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The Black Alexandre Dumas

The famous 19^th century French novelist Alexandre Dumas senior, one day argued in these terms with an insolent man who had insulted him for his looks:

Sir,

My father was a mulatto, my grandfather was a negro,

and my great grandfather was a monkey. 

So you see, Sir,

My family starts where yours ends!

Alexander Dumas senior was the author of “The Count of MonteCristo”, “The Three Musketeers”, “The Man in the Iron Mask” and many other brilliant historical novels. The most extensively read French writers in the world was also a mulatto [1]. This essay, however, concerns another Dumas [2]; it is about the life of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, whose life is rarely told in books.

Most of us know that men of colour fought in the 1861 American War of Secession but not that black people , almost a century earlier, had defended the principles of “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” both in France and in its overseas territories. Saint Domingue, or Haiti, was the first of the Antilles islands in 1794 to wipe out slavery and to proclaim its people free and equal. And in France, during both the Revolution and the Republican years, many black individuals reached unimaginable heights of authority. Napoleon Bonaparte recognised their gallantry in battle and rewarded their courage, only to then favour “lucky generals” over valiant or competent military commanders.

THOMAS-ALEXANDER DUMAS

Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was born as Thomas–Alexandre Davy at Jeremie, on the island of Saint Domingue, on March 25th 1762. His father, Antoine Davy, was the youngest offspring of a lesser noble family that owned a chateau at Bielleville-en-Caux, a pretty village near Bolbec in the Haute Normandie, France.

In the XVIII century the French colony of Saint Domingue was the most successful territory of the Antilles in exporting sugar, cocoa and coffee; a trade in which Antoine’s elder brother had made a fortune by 1748. Full of grand expectations for himself, Antoine joined his sibling on the island to co-manage the business. But the partnership was spoiled by arguments and it soon ended with Antoine purchasing from Monsieur de Maubielle a valuable plantation and setting up business for himself. The land also came with a beautiful black slave called Marie-Cesette Dumas who gave Antoine four illegitimate children; three daughters and one son. According to Antoine, his mother died of dysentery in 1777, but there are notary documents that suggest Cesette was alive in 1801.

With his business failing, Antoine cut his losses and absconded. He only reappeared, years later, when his brother’s death gave him the opportunity to claim the title of Marquis and to inherit the family’s estate upon his return to France. Having little or no money to pay for the crossing, in 1775 Antoine sold his four children and common wife Marie Cesette as slaves to a Monsieur Caron and made the journey to France to become the new Marquis De La Pailetterie. A few months later his son, Thomas-Alexandre, joined him from Saint Domingue; the only member of the family whose freedom Antoine had cared to redeem !

Notwithstanding his background and skin colour, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, whom we shall henceforth address as Alex, received a distinguished education from the age of 14 and developed into a towering fellow with a herculean physique, and strong personality. Thanks to his father’s rich maintenance, Alex lived his youth in Paris where he met

Joseph Boulogne, the famous mulatto “Chevalier de Saint-George”. Joseph was an esteemed musician born in a family of musketeers that was well known at the Court of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. In Joseph’s company, Alex lived two years of the “belle vie” by attending theatre and soirée, seducing women and of course fighting duels.

But clouds were gathering on the horizon.

On 2 June 1786, Antoine Davy Marquis De La Pailetterie, married his governess Francoise Retou, a woman thirty years his junior and cut off the subsidy to his profligate son. Determined to find a place in the world, Alex enlisted as a Privateer in the Queen’s Dragoons Regiment using his mother’s name of Dumas, perhaps on his father’s desire to not blight the family’s name. The Regiment was under the command of the Duc de Guiche [3], a Freemason and an admirer of handsome garcons who gave Alex the opportunity to distinguish himself in service and to make the acquaintance of three future grand Generals of the French Empire : Jean-Louis Espagne, Louis-Chretien Carriere de Beaumont and Joseph Piston. All were serving in the same Division and were also Freemasons.

FREEMASONRY IN THE FRENCH ARMY

Many prominent French revolutionaries like the Marquis de Lafayette, Mirabeau, Danton and the Duke of Orléans to name but a few, were in the Craft and so was a great part of the French Army. In the Penthievre Regiment, for example, 53% of the officers were Freemasons and 2500 of the Brethren living in Paris were also in the military. General Kleber, took part with Napoleon in the Egyptian Campaign and founded the Lodge “Isis” in Cairo shortly after the troops subdued the city. Gaspard Monge was a member of the Military Lodge “The Perfect Union” of Mezieres and Dominique Vivant Denon of “The Perfect Meeting” Lodge in Paris; both were among the military strategists who turned around the fortunes of Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt. Whether the great man himself was a Freemason, we do not know for certain. Some claim he underwent initiation in Malta in 1798 when he took possession of the island for France, on his way to Egypt. Others say he was initiated in the “Perfect Sincerity” Lodge in Marseilles, the same Lodge that later initiated his brother Joseph Bonaparte who went on to become the Grand Master of the Grand Orient of France and King of Naples.

Why was Napoleon never a Freemason, or at least why he never openly admitted it, may perhaps be attributed to his character. It was not enough for Napoleon to be “first among equals”, he had to be “above” equality. Can you envisage him allowing anyone to call him “Brother” ? What we know for certain is that the finest years of Freemasonry in France were those that followed Napoleon’s coup d’etait in November 1799. The event, renowned in history as “18 Brumaire” [4], saw the overthrow of the Directory and the installation of a three-man Consulate of which Napoleon was the Leader. The progress of Freemasonry in France lasted fifteen years and saw its Lodge number increase from 300 to 1220 in the space of a few Anni Lucis. Napoleon looked upon all this with contentment, knowing that he benefited both politically and military from the support of the Craft.

The escalation of membership in Masonic military-only lodges in France provided a great cohesion of the troops in battle and saw the French Army go from strength to strength.

The list of eminent and influential individuals who were Freemasons during Napoleon’s regime is lengthy and remarkable: Princes,Admirals, Senators, Ambassadors, Ministers, Academics and so forth. Twenty-two out of Napoleon’s thirty Marshals, five of the six members of the Imperial Military Council and six of the nine ministers in the government were Freemasons. A look at Napoleon Bonaparte’s Dynasty reveals that in addition to Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon’s other younger brothers -Jerome and Luis- were also Freemasons. His wife, Empress Josephine de Beauharnais was for a while the Grand Master of women’s Freemasonry in France and her son (from her first marriage) Eugène de Beauharnais, was too in the Craft.

In light of such evidence, to think that Alex Dumas attained such an exceptional military career without himself being a Freemason, would be naïve.

THE “LODGE CAROLINA” IN VILLERS–COTTERÊTS

In August 1789, Alex Dumas received orders to travel from his base in Laon to Villers–Cotterêts [5] were he was to keep public order during the disorders of the French Revolution.

King Francis I of France (12.09.1494–31.03.1547) built a Chateau outside the village which he adopted as a base for his hunting trips. In 1539, whilst briefly staying there, he promulgated an edict that suppressed all Trade Federations and Guilds in France and thus prevent workers from going on strike. The decree also imposed “French” as the official language of the kingdom in place of Latin, which was the elite European lingua franca of the age and of the several other regional dialects in use.

We also associate Villers-Cotterêts with the Dukes d’ Orléans. King Louis XIV had gifted the chateau to his brother and years later another Duke d’ Orléans, Louis Philippe II [6] was to spend his exile there.

Louis Philippe- Duc d'Orleans — Louis Philippe- Duc d’Orleans

Louise Philippe II was a cousin of the King Louis XVI. After his grandfather’s death in 1752, Philippe inherited the title of Duke of Chartres and in 1769 married Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, daughter of the richest man in France [7]. Louis Philippe II was also the Grand Master of the Masonic Order of the Grand Orient of France from 1771 to 1793, and being a fellow of highly radical views, he sided with the people of France during the French Revolution. Marie Antoinette hated him for what she regarded as treason and duplicity, and he in turn scorned her for her frivolous behaviour. The populace of Paris, where Louis Philippe II lived during the terrible final days of the revolution, loved him and called him “Philippe Égalité” ; but that did not save him from being indicted and guillotined on 6th November 1793.

The Masonic Lodge “Carolina” was founded in Villers–Cotterêts in February 1787 and had the local Mayor, Nicolas Lalitt, as its Worshipful Master. Louis Philippe II and his personal surgeon Marsolan joined the lodge in the second part of 1787 when in exile there and the two men attended many meetings together. After the Duke’s arrival the Lodge Temple translated from a small pavilion in the adjacent “Clos de Cent Suisse”, to a chamber in the Chateau that is since known as “Sale des Franc-Macons”.

