France: Membership of the Largest Masonic Jurisdictions

by Christopher Hodapp

NOTE: This story has been updated 5/25/26. See update note below.

For those interested, the always informative (and lively) French-language Masonic news site Hiram.be  (actually based in Belgium) has a recent article with current membership statistics from the eight largest Masonic obediences in France. (See the pie chart above.)

The original article is at: Les effectifs des obédiences françaises en 2026

I'll freely admit to a long interest in what goes on concerning Freemasonry in other countries, with a particularly soft spot in my brain for French Masonry. I've often quipped that if you lock three French Freemasons in a closet and wait for an hour, they'll bust out and angrily form at least six new grand lodges. Over the course of my 27 years in the fraternity, I've been variously told that France has at least a dozen – and likely more – very different grand lodges of any appreciable size at work, even though our US grand lodges only recognize one. They have grand lodges (or grand orients) requiring a belief in Deity, and some that welcome non-believers (often referred to as a doctrine of 'freedom of conscience'); some that are centuries old, and some younger than a decade; some for men only, women only, or both; some that were started merely because of an internal schism over personalities, over philosophical issues, or both. And there are combinations of all of these. Which is why you have to burst out in hysterical laughter whenever conspiracy mongers in France rail against 'The Freemasons™' there. There's no way to classify them in a monolithic sense, apart from, perhaps, wearing aprons in meetings.

The reason I bring it up is to show the layout of the French Masonic landscape and how it differs from what we mostly encounter in the U.S. The article concerns the eight biggest, and "most effective" grand governing bodies in that country.

Out of a total of 171,914 Masonic members nationwide, the breakdown is interesting:

• Grand Orient de France (GOdF): 54,448 (32%) [male/female; no faith required]
• Grand Loge Nationale de Française (GLNF): 33,889 (20%) [male; faith required]
• Grande Loge de France (GLDF): 30,446 (18%) [male; faith required]
• Federation Française du Droit Humain (DH): 14,500 (8%) [male/female; no faith required]
• Grande Loge de l'Alliance Masonnique Française (GL-AMF) (a recent breakaway from the GLNF): 14,495 (8%) [male; faith required]
• Grand Loge Feminine de France (GLFF): 13,027 (8%) [female/no faith required]
• Grande Loge Mixde de France (GLMF): 4,845 (3%) [male/female; no faith required]
• Traditionnelle et Symbolique Opéra Grand Loge (GLTSO): 4,600 (3%) [male; faith required]

In case you're keeping score, it works out that about 51% of French Masons are not required to have a belief in deity. That doesn't make all 86,000 of them atheists, it just means acknowledging a personal belief in a Supreme Being is not a requirement. Which seems curious concerning a fraternity that bases its rituals around the Old Testament story of constructing the most sacred temple on Earth which housed the revealed Word of God. But it takes all kinds to make a world. France is a very different country with a VERY different history than us mere upstarts over here. (When Chinese Premiere Zou Enlai was asked by Richard Nixon in 1972 what he thought of the French Revolution, he answered, "It's too soon to tell.")

Also, 15% of French Masons are females, which is a pretty sizable percentage for any country. By contrast, female Masonic lodges are as rare as unicorns in the U.S. That's not meant as a swipe to anyone, just a simple fact. Female and co-Masonic lodges have never gained traction in the U.S. at any point in history (likely due to the popularity of the Order of the Eastern Star between the end of the Civil War until the late 20th century).

UPDATE 5/25/2026, 1:30PM: I received a message from Gérard Plumecocq, (who posts as Géplu), the present editor of the Hiram.be website, clarifying a couple of things: It reads, in part:

A small clarification: Hiram.be is not "based in Belgium," but is, in fact, French. Hiram.be was founded in Belgium by a Belgian journalist (Jiri Pragman) in 2004; however, I took it over in 2014, and I am a (retired) French journalist who has been a member of the Grand Orient de France since 1986. I didn't change the blog's name when I took the helm because it had already established a reputation under that name. But that isn't terribly important; ultimately, it is "Francophone."

For an American like yourself—who is accustomed to knowing only a single form of Freemasonry—France, with its many different obediences, may seem like a curiosity; for us, however, it represents a source of richness. In my article, I cite the eight most significant obediences—which together account for between 80% and 90% of French Freemasonry—but there are also about a dozen other smaller, reputable obediences (ranging from 500 to 1,000 members), as well as numerous small groups (ranging from a few dozen to a few hundred members) that style themselves as Masonic, albeit with varying degrees of seriousness and credibility. As you point out, about half of French Freemasons are "adogmatic"—that is to say, they are members of obediences that do not impose a specific belief (what you refer to as "a faith"). In doing so, they base their stance on Anderson's text: "But though in ancient Times Masons were charged in every Country to be of the Religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves; that is, to be good and true Men, Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Denominations or Persuasions they may be distinguish'd." At the Grand Orient de France, for instance, young initiates are told that "among us, everyone is free to believe or not to believe" (in a God). The GODF and its "French Rite" claim to be the heirs of the Freemasonry of 1717, rather than the more religious versions of 1751 and 1813.

Just a quick note: there are two minor errors in your comments regarding the obediences. At the GLDF, faith is not a mandatory requirement. The situation is more nuanced: the GLDF regards the Great Architect of the Universe (the GADLU) as a "creative principle," while leaving its members the freedom to interpret this principle according to their own sensibilities. Furthermore, the GLTSO is not a mixed-gender obedience (open to both men and women), but is exclusively male.

