Editing Scottish Rite (section)

== History ==

===Scots Master Degree===
There are records of lodges conferring the degree of "Scots Master" or "Scotch Master" as early as 1733.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Our Valley – Scottish Rite Temple, A.&A.S.R. |url=http://wilmingtonaasr.ipower.com/about-our-valley/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428002638/http://wilmingtonaasr.ipower.com/about-our-valley/ |archive-date=2018-04-28 |access-date=2017-06-14 |website=wilmingtonaasr.ipower.com}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=About Scottish Rite |url=http://www.aasrcalgary.ca/about/about-scottish-rite |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223220524/http://www.aasrcalgary.ca/about/about-scottish-rite |archive-date=2017-12-23 |access-date=2017-06-14 |website=aasrcalgary.ca}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Boston |first=Scottish Rite |title=Scottish Rite Boston |url=http://www.scottishriteboston.org/en/page.php?id=159#.WUFKI3NwZAg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302140458/http://scottishriteboston.org/en/page.php?id=159#.WUFKI3NwZAg |archive-date=2017-03-02 |access-date=2017-06-14 |website=scottishriteboston.org}}</ref> A lodge at the Devil (Tavern), Temple Bar in London is the earliest such lodge on record.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of the Rite {{!}} Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, S.J., U.S.A. |url=https://scottishrite.org/about/history/ |access-date=2024-06-08 |language=en-US}}</ref> Other lodges include a lodge at Bath in 1735, and the French lodge, St. George de l'Observance No. 49 at Covent Garden in 1736. The references to these few occasions indicate that these were special meetings held for the purpose of performing unusual ceremonies, probably by visiting Freemasons.<ref name="JacksonRoseCroix">{{cite book |last1=Jackson |first1=Alexander Cosby Fishburn |title=Rose Croix: A History of the Ancient & Accepted Rite for England and Wales |date=1987 |publisher=Lewis Masonic |isbn=0853181519 |edition=Revised (Original 1980) |location=London}}</ref>{{rp|5}} The [[Copiale cipher]], dating from the 1740s{{cn|date=April 2025}} says, "The rank of a Scottish master is an entirely new invention..."<ref name=":3">{{cite web |last=Megyesi |first=Beáta |title=Copiale cipher. Translation from German (August 2011). |url=http://stp.lingfil.uu.se/~bea/copiale/copiale-translation.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116062833/http://stp.lingfil.uu.se/~bea/copiale/copiale-translation.pdf |archive-date=16 January 2013 |access-date=2 November 2013 |website=[[Uppsala University]]}}</ref>

=== Myth of Jacobite origins ===
French writers [[Jean-Marie Ragon]] (1781–1862) and Emmanuel Rebold, in their Masonic histories, first claimed that the high degrees were created and practiced in Lodge Canongate Kilwinning<ref name="Tailby">{{Cite web |last1=Tailby |first1=S.R. |last2=Young |first2=Hugh |year=1944 |title=A BRIEF HISTORY OF LODGE MOTHER KILWINNING No. 0. |url=http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/www/Masonry/Reports/kilw.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061126043831/http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/www/Masonry/Reports/kilw.html |archive-date=2006-11-26 |access-date=2007-03-30}}</ref> at [[Edinburgh]], which is entirely false.<ref>Coil, Henry W. (1961) Article: "Stuart Masonry", pp. 634–637. Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia (rev. ed. 1996). Richmond, Va: Macoy Publ. Co. Inc.</ref>

===Estienne Morin===
{{Main article|Etienne Morin}}
A French trader, by the name of Estienne Morin, had been involved in high-degree Masonry in [[Bordeaux]] since 1744 and, in 1747, founded an ''"Écossais"'' lodge (Scottish Lodge) in the city of [[Cap-Haïtien|Le Cap Français]], on the north coast of the French colony of [[Saint-Domingue]], now [[Haiti]]. Over the next decade, high-degree Freemasonry was carried by French men to other cities in the Western hemisphere. The high-degree lodge at Bordeaux warranted or recognized seven Écossais lodges there.

