Freemason (pronounced free-mey-suh n)
(1) A member of a secret society (Free and Accepted
Masons, constituted in London in 1717), present in many countries which
operates in a cult-like manner (initial upper case and often used in the clipped
form “Mason”).
(2) Historically, one of a class of skilled stoneworkers
of the medieval period (lasting into the early modern era), possessing passwords
and both public & secret signs, used as devices by which they could
identify one another.
(3) A member of a society composed of such workers, which
also included honorary members (accepted masons) not connected with stone work.
1350-1400: From the Middle English fremason. Free was from the Middle
English free, fre & freo, from the Old English frēo (free), from the Proto-West
Germanic frī, from the Proto-Germanic
frijaz (beloved, not in bondage),
from the primitive Indo-European priHós
(dear, beloved), from preyH- (to
love, please); it was related to the English friend. The verb was from the Middle English freen & freoȝen, from the Old English frēon & frēoġan (to
free; make free), from the Proto-West Germanic frijōn, from the Proto-Germanic frijōną,
from the primitive Indo-European preyH-. Mason was from the Middle
English masoun & machun, from the Anglo-Norman machun & masson or the Old French maçon,
from the Late Latin maciō (carpenter,
bricklayer), from the Frankish makjō
(maker, builder), a derivative of the Frankish makōn (to work, build, make), from the primitive Indo-European mag- (to knead, mix, make), conflated
with the Proto-West Germanic mattjō (cutter),
from the primitive Indo-European metn-
& met- (to cut). The “mason” element of the word is
uncontested. A mason was a bricklayer (1)
one whose trade was the handling, and formation of structures in stone or brick
or (2) one who prepares stone for building purposes. It later (3) became the standard short-form
for a member of the fraternity of Freemasons. However, the origin of the “free” part is
contested. Some etymologists suggest it
was a corruption of the French frère (brother),
from frèremaçon (brother mason) while
others believe it was a reference to the masons working on “free-standing” (ie
large rocks they would cut shape into smaller pieces) stones. Most however maintain it meant “free” in the
sense of them being independent of the control of local guilds or lords. The noun freemasonry was in use by the
mid-fifteenth century. Freemason, Freemasonism
& freemasonry are nouns and freemasonic is an adjective; the noun plural is
Freemasons. Unfortunately, the adjective
freemasonistic and the adverb freemasonistically appear not to exist.
The origin of the freemasons was in a travelling guild of
masons who wandered England offering their services to those needing stonework. Operating in opposition to the established
guilds, the freemasons (ie free from the dictates of the guilds) had a closed
system of passwords, symbols and secret signs (the origin of the famously
mysterious Masonic handshake) so safely they could identify each-other and ensure
intruders (presumably agents of the guild) couldn’t infiltrate their
midst. In the early seventeenth century,
they began accepting as honorary members even those who were not stonemasons
and by the early eighteenth century the structure had had developed into the secret fraternity of
affiliated lodges known as Free and Accepted Masons (often as F&AM) and as
an institution the F&AM were first registered in London in 1717.
Freemason T-shirts should not be confused with other "Free" campaign clothing.
The “accepted” refers to persons admitted to the society
but not belonging to the craft and in time this became the nature of the
Freemason, long removed from the actual trade of stone-working. As an
institution, the Freemasons (especially by their enemies and detractors) are
often spoken of as if something monolithic but the only truly common thread is
the name although most do (at least officially) subscribe to a creed of “brotherly
love, faith, and charity”. Structurally,
they’re nothing like the Roman Catholic Church with its headquarters and single
figure of ultimate authority and are a looser affiliation even than the “worldwide
Anglican community” where the spiritual “authority” of the Archbishop of
Canterbury is now wholly symbolic. The
Freemasons are more schismatic still and can’t even be compared to the loosest
of confederations because their basic organizational units, the lodges, operate
with such autonomy that one might not be on speaking terms with one in the next
suburb and each may even deny that the other is legitimately Masonic.
