Draft:Grand Priory of the Gauls

Grand Priory of the Gauls

Seal of the Grand Priory of Gaul GPDG
Founders	Camille Savoire
Types	Grand Lodge
Country	France
Website	gpdg.org

The Grand Priory of the Gauls is a Grand Lodge, founded on March 23, 1935, under the name of Great Directory of the Gauls, on the initiative of French Freemasons, principally Dr. Camille Savoire. Formed to reactivate the Rectified Scottish Rite, which had fallen into disuse in France in the 1830s, the obedience was created after several failed attempts to reactivate or create an autonomous jurisdiction within the Grand Orient de France.

With French Freemasonry heavily involved in the political and societal debates of the French Third Republic, this creation was based on the desire to open up a less politicized Masonic space, refusing political or religious debate in the work of the lodges, on the search for an open and tolerant spirituality, and on the desire to renew links with so-called “regular” Freemasonry. Camille Savoire and Édouard de Ribaucourt chose different paths to achieve these goals. The Great Directory of the Gauls or Grand Priory of the Gauls, founded in 1935, struggled to establish itself in the French Masonic landscape, as its mothballing during the Second World War and reactivation afterward did not allow it to become widely established in France.

In the second half of the twentieth century, however, it underwent a process of development and change which, while increasing its membership, led to structural and ideological modifications that gave rise to doctrinal conflicts, various splits, and the creation of obediences practicing the Rectified Scottish Regime. A high-grade body for the French National Grand Lodge from 1958 to 2000, over time it was transformed into a plural Christian order, integrating other Masonic rites as well as chivalric Masonic orders from the Anglo-Saxon tradition. Adding “Ordres unis” to its original name, it completed its transformation by completing its denomination with the title “Ordre des francs-maçons et chevaliers chrétiens de France,” and established as the basis of its constitution in 2006, faith in God, the profession of the Christian religion and oaths based on the Gospel of John.

Historical background

Extinction of the Rectified Scottish Rite in France

Main article: Rectified Scottish Rite

The Wilhelmsbad Convent of 1782, the founding act of the Rectified Scottish Rite, did not have a major impact in France. In 1786, the regions of Lyon and Alsace were the only two regions with a few Freemasons of the Rite, but they did not enjoy the best relations. The French Revolution halted all Masonic activities. In 1797, Jean-Baptiste Willermoz, the rite's founder at the age of nearly 70, was virtually the only French holder and bearer of the rectified system. Several attempts were made to revive the RER. Under the First Empire and until 1843, various lodges and directorates were created or revived, but none resulted in the permanent establishment of the Rectified Regime in the French Masonic landscape. The gradual extinction of the RER's French provinces led Jean-Baptise Willermoz to note, in 1820, a “general chill” regarding the rectified rite. By passing away at the ripe old age of 94, the history of the RER seemed to end with that of the rite's founder and patriarch. However, the rite survives on a shoestring at the Independent Grand Priory of Helvetia in Basel. In the years that followed, several lodges were founded, and by the early 1820s, Switzerland had around ten Masonic lodges working to the Rectified Rite. One of these was the “Union des Cœurs” lodge in Geneva, which in 1910 provided Camille Savoire and Édouard de Ribaucourt with the rituals for rectified lodges.

Masonic landscape under the Third Republic

Main article: Freemasonry in the French Third Republic

Under the Third Republic, French Freemasonry was heavily involved in the country's political and social life. As part of the ideological and institutional framework of the Republican camp, its members were strongly rooted in the Radical Party. They are often directly or indirectly involved in public life. A constant feature of political life during this period, it had the support of a large proportion of the electorate, and was described as the “Church of the Republic,” with its theses generally supported and adopted. Divided into two close and competing obediences, it also faced various creations and splits, driven by more traditional or spiritual currents.