In [[Paris]] in the year 1761, a patent was issued to Estienne Morin, dated 27 August, creating him "Grand Inspector for all parts of the New World". This Patent was signed by officials of the Grand Lodge at Paris and appears to have originally granted him power over the craft lodges only, and not over the high, or "Écossais", degree lodges. Later copies of this Patent appear to have been embellished, probably by Morin, to improve his position over the high-degree lodges in the [[West Indies]].<ref name="JacksonRoseCroix"/>{{rp|31–45}}

Morin returned to the West Indies in 1762 or 1763, to Saint-Domingue. Based on his new Patent, he assumed powers to constitute lodges of all degrees, spreading the high degrees throughout the West Indies and North America. Morin stayed in Saint-Domingue until 1766, when he moved to [[Jamaica]]. At [[Kingston, Jamaica]], in 1770, Morin created a "Grand Chapter" of his new Rite, the Grand Council of Jamaica. Morin died in 1771 and was buried in Kingston.<ref name=Fox1997>{{cite book
|last= Fox|first= William L.|year= 1997|title= Lodge of the Double-Headed Eagle: Two centuries of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in America's Southern Jurisdiction|publisher= Univ. of Arkansas Press.}}</ref><sup>{{rp|16}}</sup>

===Rite of 25 Degrees===
Early writers long believed that a "Rite of Perfection" consisting of 25 degrees, itself the predecessor of the Scottish Rite, had been formed in Paris by a high-degree council calling itself "The Council of Emperors of the East and West". The title "Rite of Perfection" first appeared in the Preface to the "Grand Constitutions of 1786", the authority for which is now known to be faulty.<ref name="JacksonRoseCroix"/>{{rp|75–84}} The highest degree in this rite was the "Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret".

It is now generally accepted that this Rite of twenty-five degrees was compiled by Estienne Morin and is more properly called "The Rite of the Royal Secret", or "Morin's Rite".<ref name="JacksonRoseCroix"/>{{rp|37}}

However, it was known as "The Order of Prince of the Royal Secret" by the founders of the Scottish Rite, who mentioned it in their "Circular throughout the two Hemispheres"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://scscottishrite.org/history/dalchocircular.htm|title=Dalcho Circular Creating the Supreme Council|website=scscottishrite.org|access-date=30 June 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023644/http://scscottishrite.org/history/dalchocircular.htm|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref> or "Manifesto", issued on December 4, 1802.<ref>de Hoyos, Arturo, ''Scottish Rite Ritual, Monitor and Guide'' 2d ed. (Washington, D.C.: Supreme Council, 33°, S.J., 2009), pp. 937, 938.</ref>

===Henry Andrew Francken and his manuscripts===
Henry Andrew Francken, a naturalized French subject born as ''Hendrick Andriese Franken'' of Dutch origin, was most important in assisting Morin in spreading the degrees in the New World. Morin appointed him Deputy Grand Inspector General (DGIG) as one of his first acts after returning to the West Indies. Francken worked closely with Morin and, in 1771, produced a manuscript book giving the rituals for the 15th through the 25th degrees. Francken produced at least four such manuscripts. In addition to the 1771 manuscript, there is a second which can be dated to 1783; a third manuscript, of uncertain date, written in Francken's handwriting, with the rituals 4–25°, which was found in the archives of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Lancashire in Liverpool in approximately 1984; and a fourth, again of uncertain date, with rituals 4–24°, which was known to have been given by H. J. Whymper to the District Grand Lodge of the Punjab and rediscovered about 2010.<ref name="Morris2015">{{cite journal |last1=Morris |first1=S. Brent |title=Henry Andrew Francken & His Masonic Manuscripts |journal=Heredom |date=2015 |volume=23 |pages=107–114 |url=http://scottishriteresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Francken-MSS.pdf |access-date=30 June 2018}}</ref> Additionally, there is a French manuscript dating from 1790 to 1800 which contains the 25 degrees of the Order of the Royal Secret with additional detail, as well as three other ''Hauts Grades'' rituals; its literary structure suggests it is derived from a common source as the Francken Manuscripts.<ref name="deHoyos2014">{{cite book |last1=de Hoyos |first1=Arturo |last2=Bernheim |first2=Alain (Introduction) |author-link1=Arturo de Hoyos |title=Freemasonry's Royal Secret: The Jamaican Francken Manuscript of the High Degrees |date=2014 |publisher=Scottish Rite Research Center |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-0-9837738-6-3 |page=viii}}</ref>

===Scottish Perfection Lodges===
A Loge de Parfaits d' Écosse was formed on 12 April 1764 at [[New Orleans]], becoming the first high-degree lodge on the North American continent. Its life, however, was short, as the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]] ceded New Orleans to Spain, and the Catholic Spanish crown had been historically hostile to Freemasonry. Documented Masonic activity ceased for a time. It did not return to New Orleans until the late 1790s, when French refugees from the revolution in [[Saint-Domingue]] settled in the city.<ref name=Fox1997 />{{rp|16}}