Monsieur Claude Labouret was the proprietor of the “Hotel de l’Epee” in Villers–Cotterêt and also a member of the Lodge Carolina. On Sunday 15 August 1789, he went outside with his daughter to admire the arrival from Laon of the detachment of Dragoons on horse. Alex Dumas was one of the Dragoons and his deportment and looks were so impressive as to earn him an invite to dine at Laboret’s table that evening. Alex ended up lodging at the hotel for the term of his stay and it is reasonable to assume that it was Claude Labouret who introduced him to Freemasonry. Three years later, on 28th November 1792, Alex will marry Marie Labouret. The Lodge Carolina became thereafter an Aristocratic Lodge par excellence, listing among its members forty eight grand seigneurs of the realm of France, born in families like the Rohan, Noailles, Polignac, La Rochefaucauld, Montmorency,Segur and so forth.

RISE THROUGH THE RANKS

In less than two years, and presumably after being initiated in the Ars Regia, Alex catapulted from the lowest military rank to the highest. Ever since enrolling in 1786 in the “Hussards de la Liberte”, a sequence of fortuitous circumstances, acts of bravery and patrons in high places assisted him in building a truly exceptional military career and shaped his future.

1792

This was the year that Julien Raimond founded the Legion Franche des Americans et du Midi  where “American” was a term the French used to identify those who came from its overseas colonies. Although the Legion was not part of the Regular French Army, it fought alongside it frequently and  being composed entirely by “free men of colour”, it became known also as “The Black Legion”. Its commanding officer, the Chevalier de Saint Georges, was a member of the powerful Masonic Lodge “Le Neuf Soeurs” of Paris. The Chevalier had given Alex  lessons in swordsmanship whilst at La Boessiere’s Academy and had been his partner in many Parisian social evenings and exploits. In 1792 Alex, at the command of only fourteen black legionnaires, defeated a group of forty Dutch soldiers near Lille and made half of them captives. As a reward for his bravery, he received the rank of lieutenant colonel and became the Legion second-in-command.

1793 

The General Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte - whom the Convention nominated Minister of War in April of the same year - appointment Alex to the rank of Brigadier General [8] of the Army du Nord which was under the command of General Demounez. Alex Dumas’s heroic defence of Pont-a-Marq in Northern France won him the promotion to General of Division. In September 1793 he became Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Pyrenees and in December he was put in command of the Army of the Alps. With Jean-Louise Brigitte Espagne, Marc Antoine Bonnin de Beaumont and his dear friend Joseph Piston [10], Alex won the battle of the Little San Bernard, seized the enemies’ mortars and turned them against the Austrians. They then charged and took control of the Mont Cenis, made 1700 prisoners and captured 30 enemy’s cannons. Their exploits inspired Alexander Dumas Senior to write the adventures of the Three Musketeers.

1794

In August, after a brief spell in charge of the military Ecole de Mars in Paris , Alex Dumas became Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the West. But the slaughtering by the French troops of thousands of peasants during the Vendee War  - a counter revolution against the Regime by the inhabitants of the Region - so abhorred Alex as to induce him to resign his office and earn the pseudonym of “Monsieur l’Humanité”. On 7th December 1794 Alex rejoined the ranks and received orders to swiftly travel to Paris where he was to crush the royalist revolt. But his carriage broke down on the road to the Capital and Paul Barras [11]–the Chief Executive of the Directory regime from 1795 to 1799– replaced him for the task with an unknown young Corsican officer called Napoleon Bonaparte.

In July Alex received the promotion to General of Division [9] and joined a group of four other coloured Generals of African origins who
were born like him in Saint Domingue. They were : Louis-Jacques Beauvais, Toussaint Louverture, Andre Rigaud and Jean-Louis Villatte.In September Alex fought in the Army of the Rhine under the command of the  General  and Freemason Jean Baptste Kleber. After being wounded during the assault to the City of Düsseldorf in November, Alex applied to retire from active service but was ignored.


1796

The General Dumas joined  Napoleon to fight in  Northern Italy. But a less than frictionless  connection  between the two men meant that  in December Alex received the command of only a minor division. His assignment consisting in putting the Austrian occupied city of Mantua, under siege.

1797

After a gallant struggle to ward off the Austrian reinforcements from reaching Mantua, the General Alex Dumas entered the city in February. Ignoring his victory, some resentful Generals complained of Alex’s unrestrained behaviour to Napoleon, who next sent him to fight under the command of General Massena. This effectively meant a demotion, but Alex continued to distinguish himself in battle and even gained the appellative of “Black Devil” from the Austrians. Transferred to a Division led by General Joubert–a fierce republican like our hero–and again in charge of only a small force, Alex crushed the Austrian positions along the River Adige in northern Italy and pressed back, all on his own, a full enemy squadron on to a bridge outside the municipality of Chiusa. Such new heroics greatly impressed Napoleon who, no longer questioning the General Dumas’s integrity and commitment, promoted him to Cavalry Commander of the French armies in the Tyrol.

The Egyptian campaign

1978
In May the General Alex Dumas travelled to Toulon where Napoleon Bonaparte – who apparently received him whilst in bed with Josephine! - ordered him to board the vessel “Guillaume Tell” sailing for Malta, a small Mediterranean island south of Sicily. With him on the expedition were also the Generals Beaumont, Dermoncourt and Lambert. After capturing the island–ruled by the descendant of the Knights Hospitaller aka Knights of St John–the French fleet and Alex proceed to Egypt. Napoleon had promoted him to the grand sounding rank of Commander of the Cavalry of the Orient Army, but his squadron of 3000 horsemen could only count on 300 horses! Scorched by the unbearable African heat and running short of food rations and medicines, men soon perished of various illnesses, leaving Alex wavering. After conquering Alexandria, the French prepared to advance to Cairo, but the republican General Alex Dumas no longer believed in the military operation; he was by now persuaded that only personal ambition guided Napoleon Bonaparte and that the military campaign on such a far away land brought no benefits to France. He even held meetings in camp tents, with some other unhappy Generals (among whom was Joachim Murat) [12], to agree a refusal to continue fighting. As a justification he wrote to Napoleon that General Berthier, Napoleon’s Aid of Camp, was a coward who in battle “shit himself in his pants”. Napoleon wrote in his diaries that when he found out about Alex’s mutinous tent meetings, he was on the verge of having him shot for sedition.

1799

In January, an intensely irritated Bonaparte agreed to let the sick General Alex Dumas’ return to France. “I can easily replace him with a Brigadier” and “intelligence is not his forte”[14] Napoleon told his Generals. On March 7th 1799, Alex embarked for Marseilles on the vessel “Belle Maltaise”. He took with him some wounded French soldiers, the geologist Deodat de Dolomieu [13] and the General Jean-Baptiste Manscourt du Rozoy. After an unexpected tempest in the Mediterranean caused the vessel to sustain serious damages, the crew veered the ship to Taranto, in Southern Italy. Before sailing from Egypt, news from France had reported that the citizens of the Kingdom of Naples, that included Taranto, had taken up arms against King Ferdinand IV and, supported by French troops, had proclaimed the Parthenopean Republic. In the light of those events Taranto, was rightly seen as a safe, friendly destination for the distressed French ship and those onboard.

But as the Belle Maltaise approached the harbour, the crew noticed with surprise that the Bourbons’ flag was still flying on the fort turrets and the masts of the docked ships. The men were unaware that whilst they were sailing, the royalist Archbishop Ruffo’s units had defeated the Neapolitan republicans and regained the Kingdom for Ferdinand. The Belle Maltaise was laden with too much personal cargo–like the eleven Arab horses that the General Dumas was taking to France for breeding–to the detriment of its defence capability. Its ten cannons could give only a feeble resistance to the firepower of King Ferdinand’s fleet. The Belle Maltaise surrendered and all his men on board were taken captive.

IMPRISONMENT AND RETURN TO FRANCE

Imprisoned in the dungeon of the Castle Aragonese of Taranto, the General Alex Dumas endured a regime of abuses and even an attempt to poison him by the prison governor Marquis De La Schiava (or Della Schiava). Curiously, not far from Alex’s cell was that of General Manscourt, whom became the inspiration of the character of the Abbe’ Faria in the novel “The Count of Montecristo” by Dumas senior!

