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HistoricalnoteontheFrenchRite
The term 'French Rite' refers to the Rite consisting of the rituals and regulations developed
in the 1780s and officially adopted by the Grand Orient of France in 1785 for
the three 'blue' or 'symbolic' degrees and in 1787 for the higher degrees. These are
documents – essentially the rituals, transcribed in a form more suitable for use by
Lodges and Chapters of today - which are the basis of the current practice of the Rite
French, at the GLNF regarding blue ranks, and in the Grand Chapitre Français
regarding the higher ranks. Placing ourselves from a historical perspective, we
let's propose to talk about this Rite as we have defined it from this point of view, on the one hand in
presenting its origins, and on the other hand specifying, based on the study of these, its place
in current French Freemasonry.

An important fact that we want to emphasize from the outset is the following.
the rituals we just talked about only existed and were disseminated in the 18th century under
handwritten form. In 1801 they were printed under the title of Regulator of the Mason for the
blue grades and below that of the Regulator of the Freemason Knights for the high grades. It in
It turns out that the French Rite is often characterized, especially regarding the degrees.
blues, like the Rite of the Regulator of the Mason of 1801. This name is unfortunate, in
what it seems to indicate is that the Rite in question originates only in 1801. In
reality, as we said at the beginning, dates back to the 1780s. It is difficult to attribute it to him
assign a perfectly determined date, because the development of rituals and their adoption
by the Grand Orient of France constitute a process that has taken place over several years.
We must remember the two dates I mentioned above for their final adoption by the
Grand Orient: 1785 for the blue degrees, 1787 for the high degrees. This while being aware
that this permanent adoption was the culmination of a process of several years on
which we will provide more details on in the continuation of this presentation.

It should be noted, on the other hand, that the French Rite is sometimes attributed an origin
prior to 1780. For example, we have heard it said that the French Rite existed
already around 1760. Such statements arise from a confusion about what is meant by
"French Rite". The only precise definition that can be given of this Rite is the one that we
given at the beginning of this note, and it situates its historical origin in the years
1780, not before. Of course, when it was developed in those years, this Rite was not
a creation ex nihilo. Before 1780, there was a French Masonic practice that had some
relatively homogeneous characters, and the French Rite as we have defined it is
deeply rooted in this previous practice. Regarding more
particularly the high degrees, all the degrees that have been adopted as high degrees of
French Rite existed before 1780, and some of them before 1760, but the French Rite has
integrate these grades into a particular system that can only be referred to as 'Rite'
French. The same grades have been integrated, for example, although in different versions.
or less different from those of the French Rite, in the system of the Ancient Scottish Rite and
Accepted.

Generally speaking, we believe we can say that none of the Rites practiced
today cannot claim to have a historical origin prior to 1780. On the other hand, all
these rites are more or less strongly rooted in traditions prior to 1780, of which
Each of them constitutes a particular implementation. However, a Rite cannot be defined by
the traditions in which it is rooted, as if these traditions were its own property,
while sharing them with other Rites that implement them in a different way

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of his. The definition of a Rite necessarily includes the particular way in which it has been put
implements the oldest traditions that are more or less common to others, and
one cannot assign it a historical origin prior to the time when this implementation
a specific one was carried out. Thus, let us emphasize it again before closing this discussion, the origin
The history of the French Rite must be situated in the 1780s, neither earlier nor later.
which moreover is enough to make it one of the oldest Rites currently practiced, since
No rite currently practiced can claim an older historical origin.