Francken traveled to New York in 1767 where he granted a Patent, dated 26 December 1767, for the formation of a Lodge of Perfection at [[Albany, New York|Albany]], which was called "Ineffable Lodge of Perfection". This marked the first time the Degrees of Perfection (the 4th through the 14th) were conferred in one of the Thirteen British colonies in North America. This Patent, and the early minutes of the Lodge, are extant and are in the archives of Supreme Council, Northern Jurisdiction.<ref name=Fox1997 />{{rp|16}} The minutes of Ineffable Lodge of Perfection reveal that it ceased activity on December 5, 1774. It was revived by Giles Fonda Yates about 1820 or 1821, and came under authority of the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction until 1827. That year it was transferred to the Supreme Council, Northern Jurisdiction.

While in New York City, Francken also communicated the degrees to [[Moses Michael Hays]], a Jewish businessman, and appointed him as a Deputy Inspector General. In 1781, Hays made eight Deputy Inspectors General, four of whom were later important in the establishment of Scottish Rite Freemasonry in South Carolina:
*Isaac Da Costa Sr., D.I.G. for South Carolina;
*Abraham Forst, D.I.G. for Virginia;
*Joseph M. Myers, D.I.G. for Maryland;
*Barend M. Spitzer, D.I.G. for Georgia.

Da Costa returned to Charleston, South Carolina, where he established the "Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection" in February 1783. After Da Costa's death in November 1783, Hays appointed Myers as Da Costa's successor. Joined by Forst and Spitzer, Myers created additional high-degree bodies in Charleston.<ref name=Fox1997 />{{rp|16–17}}

Physician [[Hyman Isaac Long]] from the island of [[Jamaica]], who settled in New York City, went to Charleston in 1796 to appoint eight French men; he had received his authority through Spitzer. These men had arrived as refugees from [[Saint-Domingue]], where the slave revolution was underway that would establish [[Haiti]] as an independent republic in 1804. They organized a Consistory of the 25th Degree, or "Princes of the Royal Secret," which Masonic historian Brigadier ACF Jackson says became the first Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite.<ref name="JacksonRoseCroix"/>{{rp|66–68}} According to Fox, by 1801, the Charleston bodies were the only extant bodies of the Rite in North America.<ref name=Fox1997 />{{rp|16–17}}

===Birth of the Scottish Rite – 1801===
Although most of the thirty-three degrees of the Scottish Rite existed in parts of previous degree systems,<ref>de Hoyos, Arturo, "Development of the Scottish Rite Rituals", in ''Scottish Rite Ritual, Monitor and Guide'' 2d ed. (Washington, D.C.: Supreme Council, 33°, S.J., 2009), pp. 109–118.</ref> the Scottish Rite did not come into being until the formation of the Mother Supreme Council at [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], [[South Carolina]], in May 1801 at Shepheard's Tavern at the corner of Broad and Church Streets (the tavern had been the location of the founding of Freemasonry in South Carolina in 1754). The Founding Fathers of the Scottish Rite who attended became known as "The Eleven Gentlemen of Charleston" and included, John Mitchell, first Grand Commander of the Supreme Council, Frederick Dalcho, [[Alexandre Francois Auguste de Grasse]], Jean-Baptiste Marie de La Hogue, Thomas Bartholemew Bowen, Abraham Alexander, Emanuel de la Motta, Isaac Auld, Israel de Lieben, Moses Clava Levy, James Moultrie and Isaac Da Costa.

Da Costa in particular had been commissioned to establish Morin's Rite of the Royal Secret in other countries; he formed the constituent bodies of the Rite in South Carolina in 1783, which in 1801, became the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction. All regular Scottish Rite bodies today derive their heritage from this body. Subsequently, other Supreme Councils were formed in Saint-Domingue (now [[Haiti]]) in 1802, in France in 1804, in Italy in 1805, and in Spain in 1811.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last= Coil|first= Henry W.|encyclopedia= Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia|publisher= Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Co., Inc.|orig-year= 1961|year= 1996|title= Scottish Rite Masonry|page= 614}}</ref>