The day the Governor De La Schiava went to General Dumas’s cell with the pretence that he was to transfer him to a better prison in Brindisi–when in truth he plotted to murder him during the journey–there was an almighty altercation. The Marquis unsheathed his sword, but the General fended him and his men off by waiving his walking stick and shouting verbal threats; such was the degree of fear that his figure could still instil on those who defied him. A year after Napoleon installed his former Marshall Joachim Murat as King of Naples in 1805, Alex received a pardon and returned to France. Only six years had passed from his imprisonment in Taranto, but Alex Dumas was now a shadow of the strong man he was. And seeing France now ruled by that young inexperienced officer who had out-smartened him by one day to a military assignment that marked his rise to power and greatness, must have cut his motivation to live even further. A stroke had paralyzed one side of his body, he was almost blind in one eye, half deaf and in constant pain. The General also lived on a miserable military allowance that was utterly inadequate to the status he had held in the Army. Napoleon did not regard General Alex Dumas’s entitlement to be anything more than he received because he had failed to complete the Egypt Campaign and contracted his infirmities in jail rather than on the battlefields. To those who petitioned for justice, Napoleon thundered: “I forbid you ever to speak to me of that man!”.

Pre Napoleonic France was not a racist country. On 7th August 1775, King Louis XVI had signed a political declaration granting admission into his Kingdom to people of colour while at the same time directing the removal to the colonies of illegal settlers. All this changed when Napoleon returned from the Campaign of Egypt in 1802 as he imposed cruel race laws, re-instituted slavery in the colonies and even sent troops to Saint Domingue to kill or arrest any black person who dared wear a French military uniform. Napoleon also tried to bury the memory of General Alex Dumas by never mentioning him in the memoirs he wrote while in exile on the island of Elba. On 26 February 1806, at the age of only forty-four, the destitute General Alex Dumas, died at the Hotel de l’Epee in Villers-Cotterets, from stomach cancer [15] , his health most surely undermined by the arsenic the Marquis De La Schiava administered him in Taranto. Sadly, the Country for which the General had valiantly fought and that had overthrown the old social order in the name of the sacred principles of “freedom, fraternity and equality”, treated him as an alien just when he was most vulnerable and in need of constant care.

CONCLUSION

Although General (Thomas)-Alexander Dumas became a forgotten hero of France, he gave the future generations of his adopted Country and indeed of the whole world, a talented writer who immortalized his life, by casting him in the epic characters of the Count of Montecristo and as one of the four Musketeers. He inspired some of the most famous pages of literature.

Often we better understand a man after his passing and can look back on the events of his life without being influenced by prejudices. It is for this reason that I have brought to your attention the life and adventures of this very worthy Brother.

The author forbids any reproduction or publication of this article, in full or in part, without his explicit authorization.

[1] a person of mixed white and black ancestry, especially a person with one white and one black parent.

[2] They were: General Thomas-Alexandre (or Alex) Dumas , Alexandre Dumas senior and Alexandre Dumas Jr.

[3] Antoine Louis Marie de Gramont, first Duc de Louvigny then Count de Gramont from 1762, was born in Paris 17 Aug 1755. A military man he became Duc de Guiche in 1780 and was put in charge of the regiment of the Queen’s Dragoon in 1790. He was a Freemason member of the Lodge “La Cauderet” in 1776 and of the Lodge “L’Olympique” in 1786.

[4] An historical Term. Brumaire was the month of mist: the second month of the French revolutionary calendar, extending from Oct 23 to Nov 21.

[5] It is now a town to the north-east of Paris, near Reims

[6] Born 13April 1747 – Died 6 November 1793,. He was affiliated to the Templar Order

[7] It was that financial strength that enabled Louis Philippe to play a political role at Court equal to that of his great grandfather who had been the Regent of France whilst King Louis XV was in childhood.

[8] The lowest ranking general officer and usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general and who is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000 troops (four battalions)

[9] Brigade General Louis Jacques Bauvais (also Beauvais) (1759 – September, 12 1799) was the charismatic and respected leader of the mulatto revolt. French-educated, handsome, and quiet, Bauvais had served in America during the American Revolution.

[10] Lyon 1754-1831. He became a baron of the Napoleonic Empire

[11] Paul François Jean Nicolas, Vicomte de Barras (1755-1829) a former soldier who will become the Head of the Directory and one of the most powerful revolutionaries.

[12] Marshal of France in May 1804, husband of Caroline Bonaparte, King of Naples from August 1808 to May 1815

[13] The discovered of the material called dolomite

[14] Desgenettes, the medical officer of the French Army in Egypt

[15] By Bonaparte’s doctor at Paris Jean-Noel Corvisart

SOURCES

Quel Generale dalla pelle nera    by C.L.Sulzberger – La Repubblica 21.01.1986

L’Association des amis du General Dumas   (24.03.2009)

Thomas Alexandre Dumas, le père d’Alexandre Dumas  – http://negronews.fr/cultureDictionnaire.sensagent.leparisien.fr/

http://jesuimort.com/biographie_celebrite_chercher/

Who was Napoleon’s Black Devil?  by Henry Louis Gate Jr.

Nel Castello di Taranto la lunga prigionia del Conte di Montecristo  by Tonio Attino

Il Conte di Montecristo a Taranto  by Roberto Ferretti – 12.02.2015

La memoire bafouee du general Dumas, fils d’ascalve , pere d’Alexandre et heros de la Revolution   by Anne Brigaudeau – http://blog.francetvinfo.fr/

Dumas, Thomas-Alexandre (1762-1806) by Wirth Nikolaus. Univ. Augsburg

The Third Musketeer , The black Count  by  Leo Damrosch – 14 Sept 2012

Le Temple Maconnique de Philippe-Egalite a Villers-Cotterets by Eugene Toupet, Vice-President de la Societe Historique de Villers-Cotterets

General Thomas Alexandre Davy Dumas  by Nayhan D. Jensen – http://frenchempire.net/biographies/dumas2/

Les Statuts de William Schaw

STATUTS ET ORDONNANCES QUE DOIVENT OBSERVER TOUS LES MAÎTRES MAÇONS DE CE ROYAUME

À Édimbourg, le 27e jour de décembre, l’année de Dieu 1598

Les Statuts et ordonnances devant être observés par tous les maîtres maçons dans le Royaume, établis par William Schaw, Maître des travaux de Sa Majesté [1] et Surveillant Général dudit métier, avec le consentement des maîtres soussignés.

Wm Schaw Statuts — William Schaw’s Statuts

Premièrement qu'ils observent et respectent toutes les bonnes ordonnances précédemment établies par leurs prédécesseurs de bonne réputation concernant les privilèges de leur métier, et  spécialement qu'ils soient loyaux les uns envers les autres, et vivent charitablement ensemble comme il convient à des frères assermentés et compagnons de métiers.

Qu'ils obéissent a leurs surveillants, diacres et  maîtres en toute chose concernant le métier.

Qu'ils soient honnêtes, sinceres et diligents dans leurs entretiens et droits dans leurs accords avec le maître ou le propriétaire dont ils accepteront le travail, que ce soit à la tâche, en nature, ou contre salaire hebdomadaire.

Qu'ils ne prennent pas de travail, petit ou grand, qu'ils ne soient capables de mener à bonne fin, sous peine de quarante livres monnaie, ou du quart de la valeur de l'ouvrage entrepris, à titre d'amende, et satisfaction donnée au propriétaire du travail, au choix et à la discrétion du Surveillant Général, ou en son absence au choix des surveillants, diacres et inaitres du maître du comté où ledit travail est entrepris et réalisé.

Qu’aucun maître ne prenne le travail d'un autre par-des- sus sa tête, après que celui-ci ait convenu d'un travail, que ce soit par contrat, par acompte ou verbalement, sous peine d’amende de quarante livres.

Qu'aucun maître  ne reprenne le travail qu'un autre maître  a commencé, avant que le premier ne soit satisfait du travail qu'il a réalisé, sous la même peine.

Qu'un surveillant soit choisi et élu chaque année pour être en charge de chaque loge, telles qu'elles sont particulièrement définies, et que ce soit par le vote des maîtres desdites loges, et l’accord du Surveillant Général si il a le bonheur d'être présent, ou autrement qu'il soit informé de l’élection de chaque surveillant chaque année, afin que le Surveillant Général puisse envoyer des instructions au surveillant élu, si nécessaire.

Qu’aucun maître ne prenne plus de trois apprentis au cours de sa vie, sans un accord spécial des surveillants, diacres et maîtres du comté où l’apprenti habite et réside.

