Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society –– Volume 1 –– Number 1 –– Spring 2013
Chrétien-Guillaume Riebesthal : From the Religions of the Revolution to Paramasonic Ceremonies
Pierre Mollier Translated by Cadenza Academic Translations
D escended from an old trade fraternity , modern Freemasonry appears at first glance to be a ritualized society in which symbols and ceremonies play an essential role . By means of the latter , it confers upon its members the degrees that mark their progression within the order . To the degrees of Apprentice , Fellowcraft , and Master inherited from its trade origins — and on their model — the Masons of the eighteenth century would add other degrees that would come to be known as the “ Higher Degrees ”: Rose Croix , Knight , Kadosh … . In any case , up until around 1770 , to speak of Masonic ceremonies was to speak of degrees . But from 1770 onward we see appear , for the first time , rituals whose purpose is no longer to confer a degree , or to organize the work of Masons at this degree , but to solemnize some occasion or other in the life of the lodge . 140 Thus , on May 9 , 1775 , the La Candeur Lodge celebrates its installation with a long symbolic ceremony . 141 On November 28 , 1778 , the Neuf Soeurs Lodge organizes a funerary ritual in memory of its most illustrious member , Voltaire , who died several months earlier . 142 On December 13 , 1779 , the Contrat Social Lodge carries out a consecration ceremony for its new temple at the Hôtel de Bullion … . 143 Exceptional before the Revolution , these ceremonies were to multiply during the course of the nineteenth century , to the point of becoming a widespread norm in French Freemasonry . As the purpose of these rituals was not to confer degrees , which was the original reason for Masonic ceremonies , and since they do not belong to the initial corpus of Freemasonry , they have been qualified as “ paramasonic .” A certain denizen of Strasbourg plays a pioneering role in this domain of paramasonic ceremonies . Chrétien- Guillaume Riebesthal published , at the end of 1826 , a singular work , entitled Rituel maçonnique pour tous les rites ( Masonic Ritual for All Rites ). 144 This work gives lodges a number of rituals with which to solemnize the different stages in the life of a lodge . Apart from its having founded a tradition that will be active in the nineteenth century , Riebesthal ’ s work poses interesting questions as to the philosophical and religious orientation of Latin Freemasonry during this era .
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 140 This perspective is , however , very much in the air of the times . For , without there being any
obvious connection , English Freemasonry will also , in its own time , conceive of ceremonies for the consecration of temples and funerary rites , of which we first find evidence in William Preston ’ s celebrated Illustrations of Masonry , first published in 1772 . 141 “ Ceremony of Installation for the duc of Chartres of the Le Candeur Lodge of the Orient of
Paris in 1775 ,” Renaissance Traditionnelle 60 ( 1984 ): 241 . 142 Louise Amiable , Une loge maçonnique d ’ avant 1789 , la Loge Les Neuf Soeurs ( Paris : Alcan , 1897 ; new edition Paris : Edimaf , 1989 ), 80-91 . 143 Pierre Chevallier , “ La consécration du temple de la Mère-Loge écossaise du Contrat Social à l ’ Hôtel de Bullion rue du Coq-Héron le 13 décembre 1779 ,” Politica Hermetica 11 ( 1998 ): 65-75 . 144 The book itself bears no date , but in the notes Riebesthal refers to the observance of certain
ceremonies in Strasbourg during Fall 1826 . Moreover , the publication of the work is announced by the Bibliographie de la France ou journal général de l ’ imprimerie ou de la librairie in its Saturday January 20 , 1827 , issue ( as number 389 ).
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