Despite that, the conspiracy theorists have often been
interested in the Masons because they can be treated as if they are monolithic
and it is true that as recently as the second half of the twentieth century there
were many entities (notably police forces) where there was an unusual
preponderance of Masons in prominent positions and in one force, for decades,
by mutual consent, the position of commissioner alternated between a Roman
Catholic and a Freemason. In Europe, it
wasn’t uncommon for the Masons to be grouped with the Jews as the source of all
that was corrupt in society and some satirists made a troupe of “the Freemasons
and the Jews” being at the bottom of every evil scheme, cooked up either at
lodge or synagogue. One who needed no
convincing was Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer (leader) and German head of
government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) who perceived a Masonic plot be behind the overthrow of Benito
Mussolini (1883-1945; Duce (leader) & prime-minister of Italy 1922-1943) in
1943.
The Nazis enjoyed curiously diverse interactions with the Freemasons. During his trial in Nuremberg in 1945-1946 Hermann Göring (1893–1946; leading Nazi 1922-1945, Hitler's designated successor & Reichsmarschall 1940-1945) told the International Military Tribunal (IMT) that it was only an accident of history he was in the dock because in 1922 he was on his way “…to join the Freemasons when I was distracted by a toothy blonde.” Had he joined the brotherhood he claimed, he’d never have been able to join the Nazi Party because it proscribed Freemasonry. During the same proceedings, Hjalmar Schacht (1877–1970; President of the German Central Bank (Reichsbank) 1933–1939 and Nazi Minister of Economics 1934–1937) said that even while serving the Third Reich he never deviated from his belief in the principles of “international Freemasonry”.
Upon coming to power, the Nazis certainly took that proscription seriously but the suppression of Freemasonry was not unique, the party looking to stamp out all institutions which could be an alternative source of people’s allegiances or sources of ideas. This included youth organizations, trade unions and other associations, their attitude something like that of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the Falun Gong and the two authoritarian parties were similarly pragmatic in dealing with the mainstream churches which were regulated and controlled, it being realized their support was such that eradication would have to wait. By 1935, the Nazis considered the “Freemason problem” solved and the SS even created a “Freemason Museum” on Berlin’s Prinz-Albrecht-Palais (conveniently close to Gestapo headquarters) to exhibit the relics of the “vanished cult”. SS-Obergruppenführer (Lieutenant-General) Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942; head of the Reich Security Main Office 1939-1942) originally included the Freemasons on his list of archenemies of National Socialism which, like Bolshevism, he considered an internationalist, anti-fascist Zweckorganisation (expedient organization) of Jewry. According to Heydrich, Masonic lodges were under Jewish control and while appearing to organize social life “…in a seemingly harmless way, were actually instrumentalizing people for the purposes of Jewry”.
The Australian arm of Rupert Murdoch’s (b 1931) media empire has become essentially the propaganda unit of the Liberal Party of Australia. In 2018 Brisbane’s Murdoch-owned Courier-Mail (known to sceptical locals as the “Curious Snail”) was able to run a gushing puff-piece on Peter Dutton (b 1970; leader of the opposition and leader of the Australian Liberal Party since May 2022), headed (left) by a statement from his wife Kirilly (b 1974): “He is not a monster.” People might give him the benefit of the doubt on that one but the Courier-Mail has never been able to run the one on the right because neither Mr Dutton or his wife have ever denied he’s a Freemason.