Fully committed to the fight against “religious obscurantism” and with a clear desire to do away with clericalism, French Freemasonry openly supported the Republican Party and was heavily involved in the struggle for secular education and the secularization of France. From pacifism before the First World War to sacred union during the 1914-1918 war, after the conflict, it spoke out against attacks on secularism from 1920 to 1924, then gave its majority support to the League of Nations. With the fall of the League, it stepped back from political involvement and revived its symbolic and initiatory foundations.

The two main obediences practice Masonic rites specific to their histories, the French Rite for the Grand Orient de France and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Supreme Council of France and the Grande Loge de France at its creation in 1904. The decisions of the Grand Orient convent of 1877, abolishing the obligation to believe in God, saw the United Grand Lodge of England proclaim itself the “Mother Grand Lodge of the World” and the sole proponent of “Regular Masonic jurisdiction,” isolating the French and European liberal obediences from the mainly Anglo-Saxon obediences.

Great Directory of the Gauls / Grand Priory of the Gauls

Terminology

At the time of its creation, the Grand Lodge was known as the Great Directory of the Gauls, as stipulated in the letters patent issued by the independent Grand Priory of Helvetia. However, the names Independent Grand Priory of the Gauls or Grand Priory of the Gauls were soon used in correspondence between the GPIH and the Great Directory. The convocation to the rightful claimants for March 23, 1935, specifies the terms of the revival and installation of a “prefecture” in Paris, and the delivery of “Letters-Patents” granting the right to create “all workshops in the Rectified Scottish Rite and to proceed with the organization of the Grand Priory of the Gauls.” The 1936 treaty of friendship establishing the framework for relations between the two organizations, the Independent Grand Priory of Helvetia and the Grand Directory of the Gauls, was signed by Camille Savoire “on behalf of the Independent Grand Priory of the Gauls,” who bore the title of Grand Prior. The request for an ampliation of the patents made by Camille Savoire's successor, Julien Ribesky, the original patents having been mislaid, is accompanied by a preliminary. The GPIH confirms its acceptance by noting that “no new fact likely to alter the regularity of the powers of the Independent Grand Priory of the Gauls has occurred since the creation of this obedience in 1935 and the resumption of its work in 1947.” In their work on this period, historians of Freemasonry use the name “Grand Priory of the Gauls” exclusively to describe this obedience, even though the Masonic organization was established in 1935 under the name of Great Directory of the Gauls.

1910 - 1935: revival of the Rectified Scottish Rite

Camille Savoire and mainly Édouard de Ribaucourt, Freemasons of the Grand Orient de France (GODF), set out to create a Masonic space in France and within existing obediences, with relations to foreign obediences likely to re-establish links with French Freemasonry. These links were severed following the 1877 convent, which put an end to the obligation to believe in God, creating a break with the Anglo-Saxon obediences in particular, and propelling the main French obedience into a certain international isolation. He also hoped to retain members who rejected political activism and to attract new intellectual and social elites alienated by the political tendencies of certain Masonic environments.

On the strength of the many Masonic contacts he had made on his many trips to Europe, through his participation in congresses and medical conferences, Camille Savoire approached the Grand Lodge Alpina of Switzerland, an internationally recognized obedience and the last remaining conservatory of a Masonic rite of Christian essence, founded in France in the 18th century, the Rectified Scottish Rite (RER). Put in touch with the Independent Grand Priory of Helvetia (GPIH) in Geneva, Camille Savoire, Édouard de Ribaucourt, and Gustave Bastard were awarded the grade of Chevalier Benefaisant de la Cité Sainte, the final grade of the Rectified Masonic system, on June 9, 1910. On June 11, the GPIH constituted a commandery of the Rectified Scottish Rite (RER) under its authority in Paris and gave them the first letters patent to reactivate the rite in France.

Back in France, on June 20, they quickly reactivated a blue lodge, the last Parisian lodge to work on the RER in the 19th century, “Le Centre des amis.” This announcement was initially rejected by the GODF's Order's Council. After a few exchanges and clarifications between the GODF and the GPIH, the Order's Council agreed to the creation of a Rectified Rite lodge and authorized the revival of the “Centre des amis” for this purpose. A treaty of alliance and friendship between the GODF and the GPIH was signed in Paris and Geneva on April 15 and 18. The lodge was installed by Gaston Bouley, President of the GODF Order Council, on April 28, 1911, with Édouard de Ribaucourt as its first Worshipful Master.

