Grand Orient de France
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Grand Orient de France (G.O.d.F. or G.O.F.) is the largest of several Masonic organizations in France and the oldest in Continental Europe, founded in 1733.
Contents |
[edit] Relationship with Other Jurisdictions
Over time it has established its own traditions which are in contradiction to the traditions of Freemasonry that are prevalent in most of the world, especially in English speaking countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and United Kingdom, and contries which follow the Anglo tradition such as India, Russia, and South Africa.
[edit] Atheism
The GOdF admits Atheists while these other Grand Lodges require their members to have a belief in deity. The majority of Masonic Jurisdictions withdrew recognition from the Grand Orient over this issue, and they now deem it "irregular".
[edit] Politics
Unlike most Grand Lodges (especially those affiliated to the United Grand Lodge of England) the Grand Orient de France allows the discussion of political issues during lodge meetings. The Grand Orient itself takes political positions on certain issues. It sees its sole mission as preaching the principles of freedom, equality and brotherhood.[1]
[edit] Female Membership
It was one of the first Masonic orders to allow some of its lodges to become adoptive (i.e. to admit women although it does not initiate them). In 1774, following the introduction of Rites of Adoption in several of its lodges, it issued an edict authorising them, the Duchess of Bourbon being elected first Grand Mistress of France. This also is a bone of contention between GOdF and many other Grand Lodges.[who?]
Lodges are currently segregated, with two female lodges. In 2007 the Grand Orient rejected a proposal by Grand Master Jean-Michel Quillardet to open up the lodges to women.[2]
[edit] History
[edit] Foundation
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (November 2007) |
Freemasonry in France started when English merchants started lodges, with the first lodge being started in Dunkirk.[3] The Grand Orient de France was founded in 1733.[4]
[edit] French Revolution
The Lodge Les Neuf Sœurs was a prominent lodge attached to the Grand Orient de France that was particularly influential in organising French support for the American Revolution and later in the intellectual ferment that preceded the French Revolution.
Some notable French revolutionaries were Freemasons, including Voltaire,[5] Condorcet,[6] Mirabeau,[7] Danton,[8] the Duke of Orléans,[9] and Hébert[10].
Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, a leader of the Liberal Aristocracy, was the Grand Master of the Grand Orient at the time of the French Revolution.[9] In some parts of France, the Jacobin Clubs were continuances of Masonic lodges from the Ancien Régime, and according to historian Alan Forrest "some early clubs, indeed, took over both the premises and much of the membership of masonic lodges, before rebadging themselves in the new idiom of the revolution."[11]
The Catholic Encyclopedia alleges that the Masonic book La Franc-Maçonnerie, écrasée in 1746 predicted the program of the French Revolution,[12] and claims to quote documents of the Grand Orient of France where Freemasonry claims credit for the French Revolution.[13] However, the New Catholic Encyclopedia of 1967 says that modern historians see Freemasonry's role in the French Revolution as exaggerated.[14]
In 1804 it merged with the rival Grand Lodge, the Rite Ecossais.[15]
[edit] Napoleon III
In the United Kingdom patronage of the Grand Lodge has long been a royal prerogative. This had an influence over some of the wording in the early days of Freemasonry, including demands of a charge of loyalty.[citation needed] Over time this has become a ceremonial function. Likewise in France Napoleon III established a dictatorship over official French freemasonry, appointing first Prince Lucien Marat and later Marshal Magnan to closely supervise the craft and suppressing any hints of opposition to the regime.
[edit] Schism with the United Grand Lodge of England
In 1877, at the instigation of the Protestant priest Frédéric Desmons, it allowed those who had no belief in a Supreme being - which the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) and related Lodges regarded as a Masonic Landmark - to be admitted.[16]
It was this decision that has been the root cause of the schism between the Grand Orient (and those lodges that followed it), and the rest of Freemasonry. It is a schism in Freemasonry which continues to this day. It is argued that the definition is ambiguous, that Anderson's Landmarks are his own collection and interpretation of the historical landmarks, and that changes in both interpretation and practice have occurred before and since.