Qu'aucun maître ne reçoive d'apprenti pour un engagement de moins de sept ans, et de même il ne sera pas légal de faire cet apprenti frère et compagnon de métier avant le moment où  il aura servi l’espace de sept autres années après l'issue dudit apprentissage, sans une autorisation spéciale accordée par les surveillants, diacres et maîtres  assemblés pour cette raison, et qu’un contrôle suffisant ait été effectué sur la qualité, la qualiﬁcation et l’habileté de la personne qui désire être faite compagnon de métier, et cela sous peine d'une amende de quarante livres prélevée à titre de pénalité pour notre ordre, en sus de la pénalité établie par la loge à laquelle appartient cette personne.

Qu'aucun maître  ne soit autorisé à revendre son apprenti à un autre maître ni à le dispenser d'années d'apprentissage en lui vendant ces années, sous une peine de quarante livres.

Qu'aucun maître ne reçoive aucun apprenti sans le signiﬁer au surveillant de la loge où il habite, de façon que le nom dudit apprenti et sa date d’engagement soient inscrits correctement dans le livre.

Qu'aucun apprenti ne soit entré sans que le jour de son entrée ne soit inscrit dans le livre.

Qu'aucun maître ou compagnon de métier ne soit reçu ou admis sans la presence de six maîtres et deux apprentis entrés, le surveillant de la loge étant un desdits six, et sans que le-jour de la réception dudit compagnon de métier ou m maître  ne soit régulièrement enregistré, son nom et sa marque insérés dans ledit livre avec les noms des six examinateurs et des deux apprentis entrés, les noms des parrains qui seront choisis pour chaque personne devant être aussi insérés dans le livre. À condition toujours que nul ne soit admis sans un chef- d'œuvres et un contrôle suffisant de son habileté et de sa valeur dans sa vocation et son métier.

Qu'aucun maître  n'accepte un travail de maçon sous la responsabilité ou le commandement de quelque autre artisan qui aurait pris directament ou indirectement un travail de maçon.

Qu'aucun maçon ou compagnon de métier ne reçoive un cowan pour travailler dans sa société ou compagnie, ni n'envoie aucun de ses servants travailler avec des cowans, sous la peine de vingt livres par personne contrevenante.

Qu'il ne soit pas possible pour un apprenti entré d’accepter une tâche, ou de travailler pour un pro priétaire, pour une somme excédant dix livres, sous la peine susdite de vingt livres, et ce travail étant fait il ne pourra plus comprendre sans autorisation des maîtres ou du sur- veillant où il réside.

Si une question, dispute ou divergence intervient parmi les maîtres, les servants, ou les apprentis entrés, les parties qui tomberont en question ou en débat signifieront les causes de leur querelle au surveillant ou au diacre de cette loge particulière avant vingt-quatre heures sous une peine de dix livres, de façon qu'ils puissent être accordés et reconciliés, et leurs divergences supprimées par leur dit surveillant ou diacre, ou maître; si une des parties devait rester exigeante et obstinée qu'elle soit privée du privilège de sa loge et interdite de travail jusqu'au moment où elle acceptera de soumettre sa volonté à la raison exprimée par les surveillant, diacre et maître.

Que tout maître, entrepreneur de travaux, fasse très attention à ce que ses échafaudages et passerelles soient surement placés et fixés, de façon à éviter que par sa négligence et son incurie il n’inﬂige de dommages ou de blessures à ceux qui travaillent sur ce chantier, sous peine d'être interdit de toute responsabilité de Maître ayant en charge un travail, et d'avoir à travailler toute sa vie sous les ordres d'un maître , ou avec un maître principal ayant charge du chantier.

Aucun maître  ne recevra ou ne rétablira l’apprenti ou le servant d'un autre maître  qui aurait fui le service de son maître, ni ne le gardera en sa compagnie après avoir appris les faits ci-dessus, sous peine de quarante livres.

Que toute persoime du métier e maçon se rassemble en lieu et place légalement convenus, sous peine de dix livres.

Que tous les maîtres qui pourraient être convoqués pour une assemblée ou un rassemblement jurent de leur grand  serment de ne cacher ou celer ni faute ni méfait accomplis les uns contre les autres, ni les fautes ou méfaits que quiconque aurait accomplis à l’encontre d'un propriétaire de travaux, pour autant qu’ils en aient connaissance, et cela sous la peine de dix livres à prélever sur tous ceux qui auraient  caché lesdites fautes.

Il est ordonné que toutes les pénalités ci-dessus soient prises sur les offenseurs ou transgresseurs de ces ordonnances par les surveillants, diacres et maître de loges de leur lieu de résidençe, et distribuées ad pios usus en bonne conscience selon l'avis des susdits.Et pour remplir et observer ces ordonnances, ainsi définies, tous les maîtres rassemblés ce jour s’engagent et s’obligent ici en toute conscience, et demandent donc que ledit Surveillant Général signe les présentes de sa proper main, afin qu'une copie authentique puisse être envoyée à chaque loge particulière du Royaume.

William Schaw, Maître des Travaux

[1] Jacques Stuart (né le 19 juin 1566 au château d’Édimbourg – décédé le 27 mars 1625 à Theobalds House) est roi d’Écosse sous le nom de Jacques VI

FREEMASONRY IN MEXICO

From its very beginning Masonry has had in its ranks true agents of socio-political change and Freemasons who have distinguished themselves in the Liberal Arts and Science around the world. All those excellent men embraced the sacred ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity and took part in the civil struggles of all five Continents. The list includes: Cromwell, Locke and Hobbes in England; Grotius and Spinosa in Holland; Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Montesquieu and Robespierre in France. George Washington in the United States, Hidalgo in Mexico, Bolívar, San Martín and Francisco de Miranda in South America.

Prominent in the history of Mexico are four major phases , all of them characterized by traces of nationalism. They are:

the quest for a national identity
the laying aside of Mexico’s racial differences
the acknowledgment of its own heritage
the defense of Mexican integrity and identity from foreign political, cultural and economic aggression.

Each of these phases had its own interpreter, whose name alone suffices to describe each Era in the history of Mexico in which he operated. They are:

Miguel Hidalgo [1], a Freemason and the father of Mexico’s Independence
Benito Juárez [2], a Freemason and former President who gave Mexico constitutional reforms
Francisco Madero [3], a Freemason who led the Mexican Revolution.
Lázaro Cárdenas [4], a Freemason who led Mexico to economic autonomy after the revolution

Freemasonry has shown the world that the men it shapes in the silence of its Lodges, know how to achieve and defend the civil rights and liberty of people. At the same time, Masonry has also proven to be an Institution that, when needed, can act with great prudence. One of the obligations to which a Freemason swears is that of respecting the legality of an established Government. Masonry however does not make cowards, but neither does it form inconsiderate people.

“Thinking without acting is sterile, but acting without thinking is reckless.”

Filled with courage and a sincere desire for enlightenment , the brothers Mateos and Cayetano Rinaldi, amongst other Freemasons, in a meeting that took place on the 14th of August 1825, put forward the plan to establish a new Masonic Rite. They did so inspired by the conviction that Masonry should preserve its purity and the Order should be one throughout the globe and should share a common background of moral, political, domestic and civil values.

On August 22, 1825, in eastern Mexico, the Brothers Guillermo Gardet, José María Mateos, Guillermo Lamont, Luis Luelmo y Goyanes, Cayetano Rinaldi, Carlos Rinaldi, Juan María Mateos, Francisco Ocampo and Mariano Rodríguez met as part of a Commission instituted to discuss and decide on the Masonic regulations for Mexico.

They agreed that:

1. The Mexican National Rite was to be set up in Law;  that the founding members were to be regular masons of accepted rites; that the Mexican National Rite should be autonomous of any other in the world , as is the Mexican nation independent of the other powers.

2. A Supreme Great Orient [5] and Great Mexican National Lodge should govern the Mexican National Rite , and should any meeting that worked this Rite not be legally authorized, it would be regarded unlawful.

3. The symbolic degrees would be the same in number, as it is in all the established Rites and universal Freemasonry, that is to say: Apprentice, Fellow or Companion and Master, plus six upper degrees that would cast  the Rite’s General Regulation. 

4. In any city of Mexico, even if not a Province Capital, where there are five regularly constituted Lodges, a Grand Lodge could be installed. However, there cannot be more than one Grand Lodge in each Province.