Let us now make some remarks on the term "French Rite". This
The name does not date back to the historical origin of the Rite as we have just specified.
Even less does it go back, of course, to the origins of French Freemasonry. It
does not appear, in fact, until the last years of the eighteenth century. From this time onwards,
and throughout the 19th century, it designates the "French Rite" as we have defined it,
that is to say the system adopted by the Grand Orient of France on the dates we mentioned.
However, the Grand Orient itself did not originally name its system 'Rite'
French". This designation never appears either in the original rituals and regulations, nor
in the deliberations during which these rituals and regulations were approved. The most
the old occurrence that we knew of the name "French Rite" is found in
a minutes of the deliberation of the Administration Chamber of the Grand Orient dated
December 25, 1799, where it is a matter of a lodge constituted in the east of New York 'under the
French rite." However, this designation was not yet well established at that time,
since another resolution, from March 24, 1800, still simply speaks of the 'system of
Grand Orient

In fact, the name appears to have been forged in opposition to that of 'Rite.
Scottish.' The term 'Scottish' originally refers to the high grades: it first qualified
a certain class of high ranks. Subsequently, its meaning has sometimes been extended to refer to -
as well as the term 'Ecossisme' - the entirety of the high degree Freemasonry. And finally,
as there was no strict separation in the 18th century that exists today between high
grades and blue grades, the term 'Scottish' has come to be applied by some
Rights to their entire system, including the blue grades. This is how it existed in
the final years of the Ancien Régime, a system that is no longer practiced today in
France1et qui s’intitulait officiellement Rite Ecossais Philosophique – appellation qui
appears in Avignon documents from the 1780s, as this Rite had been developed in
Avignon. This Rite, as it was practiced in those years, differed little from that of
Grand Orient in the blue degrees, it differed mainly in the higher degrees. Regarding this
concerning the Rite that we call 'Rectified Scottish Rite', it also existed in the
1780s, but it was not yet called that, it was only called 'Rectified Rite'.
However, it was governed, including in its blue grades, by bodies that
were called 'Scottish Directories', which allowed for the conception of this Rite as being
"Scottish" in all its ranks, and explains why it was ultimately called 'Rite'.
"Scottish Rectified". Thus, in the presence of Rites that were titled "Scottish" or were suitable to be
designed as such, we understand that the system of the Grand Orient of France has been called
French2 But this is not an official designation that would have been given to it from
The origin is an accidental designation that gradually established itself in usage.

1
A version of its blue degrees dating back to the early 19th century is practiced in some Belgian lodges.
2 We have not talked here about the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite because it did not arrive in France, coming from...
from America, that at the beginning of the 19th century. Moreover, it was originally only a system of high ranks, although it
quickly endowed, after his arrival in France, with blue rituals that were his own.

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The Rituals officially adopted by the Grand Orient of France in 1785 and 1787
were printed, as we said, only in 1801, but there are several manuscripts of it
prior to the Revolution. In the last twenty years, some of these
manuscripts have been published in facsimile. For the blue grades first, these rituals were not
themselves that the result of the standardization and codification of lodge practices
French, taking here the word 'French' in its geographical and national sense and not in
reference to any Rite. These practices, prior to 1780, are quite well known to us.
known from various sources. Firstly, by disclosures, the oldest of which (the
the disclosure of police lieutenant Hérault dates back to 1737. These disclosures often have a
commercial character, which may raise doubts about their authenticity, but they can be cross-checked
with a second class of sources, which are the trials brought by the Inquisition, in different
countries (Portugal, Italy), to Masons who had been initiated and had practiced Masonry in
France. From these two types of sources, which are found to be coherent with each other, one can...
to form a fairly accurate idea of the Masonic practice of French lodges in the 1740s.
A little later, we have rituals that come from the lodges themselves and which therefore testify.
directly from their practice, for example the ritual given by a manuscript from the library of the
City of Lyon titled 'Apprentice Degree of the Lodges of Lyon in 1772', and many others
which are generally not dated accurately. We also have in the books
of the architecture of the Loges, if not detailed reports of the rituals of the ceremonies, of the
fewer allusions to the ritual that help to get an idea of the Masonic practice.

From all these sources, we can finally come to know what it was like.
general practice of French lodges before the elaboration of the rituals of the French Rite, practice
which served as the backdrop for this development and provided it with its materials. Three conclusions
stand out and must be emphasized.

