Grand Orient de France
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The Grand Orient de France (GOdF) is the oldest masonic organisation in Continental Europe, founded in 1733. Over time, it has established different ways of working from other masonic jurisdictions.
It was one of the first masonic orders to allow some of its lodges to become adoptive (i.e. to admit women). 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.
Napoleon III established an undisguised 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.
In 1877 it allowed those who had no belief in a Supreme being - which many other Freemasons regarded as a Masonic Landmark - to be admitted.
Other Grand Lodges withdrew recognition from the Grand Orient, which they now claimed was irregular. It was a schism in Freemasonry which continues to this day.
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.
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