodge. To also and can be useful toward something.”
consider what the Arts & Science Lodge No.
792 (Ohio) is attempting to do, and to follow
their example. Our ancient brethren joined
Freemasonry not to play games, or in the
pursuit of bombastic titles — but to extend
their researches into the hidden mysteries of
nature and science, as equals among equals,
brothers among brethren. Chances are,
this is what attracted to the fraternity the
better-educated young men of those times,
and very likely will attract to our lodges the
better-educated young men of our time.
Remember: a 1,000-member lodge is not a
fraternity, but an impersonal aggregation of
strangers. Also: we have nothing to hide, or
to be ashamed of — our mission is (should
be) to bring light to the world, — not to hide
our light under a bushel.
One last consideration: I hope the fruits of
this work, however imperfect, will prove
helpful and time-saving to any Grand
Secretary who may be faced by an inquisitive
young man asking the same 35 questions
posed here.
I express my sincere thanks to the
Brethren who have helped me in this Study.
Not perfunctorily I must also state: I could
not have done it without their help.
Finally, I close with the words of an
illustrious Brother, Johann Gottlieb Fichte,
printed two centuries ago in his Letters to
Constant, (last paragraph):

56
 Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society

Notes

1) Counted 467 Masonic Grand Jurisdictions in: Wikipedia

2) - Bessel statistics: International Masonic Statistics
- Masonic Service Association of North America: Membership Totals since 1924
- U.S. Grand Lodges Membership: 2013 - 2014
- Canadian Grand Lodges Membership: 2013 - 2014
- Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario (2014) Grand Secretary’s
Report, page 92 et seq.
- Grande Oriente d’Italia: Chi siamo (Who we are).
3) In this Jurisdiction the application for membership must also include the curriculum vitae of the
Applicant; certificate of residence; Police clearance certificate; a number of photos (this number
varies depending on the place of residence); all the information, including the photo and the
scheduled dates for the ballots (2 ballots are taken), is transmitted to the district and to GL; an office
in charge of these matter then distributes this information to all lodges in the Jurisdiction. Many
other steps follow, but for the purpose of this study, I put forward four most peculiar: 1) the first
ballot is taken in lodge at the date announced in the circulation of information mentioned above; the
second ballot is taken on the following regular meeting of the lodge. 2) Visitors can and must cast
their ballots on the Applicant. 3) In this Jurisdiction one is and can be a member of only one lodge.
4) The preparation (education) of a candidate is executed by weekly study sessions conducted by 3
M.M.s with the candidate, covering a large amount of material contained in books issued by the GL;
the Apprentice Manual is 195 pages long; the Craftsman’s 170 pages; the Master’s 270 pages.
4) Awareness: - Masonic Service Association MASONIC RENEWAL TASK FORCE REPORTS, page
35
- KANSAS MASONS RESEARCH PROJECT: Awareness of the Masonic Order, page 8.
5) Irrelevance: - Masonic Service Association MASONIC RENEWAL TASK FORCE REPORTS, page
14.
6) Lack of time: - Masonic Service Association MASONIC RENEWAL TASK FORCE REPORTS,
page 13, 17, 18, 55.
7) Exhaustion: - Montana Freemason, August 2015 This is the program that will save Masonry! by
Daniel Gardiner.
8) Pro Grand Master Northampton: Whither directing our course? - fourth paragraph.
9) M.W. Bro. Dwight L. Smith, P.G.M.: Whither are we travelling? - page 34.
10) M.W. Bro. Raymond S. J. Daniels, P.G.M.: A Personal Note to a Potential Candidate
11) Grande Oriente d’ Italia, Constitution: Art. 12 - page 3.
12) OECD statistics: List of countries by average wage.
13) Philippines - Average admission fee is 20,000 pesos, equivalent to $600cad. Annual dues is about
$100-200 cad. No additional fee for each degree but the candidate usually provides at his expenses
food and drinks for the fellowship hour, after receiving a degree, especially after the 3rd degree.
14) Tolerance “… as long as he is willing to take the obligation upon the VSL.” Every fair-minded and
tolerant Mason should read what Bro. Karl Christian Friedrich Krause wrote in 1820 in his book
“Die drei ältesten Kunsturkunden der Freimaurerbrüderschaft”, note 141: “No one can demand of
a non-Christian to answer this 144th question as it is canonically and inalterably [according to rule
and inalterable] answered here, for he should then lie and feign.” (Read that 144th question here)
15) Only one (out of 21,079) lodges has reported having on the altar at all times the Bible, Tanach, and
Koran, and, on one occasion, also the Eagle Feather. Another lodge reported that at the Initiation,
Passing, and Raising of one of its members the Eagle Feather was displayed at the altar, together with
the Bible.
16) “Many people have never heard of Freemasonry.” See the Masonic Renewal TaskForce Reports -
page 35.
17) Spiritualization of the term “Equality” and of the name “Brother.”

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