1) The French ritual practice was, as we have already said, relatively homogeneous. This
homogeneity was not uniformity. It did not exclude differences from one lodge to another,
differences whose origin we will discuss later. But nothing allows us to attribute to
such differences the meaning of characteristic differences of Rites. Differences that
today appear to us as characteristics of Rites, for example the different order
words of the first and second degrees did not exist at that time in Freemasonry
French, and the differences that existed were not perceived that way. In fact, the notion of
Different rites in the blue degrees do not appear in the documents of the time, it
only appears for the high ranks.

It is important to emphasize this essential unity of French ritual practice.

level of blue degrees, because some historians consider that French Masonry
the 18th century was divided into two major currents, one that is characterized as
"Hanoverian," which would be linked to the Grand Lodge of England of 1717, the other which would be
independent of it, even in opposition to it, and which is characterized as
"stuartist" because it would be related to the environment of Stuartist emigrants. The first current would be
liberal and 'progressive', the latter, authoritarian and conservative. Without wanting to delve into
the examination of the complex questions raised by this conception, let's say that nothing in our
sources do not indicate that there were two Rites that would have corresponded to these currents. It is true
that there were lodges established by the Grand Lodge of England in 1717 and others that were
born completely independently of her and had often been founded by some
stuartist emigrants, but nothing indicates that there were any differences in ritual practice
characteristics of these two types of lodges. On the contrary, as far as our sources allow us
allowed to judge, they all practiced, in substance, the same Freemasonry.

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This practice common to French Masonry was in accordance with that of the
Grand English Lodge of 1717, both in the Lodges that had been established by it and
in others. Here, there is an opposition that is certainly relevant and must be taken
in account, it is that of the two English Grand Lodges, called the 'Moderns' and the
"Ancients," whose rivalry marked the history of English Freemasonry throughout the
second half of the 18th century, and even in the early 19th until their union in 1813.
The first of these two Grand Lodges is that of 1717. The second is the one that was established.
in 1753 and who reproached the first for having altered the ancient customs of Masonry. The
Members of the Grand Lodge of 1753 called 'Moderns', in derision, those of the Grand
Lodge of 1717, and called themselves ‘Ancients’ to express their claim to be
faithful to ancient customs. We know the main points of ritual on which the
the practice of the 'Ancients' differed from that of the 'Moderns', the most remarkable being
the order of words of the first and second grades, and we observe in our sources that on
All these points of French practice coincided with those of the 'Moderns'. The second
the conclusion is therefore that not only did French Masonry present a clear
homogeneity, but that in its common foundation it was in agreement with practice
ritual of the "Moderns".

One could think that this is why the French Rite is also called
'Modern Rite'. We wouldn't be entirely wrong, but things are more complicated than
And we will see the true origin of this name shortly.

3) Despite this essential unity, the ritual practice of French Freemasonry showed,
we admitted it, variations between the lodges. These variations were inevitably
appear as soon as there were no official rituals. The first Grand Lodge of
France seems to have never had one, and the Grand Orient of France only had one in 1785.
(let's remember that we are talking about the blue grades here).

The origin of these variations is not always clear. Let us give two examples. The
The first will be that of the acclamation. There are two acclamations found in French Freemasonry.
VivatetHouzzai (the latter variously spelled according to sources, but this
spelling variation is meaningless). The first is evidenced, for example, in the ritual
from the lodges of Lyon from 1772 to the opening of the works, and earlier, but for the lodge of
table only, in disclosures from the 1740s like The Secret of the Freemasons
Abbé Pérau (1744). It is this acclamation that was retained by the Grand Orient of France in
his ritual from 1785. The acclamation Houzzai, used today by the Ancient Scottish Rite and
Accepted3 , appears in the 1738 edition of Anderson's Constitutions (in the form huzzah)4 .
In France, it appears in a revelation from 1751 (The Exposed Mason) at the table lodge.
It was used by the Scottish Mother Lodge of Marseille, and by the Lodges that derived from it. It is
possibly that it was originally a peculiarity (in France) of the Scottish Mother Lodge
Marseille, but it is not proven.