Édouard de Ribaucourt: the choice of the United Grand Lodge of England

Édouard de Ribaucourt.

In the months that followed, “Le Centre des amis” enjoyed a peaceful existence. In 1911, the lodge had 32 members, recognized the rules of the Grand Orient de France, and did not appear to contravene the principle of absolute freedom of conscience. However, from 1913 onwards, difficulties arose around the rituals of the rectified rite. The Council of the Order handed over the rituals to the lodge, and the invocations for closing and opening the work, as well as the formulations to the “Great Architect of the Universe,” were absent. At the Grand Orient convent on September 16, 1913, Édouard de Ribaucourt proposed that the Grand Architect formula be authorized for use. In his speech in support of the proposal, de Ribaucourt spoke of deletions that were nonetheless compatible with the principles of freedom of conscience. The invocations had been arranged by Antoine Blatin, then Grand Commander. Ribaucourt's detailed speech ended, however, with a veiled threat to leave the obedience if his request for reinstatement was unsuccessful. Despite this emotional speech, the Christian nature of the proposal and its overly religious wording were rejected by the deputies.

In the wake of this rejection, Édouard de Ribaucourt severed all ties with the GODF and forwarded a request through Gleward Roehrich, a Swiss Freemason and former Grand Officer of the United Grand Lodge of England (GLUA), for recognition of the obedience he founded under the name of “Independent and Regular Grand Lodge for France.” GLUA granted recognition to the new obedience on November 20, and Édouard de Ribaucourt, First Grand Master, announced it at a meeting of the “Centre des amis” on December 9. Despite the success of this rapid recognition, there was no follow-up. The expected rallying of lodges to consolidate the young obedience hardly happened. As a result, the RER did not develop within the new obedience, which was joined by the many Anglo-Saxons resident in France, forming lodges practicing the Emulation Rite exclusively in English. The RER became a minority, as did the French Freemasons in the obedience, prompting its detractors to nickname it the “English Grand Lodge of France.” At his death, isolated within the obedience he had founded, only one lodge was working on the RER, confirming the failure of the rectified rite to take root in the independent and regular Grand Lodge for France.

Camille Savoire remained loyal to the Grand Orient de France and continued his Masonic activities within the Grand College of Rites.

1936 - 1947: Camille Savoire and the Grand Directoire des Gaules

Camille Savoire.

On September 15, 1923, Camille Savoire became Grand Commander of the Grand College of Rites of the Grand Orient de France, a position he held until 1935. During these twelve years, he set about renewing the institution by breathing new life into it. He created the “Bulletin du Grand Collège des Rites,” an annual and then biennial publication, whose documentation represents a genuine source of general synthesis of the work of the chapters and areopagi. During his term of office, he carried out a complete reorganization of the Grand College, which marked the institution's history.

Under his leadership, several lodges obtained authorization from the Council of the Order of the Grand Orient de France to combine the French and Scottish rectified rites in Le Touquet, Rouen, Bordeaux, Marseille, and Montpellier. He consecrated a 4th-grade lodge in Bordeaux, based on the “La Concorde” lodge. On September 16, 1933, he convinced the Grand College of Rites to establish a section of the Great Directory of the Rectified Scottish Rite, with him as Grand Prior. Working in conjunction with Arthur Groussier, President of the Order's Council, Groussier drew up a treaty, approved by the Council, for the creation of a Grand Directoire des rites autonomes as a jurisdiction of the high ranks. Camille Savoire, in his capacity as Grand Commandeur, conceived a project to unite the various high-grade bodies at the national level. The project included the creation of a Grand Priory to administer the higher workshops of the Rectified Scottish Rite. Arthur Groussier's proposal was rejected by the 1934 convent of the Grand Orient, and both Camille Savoire's proposals and himself were severely attacked. This failure was Camille Savoire's last project to develop the Rectified Rite within the Grand Orient de France. Refusing to be abandoned, he envisaged and implemented other solutions to enable its establishment in France.