I very much appreciate the corrections. CH

Rogue French Freemasons On Trial for Bizarre Murder Plot

IMAGE: STEFAN GLERUM FOR M LE MAGAZINE DU MONDE

by Christopher Hodapp

There's a bizarre story blowing up across French and European media this week, and it has the potential of being a public relations nightmare for the entire fraternity the likes of which we haven't seen in decades. Newsfeeds everywhere are blaring headlines about Freemasons! Mafia! Murder plots! Not since the old P2 (Propaganda Due) story in Italy in the 1980s has there been a tale so convoluted, bizarre and seriously sinister involving a group of rogue Masons. And the press is having a field day with it.

Back in July of 2020, COVID lockdowns were going on in full force all over the world. Marie-Hélène Dini was a 60-year-old business coach living in the Paris suburbs when police knocked on her door and informed her that she had been the target of an attempted murder plot being hatched by 'The Freemasons.' What unfolded was a story so bizarre, so unbelievable, so downright goofy that she couldn't believe what she was hearing. It seemed like a creepy prank cooked by imbecilic teenagers with vivid imaginations. But as it turned out, this was no ridiculous gag.

Two armed men had just been arrested near Dini's home in possession of a stolen car, guns, knives, body armor, and a tracking device. The men claimed to police that they were on a secret mission for the French intelligence service (the Directorate-General for External Security, or DGSE) to kill the lady because she supposedly worked for the Mossad, Israel's crack secret service agency. 

In reality, Dini had no connection to espionage, crime, or Israel—she ran employee coaching companies and had never even visited Israel. Police quickly ruled out the Spy vs. Spy aspect of the story, but the incident left her deeply traumatized. She installed alarms in her home, hired a bodyguard, and eventually moved away from Paris, describing the event as feeling like stumbling into a “mafia-style” world driven by power and money. 

As the investigation unfolded, police uncovered a much, much larger criminal network. 

Six years later, some twenty-two people between the ages of 30 and 73 are now standing trial at the Paris Court of Assize, between March 30 and July 17th. It is one of the largest criminal trials in French history. Few of the suspects have any sort of prior criminal record, and they come from wildly different backgrounds: four soldiers from the DGSE, three police officers, including a retired financial crime investigator, six business leaders, a building caretaker, an engineer, a medical biologist, a gunsmith, a sports coach, and a couple of gullible security guards. What appeared at first to be isolated incidents turned out to be part of a shockingly wide-ranging crime cell run by a core group of rogue Masonic lodge members who hired others to intimidate or eliminate rivals, debtors, or just annoying inconveniences. 

And here's where this story REALLY goes off the rails. Many of the alleged criminals were discovered to be members of Athanor Lodge 759, located in the Puteaux neighborhood of the Hauts-de-Seine area, a residential suburb about five miles west of Paris. The area snuggles up next to La Défense, one of Europe's' busiest financial districts where you'll find some of the tallest buildings (and wildest architecture) in the Paris metropolitan area. Now the group is accused of organizing or carrying out a wide range of crimes. The most serious charges include aggravated violence, attempted extortion, and attempted murder in an organized gang—which all turned out to have been plotted for wildly trivial reasons. 

At the center of the network are three key figures who belonged to Athanor Lodge: Frédéric Vaglio (53, a former journalist turned private security entrepreneur), Daniel Beaulieu (a 72-year-old retired DGSI intelligence officer working in economic intelligence), and Jean-Luc Bagur (69, a coaching industry executive and union leader). They allegedly used their connections to sub-contract “missions” ranging from beatings and intimidation to contract killings. Beaulieu admitted to investigators that Vaglio had ordered him to arrange the murder of Marie-Hélène Dini, pretending it was a secret intelligence mission against a Mossad agent. Beaulieu then passed the contract to Sébastien Leroy, a private security officer, who recruited the two young DGSE guards (Pierre Bourdin and Carl Esnault). The guards believed they were being recruited to carry out authorized homicide operations for French intelligence.

Investigators eventually connected a link to Bagur, 69, who was a rival business coach to Dini and the Venerable Maitre (Venerable Master, the French equivalent to Worshipful Master) of Athanor Lodge. But the alleged crimes went beyond the Dini case. From an article in the U.S. Sun Monday:

The leader of the hit squad, Leroy, told cops he or his associates carried out most of the assaults, robberies and murders for the Athanor mafia, including the 2018 killing of racing car driver Laurent Pasquali.

His body was found in a forest after he allegedly failed to pay a debt to one of Vaglio’s friends.

Crimes ordered by the organised crime group escalated with time, beginning as petty revenge attacks and escalating to homicide, according to the investigation.

One of the charges relating to industrial espionage alleged that Leroy’s gang assaulted a businesswoman in the street and snatched her computer.

In 2019, the car of one of Bagur’s associates was set on fire after she found evidence of financial fraud within his company.

Leroy, a security guard, told investigators he was under the impression he had been acting on behalf of the French government.

He claimed Beaulieu had “manipulated” him using the idea of him becoming an informant for the DGSI domestic spy agency.

Jean-William Vezinet, lawyer for the targeted business coach Dini, said his client had been “terrified” that “people who are supposed to act for the good of society” were the key figures in the crime.

It remains unclear what evidence the prosecution has gathered from their interviews with Beaulieu, the accused ringleader.

He allegedly made an attempt to commit suicide in police custody.