The second example is that of the arrangement of the candlesticks. The sources
the oldest French texts mention three candlesticks arranged "in a triangle", but the
texts do not specify the situation of this triangle in relation to the lodge. The iconography leaves
also shows variations. The arrangement that is the oldest and most frequently

3
It is also found in the French Rite, but only in the higher degrees.
4
It actually seems that it is nothing more than another form of hurrah.

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attested is that which the French Rite as we practice it has preserved5 , in accordance with
an engraving that illustrates the Mason Regulator of 1801. But the layout that one finds
the Scottish Rectified Rite and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is also attested in some
lodge tables and in certain rituals6 Other provisions are also attested by
certain engravings. These candlesticks originally had a symbolic meaning
precise, which seems to have been somewhat overlooked in the 1780s: they
represented the Sun, the Moon, and the Master of the Lodge. We do not know the origin of the variations.
from the position that we observe. In any case, it does not appear, as we have said,
that they have been perceived as characteristic differences of Rites.

But the main consequence of the absence of official rituals, and at the same time the
the main source of variations in lodge practices has been the freedom that they have had
rituals of evolution. Primitive rituals were relatively simple compared to the state in
which we see now, which is the result of this evolution. While maintaining the
same primitive core, they have been considerably developed and enriched. The development
the oldest apparently consists of the three journeys that are made for the recipient
around the lodge during the initiation. These three journeys are confirmed as early as the Secret of the Franks.
Masons of Abbot Pérau (1744). They are not found in English Freemasonry, nor
Scottish (in the geographical sense of the term), and nothing in the Anglo-Scottish sources indicates
that they were never found there. This suggests that they were not there either.
more in the primitive French Masonry, and that they represent a development
properly French.

Other developments came later, for example the trials by water and
by fire. They were not yet practiced in Lyon in 1772, where people were content with the three
voyages in their most stripped-down form, and the same applies to the oldest versions
of the Rectified Scottish Rite (1778 and 1785). It is currently the French Rite that retains these
trials in their oldest form, where there is only water and fire. The Scottish Rite
Corrected in its latest version (1787) includes three trials by fire, water, and earth,
which convey a meaning specific to the doctrine of this Rite7 The Ancient Scottish Rite and
Accepted, for its part, added air and earth to water and fire, thus giving these trials
an alchemical meaning that they did not originally have. But this last addition emerges
from the period we are considering, while the one that appears in the latest version of
Scottish Rite Rectified is from the extreme end of the period.8 .

We can still mention other developments, such as the blood test and that of
goblet of bitterness. One also finds in certain rituals a test of the red-hot iron, which the
The Grand Orient of France did not include it in its ritual of 1785, judging it probably
dangerous or overly dramatic. All these innovations contributed to the
diversification of the ritual practice, to the extent that they were adopted by some
logs and not by others.

5
Sud-ouest [soleil], nord-est [lune], sud-est [maître de la loge].
6
Southeast, southwest, northwest.
7
According to which there are only three elements, in accordance with the doctrine of Martinez de Pasqually.
8
When we said that the variations in ritual practice within French Freemasonry did not
pas la signification de caractéristiques de Rite, cela ne s’applique pas au Rite Ecossais Rectifié comparé au Rite
French. But the development of the Rectified Scottish Rite is contemporary with that of the French Rite, even if its
the very first version (1778) is slightly earlier than the year 1780 that we have taken as the year-
reference. What we have said remains valid for the entire period prior to 1780.