One institution which has for almost three centuries proscribed Freemasonry is the Roman Catholic Church although that official position has run in parallel with a notable Catholic membership in many lodges. The ban was both explicit and often expressed up until the pontificate of Pius XII (1876-1958; pope 1939-1958) but after the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II; 1962-1965), the winds of change seemed to blow in other directions and in recent years from Rome, there’s been barely a mention of Freemasonry, the feeling probably that issues like secularism, abortion, homosexuality, radical Islam and such were more immediate threats. It was thus a surprise to many when on 13 November 2023 the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (the DDF, the latest name for the Inquisition) reaffirmed the Church's teachings that laity or clerics participating in Freemasonry are in "a state of grave sin." The DDF didn’t repeat the words of Clement XII (1652–1740; pope 1730-1740) who in 1738 called Masonry “depraved and perverted” but did say: “On the doctrinal level, it should be remembered that active membership in Freemasonry by a member of the faithful is forbidden because of the irreconcilability between Catholic doctrine and Freemasonry", citing Declaration on Masonic Associations (1983) by Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013-2022) when, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he was head of the DDF (then called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF)). Continuing in a way which recalled the ways of the Inquisition, ominously the DDF added: “Therefore, those who are formally and knowingly enrolled in Masonic Lodges and have embraced Masonic principles fall under the provisions in the above-mentioned Declaration. These measures also apply to any clerics enrolled in Freemasonry.”
Apparently, the DDF issued the document in response to
concerns raised by a bishop in the Philippines who reported a growing interest
in the secret society in his country.
That was interesting in that cultural anthropologists have noted the
form of Catholic worship in the Philippines was in some ways a hybrid which
merged the Western tradition with the local rituals the Spanish priests who
accompanied the colonists found were hard to suppress. It proved a happy compromise and the faith
flourished but one of the Vatican’s objections to Freemasonry has long been
that the society swears oaths of secrecy, fellowship and fraternity among
members and has accumulated a vast catalogue of rituals, ceremonial attire and
secret signals. It has always made the
church uneasy that these aesthetic affectations often use Christian imagery
despite being used for non-Christian rituals.
Indeed, it’s not a requirement of membership that one be a Christian or
even to affirm a belief in the God of Christianity or Jesus Christ as the
savior or mankind and the secret nature of so much Masonic ritualism has given rise to the suspicion of the worship of false idols.
Of relevance too is the existence of the complex hierarchy of titles
within Masonism which could be interpreted as a kind or parallel priesthood.
Pope Francis (b 1936; pope since 2013) is fighting a war which
he hopes will set the course of the church for the next generation. Before it could commence in anger he had to
wait for the death of Benedict but the battle is now on and it’s
against a cabal of recalcitrant cardinals and theologians (“the finest minds of
the thirteenth century” he’s rumored to call them) who are appalled at any
deviation from established orthodoxy in doctrine, ritual or form, regarding
such (at least between themselves), as heresy.
Quite where the DDF’s re-statement of the 300 year old policy of
prohibition of Freemasonry fits into that internecine squabble isn’t clear and
it may be the interest aroused surprised even the DDF which may simply have
been issuing a routine authoritative clarification in response to a bishop’s
request. Certainly nothing appears to
have changed in terms of the consequences and the interpretation by some that the
revisions to canon law made some years were in some way substantive in this
matter appear to have been wrong.
Escutcheons of the Holy See (left) and the Secret Society of the Les Clefs d’Or (right).
Interestingly, the DDF (nor any other iteration of the Inquisition) has never moved to proscribe the Secret Society of the Les Clefs d’Or (The Golden Keys; the international association of hotel concierges. This is despite the organization being structurally similar to the Freemasons and the similarities between their escutcheon and that of the Holy See are quite striking. According to the DDF, the crossed keys are a symbol of the Papacy's authority and power, the keys representing the "keys of heaven" that were in the New Testament passed from Jesus Christ to Saint Peter. In Roman Catholic tradition, Peter was appointed by Jesus as the first Pope and given the keys to symbolize his authority to forgive sins and to make decisions binding on behalf of the Church (this the theological basis of what in canon law was codified in the nineteenth century as papal infallibility). The two keys thus symbolize the pope's two powers: (1) spiritual power (represented by the silver key) and (2) temporal power (represented by the gold key). The latter power manifested in a most temporal manner during the thousand-odd years (between the eighth & nineteenth centuries) when the authority of the papal absolute theocracy extended to rule and govern the Papal States (which were interpolated into the modern state of Italy upon Italian unification (1859-1870). Claiming (officially) only temporal dominion, the Secret Society of the Les Clefs d'Or logo depicts both their keys in gold, one said to symbolize the concierge's role in unlocking the doors to the world for their guests, the other their ability to unlock the secrets of their destination and provide insider knowledge and recommendations (restaurant bookings, airport transfers, "personal service workers" of all types etc). However, neither the Vatican nor the Les Clefs d’Or have ever denied intelligence-sharing, covert operations, common rituals or other links.