Participants later claimed they had been manipulated or believed the jobs were legitimate French intelligence operations. The defendants frequently accused one another of lying or exerting toxic influence, with Vaglio described as particularly charismatic and controlling. The case highlights how personal, professional, or financial grudges—sometimes trivial—escalated into extreme violence within a network blending Freemasonry, private security, and former intelligence operatives. Ultimately, they abused the privacy of the lodge and trust between brethren, violating their obligations, and twisting the honorable symbolism of Masonic secrecy into a criminal enterprise.

If convicted, Vaglio, Beaulieu, Bagur and Leroy are all facing life sentences, along with 19 co-defendants. And of course, the European press is stressing the Masonic part of the story.

There's an old joke that, if you lock three French Masons in a lodge room together, they'll start arguing and form six new grand lodges...

The French Masonic landscape is enormous, confusing, and difficult for regular, recognized Masons to keep track of. There are at least 15 or more grand lodge-like governing bodies in France, but only one that is recognized as regular by the greatest number of Masons the world over—the Grande Loge Nationale Française (GLNF)—and it's not even the largest obedience in that country (that would be the Grand Orient de France, or GOdF). Consequently, there's little chance of the press having a firm understanding of its details when it comes to tedious and arcane details of regularity, recognition, and Masonic legitimacy.

Athanor Lodge 759 was legitimately chartered by the Grande Loge de l'Alliance Maçonnique Française (the Grand Lodge of the French Masonic Alliance, or GL-AMF), which was created in its present form in 2012. At the time, that grand lodge was largely formed by some 15,000 disgruntled Masons who had split from the Grand Loge National Français (GLNF) over a massive internal power struggle involving then-GLNF Grand Master Stifani. (see HERE for beginnings of that long tale). The GLNF is the French grand lodge overwhelmingly recognized throughout the world as regular, and the 2012 incident was an enormous upheaval at the time. It took years for the dust to settle, and the GLNF was never able to return to its former size. 

Understand that the GL-AMF today still has about 15,400 members in 684 lodges, and a strong argument can be made that they are perfectly regular in origin. In other words, it's not some small-time, bogus grand lodge masquerading as something it isn't. Like all regular, recognized grand lodge obediences, they admit only men, require a belief in God, and work accepted rituals. So, Athanor Lodge started out as a legit lodge of Freemasons. But like the old P2 lodge scandal with gangster/terrorist Licio Gelli in Italy back in the 1980s, it got twisted into someone's private hideout for criminals.

When these stories began to hit the news six years ago, I'm told that GL-AMF Grand Master Fred Picavet suspended the lodge and all of its members, including two of those currently indicted. Online chatter in France is that the lodge's Venerable Maitre, Jean-Luc Bagur, was suspended back in 2020, even before any of these stories came out, for non-payment of dues, and that he went right on running the lodge meetings, ignoring the order.

By early 2021, the main figures in the case turned against each other while in police custody. Daniel Beaulieu later suffered a serious head injury in prison (possibly from a suicide attempt) and now has memory problems—he may not be able to testify at his own trial. Marie-Hélène Dini survived her ordeal, battled cancer, and wrote a book about her experience titled It Was Not My Time, though she has struggled to find a publisher. 

As can be imagined, the press in the U.K. is eating this story up with a spoon. It plays right into their ongoing paranoia over Freemasons in police departments that has been stoked for the last couple of months. And the Italians are attempting to brand the story as a 'Masonic mafia.'

Meanwhile, the upcoming long trial will attempt to untangle the truth from the many conflicting stories in this sprawling and often absurd criminal enterprise.

There's a certain tragic irony to be found in the name of Athanor Lodge. In medieval alchemy, an athanor was a sealed stove or furnace that gave off slow, constant heat. It was used to slowly transform and refine matter, to improve it beyond its original state. Sadly, the men who joined Athanor Lodge failed to let Freemasonry refine them, improve them as men. 

Oh, they were transformed, all right. But not in the way Masonry tried to teach them. 

Paris Trial Begins For 8 Accused of Plotting Masonic Lodge Attack

by Christopher Hodapp

A trial opened this week in France against 8 defendants accused of a neo-Nazi terrorist plot to attack a Masonic lodge back in 2020-21.

Translated from the French website Notretemps.com:

The trial of eight people, suspected of a violent action project against a Masonic lodge between 2020 and 2021 and some of whom were linked to the conspiracy theorist Rémy Daillet, opened on Tuesday before the Paris Criminal Court.

Seven men and one woman, aged 28 to 69, are on trial for terrorist criminal association. One of them is in the United States, and is represented by his lawyer and will therefore not appear in court.

All appear free.

They are suspected of having wanted to commit a violent action against a Masonic lodge. While investigators have updated virtual discussions, meetings, or weapons searches as part of what has been called the "Alsace project", no specific scenario has been established.

The investigations began in February 2021, around the neo-Nazi group Honneur and Nation, whose members were linked to Rémy Daillet, a conspiracy figure, a one-time expatriate in Malaysia.

At the end of the investigation, the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office put him ouey had planned a t of the question, considering that his "role" in this project seemed "indirect and residual". On the other hand, he is indicted in two other parts of this file still under investigation, that of the "Azur project", presented as a project to "overthrow the government" in the fall of 2020...

First to be questioned, Sébastien Dudognon, former head of the National Youth Front in Corrèze who had founded the Revolutionary Nationalist Division (DNR), a neo-Nazi group that then gave way to the Honor and Nation group.

Details of the alleged plot are not revealed in the article, but a story on the Marianne website from 2021 concerning the arrest of co-defendant Thibaut Rufra revealed that the lodge was located in the town of Moselle, and they had planned an attack on France's health minister, as well (this was during the Covid year). 