5. Mexican Freemasonry would have no purpose other than arousing in everybody the purest sentiments and the practice of all virtues, and therefore work towards teaching man how to respect and love that which virtue and wisdom consecrate to humanity as timeless principles. Mexican Freemasonry would also establish the symbolic mysteries i.e. the ties that unite the members of the Grand Family which come by meeting always under the auspices of harmony and true brotherhood.

But after its formation, the Mexican National Rite clashed with the prejudices of the society of the day that branded it irregular. Its raison d’etre was challenged by having nine degrees. Did those who objected forget that vanity was the guide to the creation of the high degrees of Scottish Freemasonry and that only the Masonic Authorities’s tolerance allowed its recognition ? To overcome arguments and objections like these, the Mexican National Rite was established in Law.

Those five Articles mentioned earlier make up the solemn declaration of the Mexican National Rite. They represent the ancient Landmarks, the essential principles of Freemasonry as regulated by the English James Anderson’s [6] Constitutions issued at the request of the lodges that formed the Grand Lodge of England. They also sum up the essence, mark the direction and define the philosophical ideological distinction of what we call Scottish Freemasonry.

After its foundation, the Mexican National Rite went on to set out its own Constitutions which proclaimed the sovereignty of the Mexican Rite and defined its nine degrees:

Apprentice (Aprendiz)
Fellowcraft (Compañero)
Master (Maestro)
Approved Master (Maestro Aprobado)
Knight of the Secret (Caballero Secreto)
Knight of the Mexican Eagle (Caballero del Águila Mexicana)
Perfect Artificier (Perfecto Artífice)
Grand Judge (Gran Juez)
Grand Inspector General of the Order (Gran Inspector General de la Orden)

On 26th March 1826, the first National Mexican Grand Lodge, named “La Luz”, was installed.

At the General Congress held in 1833, the Mexican National Rite brought in a set of reforms, which included the acceptance of women in Freemasonry based on the principle that it was imperative to form the character of all Mexican citizens regardless of their sex. Other reasons for setting up the reforms were:

The struggle to abolish military and clerical privileges
The secularization of society through the separation of the Church from the State.

Thanks to the enlightened President Benito Juárez, a modern political Constitution was passed in 1857, which brought to an end the power of the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico. That reform, however, caused an uprising and started a civil war known as the “War of the Reforms” which ended in a triumph for the liberal forces over the conservatives. In 1861, the implementation of the reformed laws secured a divorce between the Church and the State, which in consequence reclaimed all the former’s possessions, allowed freedom of worship and introduced civil marriage.

All along , the conservative forces were pursuing an attempt to bring into the country a ruler that would reinstate their cherished traditional political model. The opportunity presented itself when France, Spain and Great Britain in an attempt to recover the national debt that the near bankrupt Mexico had accrued during the internal civil war, sent punitive expeditions in the winter of 1861. The Spanish and English left the following year but France had other plans as it intended to expand its influence in Central America. In the pursue of such objective and after some long negotiations, on 10th June 1864 France installed the ambitious Hapsburg ArchDuke Maximillian [7] as head of State with the title of Emperor of Mexico . After that event the Mexican National Rite formally lowered its columns.

Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico, Masonry — Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico

In 1916 the Mexican National Rite fought an ideological war against Venustiano Carranza [8], the then president of the Mexican Republic. The members of Parliament who were also Freemasons and were led by Francisco J. Mújica [9] , defeated the Carrancistas conservative proposed articles 3, 27, 123, 130, etc. of the Constitution and redrafted them in the workshops of the Mexican National Rite. We can thus proudly state that the Mexico Constitution of 1917 was an expression of the Masonic ideals !

It is evident from history that Freemasonry influenced the intellectual, political and civil life of many countries on earth. Personally, I see Freemasonry as the pathway to fulfillment and the means for creating a society where men of good costumes concentrate all their efforts on community service, man’s welfare and regard for customs and traditions.

Translated and adapted by Aldo Reno from : Masoneria y el Benemerito Rito Nacional Mexicano, by Víctor Hugo Téllez Ramírez

If you wish to know more about the History of Freemasonry in Mexico , then I suggest you click here and will be redirected to the very interesting paper written by Brother Peter Ingram of the United Masters Lodge No. 167.

Bibliography:

Historia de las Sociedades Secretas de Ramiro A. Calle
Rodolfo Gallardo Rosales Gran Luminar y Gran Maestro de la Orden ritonacionalmexicano.org

[1] Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla or Miguel Hidalgo – Born 8 May 1753,Corralejo de Hidalgo, Mexico, Died 30 July 1811,Chihuahua, Mexico. Was a Spanish Catholic priest, a leader of the Mexican War of Independence, and recognized as the Father of the Nation.

[2] Benito Pablo Juárez García 21 March 1806, San Pablo Guelatao, Mexico, Died 18 July 1872, National Palace, Mexico City, Mexico. Was a Mexican lawyer and politician, who served as the 26th president from 1858 until his death in 1872. He was the first president of Mexico who was of indigenous origin.

[3] Francisco Ignacio Madero González, Born 30 October 1873, Parras de la Fuente, Mexico, Died 22 February 1913,Mexico City, Mexico. Was a Mexican revolutionary, writer and statesman who served as the 33rd president of Mexico from 1911 until shortly before his assassination in 1913.

[4] Lázaro Cárdenas del Río – Born 21 May 1895, Michoacan, Mexico. Died 19 October 1970, Mexico City, Mexico. Was a general in the Constitutionalist Army during the Mexican Revolution and a statesman who served as President of Mexico between 1934 and 1940. He is best known for nationalization of the oil industry in 1938 .

[5] The three Craft Degrees are controlled by a Grand Orient which is similar to a Grand Lodge except that it is ruled by a self-perpetuating Council, the ordinary Mason having no say in the government of the Craft. (ref. Early Mexican Freemasonry: A confused chapter in our history, by Bro. Peter Ingram, “The Skirret”)

[6] Dr James Anderson – Born 1679,Aberdeen – Died : 28 May 1739, London. Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster. He was commissioned in September 1721 by the Grand Lodge to write a history of the Free-Masons, and it was published in 1723 as The Constitutions of the Free-Masons.

[7] Maximillian I Emperor of Mexico (Fernando Maximiliano José María de Habsburgo-Lorena ,Born 6 July 1832 Vienna – Died 19 June 1867 Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico) and a younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria,

[8] José Venustiano Carranza De La Garza – Born 29 December 1859, Cuatrocienegas Municipality, Mexico , Died 21 May 1920, Tlaxcalantongo. He was one of the main leaders of the Mexican Revolution, whose victorious northern revolutionary Constitutionalist Army defeated the counter-revolutionary regime of Victoriano Huerta and then defeated fellow revolutionaries after Huerta’s ouster

[9] Francisco José Múgica Velázquez – Born 3 September 1884, Tingüindín, Mexico – Died 12 April 1954, Mexico City, Mexico. He was a military revolutionary, Major General and Mexican politician. He participated in the Constituent Congress of 1917 that produced the Constitution of Mexico.

Salvador Allende – tra Massoneria e Marxismo

Non si può comprendere la personalità, e in particolare la formazione di Salvador Allende se non si considera la precoce e profonda influenza che esercitò su di lui la figura del nonno paterno Ramon Allende, personaggio di primo piano della storia cilena e della Massoneria, che tuttavia lui non conobbe.

Originario di Valparaiso, Ramon Allende (1845-1884), si distinse per il suo spirito filantropico (da medico curava gratuitamente gli ammalati poveri), fondatore della prima scuola laica per bambini poveri, la Blas Cuevas, e Gran Maestro della Gran Loggia del Cile.

Il nipote Salvador Allende Gossens nacque il 26 giugno 1908. Dopo aver conseguito il diploma di scuola superiore egli dichiarò di voler diventare come il nonno e come lui studiare medicina per aiutare i poveri e i bisognosi. Il padre di Salvador, anch’egli con lo stesso nome, anch’egli massone, lasciò al figlio un’eredità di un’educazione improntata all’onestà e alla libertà. Il giovane Salvador, imprigionato per le sue opinioni politiche, ebbe il permesso di salutare il padre sul letto di morte e in quella occasione dichiarò che avrebbe consacrato la sua vita alla lotta sociale. Rappresentante dell’assemblea degli studenti all’Università del Cile, Salvador non era alieno dalla passione sportiva, di cui era campione nelle discipline del decathlon e del nuoto, oltre a una passione per l’equitazione che l’ accompagnò per tutta la vita.