In an indication they'll stop at nothing, the Freemasons have even stalked Lindsay Lohan. In 2011, Ms Lohan was granted a two-year restraining order against alleged stalker David Cocordan, the order issued some days after she filed complaint with police who, after investigation by their Threat Management Department, advised the court Mr Cocordan (who at the time had been using at least five aliases) “suffered from schizophrenia”, was “off his medication” and had a "significant psychiatric history of acting on his delusional beliefs.” That was worrying enough but Ms Lohan may have revealed her real concerns in an earlier post on twitter in which she included a picture of David Cocordan, claiming he was "the freemason stalker that has been threatening to kill me- while he is TRESPASSING!" Obviously, being stalked by the Freemasons is bad enough but the thought of being hunted by a schizophrenic Freemason truly is frightening. Apparently an unexplored matter in the annals of psychiatry, it seems the question of just how schizophrenia might particularly manifest in Freemasons awaits research so there may be a Ph.D there for someone. Just as intriguing of course is whether the Masonic assassin was sent by the Freemasons to murder Lindsay Lohan and the "schizophrenic" story was concocted just to conceal the cult's involvement and there are precedents for such theories. In May 1941, after Rudolf Hess (1894–1987; Nazi Deputy Führer 1933-1941) flew to Scotland in a private diplomatic venture to negotiate an end to hostilities between the UK and Germany, the Nazi government quickly issued a statement claiming the trip was unauthorized and Hess had gone mad (the last bit they phrased rather more delicately). For decades, conspiracy theorists did suggest Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; Führer (leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state 1934-1945) had authorized the flight by the "motorized Parsifal" and denied prior knowledge only once it was clear the mission had failed (and Hess in the note he left did say "madness" could be a suitable cover story in such circumstances) but the consensus among historians is Hess acted alone although his motivation remains a matter of debate.
The problem Ms Lohan identified has long been known (the fear of Freemasons and the cult of Freemasonry is the linguistically unremarkable "masonphobia" and it's reasonable to assume that since a schizophrenic Freemason tried to murder her, Ms Lohan has been masonphobic). In the US, between 1828-1838 there was an Anti-Mason political party which is remembered now as one of the first of the “third parties” which over the decades have often briefly flourished before either fading away or being absorbed into one side or the other of what has for centuries tended towards two-party stability. Its initial strength was that it was obsessively a single-issue party which enabled it rapidly to gather support but that proved ultimately it’s weakness because it never adequately developed the broader policy platform which would have attracted a wider membership. The party was formed in reaction to the disappearance (and presumed murder) of a former Mason who had turned dissident and become a most acerbic critic and the suspicion arose that the Masonic establishment had arranged his killing to silence his voice. They attracted much support, including from many church leaders who had long been suspicious of Freemasonry and were not convinced the organization was anything but anti-Christian. Because the Masons were a most secretive cult and conducted their meetings in private, their opponents tended to invent stories about the rituals and ceremonies (doing stuff with goats often mentioned) so the myths grew. Those myths clearly were potent enough to secure some electoral success and the Anti-Masons even ran William Wirt (1772-1834 and still the nation’s longest-serving attorney-general (1817-1829)) as their candidate in the 1832 presidential election where he won 7.8% of the popular vote and carried Vermont, a reasonable achievement for a third-party candidate. Ultimately though, that proved the electoral high-water mark and most of its members thereafter were absorbed by the embryonic Whig Party.
