The Rite of Cerneau, a little-known Masonic rite

The Rite of Cerneau, sometimes referred to as Cernauism in the United States, is a Masonic system that is relatively unknown in Europe. Its history was initially confused with that of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, of which it is merely a variant, albeit under a different name. Strongly opposed by the American leaders of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, the Rite of Cerneau was at the centre of a major controversy, at the end of which it disappeared in 1867. It was revived in the United States in 1881, only to die out again in 1925. Today, the Cerneau Rite has hardly survived in France, where it is practised in the wake of the Memphis-Misraim Rite.

The origins of the Cerneau Rite 

In 1761, Stephen Morin (1795 or 1717-1771) received a patent authorising him to spread the Rite of Perfection in 25 degrees (or Order of the Royal Secret) in the French West Indies, and in 1762 he set sail for Saint-Domingue, where he began his mission. In 1766, the Count of Clermont, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of France, discovered the existence of this patent, which had been issued in his name but without his knowledge, and revoked it, thus depriving Morin of his powers. Nevertheless, Morin continued his work. In 1768, he met a brother named Henry Francken (~1720-1795), an Englishman of Dutch origin, whom he appointed Deputy Grand Inspector. Francken translated the rituals into English and, after Morin's death in 1771, spread the Rite of Perfection across the American continent, as far as New York. Before his death in 1795, Francken passed the torch to Count Alexandre de Grasse-Tilly (1765-1845), who had arrived in the West Indies in 1789.

In 1797, a group of American and French freemasons, including Grasse-Tilly, founded a Sovereign Consistory of the Princes of the Royal Secret of the 25-degree Rite in Charleston. Around 1800, the Constitutions of 1786, allegedly drawn up by Frederick II of Prussia, appeared, enshrining the 33 degrees of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. In 1801, the world's first Supreme Council of this rite was established in Charleston. The second to date, the Supreme Council for the French Islands of America, was established in 1802 by Grasse-Tilly, who, on his return to France, also established the Supreme Council of France in 1804. In 1806, a member of the Supreme Council for the French Islands of America, Antoine Bideaud, privately and irregularly conferred the 33rd degree on three brothers who, without the knowledge of the Supreme Council of Charleston, created a Sublime Consistory of the 32nd degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in New York in 1812.

Long after Morin's death, Joseph Cerneau (1763-1840~1845), a French jeweller, settled in Saint-Domingue, where he rose through the ranks of the Rite of Perfection. The Haitian Revolution of 1802-1803 forced him to seek refuge in Cuba, where in 1806 he received a patent as Deputy Grand Inspector, allowing him to create one Prince of the Royal Secret (25th and last degree) per year. Moving to the American continent, he finally settled in New York where, in 1807, he founded a Sovereign Consistory of Princes of the Royal Secret for America (25th degree rite).

With its 25 degrees, Cerneau's Consistory was no match for the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. In 1813, without anyone knowing from whom he had received the 33rd degree, Cerneau transformed his Consistory into the Supreme Council for the United States and managed to gain recognition from the Grand Orient of France. 

Conflict between Supreme Councils 

While in New York in 1813, Emanuel De la Motta (1761-1821), Grand Treasurer of the Charleston Supreme Council, was surprised to find two bodies claiming to be of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, one of which even claimed to be the Supreme Council for the whole of the United States. The Charleston Supreme Council was concerned about the appearance of these bodies of dubious legitimacy and asked De La Motta to investigate them.

Cerneau refused to answer De La Motta's questions and denied him the right to question him. De La Motta then recognised the legitimacy of the Sublime Consistory formed by the three brothers initiated by Antoine Bideaud and declared Cerneau's Supreme Council irregular. In the same year, 1813, the Supreme Council of Charleston created in New York the Supreme Council for the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States, reserving jurisdiction over the southern United States. A confrontation with Cerneau's Supreme Council was inevitable, and De La Motta even proclaimed Cerneau's expulsion from universal Freemasonry. 