Faced with the difficulties of establishing the Rectified Regime within the Grand Orient de France, Camille Savoire used his relationship with the Independent Grand Priory of Helvetia (GPIH) to negotiate the creation of an independent body to represent the Scottish Rectified Regime in France. The first results of these negotiations came to fruition on November 24, 1934. Several French Freemasons, including Aimé Machon, Grand Chancellor of the Grand College of Rites of the Grand Orient de France, were awarded the rank of Chevalier bienfaisant de la Cité Sainte (CBCS) by the GPIH. The number of holders of this rank in France is now sufficient to allow the creation of a new Masonic organization.

On February 12, 1935, Aimé Machon resigned from the Grand College of Rites of the Grand Orient de France and issued a convocation to those entitled to the right for March 23, 1935. The convocation specifies the modalities for the revival and installation of a “prefecture” in Paris, and the delivery of “Lettres-Patentes” granting the right to create “all workshops in the Rectified Scottish Rite and to proceed with the organization of the Grand Priory of the Gauls." A few days earlier, on March 20, Camille Savoire informed the Grand Orient, in the person of its Chairman Adrien Pouriau, of this future consecration, and put forward several proposals. The first proposed the practice of the Rectified Scottish Rite within the Grand Orient, with complete “ritual independence” for all grades. A treaty of recognition, enshrining reciprocal independence and authorizing inter-visits. Or separation “under a regime of reciprocal ignorance” without excluding unofficial or friendly relations in respect of the common past, devotion, and attachment to the Grand Orient de France. The Council of the Order did not study the question until April 14, 1935, and concluded that the request was inadmissible, concluding that the RER belonged to the GODF, was practiced by several lodges, and did not require modification of the general regulations.

Foundation of the Grand Directory of the Gauls in March 1935.

On March 23, 1935, the founding meeting of the Prefecture of Geneva was held at the Villa l'Acacia, Neuilly-sur-Seine, presided over by Ernest Rochat, Grand Prior of the GPIH. The latter presented Camille Savoire with the letters patent constituting the Great Directory of the Gauls, giving him, as Grand Prior, full powers to “proceed with the organization of the Grand Priory of the Gauls.” On September 9, 1936, he signed a “treaty of alliance and friendship” between the Great Directory of the Gauls and the independent Grand Priory of Helvetia, completing the jurisdictional recognition of each organization. The treaty is initialed by Grand Prior Ernest Rochat for the “Independent Grand Priory of Helvetia” and by Grand Prior Camille Savoire for the “Independent Grand Priory of the Gauls.”

On April 17, 1935, Camille Savoire resigned from the Grand Orient de France and the Grand College of Rites after 43 years of faithful service. He presided over the Grand College of Rites for the last time on May 14, when he delivered a lengthy written note detailing his decision to leave the prestigious Masonic powerhouse that the Grand Orient represented at the time. Historians' analysis of this last speech shows that his final choice was based on his refusal of political or religious debate, his search for an open and tolerant spirituality, and his desire to renew ties with universal Freemasonry.

On October 24, 1935, as Grand Master and Grand Prior, he officially constituted the Rectified Scottish Grand Lodge of France (GLER). Composed of four symbolic lodges, he installed René Wibaux as Grand Master. Other lodges were formed, but despite these efforts, neither the Great Directory of the Gauls nor the Rectified Scottish Grand Lodge succeeded in establishing themselves in the French Masonic landscape. Recognizing this difficulty, René Wibaux contacted Louis Doignon and Albert Lantoine to propose the integration of the Grande Loge into the Grande Loge de France (GLDF). The question was put to the GLER lodges by referendum. Five lodges opted for integration into the GLDF, while three chose to break away. The lodges were aggregated into the GLDF on February 3, 1938. Camille Savoire did not approve of René Wibaux's decision and refused the seat and title of “Regent of the Rectified Rite” of the GLDF, which René Wibaux accepted. Camille Savoire retains a single lodge on the Grand Directory, the “Franchise” lodge he created on January 27, 1938. The Rectified Scottish Grand Lodge ended its existence after three years.