The Roman Catholic Church is a institution with a two-thousand year history and whatever happens in the flow of tributaries, in the upper reaches, things change slowly but there are shifts as circumstances compel and what seems to have evolved between the pontificates of Pius XII and Francis is the view the greatest threats to Christendom are no longer "Communism, homosexuality & Freemasonry" but are now "Islam, homosexuality & Freemasonry". To reinforce the fears the two ancient foes evoke in the Vatican, the matter of Archbishop Paul Marcinkus (1922–2006; president of the Institute for the Works of Religion (the "Vatican Bank") 1971-1989) must have confirmed in the mind of many there must be some connection between the two. The archbishop was gay which was nothing unusual among the bishops and cardinals in the Vatican (indeed it’s probably unusual not to be gay in such circles) but even in that colourful milieu his sexual appetite was considered “in the upper range” and his fondness for Swiss Guards was both well known and the subject of some mirth among the Curia; often the archbishop would "lend" his Peugeot 504 (in metallic gray with a "lovely leather" interior) to his favourite Swiss Guards to use on their expeditions for this and that. Highlights of the archbishop’s life included (1) being for a time ensconced behind the Vatican walls and protected by diplomatic immunity to ensure he’d not have to face interrogation from the various authorities interested in matters related to certain transactions at the Vatican Bank, (2) being associated with Italian banker Roberto Calvi (1920–1982), chairman of the bank Banco Ambrosiano (which collapsed in 1982) and known as Banchiere di Dio (God's Banker); found hanged from the scaffolding under London's Blackfriars Bridge) and (3) being accused of complicity in the murder of Pope John Paul I (1912–1978; pope August-September 1978). There’s no compelling evidence the 33 day pontificate of JPI ended with his murder and nor is there anything but “a bit of circumstantial” suggest Marcinkus may have been involved. Most historians concluded JPI died from natural causes and the marvellous conspiracy theory hinges on the suggestion the pope was planning to institute reforms in the Vatican Bank which had been linked to financial corruption involving the Banco Ambrosiano and the Propaganda Due (P2) Masonic Lodge.
Even by the standards of the cult, the P2 Masonic Lodge was secretive which was understandable given how deeply it was involved in political corruption, financial irregularities and organized crime and finally it was banned in 1981 after the extent of its criminality became just too much for elements within the Italian state to continue the protection for years provided. Founded in 1945, P2 originally was just another Masonic lodge under the Grand Orient of Italy but it came under the control of businessman and fascist Licio Gelli (1919–2015) who became Venerable Master and transformed it into a kind of shadow state. In the manner Masons have practiced for centuries, P2 infiltrated institutions and recruited influential figures including politicians (including then media figure Silvio Berlusconi (1936-2023; prime minister of Italy 1994-1995, 2001-2006 & 2008-2011), military officers, judges, journalists and businessmen, most with some degree of fascist sympathy. Essentially, P2’s agenda was a kind of “MIGA” (Make Italy Great Again) program and in the way these things are done, their plan for a latter day Il Risorgimento (Resurgence, the nineteenth century movement which culminated in the unification of Italy (1961)) their project, although presented as a “Plan for Democratic Rebirth” was actually a plot to undermine democracy and take control of the government. P2 deeply was implicated in the scandals swirling around the Vatican Bank and the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano in 1982 and when finally investigated, almost a thousand officials and others were found to have ties to the cult; the prime minister, Arnaldo Forlani (1925–2023; Prime Minister of Italy 1980-1981), was compelled to resign although at the time of his death he was both the oldest living and longest-lived Italian prime minister so there was that. As the scandal unfolded, Venerable Master Licio Gelli was expelled from the Masons (presumably because he’d committed the unforgivable sin of “being caught”) and arrested, triggering years of court cases, escapes from custody, hiding in other countries and pleading not guilty. In the Italian way, despite receiving long sentences he spent very little time in prison and by 2003 seemed content P2 had in a way succeeded because the “democratic rebirth plan” was “being implemented by Silvio Berlusconi”.
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