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Depuis les années 1770,un besoin de mise en ordre et d’uniformisationse faisait

eagerly feel, and many lodges were calling for the Grand Orient to draft rituals
officials. For the blue grades, their development was largely the work of a group of
Brethren who belonged to the Chamber of Degrees of the Grand Orient of France, and whose most
known is Roëttiers de Montaleau. They worked there during the year 1783, then their work
was subjected to various reviews and corrections before being finally approved in 1785,
as we said. The preamble of the apprentice ritual, which applies to all three
grades, clearly indicate what need this writing was addressing:

Another point, no less important, is the long-desired uniformity in

the way to proceed with the initiation. Fueled by these principles, the Grand Orient of France has
finally busy with the writing of a protocol for initiation to the first three degrees, or grades
symbolic. He believed it necessary to bring Masonry back to these ancient usages that some
innovators tried to alter and restore these early and important initiations in their
antique and respectable purity. The lodges of its correspondence must conform to it point by point.
to the point, in order not to offer the traveling Masons such a revolting diversity anymore as
contrary to the true principles of Freemasonry.

It is noted that in this text, the intention of standardization is accompanied by a

intention of returning to the "old customs" and their "ancient and respectable purity." This must
to be taken with a grain of salt. If there is in the 1785 ritual an authentic effort of sobriety in
the ceremonies, it is in no way the restoration of the initiation ritual as it was
In the early days of Freemasonry in France. The innovations were sorted, but not all.
eliminated; on the contrary, several of them have been retained and officialized, as we
You see enough from the examples we have given.

This organization for sorting and standardization was not the first of its kind, and it
is not isolated in the French Freemasonry of the 1780s. It had at least one precedent
outside the Grand Orient. It is that of the Mother Scottish Lodge of Marseille, of which we know
that she had adopted since 1774 official rituals that she communicated to the lodges to which she
granted constitutions, with the obligation for these lodges to conform to these rituals9 We
We have also mentioned the ritual entitled 'Apprentice Degree of the Lodges of Lyon in 1772'.
It might be, although it is not certain, the official ritual of the Grand Lodge of Masters.
Regulars of Lyon10 It therefore seems – and it is assured in the case of the Scottish Mother Lodge of
Marseille - that only provincial Masonic authorities had preceded the Grand Orient in its
company. On the other hand, in the 1780s, there is a contemporary and parallel company to that one.
Yes, and whose result has reached us: it is the one that produced the rituals of the Rectified Scottish Rite.
The elaboration of the rituals of the French Rite is therefore situated within a broader movement, which
corresponded to a necessity felt everywhere in French Freemasonry.

From this historical study, we can specify the place of the French Rite, if not in
the whole of Freemasonry practiced in the world, at least in that which is practiced in
France.

9
As far as we know, these rituals have not been passed down to us. Rituals copied in 1812, coming from a
La Ciotat Lodge has been published as being that of the Mother Scottish Lodge of Marseille, but this
Identification is not guaranteed and seems to be very questionable.
10
This one, founded in 1760 with Jean Baptiste Willermoz among its founders, governed or claimed to govern the
Lodges of Lyon like the Grand Lodge of France (subsequently imitated in this by the Grand Orient of France)
claimed to govern all the lodges of the kingdom. The Grand Lodge of Regular Masters of Lyon stood for
independent of the Grand Lodge of France, which it only recognized the authority over the lodges of Paris.

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The best way to characterize the place of the French Rite is to say that it is the
the most faithful representative, among the rites currently practiced in France, of the practice
community of French Masonry of the 18th century. This results from what we have
already said, namely that it is nothing more than the result of an effort to organize and
of the standardization of this practice. But to better understand the scope of what
we say, we must compare the French Rite to two other Rites that, like it, were born in
France and those who are like him, but in various ways, heirs of French Freemasonry
of the eighteenth century.