On May 1, 1813, an officer from the Supreme Council at Charleston initiated several New York Masons into the Thirty-third Degree and organized a Supreme Council for the "Northern Masonic District and Jurisdiction". On May 21, 1814, this Supreme Council reopened and proceeded to "nominate, elect, appoint, install and proclaim in due, legal and ample form" the elected officers "as forming the ''second'' Grand and Supreme Council...". Finally, the charter of this organization (written January 7, 1815) added, “We think the ''Ratification'' ought to be dated 21st day May 5<!-- Note that this date is not a typo. Freemasonry often uses a dating system that adds 4000 years to the Anno Domini date. This quote is from the referenced Masonic document.-->815."<ref name="dehoyos2010">{{cite book |url=http://www.scottishritestore.org/source/Monitor_and_Guide_3rd_Edition.pdf |chapter=A Brief History of Freemasonry and the Origins of the Scottish Rite |title=The Scottish Rite Ritual Monitor and Guide |publisher=Supreme Council, 33°, Southern Jurisdiction |location=Washington, D.C. |first=Arturo |last=de Hoyos |edition=3rd |page=109 |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-9708749-3-1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123052700/http://www.scottishritestore.org/source/Monitor_and_Guide_3rd_Edition.pdf |archive-date=2015-11-23}}</ref>

Officially, the Supreme Council, 33°, N.M.J. dates itself from May 15, 1867. This was the date of the "Union of 1867", when it merged with the competing Cerneau "Supreme Council" in New York. The current Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States, was thus formed.<ref>de Hoyos, Arturo, "The Union of 1867", in ''Heredom'' (Washington, D.C.: Scottish Rite Research Society, 1995), vol. 5:7–45.</ref>

===Albert Pike===
[[File:Morals and Dogma eagle.jpg|thumb|right|The [[double-headed eagle]] on the cover of ''[[Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry|Morals and Dogma]]''.]]
Born in Boston, Massachusetts on December 29, 1809, [[Albert Pike]] is asserted within the Southern Jurisdiction as the man most responsible for the growth and success of the Scottish Rite from an obscure Masonic Rite in the mid-19th century to the international fraternity that it became. Pike received the 4th through the 32nd Degrees in March 1853<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.knightstemplar.org/KnightTemplar/articles/theroyalarch.htm|title=The Royal Arch|website=knightstemplar.org|access-date=2017-06-13|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428002638/http://www.knightstemplar.org/KnightTemplar/articles/theroyalarch.htm|archive-date=2018-04-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ocscottishrite.org/about/|title=Scottish Rite of Orange County {{!}} What Is The Scottish Rite?|website=ocscottishrite.org|date=20 September 2011|access-date=2017-06-13|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821214256/http://www.ocscottishrite.org/about/|archive-date=2017-08-21}}</ref> from [[Albert Mackey]], in Charleston, South Carolina, and was appointed Deputy Inspector for Arkansas that same year.

In 1857 Pike completed his first revision of the 4°-32° ritual and printed 100 copies. This revision, which Mackey dubbed the "Magnum Opus", was never adopted by the Supreme Council. According to Arturo de Hoyos, 33°, the Scottish Rite's Grand Historian, the Magnum Opus became the basis for future ritual revisions.<ref>de Hoyos, Arturo, ''Scottish Rite Ritual, Monitor and Guide'' 2d ed. (Washington, D.C.: Supreme Council, 33°, S.J., 2009), p. 114.</ref>

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

Scottish Rite Grand Archivist and Grand Historian de Hoyos<ref>de Hoyos, Arturo, ''Scottish Rite Ritual, Monitor and Guide'' 2d ed. (Washington, D.C.: Supreme Council, 33°, S.J., 2009), p. 115.</ref> created the following chart of Pike's ritual revisions:<br />
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!width="50"|Degrees
!width="225"|When Revised
|-
|style="background-color: #5f8fe8;"|1–3°
|1872
|-
|style="background-color: #70e663;"|4–14°
|1861, 1870, 1883
|-
|style="background-color: #f74f4f;"|15–16°
|1861, 1870, 1882
|-
|style="background-color: #f74f4f;"|17–18°
|1861, 1870
|-
|style="background-color: black; color: white;"|19–30°
|1867, 1879, 1883
|-
|style="background-color:white;"|31–32°
|1867, 1879, 1883
|-
|style="background-color:white;"|33°
|1857, 1867, 1868, 1880
(manuscripts only)
|}
<br />
Pike also wrote lectures about all the degrees, which were published in 1871 under the title ''[[Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry]]''.<ref>Coil, Henry W. (1961). Article: "Pike, Albert" pp. 472–475. "Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia" (rev. ed. 1995) Richmond, Va: Macoy Publ. Co. Inc.</ref>