- Grand Orient de France
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.Relationship with Other Jurisdictions
The GOdF practices Traditional Liberal Masonry that is often an antithesis to the Anglo tradition of Freemasonry that is prevalent in many parts of the world, especially found in English speaking countries. The majority of Grand Lodges in these countries are not in amity with the GOdF and consider it "irregular". However, on June 27, 2008 a patent and covenant of amity were issued by the GOdF to the
Grand Orient of the United States , which is entirely American and English speaking.Atheism
The GOdF believes in freedom of conscience, which allows them to admit Atheists. On the other hand, those Grand Lodges following the English tradition require their members to profess a belief in deity. The Anglo-Masonic Jurisdictions withdrew recognition from the Grand Orient over this issue, and they now deem the GOdF "irregular".
Politics and Religion
Unlike the Anglo-Masonic Grand Lodges (especially those affiliated to the
United Grand Lodge of England ), the Grand Orient of France allows the discussion of political issues and religion in lodge. However, this does not mean that its members proselytize or preach their beliefs; the discussions are performed in an academic manner that serves to inform and open dialogue on various topics. The Grand Orient itself takes political positions on certain moral issues. It sees as one of its missions protecting the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity (this also being the motto of the French Republic and the GOdF). [ [http://www.azg.am/?lang=EN&num=2007042606 MASONS OF FRENCH "GREAT EAST" LODGE ADVOCATING THE RECOGNITION OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE] , Armenian Daily, 26/04/2007]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.Women freemason are received in lodge but are not initiated. In 2007 the Grand Orient rejected a proposal by Grand Master Jean-Michel Quillardet to discuss the membership of the lodges to women. [ [http://www.lost-in-france.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=489&Itemid=254 France's Freemasons say NON! to women] , Saturday,
8 September 2007 , Lost in France]History
Foundation
Freemasonry in France started when English merchants started lodges, with the first lodge being started in Dunkirk. [Freemasonry article, New Catholic Encyclopedia] The Grand Orient de France was founded in 1733. [ [http://www.godf.org/foreign/uk/histoire_uk.html History] , website of the Grand Orient de France]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 theAmerican Revolution and later in the intellectual ferment that preceded theFrench Revolution .Benjamin Franklin was a member of this Lodge when he was serving as liaison in Paris.Some notable French revolutionaries were Freemasons, including
Voltaire , [ [http://www.godf.org/foreign/uk/edito_uk.html Grand Orient de France] ]Condorcet ,"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." [http://iowamasons.com/249MasonicHistory.html History of Freemasonry] hosted by [http://www.iowamasons.com/249SiteMap.html Arcadia Lodge#249] , Ames, Iowa]Mirabeau ,"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 theAbbe Henri Gregoire (who may have been a Mason)" [http://www.bon-a-tirer.com/volume10/pd.html Le Prince de Ligne Franc-Maçon] by Paul Delsemme, Volume 10, Bon-A-Tirer]Danton ,From [http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/danton_g/danton_g.html Denslow, 10,000 Famous Freemasons] ] the Duke of Orléans,"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, [http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/mackeys_encyclopedia/o.htm Letter O] , ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FREEMASONRY AND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES, by ALBERT C. MACKEY M. D.] and Hébert. ["Hebert, Andre Chenier, Camille Desmoulins and many other "Girondins" of the French Revolution were Freemasons." [http://mill-valley.freemasonry.biz/amermerc.htm The American Mercury Newspaper, 1941] , Sven Lunden]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."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, [http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/mackeys_encyclopedia/o.htm Letter O] , ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FREEMASONRY AND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES, by ALBERT C. MACKEY M. D.] In some parts of France, theJacobin Club s 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." ["Paris, the Provinces and the French Revolution", By Alan Forrest, 2004,Oxford University Press , page 108]The "
Catholic Encyclopedia " alleges that the Masonic book "La Franc-Maçonnerie, écrasée" in 1746 predicted the program of theFrench Revolution , ["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 [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09771a.htm Masonry (Freemasonry)] in theCatholic Encyclopedia ] and claims to quote documents of the Grand Orient of France where Freemasonry claims credit for the French Revolution."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 [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09771a.htm Masonry (Freemasonry)] in the "Catholic Encyclopedia ". The most recent edition (2002) does not contain any article on Freemasonry.] However, the "New Catholic Encyclopedia" of 1967 says that modern historians see Freemasonry's role in the French Revolution as exaggerated. ["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.]In 1804 it merged with the rival Grand Lodge, the Rite Ecossais. [Page 153, "The Freemasons: A History of the World's Most Powerful Secret Society", by Jasper Ridley, 2002]
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.Fact|date=December 2007 Over time this has become a ceremonial function. Likewise in France
Napoleon III established a dictatorship over official French freemasonry, appointing first PrinceLucien Marat and later Marshal Magnan to closely supervise the craft and suppressing any hints of opposition to the regime.chism 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 aSupreme being - which theUnited Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) and related Lodges regarded as a Masonic Landmark - to be admitted. [ [http://www.masonicworld.com/education/files/artmay01/grande_lodge_of_france.htm The Grand Orient of France and the three great lights] ]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) [ [http://www.gldf.org/index.php. Grande Loge de France website] ] In addition, a third Grand Lodge, theGrande 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 Anglo Freemasons). [ [http://www.glnf.asso.fr/page.asp?id=65&mot=orient 1913 Les origines de la GLNF] ]Third Republic
The Grand Orient was instrumental in the founding of the left wing Republican Party. [page 79, The Search for Social Peace: Reform Legislation in France, 1890-1914, Judith F. Stone, 1985, SUNY Press]
The Grand Orient was implicated in the
Affaire Des Fiches , where it was accused of collecting ["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] and holding information on the religious and political affiliation of army officers, passed on by a member of the government, [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0422/is_n2_v77/ai_17239628/pg_5 | Monuments, martyrdom, and the politics of religion in the French third republic] ] having been collected with the intention of blocking practicing Catholics and non-Republicans from further advancement. [ [http://www.enotes.com/peoples-chronology/year-1905 1905 | Political Events] , E Notes]eparation of Church and State
The Grand Orient advanced the concept of
Laïcité , a French concept of theseparation of church and state and the absence of religious interference in government affairs. ["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." CathEncy|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09771a.htm|title=Masonry (Freemasonry), it cites as footnote 158 the "Bulletin du Grand Orient de France 1890, 500 sq"]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. [Page 162, Religion, Politics and Preferment in France Since 1890, Maurice Larkin, 1995, Cambridge University Press]
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