A Valparaiso un suo amico, Jorge Grove Vallejo, dentista e Venerabile della Loggia “Progresso” n. 4 gli propose l’iniziazione. Salvador fu molto impressionato dalla cerimonia del rito che si svolse il 16 novembre 1935, e già in quella circostanza dette ai Fratelli il proprio biglietto da visita racchiuso nel testamento massonico. Alla domanda sui doveri dell’uomo verso i suoi simili, Allende rispose che l’uomo non è che un ingranaggio del conglomerato sociale, di conseguenza deve essere al servizio dei suoi simili. Alla domanda sui doveri verso sé stesso, rispose che si debba organizzare la propria esistenza in sintonia con un chiaro concetto dei propri obblighi, doveri e diritti che sono sottomessi ai doveri e ai diritti degli altri. Infine alla domanda riguardante come egli avesse sperato che fosse ricordato, rispose: come un uomo che ha adempiuto all’obbligo di cui è onerato, un uomo utile alla società, alla quotidiana ricerca del perfezionamento spirituale, morale e materiale.

All’età di 29 anni, il 27 ottobre 1937, divenne Compagno e nello stesso anno fu eletto deputato del partito socialista. Trasferitosi a Santiago, l’8 Novembre del 1940 entrò nella Loggia “Hiram” n. 65, dove il 31 Ottobre 1945 fu elevato al grado di Maestro. Il successivo anno fu eletto Giudice del Tribunale di Loggia, carica Continue reading Salvador Allende – tra Massoneria e Marxismo

DISSECTING THE LEGEND OF HIRAM ABIFF

WHO SLIPPED WHAT IN THE MASONIC 3RD DEGREE

The purpose of this paper is to expand some thoughts on the ceremony of Raising and its history in Freemasonry. The story of the Third Degree presents several problems. If we consider the basic premise that just before the completion of King Solomon’s Temple in the 2896 Anno Lucis or 975 BCE [1] (these dates vary in different editions) , there was a conspiracy of 15 Fellowcraft to obtain the secrets of the Third Degree.

What could the Third Degree then have included?
What were those secrets?

It could not have been a Raising since Hiram Abiff was still alive. The only Third Degree we know came as a result of his death. Presumably Fellowcraft would only have been appointed if they were honourable men, whether they were actual masons or free and speculative ones. How would one ﬁnd so many (admittedly 12 recanted and only three conspirators remained) who were prepared to resort to violence and even commit murder of someone for whom they would surely have had respect, simply to obtain some secrets? These they were going to learn anyway in due course, so that the story creates a lack of credibility.

Having killed their master, the candidate of the degree is made to represent him and is symbolically raised from death by various artiﬁces (i.e. the ﬁve points of fellowship etc). He is then told the remainder of the story known generally as the “Traditional History”. In this, King Solomon sends 15 trusty Fellowcraft (9 in early French rituals) to search for Hiram Abiff, assuming he may have been killed in an attempt to extort from him the secrets of the Third Degree. This is surely putting subsequent knowledge retrospectively in the minds of the protagonists involved.

Three lodges of ﬁve Fellowcraft were sent to search. The second group ﬁnds Hiram Abiff indecently buried, reports this to King Solomon who orders him to be exhumed and reburied as near the Holy of Holiest as Israelite law would allow. (This has no parallel in the Bible or the Talmud[2]). Meanwhile, the signs of the Third Degree become the anguished gestures of the second group of Fellowcraft and are ordained to remain until the original signs (whatever they were meant to be) are restored!

The three Fellowcraft conspirators responsible for the crime are found by the third group of Fellowcraft, in a cave near Joppa [the ancient city of Jaffa, now the oldest part of Tel Aviv].

Continue reading DISSECTING THE LEGEND OF HIRAM ABIFF

History of the Grand Lodge of Antioquia – Final Part

Click here to read Part 1 of the History of the Grand Lodge of Antioquia

The Supreme Neogranadino Council of the 33ºDegree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, based in Cartagena, was founded on 19 June 1833 and replaced the dissolved Grand Colombia [1]. This new Masonic Body held rights and privileges over the Masonic territories of Nueva Granada and founded the Logia Simbolica [2] and the Camara Escocista soon after its constitution. When on 1 January 1920 ended the predominance of the Supreme Neogranadino Council, the Ser. Grand Lodge of Colombia based in Cartagena agreed to adopt its lodges and the number sequence.

In the Treaty of Friendship and Recognition [3] the decree N. 6 established that the Ser. Grand Lodge of Colombia based in Cartagena had territorial jurisdiction over the Dept. of Antioquia together with several other territories as listed in the decree N.7 [4]. Yet when the GL of the Rep. of Colombia was established in Bogotá on 1 January 1922, it only recognised the decree N.7 [5] .

So how did the Dept. of Antioquia end up under the jurisdiction of the GL of the Rep. of Colombia based in Bogotá, at one point ? It is the aim of this paper to provide the answer to that question.

******

The decree No.6 of the GL of Antioquia’s Installation Manifest – see Part 1 – quoted the intention of the Ser. National Grand Lodge of Colombia, based in Cartagena, of terminating the Treaty of Friendship and Recognition [6] of 11 August 1921. The decree also stated that on that same day the Rep. of Colombia became a free and open territory, geographically as well as politically, integrated with the departments of Antioquia, Bolivar, Caldas & Valle and the National territories of Choco’ , San Adres and Province. This declaration placed the Triangle and the Symbolic Lodges under the jurisdiction and obedience of The Grand National Lodge of Bogotá.

The decree N.7 endorsed, retrospectively , the Patent given to Logia Fiat Lux N.14 and the Logia Victoria N.15 – both established in the Valley of Medellin – and it authorised them to unite with the Lodge Claridad N.12 to form the Grand Lodge of the Dept.of Antioquia. Thereafter these Lodges changed their numbers to Lodge Claridad N.1, Lodge Fiat Lux N.2 and Logia Victoria N.3. This deecree is of a paramount importance because it was responsible for the growth of Freemasonry in Colombia and for establishing Grand Lodges in the capitals of Departments where they did not exist until then . The creation and independence of the GL of the Dept. of Antioquia is reiterated in the “Resolution N.1” of the 1934 declaration , signed by the Grand Master A. Carlos Fetonti , which we show hereunder.

THE GRAND LODGE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTIOQUIA WITH HEADQUARTERS IN MEDELLIN,IN THE EXERCISE OF ITS CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS AND CONSIDERING 

1st. - that the successful, fantastic and courageous Masonic process of coming into existence that occurred in the last months of 1934, by the respectable  Lodges Claridad 1, Fiat Lux 2 and Victoria 3 of this Orient, with the enthusiastic help of the Regular Bodies  of Bogotá, with the decisive support of the Gran Logia de La República de Colombia based in Bogotá, with the approval of several Regular Workshops and with the cordial acquiescence of distinguished and meritorious Masonic personalities - not only of the Symbolic Chambers, but also of the high Philosophical Corporations - that brought the independence and sovereign Masonic jurisdiction and voice in the territory of this part of the Republic, today geographically called the Department of Antioquia; 

2nd. - that this movement unfolded in the midst of the most unrestricted and recognized legality and the most deeply-rooted support for the old boundaries of the Institution;

3rd. - that the first victorious battle in favor of that beautiful revolutionary perspective, nobly born and fermented in the capital of the Republic and whose purpose is the creation of a Grand Lodge in each Department, the Colombian Confederation of those Sovereign Bodies , so that together and for the exclusive and sole good of our country, they return to the old days of Masonic splendor and carry out the  redemption - not only ideological, but also economic - of this Country still mired in political intransigence and in the despondency of miserable religious groups

RESOLVES:

1st. – to present a kind  and cordial embrace to the Regular Lodges of the Country.

2nd. – to hereby announce the creation of this Sovereign Body, and

3rd. - to put oneself at the service of any human liberation  movement in general and always of  every brother in particular,

Or ∴ from Medellín, February 16, 1935. e ∴ v ∴

The Grand Master A. CARLOS FETONTI
The Grand Orator RUBEN URIBE
The Grand Secr ∴ G ∴ SS ∴ and TT ∴
JUAN VALLEJO P.  [7]

THE CATHOLIC CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE ANTIOQUIA FREEMASONRY

In its years of operation, the Grand Lodge of the Department of Antioquia faced great hostility which eventually caused its disappearance. The forces that opposed its existence were the strong Catholic dogmatism of the time and the ill-disposed Deputy Grand Master Fernando Estrada[8] who ended up working for the opposing Grand Orient Bogotano when the latter decided to intervene in Antioquia in 1941. The GL of Antioquia did of course repudiate him. Yet it must be recognised that under Estrada, the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was strenghtened in Medellin. On 22 May 1943 Estrada was elevated to the 33º degree and the following year he became the Grand Orator of the Supreme Council of the 33º Degree and held that office untill 1947.