According to a source close to the investigation, quoted by Agence France Presse back in 2021, they also cited other non-specific targets such as vaccination centers, high-profile celebrities, and journalists. Several in the group were allegedly attempting to manufacture explosives for their planned attacks. The arrests occurred before any of the attacks could be carried out.

No, Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral Was NOT Restored With Masonic Symbols

PHOTO: SARAH MEYSSONNIER / REUTERS

by Christopher Hodapp

The near-miraculous rebuilding of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral after the horrific fire of 2019 culminated in its internationally celebrated reopening over the weekend, with great fanfare and well-deserved accolades from all corners of the globe. 

English language readers, have a look at the Friends of Notre Dame de Paris website for lots of photos and details of the rebuilding and restoration work. And you might consider a donation to the efforts, if you haven't already done so.

NBC News cut together a video sampler from the ceremony itself HERE.

And here a couple of stunning restoration shots from the NPR website  courtesy of AFP last week.

But I suppose it wouldn't be France, Paris, or a massive, high-visibility construction project if some puerile, bored, knuckle-dragging keyboard troll didn't hurl a couple of pinheaded attempts at alleging a 'Masonic conspiracy' that is clearly HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT!™ regarding the cathedral's reconstruction. The top guffaw-inducing ones I saw over the weekend run the complete comedy spectrum from hee to haw. 

viz: 

• French President Macron DELIBERATELY made an inverted Masonic pyramid symbol with his fingertips, ALERTING THE ILLUMINATI MASONS!!
• The black and white checkered mosaic floor was ADDED BY FREEMASONS during the reconstruction to deliberately resemble A MASONIC LODGE!!
• A medallion mounted at the apex of the pointed arch near the entrance shows some unidentified figure surrounded by MASONIC STARS!!

(You'll note the double exclamation points to emphasize the Earth-shattering nature of these breathless revelations. Doubtless the Earth shattered at least a smidgin while you were reading them. I plumb reckon.)

When it gets to the point of the France24 English-language news service feeling the need to explain and debunk such idiocy (video below), surely you must realize you've hit the bottom of the barrel with these kinds of absurdities.  Interestingly, they are alleging the source to be a well-known Russia-based peddler of online propaganda, mischief and other assorted hogwash in the conspiracy-monger realm.

Of course, the great cathedral has been around since the 15th century and has had quite literally thousands of operative stone masons working on it over the centuries. Their handiwork and craftsmanship can be seen in every square inch of this incredible temple of faith. It was the art, the beauty, the architecture, the engineering, and the symbolism of this and so many other medieval churches that inspired 17th and 18th century Enlightenment thinkers to adapt the tools, terminology and symbolism of those ancient stone masons and the temples they created into a new kind of fraternal organization in the first place. A fraternity that seeks to create temples in the hearts of men, exhorting them to make their own bodies, hearts and minds into more perfect edifices that are suitable for the proper worship and presence of God. And in turn, making the world a better place to live in, however momentarily that might be for all of us.

If you want to believe that's conspiratorial, that's your choice. 

We rather like it as a philosophy.

New Book by Chris Ruli: 'Brother Lafayette' Available for Presale

by Christopher Hodapp

It's Bastille Day today, so I think it's appropriate to post this story. Macoy Publishing has announced the pre-sale of Brother Christopher Ruli's newest book, Brother Lafayette: the Marquis de Lafayette's Masonic Travels in America 1824-25 (Macoy, 2024, $24.95) now through September 24th, when it's expected to begin shipping. 

UPDATE 7/23/2024: Chris is also offering to personalize and autograph copies of Brother Lafayette for $27. CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOURS. NOTE: please include signature instructions, with preferred name, in the "add a note to seller" box while at checkout.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of Major General Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette’s triumphant goodwill tour of America between 1824-25. Fewer and fewer Americans these days have been taught about Major General Lafayette and his role in the American Revolution, and even fewer know of just how dedicated he was to the cause of liberty, before he arrived in America, and long after he returned home to France where he was swept up in its own revolution. But in addition to his long career as a military figure, statesman, revolutionary, protector, political prisoner, and so much more, he was also a Freemason.

In 1824, Lafayette visited America at the invitation of President James Monroe, and began traveling the country. The American Revolution’s 50th anniversary was approaching, and Lafayette was the last of George Washington's major generals who was still alive. During his whirlwind goodwill tour, he spoke in many places, including several Masonic lodges. He was treated with much the same sort of awe and adoration that had been reserved for George Washington himself, which never ceased to astonish him. Everywhere Lafayette went, adoring crowds followed him through the streets. Balls, dinners, tours, concerts, parades, and public honors of every kind were arranged to honor him, and what started out to be a three-month trip lasted over a year. It was during that visit that the park north of the White House was renamed to honor him. Literally hundreds of other parks, towns, cities, and counties throughout the United States are named after him. And there were more than a few Masonic lodges chartered in his name.

Lafayette's famed American tour took him to all 24 of the United States at that time – 6,000 miles in all – and in the decades following his visit, it seemed as though every Masonic lodge in the country wanted to claim their members had some kind of meaningful contact with the legendary general and Freemason.

Ironically, despite the high-profile visitations and associations with Freemasons while he was here, just a year later, William Morgan would disappear in Western New York, allegedly murdered by Brother Masons, and the most vehement period of American anti-Masonic persecution would erupt throughout the country.