Anticipating the fallout from the Vichy regime's anti-Masonic policies, and wishing to protect and preserve the existence of the Grand Directory of the Gauls and its members, Camille Savoire officially mothballed the Order on the day war was declared, on September 3, 1939. Immediately after the end of the war, on December 15, 1946, he announced the resumption of the work of the obedience, and on February 15, 1947, he revived the “La Franchise” lodge. At that time, the Order had just 42 members of all grades. On the death of Camille Savoire, Julien Rybinski, unable to find the original 1935 letter patent, requested a copy from the Independent Grand Priory of Helvetia. The latter confirmed his acceptance and issued him a certified copy of the 1935 patent.

1948 - 1991: developments and divisions

Establishment of the Rectified Scottish Rite in the French Masonic Landscape

On October 24, 1948, at 79, Camille Savoire was replaced as Grand Prior by Julien Rybinski, while remaining Grand Master-National. After Camille Savoire died in 1951, Julien Rybinski was appointed Grand Master-National. He handed over his office to André Moiroux, and a new strategy was developed. This involved reviving the “Grand Lodge of the Rectified Regime in France” (GLRR), with Julien Rybinski taking over as Grand Master. André Moiroux, with the help of Antonin Gaillard, his Grand Chancellor, contributed greatly to the development of the GPDG, which soon included a lodge in Paris, two in Lille, and one in Calais, as well as several 4th-grade lodges. At that time, the Grand Priory had three prefectures and three commanderies.

In 1952, Pierre de Ribaucourt, Edouard's son and a member of the regular Grande Loge Nationale et Indépendante, renamed the Grande Loge Nationale Française (GLNF), suggested to Julien Rybinski that he work on the development of RER within his father's obedience. To this end, the Grand Prior agreed to be affiliated with “Le Centre des amis” lodge, the obedience's historic founding lodge, and an RER practitioner. Pierre de Ribaucourt encouraged the signing of a charter between the GPDG and the GLNF, but Julien Ribinsky, weighing the risk of absorption of the GPDG's organs, renounced any agreement and withdrew from the GLNF. The failure of this rapprochement eventually led to a crisis within the GLNF, which experienced its first split and the creation by several prominent members, including Pierre de Ribaucourt, and several lodges, of a new obedience in 1958. Taking the name GLNF-Opéra, whose foundation rite is the RER, the new obedience took root in the French Masonic landscape, marking the rebirth of the Rectified Rite in France, almost 50 years after its reintroduction by Camille Savoire and Édouard de Ribaucourt.

Agreement with GLNF and first splits

In 1958, the split within the GLNF left the latter in a weakened state following the departure of many lodges for the GLNF-Opera. André Moiroux, to enable the Rectified Scottish Rite to continue its development, proposed to place the GLRR lodges under the auspices of the GNLF, making the GPDG the high-grade body of the Rectified system. On June 13, 1958, an agreement was signed between the GPDG and the GLNF. On June 17, 1958, at a meeting of the GLRR's “Franchise No. 1” lodge, Antonin Wast, the lodge's Worshipful Master and Grand Prior since the death of Julien Ribinsky, outlined the terms of the merger agreement. The terms of the treaty are accepted by the majority of members. André Moiroux becomes Grand Officer of the GLNF. The obedience is enriched by lodges working in the French Rite and the RER. The signing of this agreement and the rejection of English domination of the GLNF, as well as the desire to establish relations with all French obediences, also led in 1962 to the creation of the Grand Priory of France by the GLNF-Opera, with René Wibaux as its first Grand Prior, although the position was soon passed on to Pierre de Ribaucourt. The “Flandres” lodge, which recruits from all French obediences, also rejected an article in the convention, reserving access to the 4th grade for GLNF members only. Until 1964, the GPDG continued to grant the final grade of the rite, but in 1965, René Rurcard, Prefect of Flandres, following his ousting from the GPDG, created the “Independent Grande Priory of the Gauls” on December 30, 1965.

