Scottish Rite

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The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in the United States often omits the and), commonly known as simply the Scottish Rite, is one of several Rites of the worldwide fraternity known as Freemasonry. A Rite is a series of progressive degrees that are conferred by various Masonic organizations or bodies, each of which operates under the control of its own central authority. In the Scottish Rite the central authority is called a Supreme Council.

The thirty-three degrees of the Scottish Rite are conferred by several controlling bodies. The first of these is the Craft Lodge which confers the Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason degrees. Craft lodges operate under the authority of Grand Lodges, not the Scottish Rite. Although most lodges throughout the English-speaking world do not confer the Scottish Rite versions of the first three degrees, there are a handful of lodges in New Orleans and in several other major cities that have traditionally conferred the Scottish Rite version of these degrees.^[1][2]

The Scottish Rite is one of the appendant bodies of Freemasonry that a Master Mason may join for further exposure to the principles of Freemasonry. In England and some other countries, while the Scottish Rite is not accorded official recognition by the Grand Lodge, there is no prohibition against a Freemason electing to join it. In the United States, however, the Scottish Rite is officially recognized by Grand Lodges as an extension of the degrees of Freemasonry. The Scottish Rite builds upon the ethical teachings and philosophy offered in the craft lodge, or Blue Lodge, through dramatic presentation of the individual degrees.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Estienne Morin and his Rite of 25 Degrees 1.2 Henry Andrew Francken and his Manuscripts 1.3 Birth of the Scottish Rite 1.4 Albert Pike 1.5 Revisions after Pike 2 Organization 2.1 USA 2.1.1 Southern Jurisdiction 2.1.2 Northern Masonic Jurisdiction 2.2 Degree Structure in the United States 3 Scottish Rite outside of the United States 3.1 UK 3.2 Canada 4 Anti-Masonic Criticism of the Scottish Rite Rituals 5 See also 6 External links 6.1 Supported institutions 7 Notes

History

There are records of lodges conferring the degree of "Scots Master" or "Scotch Master" as early as 1733. A lodge at Temple Bar in London is the earliest such lodge on record. Other lodges include a lodge at Bath in 1735, and the French lodge, St. George de l'Observance No. 49 at Covent Garden in 1736. The references to these few occasions indicate that these were special meetings held for the purpose of performing unusual ceremonies, probably by visiting Freemasons.^[3]

The seed of the myth of Stuart Jacobite influence on the higher degrees may have been a careless and unsubstantiated remark made by John Noorthouk in the 1784 Book of Constitutions of the Premier Grand Lodge of London. It was stated, without support, that King Charles II (older brother and predecessor to James II) was made a Freemason in the Netherlands during the years of his exile (1649–60). However, there were no documented lodges of Freemasons on the continent during those years. The statement may have been made to flatter the fraternity by claiming membership for a previous monarch. This folly was then embellished upon by John Robison (1739–1805), a professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, in an anti-Masonic work published in 1797. The lack of scholarship exhibited by him in that work caused the Encyclopædia Britannica to denounce it.^[4]

A German bookseller and Freemason, living in Paris, working under the assumed name of C. Lenning, embellished the story further in a manuscript titled "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry" probably written between 1822 and 1828 at Leipzig. This manuscript was later revised and published by another German Freemason named Friedrich Mossdorf (1757–1830).^[5] Lenning stated that King James II of England, after his flight to France in 1688, resided at the Jesuit College of Clermont, where his followers fabricated certain degrees for the purpose of carrying out their political ends.^[6]

By the mid-19th century, the story had gained currency. The well-known English Masonic writer, Dr. George Oliver (1782–1867), in his "Historical Landmarks", 1846, carried the story forward and even claimed that King Charles II was active in his attendance at meetings—an obvious invention, for if it had been true, it would not have escaped the notice of the historians of the time. The story was then repeated by the French writers Jean-Baptiste Ragon (1771–1862) and Emmanuel Rebold, in their Masonic histories. Rebold's claim that the high degrees were created and practiced in Lodge Canongate Kilwinning ^[7] at Edinburgh are entirely false.^[8]

James II died in 1701 at the Palace of St. Germain en Laye, and was succeeded in his claims to the British throne by his son, James Francis Edward Stuart (1699–1766), the Chevalier St. George, better known as "the Old Pretender", but recognized as James III by the French King Louis XIV. He was succeeded in his claim by Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charles"), also known as "the Young Pretender", whose ultimate defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 effectively put an end to any serious hopes of the Stuarts regaining the British crowns.

