The Scottish Rite
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, better known simply as the Scottish Rite, is one of several organisational structures within Freemasonry. It is also the Rite worked by the Grand Regular Lodge of Croatia.
In the symbolic Lodges – also known as Craft Lodges or Blue Lodges (and as St John’s Lodges) – there are three fundamental Degrees of Freemasonry: Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason. The Scottish Rite recognises these three fundamental Degrees of the symbolic Lodges and adopts them within its own structure. All the remaining Degrees of the Scottish Rite (33 in total) build upon the Third Degree, that of Master Mason, and serve to deepen the understanding of Freemasonry. That journey begins with the 4th Degree and ends with the 32nd, while a special 33rd Degree is reserved for exceptional achievement and service to the Fraternity. Although the Degrees of the Scottish Rite are numerically higher than those of the “Blue Lodges”, it is important to understand that the Scottish Rite holds the fundamental Third Degree of Master Mason to be of equal worth to all its higher Degrees.
The Mission of the Scottish Rite
The mission of Scottish Rite Freemasonry is the betterment of its members, and of the communities in which they live, through the teaching and promotion of the principles of brotherly love, tolerance, charity and truth. It also actively promotes high social, moral and spiritual values, among them fellowship, compassion, and devotion to God, family and country.
The convictions upheld by the Scottish Rite are reflected in its motto: “Human progress is our cause, liberty of thought our supreme wish, freedom of conscience our mission, and the guarantee of equal rights to all people everywhere our ultimate goal.”
The History of the Scottish Rite
The earliest traces of the Scottish Rite are to be found in French documents of the late 17th century. This was a period in which, owing to the strained relations between England and Scotland, many Scots sought refuge in France. Among them were Freemasons who, in 1732, founded their own Lodge in Bordeaux, named “Ecossais” – in translation, the Scottish Lodge. At that time the centres of French Masonry were Bordeaux and Paris.
The Chevalier Ramsay, a Scottish nobleman and Freemason, wrote his Oration (or Discourse) in Paris in 1737 (according to some, in 1736). In it he linked Freemasonry with the knights of the Crusades – not with the Knights Templar, as is so often wrongly claimed. Nowhere in his Oration did Ramsay propose the creation of a new Rite, yet that was precisely the effect it produced. France was soon awash with assorted, supposedly Masonic, high Degrees, and the Fraternity became captivated by the idea of chivalry. Thus Ramsay unwittingly altered the course of Masonic history by stimulating the creation of the higher Degrees which would eventually evolve into the Scottish Rite.
It is also known that in 1754 the Frenchman Chevalier de Bonneville founded the “Chapter of Clermont” (also known as the “Chapter of the Higher Degrees”), a Masonic body which governed several of the higher Degrees. It was so named, in all probability, in honour of the Grand Master, the Comte de Clermont (Louis de Bourbon, Comte de Clermont), and not – as is often wrongly stated – because of any connection with the Jesuit College of Clermont.
The Grand Lodge of France in Paris, in concert with higher-Degree bodies such as the Council of Emperors of the East and West and the Sovereign Écossais Mother Lodge, empowered Etienne Morin (Stephen, in English) as Grand Inspector to “establish perfect and sublime Masonry in all parts of the world”. Around 1763 Morin devised and promulgated a Masonic Rite of 25 Degrees which he called the “Rite of the Royal Secret”, and the Lodge La Française was among the first to work it. In the course of 1763 he introduced the Rite to Jamaica, and by 1764 the high Degrees had been established for the first time on the soil of North America.
The Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for the United States of America, founded at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1801, issued the “Circular throughout the two Hemispheres”, also known as the Manifesto of 1802 – the first printed document to set out the 33 Degrees of the Rite of Ancient and Accepted Scottish Freemasonry.
A significant figure in the history of the Scottish Rite was Albert Pike – American lawyer, Confederate general, author and Freemason, regarded by many as a fascinating but also controversial personality. His work “Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry”, published in 1871, brought about the modernisation of the Degrees of the Scottish Rite, the development of rituals for the individual Degrees, and the linking of those Degrees with the legends of the Temple and with biblical values.
The York Rite
The York Rite, often also known as the American Rite, is another of the several Rites of Freemasonry. Despite the view that the York and Scottish Rites are fundamentally different and that their Degrees diverge considerably, the two Rites share a similar foundation and similar themes in the composition of their Degrees. The York Rite is frequently regarded as markedly theological, directed towards religious aspects, whereas the Scottish Rite is more philosophical, concentrating on social, moral and spiritual values that transcend the teachings of any particular religion.
The York Rite likewise incorporates the three fundamental Degrees of Freemasonry of the symbolic Lodges, with its additional Degrees building upon the Third Degree of Master Mason.
Royal Arch Masonry forms the first body of Masonic Degrees within the York Rite and comprises four Degrees. The second is Cryptic Masonry, with three Degrees, while the third, the Commandery of Knights Templar, likewise confers three Degrees, together with an additional passing Order.