Government
of the Rite
Under the Grand Constitutions of 1786, a Supreme Council
elects its own Active Members and is self-perpetuating. It charters
Subordinate Bodies in cities (called Valleys) of states, territories,
or countries (called Orients). In the Southern Jurisdiction, the Subordinate
Bodies must observe the Statutes of our Supreme Council, its orders
and regulations and, when the Supreme Council is not in session, those
of the Sovereign Grand Commander.
THE SOVEREIGN GRAND COMMANDER
The Sovereign Grand Commander is the highest ranking
officer of the Supreme Council and the chief executive and judicial
officer of the Rite within this Supreme Council’s Jurisdiction.
He is the representative of the Supreme Council when that Body is not
in session and is invested with general powers of supervision and administration
everywhere within its Jurisdiction. The cap for the Sovereign Grand
Commander is violet in color and features a darker violet band embroidered
with laurel vine, leaf, and berry pattern in gold. On the front is the
symbol of his office, a Cross of Salem with crosslets.
SOVEREIGN GRAND INSPECTOR GENERAL
This is the title of an Active Member of the Supreme
Council. There is only one Active Member for any one Orient (state,
territory, or country). He is the highest ranking officer of the Rite
within his jurisdiction, and, in relation to the Rite, his powers are
similar to those of a Grand Master of the Symbolic Craft subject, however,
to the Supreme Council and the Sovereign Grand Commander. The cap of
an Active Member is purple and features the symbol of his office, a
slanting Patriarchal Cross with crosslets.
DEPUTY OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL
In Orients (states, territories, or countries) which
do not have an Active Member, the Sovereign Grand Commander appoints
a "Deputy of the Supreme Council." The Deputy has powers similar
to those of a Sovereign Grand Inspector General. However, he has no
vote in the Supreme Council and holds his office at the pleasure of
the Sovereign Grand Commander. The Deputy’s cap is white with a
scarlet band and features on the front a slanting Patriarchal Cross.
GRAND CROSS OF THE COURT OF HONOUR
This is the highest individual honor that The Supreme
Council bestows. It is voted very rarely to Thirty-third Degree Masons
only for the most exceptional and extraordinary services. The Grand
Cross cap is white with a blue band. On the front is a replica of the
Grand Cross jewel, which is composed of a Teutonic Cross, with an embroidered
crimson rose with green leaves at its center.
INSPECTOR GENERAL HONORARY OF
THE THIRTY-THIRD DEGREE
During the Biennial Session of the Supreme Council,
Sovereign Grand Inspectors General and Deputies nominate a small quota
of members who are Knights Commander Court of Honour to receive the
Thirty-third Degree. A committee reviews the nominations, but the Supreme
Council must vote upon every nomination. Members unanimously so elected
become honorary members of the Supreme Council. The Thirty-third Degree
may not be requested. The Degree is conferred solely out of recognition
for outstanding services. The only difference between the jewel of the
Thirty-third Degree and that for an Active Member of the Supreme Council
is that the latter is larger. The cap for an Inspector General Honorary
is white with a white band edged in gold, featuring the symbol for this
honorary Degree, a red slanting Patriarchal Cross.
KNIGHT COMMANDER OF THE COURT OF HONOUR
The Rank of Knight Commander of the Court of Honour
is not a Degree but an Investiture bestowed upon members deserving recognition
for faithful services to the Rite. The respective Sovereign Grand Inspectors
General or Deputies likewise nominate members for this honor, and these
must also be unanimously approved by the Supreme Council. This Investiture
is a prerequisite of receiving the Thirty-third Degree at some later
time, though relatively few receive this distinction.
A Knight Commander of the Court of Honour is a Scottish
Rite rank peculiar to the Southern Jurisdiction, except that our Supreme
Council has permitted the Supreme Council for the Philippines (part
of our Jurisdiction until 1949) to continue the practice as one of their
special honors bestowed.
The cap of the Knight Commander Court of Honour is red
with a darker red band trimmed in gold. In the center front is a representation
of the Knight Commander Jewel, a Passion Cross with fancy arms, featuring
in the center a trefoil embroidered in green encircled by the "Kt.
Comm. Court of Honour" embroidered in gold. The symbol used often,
the tripod, was regularly used in formal Masonic documents in place
of a period in the abbreviation of formal titles. Its use is maintained
as a tribute to the Craft’s distinguished past in much Masonic
writing today, such as in the Scottish Rite Journal, but it may
be and often is replaced by a standard period.
MASTER OF THE ROYAL SECRET
This is the title of a 32° member of the Scottish
Rite. The cap of a Master of the Royal Secret is black silk with a black
band trimmed in gold. In the center front is a double-headed eagle emblem
with a rayed equilateral triangle above in gold. The triangle is red,
has 32° in its center, and is trimmed with gold.
The jewel of the Thirty-second Degree is a Teutonic
Cross of gold, one and three-fourth inches square, with raised or beaded
edges and a background frosted surface, having in the center a wreath
of green enamel, with a gold tie at the bottom, and within the wreath
the Roman numerals XXXII in gold.
FIFTY-YEAR MEMBER
Any 14° member of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction,
who is in good standing and who became a member fifty years prior to
the current calendar year is entitled to recognition as such. Such recognition
entitles the recipient to receive a proper certificate and to wear a
50-year lapel pin or cap. The cap of a 50-year member is blue with a
blue band. In the front at the center is a figure "50" surrounded
by a green silk embroidered laurel wreath.
SUBORDINATE BODIES OF THE RITE
A complete set of Bodies is four in number, and these
are called: Lodge of Perfection, conferring the Fourth Degree through
the Fourteenth Degree; Chapter of Rose Croix, conferring the Fifteenth
Degree through the Eighteenth Degree; Council of Kadosh, conferring
the Nineteenth Degree through the Thirtieth Degree; and the Consistory,
conferring the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Degrees.
Applicants must be Master Masons in good standing. Their
petitions must be endorsed by two Thirty-second Degree members of the
Rite and are subject to review and vote.
THE SCOTTISH RITE AND THE FIRST
THREE DEGREES
The Mother Supreme Council, from the beginning, has
acknowledged the jurisdiction of Symbolic Grand Lodges in the United
States over the first three Degrees. No regular Scottish Rite Body in
the Southern Jurisdiction has ever conferred them. However, the Scottish
Rite Ritual is used in some other national Grand Lodge jurisdictions
and, in some few cases, in Grand Lodge jurisdictions in the United States.
Our Supreme Council Statutes prescribe that every Scottish
Rite member must maintain his good standing in his Symbolic Lodge or
automatically forfeit his Scottish Rite membership.