The natural confusion between the names of the Jesuit College of Clermont, and the short-lived Masonic Chapter of Clermont, a Masonic body that controlled a few high degrees during its brief existence, only served to add fuel to the myth of Stuart Jacobite influence in Freemasonry's high degrees. However, the College and the Chapter had nothing to do with each other. The Jesuit College was located at Clermont, whereas the Masonic Chapter was not. Rather, it was named "Clermont" in honor of the French Grand Master, the Comte de Clermont (Louis de Bourbon, Comte de Clermont) (1709-1771), and not because of any connection with the Jesuit College of Clermont.^[9]

Estienne Morin and his Rite of 25 Degrees

A French trader, by the name of Estienne Morin, had been involved in high degree Masonry in Bordeaux since 1744 and, in 1747, founded an "Ecossais" lodge (Scots Masters Lodge) in the city of Le Cap Français, on the north coast of the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). Over the next decade, high degree Freemasonry continued to spread to the Western hemisphere as the high degree lodge at Bordeaux warranted or recognized seven Ecossais lodges there. In Paris in the year 1761, a Patent was issued to Estienne Morin, dated 27 August, creating him "Grand Inspector for all parts of the New World." This Patent was signed by officials of the Grand Lodge at Paris and appears to have originally granted him power over the craft lodges only, and not over the high, or "Ecossais", degree lodges. Later copies of this Patent appear to have been embellished, probably by Morin, to improve his position over the high degree lodges in the West Indies.^[10]

Early writers long believed that a "Rite of Perfection" consisting of 25 degrees, the highest being the "Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret", and being the predecessor of the Scottish Rite, had been formed in Paris by a high degree council calling itself "The Council of Emperors of the East and West". The title "Rite of Perfection" first appeared in the Preface to the "Grand Constitutions of 1786", the authority for which is now known to be faulty.^[11] It is now generally accepted that this Rite of twenty-five degrees was compiled by Estienne Morin and is more properly called "The Rite of the Royal Secret", or "Morin's Rite"^[12]. However, it was known as "The Order of Prince of the Royal Secret" by the founders of the Scottish Rite, who mentioned it in their "Circular throughout the two Hemispheres"^[13] or "Manifesto," issued on December 4, 1802.^[14]

Morin returned to the West Indies in 1762 or 1763, to Saint-Domingue, where, armed with his new Patent, he assumed powers to constitute lodges of all degrees, spreading the high degrees throughout the West Indies and North America. Morin stayed in Saint-Domingue until 1766 when he moved to Jamaica. At Kingston, Jamaica, in 1770, Morin created a "Grand Chapter" of his new Rite (the Grand Council of Jamaica). Morin died in 1771 and was buried in Kingston.^[15]

Henry Andrew Francken and his Manuscripts

The one man who was most important in assisting Morin in spreading the degrees in the New World was a naturalized French subject of Dutch origin named Henry Andrew Francken. Morin appointed him Deputy Grand Inspector General as one of his first acts after returning to the West Indies. Francken worked closely with Morin and, in 1771, produced a manuscript book giving the rituals for the 15th through the 25th degrees. Francken produced at least two more similar manuscripts, one in 1783 and another about 1786. The second and third of these manuscripts included all the degrees from the 4th through the 25th.^[16]

A Loge de Parfaits d' Écosse was formed on 12 April 1764 at New Orleans, becoming the first high degree lodge on the North American continent. Its life, however, was short, as the Treaty of Paris (1763) ceded New Orleans to Spain, and the Catholic Spanish crown had been historically hostile to Freemasonry. Documented Masonic activity ceased for a time and did not return to New Orleans until the 1790s.^[15]

Francken traveled to New York in 1767 where he granted a Patent, dated 26 December 1767, for the formation of a Lodge of Perfection at Albany, which was called "Ineffable Lodge of Perfection." This marked the first time the Degrees of Perfection (the 4th through the 14th) were conferred in one of the thirteen British colonies. This Patent, and the early minutes of the Lodge, are still extant and are in the archives of Supreme Council, Northern Jurisdiction.^[15] (The minutes of Ineffable Lodge of Perfection reveal that it ceased activity on December 5, 1774. It was revived by Giles Fonda Yates about 1820 or 1821, and came under authority of the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction until 1827, when it was transferred to the Supreme Council, Northern Jurisdiction.)