Development of the Order and Doctrinal Confrontation

On October 21, 1965, Antonin Wast, Grand Prior of the GPDG, who succeeded André Moiroux in this position after his death on December 2, 1962, signed an amendment with Ernest Wan Hecke, Grand Master of the GLNF, to the 1958 agreement between the two Masonic bodies. This incorporated the management of the 4th grade into the GPDG, rather than into a separate, independent board, but also made it compulsory to belong to “regular” Freemasonry to gain access to the terminal high grades of the rectified system within the GPDG. Antonin Wast initiated the publication of the experiential magazine Les Cahiers Verts, the first issue of which was published in 1970.

In 1973, Jean Baylot succeeded Antonin Wast, who died suddenly. One of the last living members of the RER reactivation pioneers, Camille Savoire and Édouard de Ribaucourt, he rigorously managed the obedience for three years, respecting the historical sources of this Masonic system. Jean Granger temporarily took over as Grand Prior in 1976. However, he soon relinquished the post to Paul Naudon, in the application of a 1966 decree never applied, which separated the offices of Grand Prior and National Grand Master ad vitam, and he was elected to the latter position. However, tensions between the GPDG and the Supreme Council of the REAA of the GLNF provoked a major crisis which quickly led to Paul Naudon's resignation, and Jean Granger was asked to take over the leadership of the order. He was elected Grand Prior and National Grand Master, the separation of offices having been abandoned. During his term of office and through his works, Jean Granger helped to project a positive image of the GPDG. However, his perception of the rite's doctrine, which he expounds in several of his speeches, is not unanimous, and over time raises growing animosities, mainly with his Grand Chancellor Daniel Fontaine.

The GPDG continues to develop and establish itself, and in 1982, to mark the 200th anniversary of the founding convent at Wilhelmsbad, it organized commemorative meetings with several European priories. An exhibition at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, curated by Frédérick Tristan, met with media success. Despite this success, the differences between Grand Prior Jean Granger and his Grand Chancellor came to a head. The doctrinal crisis between Jean Granger's ecumenical, reformist current and Daniel Fontaine's uniquely Christian, conservative one, turned to the advantage of the latter. Jean Granger resigned and Daniel Fontaine was elected Grand Prior in 1983. In 1986 and 1987, the GPDG took part in the creation of the Grand Priory of Belgium and the establishment of a prefecture of the Rectified Scottish Rite in Italy.

1992 - 2013: structural change and split

Integration of grades and orders, break with the GLNF

In 1992, the Grand Priory of the Gauls, through its Grand Prior, committed to reuniting the ranks and orders of Christian Freemasonry, received from the Grand Priory of England the transmission of the Masonic and Military Order of the Temple and Saint John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes & Malta. Order of the Anglo-Saxon Masonic tradition. On the occasion of this transmission, Grand Master Harold Devereux Still installs Daniel Fontaine Grand Prior of the GPDG as “Grand Master of the United Orders.” This appointment was approved by the order's governing bodies on September 26, 1992, adding “Ordres unis” to its traditional name. In 1995, the GPDG received a license from the Netherlands to practice the high grades of the French Rite, including the ultimate grade of Sovereign Prince Rosicrucian, which was offered to its members. These far-reaching changes, which took place over ten years, transformed the original rectified body into a body of “chivalric” high grades, with “Christian militancy” as its primary doctrine. The creation of a “Grande aumônerie des Ordres” completed this ecclesial transformation.

