Notre histoire
Histoire du REAA
The existence of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in its current form is already attested in the 18th century in France. It is based on the Great Masonic Constitutions of 1762 and 1786 which still govern it today.
The first Supreme Council was established in 1801 in Charleston, South Carolina, United States of America. If the progression of the Rite was slow at the beginning, the situation changed in 1859 under the leadership of Albert Pike, Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction. It is to him that we owe the rapid dissemination of the Rite on an international scale.
In Switzerland, the first workshop to be founded was the Chapitre “La Prudence” in Geneva on January 31, 1802 (although the canton did not join the Confederation until 1815), followed by the Lausanne Chapitre “L’Amitié” in 1810. The Supreme Council of Switzerland was established in the capital of Vaud in 1873.
The REAA of Switzerland was responsible for organising the International Conferences of the Supreme Councils of the World in 1875 (Lausanne Convent), 1922 and 1995, as well as a number of Conferences of the European Sovereign Grand Commanders (the last time in 2023 in Geneva).
In their respective countries, the Supreme Councils are autonomous and independent, but do not neglect to cultivate fraternal exchanges with a view to promoting mutual understanding and serving the cause of freedom and peace.
Grandes figures et textes fondamentaux
Bordeaux: the Constitutions of 1762
In September 1762, nine commissioners drafted a text known as the “Regulations, Ordinances, Institutes, General Regulations and Constitutions of the Masonry of Perfection”, which unified the 25 Degrees of the Rite of Perfection, and which can be considered to be the foundation of the REAA.
Etienne Morin receives the power to propagate the Rite thus created.
Etienne Morin
In 1761, Etienne Morin received a patent giving him the power to spread the Scottish Degrees. He then exported the Rite of Perfection to the West Indies, to Saint-Domingue, in 1762.
It was then introduced to North America in 1767 by his secretary and collaborator Henry Andrew Francken. This patents the “eleven gentlemen of Charleston” including John Mitchell and Frédéric Dalcho who gave birth to the REAA in 33 Degrees between 1798 and 1801
Berlin: the Constitutions of 1786
These Constitutions were dictated, it is said, by Frederick II of Prussia, and bear his signature. They brought the REAA to thirty-three Degrees, and the direction of the Rite was assigned to a Sovereign Chapter which took the name of “Supreme Council of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, thirty-third and last Degree of the Rite.” There is no record of a meeting of the Supreme Council in Berlin in May 1786, and historians strongly question the fact that Frederick II could have signed such a document. Regardless of their historical authenticity, they are still considered today as the fundamental laws of the Order.
Charleston: the circular to the two hemispheres of 1802
Under the authority of the Supreme Council of the United States, on December 4, 1802, this circular was published, which some consider to be the true birth certificate of the REAA. According to its authors, it is intended “to explain the origin and nature of the Sublime Degrees of Masonry and their institution in South Carolina.”
Alexandre de Grasse-Tilly
Count Alexandre François Auguste de Grasse-Tilly was made Grand Inspector General in 1802; he then resided in Charleston after leaving Saint-Domingue. He returned that same year and created the Supreme Council for the Windward and Leeward Islands in Port-au-Prince.
He then returned to France in 1804, and on 20 October the Supreme Council for France was created, of which he was appointed Sovereign Grand Commander.
A number of Scottish Lodges then decided to leave the Grand Orient with which they were in conflict to unite in a Scottish General Grand Lodge (GLGE) of the Ancient and Accepted Rite. The Grand Orient and the Emperor are very worried about this because a single Masonry is more easily controllable. An agreement was reached on December 3, and a concordat signed by the dignitaries of the two Obediences. The GLGE is dissolved.
It was Régis de Cambacérès, deputy of the Sovereign Grand Commander Joseph Bonaparte, who succeeded de Grasse-Tilly while the latter participated in the creation of several Supreme Councils (The Two Sicilies, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, etc.).
Lausanne: the Universal Convent of 1875
Out of twenty-three Supreme Councils, nine were present at this so-called “universal” Convent by its instigators. He confirmed and proclaimed the Great Constitutions of 1786, and a tiler – a collection of questions and answers to recognize a Mason and his Degree – was adopted. These texts are still a reference today.
Les dates importantes
1762 🌐
1. International constitutional basis
1786 🌐
2. International constitutional basis
1801 🇺🇸
Supreme Council of the USA
1802 🇨🇭
Geneva Chapter
1810 🇨🇭
Lausanne Chapter
1859 🌐
Since then, international diffusion of the Rite
1873 🇨🇭
Supreme Council
1875 🇨🇭
Areopagus Lausanne
1875 🌐
International conference in Lausanne
1889 🇨🇭
Areopagus Geneva
1905 🇨🇭
Chapter La Chaux-de-Fonds
1909 🇨🇭
Areopagus La Chaux-de-Fonds
1920 🇨🇭
Consistory
1920 🇨🇭
Chapter Bern
1922 🌐
International conference in Lausanne
1924 🇨🇭
Lugano Chapter
1924 🇨🇭
Zurich Chapter
1925 🇨🇭
Chapter Basel
1926 🇨🇭
Areopagus Bern
1927 🇨🇭
Areopagus Basel
1929 🇨🇭
Areopagus Zurich
1931 🇨🇭
Areopagus Lugano
1982 🇨🇭
Chapter St. Gall
1984 🇨🇭
Chapter Zion
1988 🇨🇭
Areopagus Sion
1995 🌐
International conference in Lausanne
2005 🇨🇭
Areopagus St. Gall
2009 🇨🇭
Chapter Yverdon-les-Bains
2017 🇨🇭
Areopagus Yverdon-les-Bains
2022 🇨🇭
100th Anniversary of the Consistoire, Lausanne
2023 🌐
54th Conference of the Sovereign Grand Commanders of Europe and Associated Countries
2023 🌐
National Convent in Zürich – 150th anniversary of the Rite