While in New York, Francken also communicated the degrees to Moses Michael Hays, a Jewish businessman, and appointed him a Deputy Inspector General. In 1781, Hays made eight Deputy Inspectors General, four of whom were later important in the establishment of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in South Carolina: Isaac Da Costa Sr., D.I.G. for South Carolina; Abraham Forst, D.I.G. for Virginia; Joseph M. Myers, D.I.G. for Maryland; and Barend M. Spitzer, D.I.G. for Georgia. Da Costa returned to Charleston, S.C., and established the "Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection" in February 1783. After Da Costa's death in November 1783, Hays appointed Myers as Da Costa's successor. Joined by Forst and Spitzer, Myers created additional high degree bodies in Charleston and, by 1801, the Charleston bodies were the only extant bodies of the Rite in North America.^[17]

Birth of the Scottish Rite

Although most of the thirty-three degrees of the Scottish Rite existed in parts of previous degree systems,^[18] the Scottish Rite did not come into being until the formation of the Mother Supreme Council at Charleston, South Carolina, in May 1801.

Isaac De Costa, one of the deputies commissioned to establish Morin's Rite of the Royal Secret in other countries, formed constituent bodies of the Rite in South Carolina in 1783, which eventually became, in 1801, The Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction. All regular Scottish Rite bodies today derive their heritage from this body.

Subsequently, other Supreme Councils were formed in Saint-Domingue in 1802, in France in 1804, in Italy in 1805, and in Spain in 1811.^[19]

On May 1, 1813, an officer from the Supreme Council at Charleston initiated several New York Masons into the Thirty-third Degree and organized a Supreme Council for the "Northern Masonic District and Jurisdiction." On May 21, 1814 this Supreme Council reopened and proceeded to "nominate, elect, appoint, install and proclaim in due, legal and ample form" the elected officers "as forming the second Grand and Supreme Council...." Finally, the charter of this organization (written January 7, 1815) added, "We think the Ratification ought to be dated 21st day May 5815."^[20]

Officially, the Supreme Council, 33°, N.M.J. dates itself from May 15, 1867. This was the date of the "Union of 1867," when it merged with the competing Cerneau "Supreme Council" in New York. The current Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States, was thus formed.^[21]

Albert Pike

Born in Boston, Massachusetts on December 29, 1809, Albert Pike is asserted within the Southern Jurisdiction as the man most responsible for the growth and success of the Scottish Rite from an obscure Masonic Rite in the mid-1800s to the international fraternity that it became. Pike received the 4th through the 32nd Degrees in March 1853 from Dr. Albert G. Mackey, in Charleston, S.C., and was appointed Deputy Inspector for Arkansas that same year.

At this point, the degrees were in a rudimentary form, and often only included a brief history and legend of each degree as well as other brief details which usually lacked a workable ritual for their conferral. In 1855, the Supreme Council appointed a committee to prepare and compile rituals for the 4th through the 32nd Degrees. That committee was composed of Albert G. Mackey, John H. Honour, William S. Rockwell, Claude P. Samory, and Albert Pike. Of these five committee members, Pike did all the work of the committee.

In 1857 Pike completed his first revision of the 4°-32° ritual, and printed 100 copies. This revision, which Mackey dubbed the "Magnum Opus" was never adopted by the Supreme Council. According to Arturo de Hoyos, the Scottish Rite's Grand Historian, the Magnum Opus became the basis for future ritual revisions^[22].

In March 1858, Pike was elected a member of the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, and in January 1859 he became its Grand Commander. The American Civil War interrupted his work on the Scottish Rite rituals. About 1870 he, and the Supreme Council, moved to Washington, DC, and in 1884 his revision of the rituals was complete.