Now, author and Washington DC Mason Christopher Ruli has done a deep dive into the itineraries, letters, diaries, minute books, and press reports of the time to create a full and definitive account of Brother Lafayette’s Masonic contacts and travels throughout his famed trip. The result is Brother Lafayette: the Marquis de Lafayette's Masonic Travels in America 1824-25, a detailed, fascinating, and eminently absorbing travelogue with a uniquely Masonic focus. 

Similar in nature to Chris' previous Masonic history of the Presidential Mansion in Washington, DC, (The White House & the Freemasons, Macoy, 2023, $29.95-39.95) Chris has meticulously tracked down every known instance of Lafayette visiting Masonic lodges, grand lodges, and individual Freemasons. Through diaries, newspaper accounts, even lodge minute books, he has provided the best documented evidence of Lafayette's interactions with Masons all along the route. And they were considerable in number!

You'll find letters, transcripts of speeches, tributes, toasts, diplomas, songs written for the occasion, descriptions of medals and other gifts given to Lafayette. He was granted honorary memberships in lodges and grand lodges. When the weather turned cold in November 1824, he wintered at Alexandria, Virginia's famed Gadsby's Tavern. In January of 1925, halfway through the trip, he wrote to his friend Thomas Jefferson, "I contemplate to set out for the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, New Orleans, and the western states, upwards of 5,000 miles to be performed in 99 days with only 13 days rest...and 300 miles through a sort of wilderness. We will do the best we can." 

He was 69 years old, and the trip would have been grueling for men half his age.

(Typically for my own state of Indiana, which had only been granted statehood less than 10 years before, our legislature, our governor, and our grand lodge made no effort to issue Lafayette an invitation, and the only reason he set shore here was when his steamboat ran aground—the 19th century version of only stopping at an Indiana truck stop on the way someplace else.)

Macoy's is offering the book for pre-sale now for $24.94, and delivery is expected in September. CLICK HERE TO ORDER.

Just as an added aside, the American Friends of Lafayette have been preparing for celebrating the bicentennial of Lafayette's farewell tour, erecting historical markers, arranging for events all along the 6,000-mile route of his original trip. Festivities will begin August 16, 2024 in New York City and wind up at Mount Vernon in September 2025. If you live or belong to a lodge in an area that Lafayette actually visited, you should consider erecting a permanent historical marker describing the visit. Or if your city or town is already doing so this year, be sure your lodge contacts the local group arranging for the marker and ask if your lodge or grand lodge can take part in the dedication and other festivities.

If you don't know much about Lafayette or can't fathom why he was so adored by Americans at the time, read the excerpt below adapted from my 2005 book, Solomon's Builders:

Two Masonic Halls Destroyed in Rioting on Pacific Island of New Caledonia

by Christopher Hodapp

As reported on June 2nd on the Hiram.be website, two Masonic temples in the Ducos peninsula area of the Pacific island French territory of New Caledonia were destroyed by fire earlier this week. There has been widespread rioting going on across New Caledonia in recent weeks, especially in and around the capitol city of Noumea. It's difficult to ascertain if these two Masonic halls were the target of a specifically anti-Masonic arsonist, because there have been so many other fires set recently on shops, homes, factories, hospitals and churches around the region. 

At least 6 people have died in the riots since mid-May, and the sight of roadblocks and burning cars have been reported in the press. 

New Caledonia is a French-run island that sits about 700 miles east of Australia, and lodges of the three largest French grand lodges are at work there: Grand Orient de France (GOdF), Grand Loge de France (GLdF), and the more widely recognized Grande Loge Nationale Française (GLNF). 

The local mayor described Noumea as a "city under seige." More than 3,000 foreign tourists have been trapped there for weeks, and the airport has been closed. Between 600 and 1,000 French gendarmes were sent to New Caledonia last month to attempt to stop the ongoing violence.

NOTE: I'm uncertain which Masonic halls were actually destroyed. Area Masons, or French-speaking brethren — please help me fill in the details I don't have.

According to a letter posted by the Grand Orient's Grand Master Guillaume Trichard, (if I'm translating this right), there are 8 GOdF Masonic lodges at work in New Caledonia. His letter says the two destroyed halls are the Eugène Porcheron Masonic Temple and the Jean Unger Masonic Temple. 

Regardless of which lodges and under whose jurisdiction they fall, the damage to the two Masonic halls is shown on the clocherobecourt.com website HERE. One temple's burned out main lodge room can be seen in the photo at the top of this post.

The other destroyed Masonic hall's gutted lodge room in the photo below:

No word yet about potential suspects.

During World War II, New Caledonia's Ducos peninsula was home to an important allied naval base at the port near the capital city of Noumea. All of the island's inhabitants hold French citizenship. While there have been several attempts to split from France in recent decades, at least three independence resolutions have failed by slim majorities. The current clashes are between pro-France and pro-Independence supporters.

(All photos from https://www-clocherobecourt.com)

2024 World Conference on Fraternalism in Paris June 13-15

by Christopher Hodapp

The 2024 World Congress on Fraternalism, Freemasonry, and History will be held June 13-15 in Paris at the rue de Cadet headquarters of the Grand Orient de France between June 13th and 15th. 

Convened by the journal, Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society, in cooperation with the Policy Studies Organization, France's Museum of Freemasonry and the GODF, this event explores how associations and volunteerism have shaped democracy, politics, and history.

The conference alternates each year between Paris and Washington, D.C.