The GPDG's activism on the international Masonic scene and the integration of rites and grades from other Masonic traditions are causing tensions with the Grande Loge Nationale Française (GLNF). Linked by agreement since 1958 for the management of the RER's high ranks, the GPDG's choices are criticized both structurally and doctrinally. Relations between the two organizations deteriorated sharply throughout sometimes tense exchanges. According to the GLNF, the orientations chosen by the “GPDG Ordres unis,” based on “militant and conspicuous Christianity,” became incompatible with the 1958 agreement based on the GPDG created by Camille Savoire in 1935. On June 13, 2000, in a letter to Daniel Fontaine, Grand Prior, the GLNF authorities notified him of the end of the conventional agreement governing the RER's high ranks and binding the two Masonic bodies. Daniel Fontaine contested the GLNF's unilateral decision and set about drawing up new statutes for the GPDG. For its part, the GLNF created the “Grand Rectified Priory of France” to take over its management of the RER high ranks.

Reorganization and a new constitution

The end of the agreement with the GLNF meant that the Grand Priory of the Gauls had to undergo a thorough restructuring and implement a new constitution incorporating the developments of recent years. Several Masonic structures were created to house the symbolic lodges, the “National Directory of Rectified Lodges” for the first three grades of the RER. A “Grand College of the Lodges of Saint-Jean,” a Sovereign Grand Chapter for the French Rite, and a Chapter of the Royal Arch, all under the auspices of a General Chapter of the Grand Priory of the Gauls. To complete this structural evolution, the GPDG completes its name with a double title: “Christian Freemason Orders of France” and “Orders of the Christian Knights Masons of France.” The Grand Chaplaincy was declared the “First House of the Order,” with national prerogatives. This novelty aroused misgivings, as many members were unconvinced by the Grand Aumônier's arguments and worried about a growing “clericalization” of the GPDG.

In 2005, after 22 years in office, following the changes made between 1990 and 2000, the Grand Prior, Daniel Fontaine, stepped down. During this year, the Order's new statutes were examined and debated. The fundamental text was proposed at the General Meeting of April 29, 2006, giving the GPDG Ordre unis a constitution in which the first principle is faith in God, the profession of the Christian religion, and oaths based on the Gospel according to John. Adopted after much discussion and without the vote of members who saw in this text too great a departure from the founding principles of the Great Directory of the Gauls established by Camille Savoire in 1935. Internal critics of this transformation, seeing the structure founded to revive the Rectified Scottish Rite in France become a multi-rite structure with a “national chaplaincy,” consider this institutional innovation to be “both an organizational and initiatory aberration.”

New doctrinal quarrels and a new split

In 2009, a doctrinal dispute developed between two currents, highlighting deep-seated religious and theological differences. As the tension between the two currents became intense, the Order's Grand Master, Marc Bravi, decided to resign from his post on the day of the General Assembly, refusing to install his successor. In his installation speech, the new Grand Master, Bruno Abardenti, set out the direction of his action, emphasizing an ostentatious Christianity and inviting union in a “vibrant evangelical appeal,” placing the Grand Priory of the Gauls in a “closely Christian perspective.” To pursue its development, the GPDG returned to its pre-agreement structure of 1958 with the GLNF and reactivated a Grand Lodge. The Grand Directoire des Gaules lodge, founded in October 1935 by Camille Savoire, was mothballed following the agreement with the GLNF. Reactivated in June 2011, it takes the name of “Grand Lodge reunited and rectified.”

In 2011, a new ideological divergence was established within the GPDG, this time around the doctrine of the Rectified Scottish Rite and the theoretical conceptions of the rite's founder, Jean-Baptiste Willermoz. These deep-seated and irreconcilable differences took on a public dimension, culminating in 2012 in the desire to create a new structure to house the RER. In 2013, twelve GPDG dignitaries, former Grand Master Marc Bravi and former GPDG official spokesman, joined by several members and dignitaries of the Independent Grand Priory of France, including the rite's Grand Conservateur, formed the “Rectified National Directory of France - Great Directory of the Gauls,” claiming to be a conservative heir to the principles of the 1935 Grand Priory of the Gauls, founded by Camille Savoire.