Scottish Rite Grand Archivist and Grand Historian de Hoyos^[23] created the following chart of Pike's ritual revisions:

Degrees	When Revised
1°-3°	1872
4°-14°	1861, 1870, 1883
15°-16°	1861, 1870, 1882
17°-18°	1861, 1870
19°-30°	1867, 1879, 1883
31°-32°	1867, 1879, 1883
33°	1857, 1867, 1868, 1880 (manuscripts only)

Pike also wrote lectures for all the degrees which were published in 1871 under the title Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.^[24].

Revisions after Pike

In 2000 the Southern Jurisdiction revised its ritual. The current ritual is based upon Pike's, but with some significant differences.

Organization

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in each country is governed by a Supreme Council. There is no international governing body — each Supreme Council in each country is sovereign unto itself in its own jurisdiction.

USA

In the United States of America there are two Supreme Councils: one in Washington, D.C. (which controls the Southern Jurisdiction), and one in Lexington, Massachusetts (which controls the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction). They each have particular characteristics that make them different.

Southern Jurisdiction

Based in Washington, D.C., the Southern Jurisdiction (often referred to as the "Mother Supreme Council of the World") was founded in Charleston, South Carolina in 1801. It oversees the Scottish Rite in 35 states, which are referred to as Orients, and local bodies, which are called Valleys.^[25][26][27]

In the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, the Supreme Council consists of no more than 33 members, and is presided over by a Grand Commander. Other members of the Supreme Council are called "Sovereign Grand Inspectors General" (S.G.I.G.), and each is the head of the Rite in his respective Orient (or state). Other heads of the various Orients who are not members of the Supreme Council are called "Deputies of the Supreme Council."

Northern Masonic Jurisdiction

The Lexington, Massachusetts-based Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, formed in 1813, oversees the bodies in fifteen states: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Vermont. It uses only the term Valley.^[28] Each Valley has up to four Scottish Rite bodies, and each body confers a set of degrees.

In the Northern Jurisdiction, the Supreme Council consists of no more than 66 members. All members of the Supreme Council are designated Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, but the head of the Rite in each Valley of the Northern Jurisdiction is called a "Deputy of the Supreme Council."

Degree Structure in the United States

Attainment of the third Masonic degree, that of a Master Mason, represents the attainment of the highest rank in all of Masonry. Additional degrees are sometimes referred to as appendant degrees, even where the degree numbering might imply a hierarchy. They represent a lateral movement in Masonic Education rather than an upward movement, and are degrees of instruction rather than rank.

In 2000, the Southern Masonic Jurisdiction completed a revision of its ritual scripts. In 2004, the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction rewrote and reorganized its degrees.^[29] Further changes have occurred in 2006.^[30] The current titles of the degrees and their arrangement in the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States remains substantially unchanged from the beginning. The list of degrees for the Supreme Councils of Australia, England and Wales, and most other jurisdictions agrees with that of the Southern Jurisdiction of the U.S. However, the list of degrees for the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States is now somewhat different and is given in the table below. The list of degrees of the Supreme Council of Canada reflects a mixture of the two, with some unique titles as well:

Degree Number	Southern Jurisdiction[31]	Northern Jurisdiction[32]
4°	Secret Master	Master Traveler
5°	Perfect Master
6°	Intimate Secretary	Master of the Brazen Serpent
7°	Provost and Judge
8°	Intendant of the Building
9°	Elu of the Nine	Master of the Temple
10°	Elu of the Fifteen	Master Elect[33]
11°	Elu of the Twelve	Sublime Master Elected
12°	Master Architect	Grand Master Architect
13°	Royal Arch of Solomon	Master of the Ninth Arch
14°	Perfect Elu	Grand Elect Mason
15°	Knight of the East, or Knight of the Sword, or Knight of the Eagle	Knight of the East, or Knight of the Sword
16°	Prince of Jerusalem
17°	Knight of the East and West
18°	Knight Rose Croix	Knight of the Rose Croix de Heredom Council of Kadosh
19°	Grand Pontiff
20°	Master of the Symbolic Lodge	Master ad Vitam
21°	Noachite, or Prussian Knight	Patriarch Noachite
22°	Knight of the Royal Axe, or Prince of Libanus	Prince of Libanus
23°	Chief of the Tabernacle
24°	Prince of the Tabernacle	Brother of the Forest
25°	Knight of the Brazen Serpent	Master of Achievement
26°	Prince of Mercy, or Scottish Trinitarian	Friend and Brother Eternal[34]
27°	Knight of the Sun, or Prince Adept	Knight of Jerusalem
28°	Knight Commander of the Temple	Knight of the Sun, or Prince Adept
29°	Scottish Knight of Saint Andrew	Knight of Saint Andrew
30°	Knight Kadosh, or Knight of the White and Black Eagle	Grand Inspector
31°	Inspector Inquisitor	Knight Aspirant
32°	Master of the Royal Secret	Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret
33°	Inspector General