The bucolic sermons of Miguel Ángel Builes against the Antioquia Freemasonry in the 1930s and 1940s were part of a policy of the Antioquia Church – no doubt supported in that by the Bogotana Church and by other conservative groups – against the prominence of Freemasonry in liberal governments, as well as in its rise in Medellin and other municipalities of Antioquia.

El Obrero Catolico -Antioquia — El Obrero Catolico

Defamatory campaigns were orchestrated in Bogotá by Laureano Gómez – of the newspaper El Siglo in Bogotá – and in the Medellin press by the conservative paper El Obrero Católico, which the Church used in Antioquia as the “Organ of Catholic Action”. Between 1937 and 1939 El Obrero Católico published the sermons of Builes as well as all kind of anti Masonic articles and gave them sensational headlines like:

The Great Crimes of Freemasonry, published on January 9, 1937.
The Freemasons: incarnation and instruments of Satan, published in two parts on June 5 and November 13, 1937. This headline was repeated in other articles published in the same newspaper in the following year.
Las lodges assassins, written by Fray Mora Diaz and published on March 19, 1938.

And after the triumph of Franco’s armies in Spain at the beginning of 1939, El Obrero Católico published the dangerous headline “Franco has given a tremendous defeat to Judaism, Freemasonry and Communism” which, without realizing it, was giving support to Franco’s regime, one of the cruellest dictatorships in history. There clearly were anti-Semitic sentiments and intolerance in the way the Colombian Catholic Church operated at that time !

The historian M. Arango wrote :

It should be noted that in the 1930s and 1940s, the campaigns against Colombian Freemasonry carried out by the Catholic clergy and by Laureano Gómez were aimed at demonstrating that Freemasonry’s influence had infiltrated the Liberal Party and shared an international conspiracy against Colombia, promoted by an alliance between Freemasons, Communists and Jews.[9]

Despite having agreed on 17 August 1936 that the Department of Antioquia was under the jurisdiction of the Serenísima Gran Logia Nacional de Colombia based in Cartagena, the Gran Logia de Colombia based in Bogotá unilaterally intervened in the matters of the Antioquian Freemasons and submitted to the Great Commission of Jurisprudence and Legislation, a petition for establishing and recognizing two of its new lodges. The Commission approved and issued Patents to the Iris del Aburrá and to the Santa Helena and also authorized the installation of the Rosacruz Chapter General José María Córdoba .

Both the Lodge Santa Helena and the Chapter General José María Córdoba, were installed on 8 September 1941, but according to Arango the Rosacruz Chapter was operating well before that date. The proof rests on “the date of the certificates sent to its members[10]“. Indeed Arango reports that in the Masonic Temple of Medellín there is one such certificate, awarded to Brother Mauricio Daza Ovalle ,which is dated 2 September 1941. If there was a Rosacruz Chapter in Medellin, Arango claims, then it is right to assume that there would also have been a Lodge of Perfection of the Scottish Rite.

The other crime that the Bogotá’s Grand Lodge was guilty of when it chose to meddle in the GL of Antioquia’s affairs, was the refusal to recognize the existence of the latter and of the three lodges that constituted it. Such decision was taken on the basis of a report prepared in early September 1941 by a Commission of Investigation appointed by the Bogotá’s Grand Lodge , which also questioned the respectability of the Brethren of the Lodge Claridad.

The Commission’s document reads : “We were informed by the representative of the Supreme Council of the 33º Degree in the Department of Antioquia, Dr. Fernando Estrada, an honorable person of refined morals, that the activities of the Lodge Claridad culminated in the creation of the Fiat Lux and Victoria lodges, which were however constituted by the same members of the Claridad [who got together] just so that the Grand Lodge of the Department of Antioquia could be proclaimed”.

As for the Lodge Claridad and the activity of its Brethren, the Commission pointed out that it had arrived at the “sad conclusion that they are individuals who cannot be accepted in our institution, and that their Masonic activities are far from being Masonic ”.

The report – says Arango – was read out to the Grand Lodge of Colombia based in Bogotá on September 12, 1941. It is very difficult to evaluate today the veracity of those claims but let it be clear : only the Serenísima Gran Logia Nacional de Colombia based in Cartagena had jurisdiction over the GL of the Dept. of Antioquia. It was never the business of the Bogotá’ s Grand Lodge to interfere into Antioquia’s businesses. And how could the Commission have established the doubtful respectability of the Lodge Claridad’s Brethren with an investigation that lasted less than three days and was based on verbal information from a handful of individuals ?

On November 5, 1941 the Grand Lodge of the Department of Antioquia, as might be expected, issued a statement rejecting the claims of the Bogotana´s Commission . It was signed by the Grand Master Martín Acevedo and the Grand Chancellor Eugenio Pastor. The GL also issued the decree N.245 to remind all that the Grand Lodge of the Department of Antioquia was constituted on 16 December 1934 “as an independent sovereign body” with the Lodges Claridad No. 1, Fiat Lux No. 2 and Victoria No. 3 under its jurisdiction . The Grand Lodge of the Department of Antioquia also accused the Bogotá’s Grand Lodge that it had no right to violate the GL’s of Antioquia’s legitimacy by installing in that Department ” its own Lodge Iris del Aburrá and Lodge Santa Helena “ . In so doing it was perpetrating an illegal act of encroachment[11].

The GL of the Dept. of Antioquia followed its protests by declaring irregular the Iris del Aburrá and Santa Helena Lodges and by announcing the constitution of one new Lodge of its own , the José Janer Grau No. 4.

CONCLUSIONS

The major points that emerge from this study are:

the causes of the division in the Bogotá’s Grand Lodge – which subsequently brought the GM Tulio Rubiano to found the Gran Lodge of the Dept.of Antioquia – were of political nature;
to strengthen the position of the GL of the Republic of Colombia , Tulio Rubiano created other Grand Lodges in jurisdictions that belonged to other Orients, thus exposing his own GL to disapproval
the GL of the Dept of Antioquia had effectively only the Claridad Lodge under its jurisdiction – which would automatically constitute the loss of Grand Lodge status ! – but it was never the business of the Bogotana Grand Lodge to intervene.Sometime later and through the intercession of the other Colombian Orients, the two Bogotá Grand Lodges resolved their differences. They joined in one new Grand Lodge and recognized that the jurisdiction of Antioquia belonged to the Serenísima Gran Logia Nacional de Colombia based in Cartagena.

Given that society was highly conservative and Catholic at the time the Antiochian Grand Lodge was founded, it became quite difficult for Freemasonry to develop in the region. The Catholic Church’s persecution of the Masons through the sermons of Miguel Ángel Builes, created conditions which eventually led the Grand Lodge of the Department of Antioquia to dissolve in the early 1940s.

The historian Arango explains that the lack of research into Freemasonry in Antioquia is the reason we have a wrong opinion of it. Historians such as Américo Carnicelli (in the photo) and Julio Hoenigsberg Racedo [12], made very little mention of Antioquia Freemasonry in their works.

The North American historian Thomas Williford, in his book Laureano Gómez and the Masons 1936 – 1942, states that “in Medellín, the lodges were not very successful and in 1939 they were already in deep sleep“. He also claims that “Freemasonry was never very successful because of the power of Catholicism and conservatism in the capital of Antioquia “[13].

These assertions are only in part true because in that year both the Grand Lodge of the Dept. of Antioquia and the Lodge Claridad N.1 were operational and there were plans to raise the columns of the Lodges Fiat Lux and Victoria. The sermons of Miguel Ángel Builes and the strong and sensational headlines that the newspaper El Obrero Católico published – such as The Masons, incarnation and instruments of Satan – gave the Freemasons a bad image in the Antioquian society of the 1930s and 1940s. Such a distrust towards Freemasonry is no better demonstrated than by the refusal of the Catholic Church to give our famous Brother Carlos Gardel a Christian funeral [14].

The reality was that the Antioquia Mason could never fit in the Antioquian society of the time for which Freemasonry and other intellectual and artistic activities only generated distrust and suspicions in those who practiced them. But it is undeniable that Freemasonry in Antioquia ,through the labor of professionals and liberal political leaders , had an important presence during the first half of the 20th century. Freemasonry was “a [real] force of cohesion and power”[15].