List of leaders of the Grand Priory of the Gauls

• Camille Savoire (1935-1948)
• Julien Rybinski (1948-1957)
• André Moiroux (1957-1962)
• Antonin Wast (1962-1973)
• Jean Baylot (1973-1976)
• Paul Naudon (1976-1977)
• Jean Granger (1977-1983)
• Daniel Fontaine (1983-2005)
• Marc Bravi (2005-2009)
• Bruno Abardenti (2009-2022)
• Gilles Ducret (2022-present)

Rites practiced

When it was founded by Camille Savoire, the Grand Priory of the Gauls was a Masonic order dedicated solely to the practice of the Rectified Scottish Rite. From 1992 onwards, it integrated several rites and grades from different Masonic traditions: the Standard Scottish Rite and the Anglo-Saxon degrees of Order of Mark Master Masons, the Holy Royal Arch and the Knights Templar. Then those of the French Rite and the Orders of Wisdom, the high grades of this rite.

See also

• Freemasonry
• Grand Orient de France
• Grand College of Rites
• Freemasonry in France

Bibliography

Specific

• Dachez, Roger (2021). Histoire illustrée du Rite écossais rectifié [Illustrated history of the Rectified Scottish Rite] (in French). Éditions Dervy. p. 192. ISBN 979-10-242-0630-1.
• Daffos, Dominique; Hillion, Patrick (2007). "De l'originalité de la pensée de Camille Savoire" [On the originality of Camille Savoire’s thought]. Actes du Colloque SFERE - Quatre grandes figures de l'Écossisme (in French). Paris.
• Dachez, Roger; Pétillot, Jean-Marc (2021). Le Rite Écossais Rectifié [The Rectified Scottish Rite] (in French). PUF.
• Noël, Pierre (2000). "Heurs et Malheurs du Rite Écossais Rectifié en France au XXe Siècle" [The Joys and Sorrows of the Rectified Scottish Rite in France in the 20th Century] (PDF). Acta Maconica (in French). 10.
• Noël, Pierre (2002). "Le Rite Ecossais Rectifié en France" [The Rectified Scottish Rite in France]. Les Cahiers Villard de Honnecourt (in French). 45. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
• Vivenza, Jean-Marc (2017). Histoire du régime ecossais rectifié : Des origines à nos jours [History of the Scottish Rectified Diet: From its Origins to the Present Day] (in French). La pierre philosophale. ISBN 978-2-3635-3045-5.

General

• Bauer, Alain; Dachez, Roger (2022). L'encyclopédie des franc-maçonnes et des francs-maçons [The Freemasons Encyclopedia] (in French). Gründ. p. 276. ISBN 978-2-324-03165-6.
• Ligou, Daniel (2017). Dictionnaire de la franc-maçonnerie [Dictionary of Freemasonry] (in French) (5 ed.). Paris: Presses universitaires de France. p. 1376. ISBN 978-2-13-055094-5.
• Saunier, Eric (2000). Encyclopédie de la franc-maçonnerie [Encyclopedia of Freemasonry] (in French). Paris: Le Livre de poche. p. 984. ISBN 9-782-2-5313252-3.
• Dachez, Roger (2020). Histoire de la franc-maçonnerie française [History of French Freemasonry] (in French). Paris/58-Clamecy: PUF. p. 127. ISBN 978-2-7154-0440-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
• Chevallier, Pierre (1975). Histoire de la franc-maçonnerie française : La maçonnerie : Église de la République [History of French Freemasonry. Masonry: Church of the Republic] (in French). Vol. 3. Librairie Arthème Fayard. p. 480. ISBN 2-213-00162-6.
• Morlat, Patrice (2019). La République des Frères : Le Grand Orient de France de 1870 à 1940 [The Republic of Brothers: The Grand Orient of France from 1870 to 1940] (in French). Éditions Perrin. p. 835. ISBN 978-2-262-07726-6.

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Categories:

• Organizations established in 1935
• Freemasonry in France