This international event attracts the top scholars around the world in the field of not just Freemasonry, but of fraternalism of all kinds. It is a part of the Policy Studies Organization's support of research into associations, civility, and the role of non governmental organizations in democracy. 

These ongoing international conferences have been spearheaded and supported by Brother Paul Rich for more than a decade now, and he has been a champion of promoting and pursuing Masonic scholarship on a worldwide basis. A shocking number of U.S. Masons are unaware of his role in this pursuit, as well as his own scholarship, and that is a downright shame. On top of his many accomplishments and honors in the academic world, he is the publisher of numerous books about Freemasonry (among others) through Westphalia Press. 

In conjunction with Paul Rich, Brother Pierre Mollier in France is one of the top Masonic historians in the world. Among his many accomplishments, he is the director of France's incredible Museum of Freemasonry in Paris (Musée dé Franc-Maçonnerie). If you don't know his name or reputation, you need to.

Presenters will include:

Guillaume Trichard, Grand Master of the Grand Orient de France; Pierre Mollier, Curator of Paris' Museum of Freemasonry; Paul Rich, Harvard and George Mason University Professor; Arturo de Hoyos, Scottish Rite Research Society; Josef Wäges; S. Brent Morris, Editor Emeritus of the Scottish Rite Journal; UCLA's Margaret Jacob; John Belton; Andrew Prescott from the University of Glasgow; Cécile Révauger, University Professor Emeritus, Bordeaux University; Pierre Yves Beaurepaire, Nice University Professor; Peter Lanchidi, Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest; Simon Deschamps, Lecturer, University of Toulouse le Mirail; Charles Coutel, Professor Emeritus at the University of Artois; Éric Saunier, Lecturer at the University of Le Havre; Mireille Quivy, Honorary Lecturer, University of Rouen; and Christophe Devillers, Editor-in-chief of Humanisme magazine; and Joachim Grave dos Santos, Archivist of the Grand Orient Lusitanien.

Also presenting will be:

Roger Dachez; Jean-Michel Mathonière; Maurice Weber; Laurent Segalini; Jan Snoek; Gaëtan Mentor; Marcel Clodion; André Combes; Gérard Contremoulin; Colette Léger; Jean-Luc Le Bras; Dominique Jardin; Guillermo De Los Reyes; Laure Caille; Philippe Wiedenhoff; Michel Chomarat; Yves Grange; Antonio Morales; Joaquim Grave Dos Santos; and Wallace Boston.

(See the complete program HERE.)

Because presentations may be made in English or French, simultaneous translations from French-English, English-French are offered for most sessions. The Conference is free of charge, but you need to register on EventBrite if you will be attending – CLICK HERE.

Following each conference, the presented papers are collected and published in the journal, Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society. Journals from previous conferences may also be read online or downloaded.

The conferences are held alternatively in Paris (2022, 2024) and in Washington D.C. (2023, 2025). The Washington conferences are held at the historic Quaker Meeting House.

NEW BOOK: 'Freemasonry From the 1st to the 33rd Degree' (1875) translated by Kamel Oussayef

by Christopher Hodapp

Illus. Kamel Oussayef 33° has just released a new book through the Scottish Rite Northern Masonic Jurisdiction as part of an ongoing program of rediscovering a treasure trove of 18th and 19th century French Masonic manuscripts. Entitled Freemasonry From the 1st to the 33rd Degree: the Complete Ritual of the Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the 33rd and Last Degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, it is an English translation of an original document in French, written down in 1875 by an unknown Mason during an international Scottish Rite Congress held at Lausanne, Switzerland. 

They loved book titles in the 19th century that were so long they ended in a different zip code.

While Albert Pike was presenting his newly-revised degrees in the Southern Jurisdiction's Supreme Council in the U.S., this document is a record of the Scottish Rite rituals being worked contemporaneously in Switzerland.

Illus. Brother Kamel has been volunteering for almost 20 years at the Scottish Rite (NMJ) Museum & Library working on this series of very special translation and publication projects. The archives of the museum contain a priceless collection of rare, handwritten French manuscripts that have languished in the vaults for a century or more without ever having been translated into English. His previous books include: Freemasonry By Questions and Answers; Saint Edoüard: A 1748 Masonic Scottish Lodge During the French Enlightenment; The Spirit of Freemasonry; and The Book of Wisdom - all of which have been published in beautiful side-by-side translation editions by the Scottish Rite Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. 

Like his other books, The Complete Ritual  is presented in a photographic facsimile manner, with a color photo of each original manuscript page on the left side, and the English translation on the right. 

The degree rituals themselves are summarized, and there are no real "dramatic vignettes" as in the American Northern and Southern jurisdictions. They describe the transmission of signs and passwords, designs for aprons, sashes or other regalia for each degree, and perhaps a historical or philosophical explanation, as presented in the original document. 

The degrees include the Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason as part of the overall Scottish Rite system. The Rite has always been a self-contained system of its own, but in most jurisdictions, they agree not to work their first, second, and third degrees in order to coexist with an established grand lodge's sovereignty. Some countries don't follow this model, and there are many jurisdictions in the world in which the complete Scottish Rite degree system is their grand lodge. In more than a few places, this led to schisms that remain to this day of sovereign grand lodges competing with a parallel Scottish Rite Supreme Council/grand lodge.

There is also an outstanding historical introduction by Illus. Jacques G. Ruelland, Scottish Rite Deputy for the Province of Quebec, Canada that provides much background information about the Lausanne Congress, the circumstance in which this manuscript had been written. He provides a detailed social, political and Masonic background for this important period that has been rarely examined here in the U.S.

