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Mar 20, 2024 · History | Updated: March 20, 2024 | Originally Published: March 7, 2016. Eight Secret Societies You Probably Haven’t Heard Of. Many of these selective clubs peaked in popularity in the 18th and...
- 3 min
- Jackie Mansky,Sonja Anderson
- III. Modern Organizations.
- IV. Attitude of Ecclesiastical authorities.
- V. The Societies Forbidden.
- VI. Recently Condemned Societies.
- VII. Orders of Women.
- VIII. Trades Unions.
- IX. Method of condemnation.
—Secret societies in the true sense began with symbolic Freemasonry about the year 1717 in London (see Masonry). This widespread oath-bound association soon became the exemplar or the parent of numerous other fraternities, nearly all of which have some connection with Freemasonry, and in almost every instance were founded by Masons. Among these may...
—The judgment of the Church on secret oath-bound associations has been made abundantly clear by papal documents. Freemasonry was condemned by Clement XII in a Constitution, dated April 28, 1738. The pope insists on the objectionable character of societies that commit men of all or no religion to a system of mere natural righteousness, that seek the...
—The extension of the decrees of the Apostolic See in regard to societies hitherto forbidden under censure is summed up in the well-known Constitution “Apostolicae Sedis” of Pius IX, where excommunication is pronounced against those “who give their names to the sect of the Masons or Carbonari or any other sects of the same nature, which conspire ag...
—The order of Odd-Fellows was formed in England in 1812 as a completed organization, though some lodges date back to 1745; and it was introduced into America in 1819. In the “Odd-Fellows’ Improved Pocket Manual” the author writes: “Our institution has instinctively, as it were, copied after all secret associations of religious and moral character”....
—In regard to female secret societies, the Apostolic delegation at Washington, August 2, 1907, declared (Ans. no. 15,352-C): “If these societies are affiliated to societies already nominally condemned by the Church, they fall under the same condemnation, for they form, as it were, a branch of such societies. As regards other female secret societies...
—The Third Council of Baltimore (no. 253) declares: “We see no reason why the prohibition of the Churchagainst the Masonic and other secret societies should be extended to organizations of workingmen, which have no other object in view than mutual protection and aid for their members in the practice of their trades. Care must be taken, however, tha...
—Finally, in regard to the condemnation of individual societies in the United States, the council says (no. 255): “To avoid confusion of discipline which ensues, to the great scandal of the faithful and the detriment of ecclesiastical authority, when the same society is condemned in one diocese and tolerated in another, we desire that no society be...
Opus Dei (Work of God) is an institution of the Catholic Church that was founded in Spain in 1928 by Catholic priest Josemaría Escrivá. Its stated mission is to help its lay and clerical members to seek Christian perfection in their everyday occupations and within their societies.
- Jessica Pearce Rotondi
- The Knights Templar. The Knights Templar were warriors dedicated to protecting Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land during the Crusades. The military order was founded around 1118 when Hugues de Payens, a French knight, created the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon—or The Knights Templar for short.
- The Freemasons. The freemasons loom large in American history—after all, 13 of the 39 men who signed the U.S. Constitution were Masons. Founding Fathers like George Washington, James Monroe, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock and Paul Revere all counted themselves as members of the fraternal order.
- The Illuminati. The initiation of an Illuminatus. The Illuminati was founded by professor Adam Weishaupt in Bavaria on May 1, 1776. Weishaupt, chafing at the power of the conservative Catholic Church and the Bavarian monarchy, sought to cast aside organized religion in favor of a new form of “illumination” through reason.
- Skull and Bones. Skull and Bones members from the class of 1861. The Order of Skull and Bones is a secret society founded at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1832.
Jan 30, 2023 · Opus Dei's secretive nature has attracted criticism since its early days, with other Catholic groups, in particular the more liberal Jesuits, likening it to having Freemasons or the mafia ...
The Catholic Church first prohibited Catholics from membership in Masonic organizations and other secret societies in 1738. Since then, at least eleven popes have made pronouncements about the incompatibility of Catholic doctrines and Freemasonry.
Many U.S. Catholics gave their allegiance to secret societies that had originated in Ireland because of English oppression; others became involved in those of Continental and English origin, i.e., Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and United Workmen.
