The Freemasons draw a full house
Laypeople who had come out of curiosity mingled with the brothers and sisters of the local Concorde-Perrinon lodge, and it was impossible to tell them apart, as discretion was the order of the day.
The former were no doubt waiting to find out more about this organisation, whilst for the latter it was an opportunity to get together, as they do every year, on the eve of St Martin’s Day. Cécile Révauger was the first to take the microphone to give a detailed account of the history of Caribbean and American Freemasonry from its inception to the present day. She is an expert in the field, being the first female member of the Administrative Chamber of the Grand General Chapter of the French Rite of the Grand Orient de France. She is notably the author of several books on the subject: ‘Why and How to Be a Freemason’ and ‘Freemasonry, Daughter of the Enlightenment’.
Open doors
Indeed, it is this famous Enlightenment that forms the basis of her entire presentation – one that would be too tedious to go into in detail here, but which can be summarised in a few words without wishing to offend anyone: amongst Freemasons, everyone is beautiful, everyone is kind. A few names of more or less famous historical figures are mentioned here and there, raising some doubts as to whether certain individuals actually belonged to the organisation, but they were so closely aligned in their ideas and actions that one might well say they could easily have been members.
A short break allowed the audience to ask a few very pertinent questions, one of which caught our attention: ‘Are the Freemasons’ efforts, which result in proposals intended to improve society, communicated to those who govern us? ’ The answer is clear and unequivocal: ‘No’, apart from the publication of the magazine *Humanisme*, which everyone is free to read or not, as they see fit.
Q&A
This was followed by a brief address by Jean-Yves Vadimon, Councillor of the Order and Grand Officer for Obedience Development in the Americas and the Caribbean. Speaking more briefly and concisely, he was keen to set the record straight on the most common misconceptions about Freemasonry: no, it is not a cult; no, it is not a network of influence; no, it is not reserved for any particular elite; yes, anyone can become a Freemason; yes, Freemasons are men and women just like everyone else; no, it is not a religion; no, Freemasonry does not cultivate secrecy (but merely discretion).
He was, however, rather evasive on the subject of internal rites and rituals and invited the most curious to join the organisation to find out more. He concluded his talk by stating that, ultimately, the organisation works on a daily basis to defend liberty, equality and fraternity… We seem to have heard that somewhere before, haven’t we? To our great surprise, there was no attempt at recruitment either before or after the talk, which was therefore not a recruitment drive as one might have thought. It just goes to show that you shouldn’t judge by appearances.
And in Saint Martin?
We were given some information on the state of Freemasonry in Saint Martin: there are currently six lodges on the French side and seven on the Dutch side, some of which have existed since 1966. The Masonic presence in the West Indies dates back to the beginning of the last century, but there are no reliable public figures to accurately quantify the number of members on the island across all lodges, although it can be estimated at around a hundred people.