In the United States, members of the Scottish Rite can be elected to receive the 33° by the Supreme Council. It is conferred on members who have made major contributions to society or to Masonry in general. In the Southern Jurisdiction, a member who has been a 32° Scottish Rite Mason for 46 months or more is eligible to be elected to receive the "rank and decoration" of Knight Commander of the Court of Honour (K.C.C.H.) in recognition of outstanding service. After 46 months as a K.C.C.H. he is then eligible to be elected to the 33rd degree.^[35] In the Northern Jurisdiction, there is only one 46-month requirement for eligibility to receive the 33rd degree, and while there is a Meritorious Service Award (as well as a Distinguished Service Award), they are not required intermediate steps towards the 33°. A recipient of the 33rd Degree is an honorary member of the Supreme Council and is therefore called an "Inspector General Honorary." However, those who are appointed Deputies of the Supreme Council that are later elected to membership on the Supreme Council are then designated "Sovereign Grand Inspectors General." In the Northern Jurisdiction a recipient of the 33rd Degree is an honorary member of the Supreme Council, and all members are referred to as a "Sovereign Grand Inspectors General."

Scottish Rite outside of the United States

UK

In England and Wales, whose Supreme Council was warranted by that of the Northern Jurisdiction of the USA (in 1845)^[36], the Rite is known colloquially as the "Rose Croix" or more formally as "The Ancient and Accepted Rite for England and Wales and its Districts and Chapters Overseas" (continental European jurisdictions retain the "Écossais"). The only local bodies are Rose Croix Chapters; many degrees are conferred in name only, and degrees beyond the 18° are conferred only by the Supreme Council itself.

In England, the candidate is perfected in the 18th degree with the preceding degrees awarded in name only. Continuing to the 30th degree is restricted to those who have served in the chair of the Chapter. Elevation beyond the 30th degree is as in Scotland.

In Scotland, candidates are perfected in the 18th degree, with the preceding degrees awarded in name only. A minimum of a two-year interval is required before continuing to the 30th degree, again with the intervening degrees awarded by name only. Elevation beyond that is by invitation only, and numbers are severely restricted.

Canada

In Canada, whose Supreme Council was warranted in 1874 by that of England and Wales, the Rite is known as Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The council is called "Supreme Council 33° Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of Canada".

Anti-Masonic Criticism of the Scottish Rite Rituals

In 1856 Albert Pike revised and re-issued the rituals for use in the Southern Jurisdiction, also illustrating his interpretations of his revised rituals in Morals and Dogma. These rituals and the interpretation of them contained in Morals and Dogma have been the focus of much of the criticism of Freemasonry as a whole, despite the factual inaccuracies of that criticism. Pike's final revision of the ritual is no longer in use in the Southern Jurisdiction. Rather, the Southern Jurisdiction ritual today is a ritual that has been revised many times by various ritual committees and other contributors. The Northern Jurisdiction and other Supreme Councils also use rituals that represent many similar revisions and additions.

See also

• Masonic appendant bodies
• Esotericism
• Grand College of Rites

External links

• Supreme Council 33°, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction
• Supreme Council 33°, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, USA
• Scottish Rite of Canada, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in Canada

Supported institutions

• Links to RiteCare Clinics which provide diagnostic evaluation and treatment of speech and language disorders, as well as learning disabilities in the Southern Jurisdiction, USA
• Masonic Learning Centers for Children, Inc. which provide tutoring for children with dyslexia in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction
• Learning Centres for Children in Canada
• Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, a pediatric orthopedic hospital in Dallas, Texas
• Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite

Notes