The first is the Rectified Scottish Rite, of which we said it was the result
of a contemporary company parallel to that of the Grand Orient. The Rectified Scottish Rite
was born, like the French Rite, within the French Freemasonry of the 18th century, and from this
Indeed, it shares with the French Rite many characteristics that they derive from this source.
community. At the same time, it differs from it by other characteristics, some of which stand out
in the eyes of any Mason familiar with one of the two Rites who visits a lodge of the other,
but others only reveal themselves upon closer examination. These differences are due to the fact
that the Scottish Rectified Rite has undergone particular influences that have superimposed themselves on
common fund of French Freemasonry, influences from which the French Rite has remained exempt.
One of these influences is that of the German Strict Observance, to which this Rite is indebted.
First his name (the first name of the Strict Observance was 'Rectified Masonry').
This is where some characteristic symbols of the Rectified Scottish Rite come from and
strangers to the common foundation of French Freemasonry, for example the symbol Adhuc Stat
apprentice grade. The second of these influences is that of the doctrine of Martinez of
Pasqually, without which many details of the ritual and symbolism of the Rite remain
indecipherable. This not only applies to details that are completely foreign
in the common fund of French Freemasonry. When one closely studies the rituals and
instructions of the Rectified Scottish Rite, one realizes that many details that come from
these common grounds have been subtly reworked, either in themselves or by the context in
which they are placed, in order to acquire a new meaning, in relation to the
particular doctrine of the Rite. The Rectified Scottish Rite cannot therefore be considered as
a faithful representative of the common French Freemasonry of the 18th century. It is located at
the inside of it, but it constitutes an exception, endowed with a very strong specificity.

The second Rite to which it is instructive to compare the French Rite is the Rite
Ancient and Accepted Scottish. This we have said, came from America at the beginning of the 19th century.
century, but it was originally just a system of high ranks. After its arrival in France,
he equipped himself with symbolic ranks that were his own. These ranks were printed in
a work that complements the Regulator of the Mason of 1801, it is the Guide for Masons
Scottish. What characterizes the symbolic degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is
less the designation of 'Scottish' than what they owe to the 'Ancients' Freemasonry, to
where we discussed earlier the opposition between the so-called 'Ancients' Grand Lodge.
and of the Grand Lodge called the 'Moderns'. In fact, these degrees are essentially a
synthesis of two types of elements. The first are taken from French Freemasonry of
18th century, and for that reason they are common to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite and to the Rite
French. The others are borrowed from the 'Ancients' Masonry, and through these elements
the two Rites differ, because the French Freemasonry of the 18th century was, like us
we said so, in accordance with the Freemasonry of the 'Moderns'. That is why, in particular, that
the two Rites differ in the order of the words of the first and second degrees and on the place
supervisors in the lodge.

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We hope that through these comparisons we will clearly understand in what ways we ...
can say, as we have stated without any spirit of controversy, that the French Rite is the
the most faithful representative, among the Rites currently practiced in France, of the practice
commune of French Masonry from the 18th century. This responds, we believe, to a
A question that is often asked: what is the specificity of the French Rite? To this
We willingly answer that the specificity of the French Rite is to have none.
If indeed he has one, it is none other than that which consists in being representative of a certain
common Masonic trunk, from which other branches have differentiated like shoots
rites endowed with distinctive characteristics.

The comparison with the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite also allows us
to clarify a point that we touched upon, but left unresolved: that of
the origin of the name 'Modern Rite'. This name, just like that of 'Rite
French was not chosen by the founders of the Rite; it only came in later.
In fact, it was initially given, from the outside, to the French Rite, by the Masons of the Rite.
Ancient and Accepted Scottish, which in imitation of the Grand Lodge of the 'Ancients',
they called their own Rite 'Ancient Rite' and referred to the French Rite as 'Modern Rite'.
This is well outlined in the Guide for Scottish Masons, in which the Venerable, after having
instruct the new initiate on the words, signs, and touches of the apprentice degree, he said:

My Brother, Freemasonry is known throughout the universe, although it is divided into

two Rites11 which we distinguish by Ancient Rite and Modern Rite. Nevertheless, they rest on the
same foundations, based on the same principles. We work under the ancient Rite, or Scottish.12 ,
because he is the purest essence of Masonry, because he is the same who was given to us
transmitted by the first founders of the Order13 Here are currently the words, signs and
touches of the Modern Rite […]