The Lausanne Congress of 1875 was important, in part, because pro-secularism French Masons in the Grand Orient de France were attempting to convince French-speaking Masonic bodies to remove all references to God, a "supreme being," or the "Grand Architect of the Universe" from their degree systems and as a requirement for petitioners. 

France's secular Grand Orient craft lodge degrees consisted of (and still do) the Scottish Rite's first three degree rituals, and they were (unsuccessfully) attempting to strong-arm the Swiss into purging God from all of their rituals at this time. Doing so is an awkward situation since many of the Scottish Rite degrees are centered around the Biblical story of building or re-building Solomon's Temple (and are also very similar to what we call in America the York Rite degrees). It's tough to remove references to God successfully from Masonry's Biblical symbolism, especially if you're trying to leave out the Universe's Great Architect from the story of building sacred temples in the hearts of men, patterned after the holiest place on Earth and erected to God by Solomon. Apparently the Swiss thought so too, and didn't follow the Grand Orient's recommendations.

Research has shown that the earliest haute grades ("high degrees") of what we call Scottish Rite Freemasonry had been created or influenced by late-1700s Jacobites - pro-Catholic Scottish and English exiles living in France who had supported the Stuart line of kings back in their homelands. Their Catholic beliefs clashed with the secular forces of the French Revolution period that sought to remove the Church's influence from all government, education, and social aspects of life – even Freemasonry. But even though French movements for "complete freedom of thought" continued to grow in popularity, the French Masonic bodies retained the belief in God as a requirement after the Revolution. That clash of ideologies eventually led to the Grand Orient de France removing the requirement of its members of believing in a Deity in 1877 (two years after the Lausanne Congress), which created a schism in worldwide Freemasonry that exists to this day, and which is why the smaller but widely-recognized Grande Loge Nationale Française is considered the only regular grand lodge in that country by the vast majority of the Masonic world. 

In 2020, Illus. Kamel Oussayef 33° became the 110th author to be admitted into the Society of Blue Friars, a very special organization formed in 1932 to specifically honor Masonic authors.

Friar Oussayef was born in Sétif, Algeria and attended school in France, where he lived for many years. He holds an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and an MS from the School of Public Communications at Boston University.

Kamel is a Past Master of William Parkman Lodge and Converse Lodge in Massachusetts (Masons in that state do not number their lodges). He has been awarded the prestigious Henry Price and Joseph Warren medals for distinguished service to Freemasonry in Massachusetts. In the AASR, he is an Assistant Master of Ceremonies with the Massachusetts Consistory of the Valley of Boston.

Freemasonry From the 1st to the 33rd Degree: the Complete Ritual of the Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the 33rd and Last Degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite is available as an oversize 272-page paperback from the Scottish Rite Northern Masonic jurisdiction's website for $72.80, or as a Kindle edition for $9.99 for cheapskates, skinflints, and starving Masons... (I can't stand e-books myself, but it still does present each full-color manuscript page, followed by the English translation on alternating pages, which makes it a little more cumbersome to read than the dead tree edition.)

Anniversary of the Death of Jacque DeMolay

Today, March 18th marks the 709th anniversary of the death of Jacques de Molay,  the last Grand Master of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Christ, the Knights Templar. (Some accounts say March 11th. Even the two commemorative plaques at the execution site in Paris have conflicting dates.)

He was born in the eastern French village of Molay in 1244 or 45. Almost nothing is known of his early life, but he joined the Templars at the age of 21, and served 42 years as a warrior monk.

In 1291, the Holy Land fell back into the hands of the infidel, and would never fully return to Christian rule. The Templars and the Knights Hospitallers fell back to the coastal city of Acre, which was quickly lost. Both orders subsequently went to the island of Cyprus. The Templars remained here, while the Hospitallers later took the island of Rhodes. That too would be lost eventually, and the Hospitallers finally settled in Malta, where they became known as the Knights of Malta. In spite of the modern Masonic orders that unite these two orders of knights, they were bitter rivals for the wealth and favor of Europe and the Church.

Jacques de Molay was elected Grand Master in 1293 at the age of 47. Immediately he set off to England, France, Aragon and Italy to drum up support for a new crusade to the Holy Land, as well as to fend off a growing call for merging the two orders of warrior monks. Politiucally, the Templars were regarded as the men who lost the Holy Land, and monarchies were becoming distrustful of them. France in particular was feeling overrun with returning, aging knights, who still were free from any kind of taxation or even civil laws, by virtue of Papal bulls that held the Order above anyone but the Pope.

King Phillip IV of France and his personal henchman Guillaume de Nogaret had been in severe conflict with the then-reigning pope, Boniface VIII. The pope had declared that the king of France had no right to tax Church property, and the king had, obviously, disagreed. De Nogaret kidnapped an important French bishop, and the pope had come out swinging over it. He issued a papal bull proclaiming that kings must be subordinate to the Church, and that popes held ultimate authority over both spiritual and temporal matters on Earth. To make sure they got the message, Boniface excommunicated Phillip and de Nogaret. Phillip answered his challenge by sending the brutal, devious and bad-tempered de Nogaret at the head of an army to meet up with Italian allies and capture the pope. Boniface was indeed kidnapped and held for three days. After literally being beaten to a pulp, he was released and died a month later. The French king had proved just who was subordinate to whom, and he didn’t mind a little papal blood on his hands. Pope Boniface’s successor, Pope Benedict XI, lasted only a year in office, poisoned, it was said, by de Nogaret.

