kaos

The ritual had its foundation in one Willermoz, a Christian Thaumaturgist and Martinist
of Lyon. Therefore the 18° temple was set out to correspond to the Christian passion.
I’ve been looking into this Willermoz fellow, and he led an interesting life in truly
fascinating times. But what little information I have does not necessarily imply that he
was the originator of the Rose-Croix of Heredom.
According to Waite’s A New Encyclopædia of Freemasonry, under the heading
“Emperors of the East and West”:
The full title of this, the first masonic system which superposed a colossal series of Grades
upon the Craft Rite, was council of the Emperors of the East and West, Sovereign
Prince Masons, Substitutes General of the Royal Art, Grand Surveillants and Officers of
the Grand Sovereign Lodge of St. John of Jerusalem. It was otherwise and in more
concise terms the rite of heredom or of perfection. It was founded at Paris in or
about 1758 and consisted in all of twenty-five Degrees. We know nothing concerning
the circumstances of its origin or the persons connected therewith. The suggestion that
it was a daughter of the chapter of clermont or a transfiguration and extension of
that body has been made in plausible terms, but nothing approaching evidence comes
forward to support it. […] Every question is open, moreover, as to the Grade content of
the clermont chapter. While it is difficult under such circumstances to hold any
view—however tentatively—one inference from what I must call tradition on the subject
makes it appear that the Chapter was Templar in its High Grade developments while
the Council at its inception was not. The Council also was the first Continental Rite
which included the Grade of rose-croix in its system. […]
Story of the Rite.—Wheresoever it came from, the presence of the Rose-Croix in
this sequence is the key to its importance as a system, while next in consequence thereto
is the grade of kadosh. So far as it is possible to say, we hear of neither independently
prior to 1758, except in spurious legend or traditional history. If the Council came forth
ready made at that date, in all its Ritual panoply, we can understand the success which
seems to have attended it for a period. It appears—within a surprisingly short space—to
have established daughter Councils at Bordeaux, Lyons, Toulouse, Marseilles, and Arras.
[Vol. I, pp 254–255]
According to a biography of M Jean-Baptiste Willermoz (1730–1824) I located on the
web (Lard help us!) at http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/~bill/_mim0002.html, he founded the
Lodge of “The Perfect Friendship” in 1753, which was chartered by the Grande Loge
Nationale de France on 21 November 1756. Willermoz later founded the “Sovereign
Chapter of Knights of the Black Eagle/Rose-Croix”, in 1763, presumably during his
tenure as Provincial Grand Master.
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