Despite the controversial intention it carried, this attachment of the French Rite to the
The Grand Lodge of England known as the 'Moderns' was not without foundation in that it
as we said, the codified French ritual practice in the ritual of 1785 and in the
The Macon Regulator of 1801 was in accordance with that of this Grand Lodge, without that for
neither has this one played an exclusive role, nor even a predominant one, in the introduction of the
Masonry in France. The Masons of the French Rite, although aware of the intention
pejorative that had presided over its introduction, could not prevent the success it experienced
the term 'Moderns', and had to accommodate it, without losing a
opportunity to assert that the "Modern" Rite was not any less ancient than the "Ancient" Rite.
As for us, without entering into this quarrel, we can only note that the name
the "Modern Rite" and the "French Rite" quickly imposed themselves as
synonyms of each other, during the first or the first two decades of
19th century. It would be interesting to study more precisely the process by which they
have imposed themselves, but we are not able to do so at the moment.

11
This spelling was still common in the early 19th century.
12
This equivalence of the terms 'former' and 'Scottish' is completely arbitrary, the Grand Lodge
the English of the 'Ancients' never qualifying as 'Scottish' nor having ever claimed anything from
Scottish.
13
Here we recognize the claim of the 'Ancients' to remain faithful to the altered old customs of Freemasonry,
according to them, by the 'Moderns'.

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It should be noted that the term 'Modern Rite' even extended to the system of
high degrees of the French Rite, whereas in this case, contrary to what happens for the
blue degrees, it no longer has the slightest shadow of a historical justification. The high degrees of the Rite
The French have nothing to do with it, no more than those of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, with the
great Lodge of the 'Moderns', which did not practice high grades. Some and others are
taken from the common fund of high degrees that flourished in France in the 18th century.

ThehistoryoftheoriginofthehighdegreesoftheFrenchRitehasbeenverywelstudiedbyPiereMolier.
14
[Link]
[Link] onlyreminditof
[Link],created
in1782withthespecificmissionofdevelopingthesystemofhigherdegreesintendedtobecomethesystem
[Link]
[Link],inthebluedegrees,thiswork
hadinvolvedaselectionaspectamongtheritualdevelopmentsthathadoccurredduringa
half-centuryofFrenchMasonry(forexample,sometrialsabittoogrand-guignolesque
hadbeenrejected).Thisaspectofselectionwasevenmorepronouncedforthehigherranks,asthese
lastoneswereabundantandappearedinalargenumberofdifferentversionsinwhichone
[Link],theChamberofGradesalsobeganwithapreliminaryworkof
documentation,whichconsistedofcolectinggradebooks,studyingthem,classifyingthem,inordertobeableto
inasecondstep,draftfromtherethegradesthatwouldberetained.

TheChamberofGradesfulfilledthisdocumentarytaskwithgreatseriousness,but
forreasonsthatarenotwellknown15sheneverwenttothesecondstage,thatofthe
draftingofthehigherdegrees.Startingfromthebeginningof1783,shetookcare,aswehaveseen,ofthedrafting
of blue stripes, although this was not the task that had initially been assigned to [Link] work
Thedraftingofthehighdegreeswascarriedoutwithintheframeworkofanorganizationofwhichpartofthemembersofthe
ChamberofGrades,undertheleadershipofRoëttiersdeMontaleau(himagain),werecreatedalongsidethe
Grand Orient le 2 février 1784, et qui s’appela le Grand Chapitre Général de France. Ces Frères
didnotintendtoestablishthemselvesasarivalorganizationtotheGrandOrient,butonly,itseems,
it, having the freedom to carry out the writing work of the higher grades as they
they heard it, and then to submit the results of this work to the Grand Orient. It is not easy to
follow the details of this last one, but Pierre Mollier, in his second article, provides some milestones
whichindicatethatitwascompletedaroundthemiddleof1785.

The organizers of the Grand Chapter General of France intended to bring together their
Grand Chapter at the Grand Orient of France, and they opened negotiations for this purpose with that one-
These negotiations dragged on for various reasons that are of little interest other than
less anecdotal16 They finally led to the expected meeting, the principle of which was voted on in the
178e assembly of the G.O., on May 4, 1787, the details of which were specified in the assemblies
following. Through this meeting, the system developed by the Grand General Chapter of France
became the official system of high degrees of the Grand Orient.