One might ask what was the real nature of this conflict, beyond simple questions of regularity and recognition. It seems that the problem was religious: the Supreme Council of Charleston counted among its founders and members several Jews, starting with Emanuel De La Motta, while Cerneau's rite was open only to Christians, and especially Catholics. In a letter written in 1823, Cerneau openly expressed positions that today would be considered anti-Semitic. The conflict seems to have revolved around the universality of Freemasonry, which may or may not transcend different religions and denominations.

Cerneau lost the game and, discredited, sank into poverty. Finally, in 1831, the Grand Lodge of New York paid for him to travel to France out of compassion. From then on, Cerneau had no further Masonic activities and died in France, forgotten by all, between 1840 and 1845. The exact date is not even known.

But the story did not end there. The arrival of the Comte de Saint-Laurent (1774-1857) in New York in 1831 gave new life to the remains of Cerneau's Supreme Council. Saint-Laurent, himself 33rd in line in both Charleston and Paris, claimed to be the Sovereign Grand Commander of a Supreme Council that no one had ever heard of and that would have had jurisdiction over all Spanish possessions in America, the West Indies and even the Philippines. Above all, he was in possession of the presumed original Latin text of the Constitutions of 1786, of which he was probably the author. He reorganised the remnants of the Supreme Council of Cerneau and named the new structure the United Supreme Council for the Western Hemisphere of the 33rd and Final Degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. Conflict with the Supreme Council of the Northern Jurisdiction resumed and was only temporarily halted by Saint-Laurent's decision in 1832 to merge his own Supreme Council with the Supreme Council of the Northern Jurisdiction, before he himself left for France.

Not all accepted the merger and some members of the Supreme Council of Cerneau continued to support it as an independent structure. The conflict flared up again, and this time the Grand Lodges of the American states became involved, expelling any of their members who attended the lodges and chapters of the Rite of Cerneau. The conflict ended in 1867 when the last loyal members of the Rite of Cerneau agreed to join the Supreme Council of the Northern Jurisdiction.

Revival and survival of the Rite of Cerneau 

In 1868, Harry J. Seymour, who had been expelled from the Supreme Council of Cerneau in 1865 and who had introduced the Ancient and Primitive Rite (Memphis Rite) into the United States, reconstituted a Supreme Council of the Rite of Cerneau, which he sold to William H. Peckham around 1880 and which functioned for about twenty years. Seymour also passed the Rite on to John Yarker (1833-1913), the introducer of the Memphis Rite in Britain.

At the same time, Robert B. Folger (1803-1892), a former member of the Supreme Council of Cerneau, which had signed the merger agreement with the Supreme Council of the Northern Jurisdiction in 1867, declared the agreement invalid and reconstituted another Supreme Council with Brother Thompson in 1881. The Folger-Thompson Supreme Council functioned until the death of its last Sovereign Grand Commander in 1919 and apparently died out in the United States in 1925, although some documents suggest that it may have existed until 1951.

Finally, it was through the Rite of Memphis-Misraïm that the Rite of Cerneau arrived in France, where it is still practised today. We have already seen the role played by Harry Seymour in the revival of the Cerneau Rite in 1878, which he also passed on to John Yarker. But it was Jean Bricaud (1881-1934), who became Grand Master of Memphis-Misraïm in 1914, who introduced it to France. Unable to obtain a patent of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite from the Supreme Council of France, he turned to the Folger-Thompson Supreme Council to obtain one.

A turbulent history 

All Masonic rites have had a more or less turbulent history, but the Rite of Cerneau surpasses them all. Few Masonic Rites have aroused so much controversy and passion, and above all, few have had the ability to rise from the ashes after at least three official disappearances. The eventful history of this Rite, full of twists and turns, is undoubtedly one of the most difficult to describe. More than once we have lost our way in the maze of sometimes contradictory information, and we hope that we have fulfilled this task as clearly as possible.