Page 11 - MFM March 2016

Montana Freemason March 2016
Enlightenment lodges of the main European
capitals did not have major objections to
accepting free men of color; they considered
such members proof of progress of the spirit
of tolerance and enlightenment. Active
members of the famous Société des amis des
Noirs, “Society of the Friends of the Blacks,” Grand Lodge of France, and the Grand
were Masons. The lodge Les Émules d’Hiram
was made up of free men of color. But
colonial lodges, such as those in the French
Caribbean and the French territories of the
Indian Ocean, were often violently opposed
to it. When the French Caribbean lodge Les
Cœurs Unis petitioned for a constitution in
1781, the powerful merchant lodge Saint-
Jean d’Ecosse of Marseille wrote to the
Grand Orient that the alliances of some of
the members with free people of color was
unbearable and a casus bellian act worthy of
war.
After the 18th century
As some lodges stumbled, others made
strides. In the late 1800s, progressive lodges Editor’s note: Pierre-Yves Beaurepaire is
supported the Esperanto movement, which
sought to create a universal language as an
instrument of mutual understanding and
sharing. With Masonic support, an annual
international convention – the Congreso
Universal de Esperanto – was created in 1905.
Some lodges, especially in Spain and Latin
America, still function today in Esperanto,
including Vienna’s Universela Framasona
Ligo and the Spanish lodge Afortunada.
As time went on, the fraternity grew more
tolerant, and in many ways, so did the world
outside it. But after World War I, Masons
faced new sources of persecution, from
fascist powers in the Western world in World
War II to those in the former Soviet Union
until 1991; from Pinochet’s coup in Chile of
1917 to the Iranian revolution of 1979. Each
political upheaval has prompted the exile of
Freemasons to new lands.
Volume 92 Number 2
By and large, the global fraternity has risen
to welcome them. Russians and Mencheviks
created Masonic lodges under the auspices
of the Grand Lodge in Paris after October
1917. Chilean Freemasons in exile in France
founded lodges under the protection of the
Lodge of Chile in exile was founded to join
all exiled Chilean Masons in Europe. After
Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979, a Grand
Lodge of Iran in exile was organized with
members in Paris, New York, Boston, and
Washington, D.C. It is currently established
in Los Angeles.
Each band of displaced Masons has served
as a living reminder of the imperative
of tolerance; each time they have been
welcomed by brothers, as brothers, they
prove its impact. The seeds of this attitude
were planted in 18th-century European
lodges. Although the seasons have been
harsh, they continue to grow today.
a professor of history at the University of
Nice and a fellow at the Institut Universitaire
de France.
Special Thanks to the California Freemason
magazine. This article was reprinted from the
California Freemason magazine, October/November
2014 issue.
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