The decision was not universally approved in France. By 1894 many lodges had split off in protest and formed the Grande Loge de France (GLdF)[17] In addition, a third Grand Lodge, the Grande Loge Nationale Francaise (GLNF) was founded by the United Grand Lodge of England in 1913 (it is this Grand Lodge that is recognized as being "regular" by the majority of Freemasonry).[18]
[edit] Third Republic
The Grand Orient was instrumental in the founding of the left wing Republican Party.[19]
The Grand Orient was implicated in the Affaire Des Fiches, where it it was accused of collecting[20] and holding information on the religious and political affiliation of army officers, passed on by a member of the government[21], having been collected with the intention of blocking practicing Catholics and non-Republicans from further advancement.[22]
[edit] Separation of Church and State
The Grand Orient advanced the concept of Laïcité, a French concept of the separation of church and state and the absence of religious interference in government affairs.[23] The Grand Orient arrived at its interpretation of absolute freedom of conscience in the 19th century.[citation needed]
In the 1930s the Grand Orient was still hostile to Church interests, wishing to close private schools (which were predominantly Catholic), or failing that to reintroduce an insistence that only state schools could provide civil servants.[24]
This dislike of religious participation is still an official policy of the Grand Orient de France today.[25]
[edit] Second World War and After
|
|
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (November 2007) |
The Grand Orient de France remained an important part of French society after the Second World War. One of the Grand Masters was Jacques Mitterand, brother of the later Socialist President Francois Mitterand.[26] The Grand Orient of France in recent years has demanded meetings with the President of France.[27][28]
[edit] Lodges outside France
The G.O.F. has currently the following lodges in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom:[citation needed]
- n° ... : Atlantide, New York City-NY (1900)
- n° ... : Pacifica, San Francisco-CA (1986)
- n° ... : Lafayette 89, Washington D.C. (1989)
- n° ... : Art et Lumière, Los Angeles-CA (1990)
- n° ... : Force et Courage, Montréal (Québec) (1999)
- n° ... : Hiram, London (UK) (1889)
[edit] See also
- International Secretariat of the Masonic Adogmatic Powers
- Le Droit Humain
- Regular Masonic jurisdictions
[edit] References
- ^ MASONS OF FRENCH "GREAT EAST" LODGE ADVOCATING THE RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, Armenian Daily, 26/04/2007
- ^ France's Freemasons say NON! to women, Saturday, 08 September 2007, Lost in France
- ^ Freemasonry article, New Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ History, website of the Grand Orient de France
- ^ Grand Orient de France
- ^ "And it is a fact that most of the authors of that epoch-making Encyclopedia — Diderot, D'Alembert, Condorcet, the famous Swiss philosopher Helvetius, etc. — were Freemasons." History of Freemasonry hosted by Arcadia Lodge#249, Ames, Iowa
- ^ "En France, dans les dernières années de l'Ancien Régime, Mirabeau (qui était Maçon, affilié à la loge parisienne "Les Neuf Sœurs") et l'abbé Henri Grégoire (qui était peut-être Maçon)" Transl. "In France, during the final years of the Ancien Régime, Mirabeau (who was a Mason, belonging to the Parisian lodge "The Nine Sisters") and the Abbe Henri Gregoire (who may have been a Mason)" Le Prince de Ligne Franc-Maçon by Paul Delsemme, Volume 10, Bon-A-Tirer
- ^ From Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons
- ^ a b "Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke of Orleans, better known in history by his revolutionary name of Egalite, meaning Equality, was the fifth Grand Master of the Masonic Order in France." ORLEANS, DUKE OF, Letter O, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FREEMASONRY AND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES, by ALBERT C. MACKEY M. D.
- ^ Hebert, Andre Chenier, Camille Desmoulins and many other "Girondins" of the French Revolution were Freemasons. The American Mercury Newspaper, 1941, Sven Lunden
- ^ "Paris, the Provinces and the French Revolution, By Alan Forrest, 2004, Oxford University Press, page 108
- ^ "Already in 1746 in the book La Franc-Maçonnerie, écrasée, an experienced ex-Mason, who, when a Mason, had visited many lodges in France and England, and consulted high Masons in official positions, described as the true Masonic programme one which, according to Boos, the historian of Freemasonry (p. 192), in an astonishing degree coincides with the programme of the great French Revolution of 1789." From Masonry (Freemasonry) in the Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ "Masonry, which prepared the Revolution of 1789, has the duty to continue its work", Circular of the Grand Orient of France,2 April 1889, Cited as Footnote 163 in the article Masonry (Freemasonry) in the Catholic Encyclopedia. The most recent edition (2002) does not contain any article on Freemasonry.
- ^ "Modern historians agree that the role of Masonry in the French Revolution has usually been exaggerated." New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967 ed, Volume 6, p. 135, McGraw-Hill, New York.
- ^ Page 153, The Freemasons: A History of the World's Most Powerful Secret Society, by Jasper Ridley, 2002
- ^ The Grand Orient of France and the three great lights
- ^ Grande Loge de France website
- ^ 1913 Les origines de la GLNF
- ^ page 79, The Search for Social Peace: Reform Legislation in France, 1890-1914, Judith F. Stone, 1985, SUNY Press
- ^ "In 1904, the Affaire des Fiches broke when it became known that the ministry had gathered information on candidates' political and religious views from the Masonic Grand Orient." Page 18, France and the Great War, 1914-1918, By Leonard V. Smith, Stéphane Audoin, Translated by Helen McPhail, Published 2003, Cambridge University Press
- ^ | Monuments, martyrdom, and the politics of religion in the French third republic
- ^ 1905 | Political Events, E Notes
- ^ "French Masonry and above all the Grand Orient of France has displayed the most systematic activity as the dominating political element in the French "Kulturkampf" since 1877." "Masonry (Freemasonry)". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company., it cites as footnote 158 the "Bulletin du Grand Orient de France 1890, 500 sq"
- ^ Page 162, Religion, Politics and Preferment in France Since 1890, Maurice Larkin, 1995, Cambridge University Press
- ^ "The 100 years of the 1905 law were celebrated in a dignified manner by over 12,000 demonstrators. It took the demonstrators over two hours to march between the Place de la Republique and Place Richelieu-Drouot... Led by the 50 first signatories of the Appeal to Laicité who had taken the initiative to call for the public demonstration, the procession was led by Marc Blondel, the freethinker and trade union leader. Then came 2000 Freemasons, mainly from the Grand Orient de France, all draped in their well known French colours. Associations like the Union des Athées, le Comité-Laïcité-République, le Mouvement Europe et Laïcité (CAEDEL), l'Union Rationaliste, l'Association du Chevalier de la Barre of Abbeville and of Paris, Laicité-Liberté, the Esperantist and others followed them." Report on a demonstration accompanying the Sixteenth World Humanist Congress. From Defending the 1905 French Law of Separation of Religion and State published by the International Humanist and Ethical Union.
- ^ Chapter 12, An Open Letter to Confused Catholics, by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre
- ^ Sarkozy tient à la séparation de l’Eglise et de l’Etat, CATHERINE COROLLER, 9 January 2008; cited by Christopher Hodapp, Freemasons For Dummies
- ^ France Urged to Skip Official Papal Honors, New York Times, April 8, 2005