But there had been diplomatic difficulties to suffer for killing two popes. Consequently, King Phillip decided it would be easier to just buy himself one. He began procuring cardinals, pulling strings behind the scenes until the number of French cardinals in the Vatican’s College of Cardinals was equal to the Italian ones. They then obligingly elected his handpicked candidate, Bertrand de Goth, making him Pope Clement V. The city of Rome was in turmoil, and the safety of the Vatican was in question. So, it didn’t take much to convince the new French pope that his life would be in serious danger by living there. Clement obliged by staying in France, having his ceremony of investiture in Lyons. He remained in France, eventually moving the Holy See to the city of Avignon (which was actually owned by the King of Sicily at the time) in 1309, right on Phillip’s back door step, where he built a new papal palace. Catholics often refer to it as the “Babylonian Captivity.” Nowadays it’s usually called the Avignon Papacy or the Great Schism.

Clement had everything Phillip wanted in a pope: he was puny, weak, new in the job, and owed everything to his French king. Now was the time for the boldest move of Phillip’s reign – the arrest of the Knights Templar.

Jacques de Molay left Cyprus to head straight for a meeting with the new Pope, and he had high hopes for success, especially since they were countrymen. He couldn’t at this point have known of the dark forces that were assembling against him behind the scenes. In June of 1307, de Molay rode into Paris at the head of a column of his knights, with a dozen horses laden with gold and silver, to begin the financing the new Crusade. For the next several months, Phillip treated the aging Grand Master with interest and diplomacy, and de Molay believed he and the Order were at a new turning point.

The circumstances of the arrests on October 13th, 1307, and the next seven years of torture and trials of the Templars are well known to most of us, but we are most concerned with the last Grand Master today. By 1314, both the Pope and public opinion had completely abandoned the Knights Templar. The four senior Templar officers in Phillip’s custody had been waiting in prison for seven grim years. All of them were old, the youngest being Geoffroi de Charney, who was almost 60. Jacques de Molay was in his 70s, and had spent four years in solitary confinement.

On March 18th, 1314, the four men were finally led onto a platform in front of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral to hear the charges and make their public confessions. The charges were read, and two of the men accepted their fate of perpetual imprisonment. They were led away.

But Jacques de Molay and his trusted friend Geoffroi de Charney did not follow suit. Weakened with age and imprisonment, de Molay shouted in a voice that startled the assembly that he and the Templars were innocent of all the charges. They were returned to their cells at once, while Phillip called together his council and quickly pronounced sentence, using the insane logic of the Inquisition; if they had recanted their confessions, then they were considered “relapsed heretics,” and the penalty was the stake.

Late that afternoon, de Molay and de Charney were led to the place of execution, which was a tiny isolated island in the Seine adjacent to the Isle de la Citè, called the Ile aux Juifs, the “Island of the Jews.” The condemned men could see Notre Dame Cathedral in the east, but the site was not chosen for their view. Rather, it was chosen so that King Phillip could enjoy the entertainment without leaving his palace just across the river.


Each man was stripped down to his shirt and tied to the stake. Jacques de Molay, with unbelievable courage, asked not only that he be turned to face the Cathedral, but that his hands be freed, so that he could die at prayer. His request was granted. The two men were then roasted alive by the Inquisitional method that began slowly with hot coals, so that their agony could be prolonged as long as possible.


When the Pont Neuf was built, the Île aux Juifs was joined to the rest of the Île de la Cité, and today there are not one, but two plaques near the bridge to commemorate this event. According to legend, Jacques de Molay did not go to his God in silence. Instead, he died defiantly shouting his innocence and that of the Templars, calling on King Phillip and Pope Clement to both meet him before the throne of God in one year’s time, where they would all be judged together. Both men, relatively young, would indeed be dead within the year. One month after the death of de Molay, Pope Clement V, age 54, died, it was said, of cancer. Phillip the Fair, age 46, would die in a hunting accident probably brought on by a stroke. He died on November 29th.

A non-Masonic order of modern Knights Templar claim deMolay appointed a successor to himself secretly, and the order survived the centuries. Masonic Templars make no such claim, but the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem tells the tale that DeMolay’s skull and leg bones were pulled from the ashes and secretly buried with the document of succession, called the Larmenius Charter. 

Others claim that during the French Revolution, as King Louis XVI’s head was chopped off by the guillotine, someone rushed up from the crowd and proclaimed, “Jacques De Molay, Thou art avenged!” in celebration of the (not quite) end of the French monarchy.

The gruesome death of Jacques de Molay is the last act of the Templar story. At least, the last act of the accepted, scholarly story of the medieval Knights Templar that is told in names and dates between the covers of the history books. But in reality, his death is only the beginning. It’s the beginning of the myth of the Knights Templar, which is the maelstrom around which an endless stream of fact blended with speculation swirls, unabated.

In 2001, a document was found in the Vatican archives called the Chinon Parchment, and was later released to the public. The folio had been misfiled and had been lost to scholars for centuries. In it, it was revealed that a private team of Papal investigators had looked into the charges against the Templars, and on August 20, 1308, Pope Clement V had secretly absolved the Order of all charges of heresy. It had been Clement's intention to save DeMolay and the Templars from death at the hands of the French king. But in retaliation, Phillip threatened the weak Pope with military action if he did not dissolve the Order, which was done at the Council of Vienne in 1312.

(Adapted from The Templar Code For Dummies by Christopher Hodapp and Alice Von Kannon.)