No part of this article may be reproduced without permission from the author. The Editor of Tetraktys takes no responsibility for the correctness of the facts and dates reported in this article which remain that of the author.

[1] On 21 November 1831

[2] The Symbolic Lodge or Blue Lodge , often called simply Lodge, comprises of three degrees: 1º Apprentice, 2º Companion and 3º Master Mason

[3] Signed on 11 August 1921 between the GL of Cartagena Barraquilla and the Supr. Council Neogranadino of the 33^rd Degree of the Antique & Accepted Scottish Rite

[4] Cundimarca, Cauca,Huila, Narino and the intendencias of the Meta and Comisarias de Vaupes, Putumayo and Caqueta’.

[5] as the documents that its Grand Master Tullio Rubiano signed in 1933 prove

[6] Treaty of Friendship[1], Peace, Jurisdiction and Limits which attested that the GL of the Rep. of Colombia had jurisdiction over………

[7] Manifesto, saludo, instalacion e historia de la “Gran Logia del Departemento de Antioquia”, con Sede en Medellin (Col.),16 de Diciembre 1934

[8] Former Venerable Master of the Resp. Lodge Sol de la Montana which operated under the jurisdiction of the Ser. Gran Logia Nacional de Colombia, based in Cartagena.

[9] Mario Arango Jaramillo, Masoneria y Partido Liberal, otra cara en la historia de Colombia (Medellin, editorial Corselva, 2006), p.416

[10] Mario Arango Jaramillo, Masoneria y Partido Liberal, otra cara en la historia de Colombia (Medellin, editorial Corselva, 2006), p.422

[11] Mario Arango Jaramillo, Masoneria y Partido Liberal, otra cara en la historia de Colombia (Medellin, editorial Corselva, 2006), p.423

[12] Por: Mario Morales Charris, 33º , Ex Gran Maestro de la Muy Resp\ Gr\ Log\ del Norte de Colombia

[13] Mario Arango Jaramillo, Masoneria y Partido Liberal, otra cara en la historia de Colombia (Medellin, editorial Corselva, 2006), p.431

[14] Jorge Sturla, La Muerte de Gardel, Cronica, junio de 1971

[15] Mario Arango Jaramillo, Masoneria y Partido Liberal, otra cara en la historia de Colombia (Medellin, editorial Corselva, 2006), p.431

LE PRÉCURSEURS: Les Statuts de Ratisbonne (1459)

Les Statuts de l’association des tailleurs de pierre et maçons (extraits)

Ratisbonne

Au nom de Dieu le Père, du Fils, du Saint-Esprit et de sainte Marie, mère de Dieu, de ses bienheureux saints serviteurs, les Quatre Saints Couronnés d’étemelle mémoire, nous considérons que pour conserver amitié, union et obéissance, fondement de tout bien, de toute utilité et bienfait de tous, princes, comtes, seigneurs,localités et couvents, réalisant actuellement et dans le futur, églises, bâtiments de pierre ou constructions, nous devons former une communauté fraternelle ; cela pour le bien et l’utilité de tous les maîtres et compagnons du métier des tailleurs de pierre et des maçons en terre allemande, surtout pour éviter toute discussion, échec, soucì, dépenses et dommages provenant de désordres et de transgressions à la bonne règle.

Nous nous engageons pour opérer tous les règlements pacifiquement et à l’amiable. Pour que notre entreprise chrétienne soit valable en tout temps, nous, maîtres et compagnons de ce dit métier, originaires de Spíre, Strasbourg et Ratisbonne, en notre nom et au nom de tous les autres maîtres et compagnons du dit métier ci-dessus mentionné, nous avons rénové et clarifié les vieilles traditions et nous nous sommes constitutes dans un esprit freternel en un groupement et nous sommes engagés à observer fidèlement les règlements ci-dessous définis et cela pour nous-mêmes et pour nos successeurs. Continue reading LE PRÉCURSEURS: Les Statuts de Ratisbonne (1459)

History of the Grand Lodge of Antioquia – First Part

HOW THE DEPT. OF ANTIOQUIA FeLL UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE GRAND LODGE OF THE REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA, BOGOTA’

The Grand Lodge of the Republic of Colombia was established in Bogotá on 19 February 1922. Eleven years later its Grand Master Tulio Rubiano signed a document that attested that the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Colombia had jurisdiction over the Departments of Cundinamarca, Cauca, Huila, Narino and the local administrations of Meta & Vaupes, Putumayo and the Caqueta Police Station.

This proves that the Dept. of Antioquia was not controlled by the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Colombia, based in Bogotá. So how did it later fall under that jurisdiction ?

Everything points to the political divisions at the end of 1929 within the Liberal Party between Enrique Olaya, the candidate running for the Presidency of Colombia and the chairman of the Party Alfonso Lopez. Such disagreements also influenced the breaches that appeared within the Grand Lodge of the Rep. of Colombia, based in Bogotá in 1932, 10 years after its creation.

Continue reading History of the Grand Lodge of Antioquia – First Part

BREAKING A MASONIC OATH

In Freemasonry the individual who presents himself at the door of a Masonic Lodge “properly prepared and humbly soliciting to be admitted to the mysteries and privileges of Ancient Freemasonry” is called the “Initiate”. What leads him there, is an act of faith. He comes because in life he has a feeling of incompleteness and because he finds that pursuing ephemeral pleasures does not satisfies his soul.

Every Initiate in every Mystery must pledge secrecy for what will be communicated to him during the ceremony. Such constraint has been imposed on him since time immemorial and evidence exists that this was customary also in the days of the Guilds and of the operative medieval stone masons.

The solemn promise of the modern Initiate, however, is not on a par with the oath of the ancient craftsmen.

According to Bernard Jones [1] “the oath is a solemn appeal to God in support of the truth of a declaration made and in witness that a promise will be kept”; note the words “an appeal to God”. An oath is also neither objectionable nor can it be open to criticism, unless the oath itself is immoral. What an Initiate swears on the Volume of the Sacred Law nowadays is instead an Obligation, which is described as a binding agreement made under pain of a sanction if it is unilaterally broken. Essentially, ritual revisions through time have eroded and eventually removed the authority and intensity initially present in the oath and turned it into a mere promise. For that reason it is felt necessary to give the obligation a mantle of solemnity by asking the Initiate to recite the ritual words in a manner similar to giving testimony in a Court of Law and seal his promise by kissing the VSL.

Both oaths and obligations bind society together and stop it from falling into disorder, confusion, anarchy ; they also insure that justice keeps being administered. All authority custodians, legislators, civil servants and State officials are bound by their oath of office and so too are the politicians, even though the latter regularly commit perjury with a despairing indifference. The Romans punished this sin by tearing the sinner’s tongue out by the roots.

The Masonic Square and Compass on the Bible

Continue reading BREAKING A MASONIC OATH

THE DUTIES OF A FREEMASON – I DOVERI DEL FRATELLO MASSONE

Click here if you want to read the paper in Italian.

More and more thoughtful Brethren have a serious dissatisfaction with the state of the Craft in (X).  At the core of their concerns is the heartfelt lament that Masonry in (X) has effectively degenerated into a social and dining club, meeting upon  the excuse of initiating yet another candidate into a society whose only apparent purpose is to carry out initiations , whilst seeking to justify its existence through the business of institutional charity. 

Freemasonry  hierarchy (in X) classically maintains discipline through the assiduous manufacture of 'honours' whilst ignorantly sacrificing ancient form and spiritual value in deferential respect to transparent political correctness.

(...) THIS -  whatever it is and however socially valuable it may be in some respects - IS NOT Freemasonry.

(The Lodge has become) an initiation sausage-machine (but) if Freemasonry means anything,  it means the making of the whole man, from rough to ashlar to polished stone. It indicates a psychological and spiritual journey through an esoteric interpretation of our rich symbology.  English Freemasons who wish to pursue such studies in a working setting, have for far too long been effectively deprived.

(*)

Some of you may think that these are harsh words. But although the statement was issued around 2012, it still reflect the current situation in some part of Freemasonry.

What follows are the duties (**) that must be adhered to by anyone who wants to become a Freemason. They relate to the behaviour in society, in the family and in the Lodge.

The spiritual aspects of the Art are also mentioned for your instruction.

The personal duties of the Freemason
Continue reading THE DUTIES OF A FREEMASON – I DOVERI DEL FRATELLO MASSONE