14
The Great General Chapter of France and the establishment of the French Rite, Traditional Renaissance, no. 105
(January 1996), p 3-15; no. 106 (April 1996), p. 73-102; no. 115-116 (July-October 1998), p. 201-282. The
The content of these articles was included in a book published in 2001 under the title 'The Degrees of Wisdom of the Rite.'
French'', ed. A l'Orient, Paris.
15
One could suspect that they were due to differences among the brothers, who could not agree.
Agreed on the grades that needed to be retained in the system.
16
Aside from the design differences within the G.O. regarding what the system of higher degrees should be, there was
a competitor (Dr. Gerbier) who came forward claiming to bring a high degree system ready to the G.O.
different from that of the Grand General Chapter of France.

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What did this system consist of? The members of the Grand General Chapter of France,
drawing on the documentation work they had done in the Chamber of Grades,
classified the high ranks into five 'orders'. This notion of order was a novelty, and it should not
[Link],eachrankbeingableto..
even exist in several versions. The first order included the ranks of Chosen, but also a
acertainnumberofotherranksthatwereusuallyconferredbetweenthemasteryandtheranksoftheChosen.
The second order included the ranks of Scottish. The third order essentially included
asinglerank,thatofKnightoftheEast,andthesamewastrueforthefourthorder,correspondingto
[Link]
a fifth [Link] Grand General Chapter of France decided to write, for each of the four
first orders, a unique grade relevant to this order. For the first order, it was the grade of Elect.
Secret, for the second order of the Grand Scottish Elect. For the third order, a decision was made.
version of the Knight of the East degree, and for the fourth order a version of the Rose degree
[Link] four degrees were intended to be practiced. For the fifth order, no account was written.
of grades, because the grades that belonged to this order were not meant to be practiced, but
only studied. This is how the initiatory career of a Mason of the French Rite begins in the high
grades, goes through four grades: the grade of Secret Chosen, which he receives in the Chapter opened in his
first order; the rank of Grand Scottish Elect, which he receives in the Chapter opened in his second
order;therankofKnightoftheEast,whichhereceivesintheChapteropenedinhisthirdorder;andthe
KnightRose-Crossgrade,whichhereceivesintheChapteropenedinhisfourthorder.

When comparing the high degrees of the French Rite with the high degrees of other Rites,
we realize that the different high-grade systems were made from the same
matter, namely this profusion of degrees that French Freemasonry offered before 1780.
Chaque Rite a traité cette matière à sa façon, en choisissant de retenir plus ou moins de grades, en
maintaining distinct grades or, on the contrary, reducing them to a single one. That is why
there are themes that can be found in several systems, but in one they are found in some
different grades, while in the other they are found grouped into a single grade.

The choice of the grades retained, and the particular version that has been adopted or
written, the linking of the grades with each other, the managed progression of one
to the other, giving each Rite its own character. This holds true among the higher degrees, this
vaut aussi entre eux et les grades bleus, car, pour le Rite Français en tout cas, tous ces grades
were designed to form a coherent whole (let's not forget that the work on the grades
blues and the work on the high grades was done by the same men.

Thischaracterexpressesaspirit,andthereisundoubtedlyaspiritoftheFrenchRiteasit
there is a spirit of each of the other Rites. However, we will not attempt to define it here, we ...
[Link]
not to let oneself be confined to a few terse phrases, especially when, as is the case for the
French Rite, it has no explicit doctrine, its spirit expressing itself solely through its rituals.
WhenonewantstoconveythespiritofaRiteinafewsentences,evenwhenithasadoctrine,oneisonguard.
through approximations, reductions, and misunderstandings. In fact, the spirit of a Rite does not allow itself
todiscoveritfromtheinside,byregularattendanceandthepracticeofitsrituals.

Edmond MAZET

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