Rectified Scottish Rite

The Rectified Scottish Rite is a Christian Masonic system associated particularly with Jean-Baptiste Willermoz. The French expression Régime Écossais Rectifié describes its organisation as a whole, while Rite Écossais Rectifié refers more specifically to its ritual form. Both are commonly abbreviated RER.^[1]

Formation

Its development drew on French Masonry, The Strict Observance and the teaching of Martines de Pasqually. The Convent of the Gauls in 1778 adopted constitutional codes for the Rectified lodges and the Knights Beneficent of the Holy City. The reform subsequently gained European approval at Wilhelmsbad in 1782.^[1]

Public organisation

The published account of the system distinguishes a Masonic class from an Inner Order. The Masonic class comprises the three Craft degrees and Scottish Master of St Andrew. The Inner Order includes the preparatory status of Squire Novice and the Knights Beneficent of the Holy City, usually abbreviated from the French as CBCS. Eighteenth-century accounts also identify a further body devoted to doctrinal study, called the Profession.^[2]

Religious character

The Grand Prieuré des Gaules presents Christian faith, moral development and practical beneficence as central to the system. Its account identifies both Christian tradition and Pasqually’s teaching on humanity’s spiritual condition as formative influences.^[3]

Templar heritage and the 1782 reform

The resolutions of Wilhelmsbad distinguished chivalric tradition from lawful succession to the medieval Templars. They acknowledged that the evidence examined did not establish such succession and rejected an attempt to restore the suppressed order. At the same time they preserved a chivalric organisation and continued to assert a relationship with the Templars. This qualified position is more precise than describing the Rectified system either as the medieval order's continuation or as wholly detached from Templar tradition.^[4]

Swiss continuity

Switzerland became an important centre for the system's survival. H. R. Hilfiker's historical account dates the independent Great Priory of Helvetia to 1779 and records its confirmation at Wilhelmsbad. During the nineteenth century the Swiss bodies maintained the Rectified tradition while its organisation elsewhere declined. The formation of the Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina in 1844 brought the Craft lodges under that Grand Lodge, with higher Rectified bodies retaining their own administration.^[5]

Related names

The Rectified system is distinct from the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, whose 33-degree organisation is administered by Supreme Councils. “Scottish” occurs in the names of several Masonic systems and does not identify a single governing body.^[6]