Illuminati
ILLUMINATI (1)
A term anciently applied to such as had received baptism. The name was occasioned by a ceremony in the baptism of adults, which consisted in putting a lighted taper in the hand of the person baptized, as a symbol of the faith and grace he had received in the sacrament.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
ILLUMINATI (2)
Was also the name of a sect which appeared in Spain about the year 1575. They were charged with maintaining that mental prayer and contemplation had so intimately united them to God, that they were arrived to such a state of perfection, as to stand in no need of good works, or the sacraments of the church, and that they might commit the grossest crimes without sin. After the suppression of the Illuminati in Spain, there appeared a denomination in France which took the same name. They maintained that one Anthony Buckuet had a system of belief and practice revealed to him which exceeded every thing Christianity had yet been acquainted with: that by this method persons might in a short time arrive at the same degrees of perfection and glory to which the saints and the Blessed Virgin have attained; and this improvement might be carried on till our actions became divine, and our minds wholly given up to the influence of the Almighty. They said further, that none of the doctors of the church knew any thing of religion; that Paul and Peter were well-meaning men, but knew nothing of devotion; that the whole church lay in darkness and unbelief; that every one was at liberty to follow the suggestions of his conscience; that God regarded nothing but himself; and that within ten years their doctrine would be received all over the world; then there would be no more occasion for priests, monks, and such other religious distinctions.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
ILLUMINATI (3)
A name assumed by a secret society, founded on the first of May, 1776, by Dr. Adam Weishaupt, professor of canon law in the university of Ingoldstadt. The avowed object of this order was, “to diffuse from secret societies, as from so many centres, the light of science over the world; to propagate the purest principles of virtue; and to reinstate mankind in the happiness which they enjoyed during the golden age fabled by the poets.” Such a philanthropic object was doubtless well adapted to make a deep impression on the minds of ingenious young men; and to such alone did Dr. Weishaupt at first address himself. But “the real object, ” we are assured by Professor Robison and Abbe Barruel, “was, by clandestine arts, to overturn every government and every religion; to bring the sciences of civil life into contempt; and to reduce mankind to that imaginary state of nature, when they lived independent of each other on the spontaneous productions of the earth.” Free Masonry being the high reputation all over Europe when Weishaupt first formed the plan of his society, he availed himself of its secrecy to introduce his new order; of which he constituted himself general, after initiating some of his pupils, whom he styled Areopagites, in its mysteries. And when report spread the news throughout Germany of the institution of the Order of Illuminees, it was generally considered as a mere college lodge, which could interest the students no longer than during the period of their studies.
Weishaupt’s character, too, which at this time was respectable for morality as well as erudition, prevented all suspicion of his harbouring any such dark designs as have since come to light. But it would far exceed the limits to which this work is restricted, to give even an outline of the nature and constitution of this extraordinary society; of its secrets and mysteries; of the deep dissimulation, consummate hypocrisy, and shocking impiety of its founder and his associates; of their Jesuitical art in concealing their real objects, and their incredible industry and astonishing exertions in making converts; of the absolute despotism and complete system of espionnage established throughout the order; of its different degrees of Novices, Minervals, Minor and Major Illuminees; Epopts, or Priests, Regents, Magi, and Mankings; of the Recruiters or Insinuators, with their various subtle methods of insinuating into all characters and companies; of the blind obedience exacted of the Novices, and the absolute power of life and death assumed by the order, and conceded by the Novices; of the dictionary, geography, kalendar, and cipher of the order; of the new names assumed by the members, such as Spartacus by Weishaupt, because he pretended to wage war against oppressors; Cato by Zwack; Ajax by Massenhausen, &c. of the Minerval Academy and Library; of the questions proposed to the candidates for degrees, and the various ceremonies of admission to each; and of the pretended morality, real blasphemies, and absolute atheism, of the founder and his tried friends.
Such of our readers as wish to be fully informed of these matters, we must refer to the Abbe Barruel’s works, and to Prof. Robison’s Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe. But while credit may be given to the general facts related in these works, some doubts respecting the ultimate objects of Dr. Weishaupt and his associates in this conspiracy may be expressed: as, That men of their principles should secretly conspire to overthrow all the religions and governments at present in Europe, is by no means incredible; that they should even prevail on many well-meaning philanthropists, who are no enemies to rational religion or good government, to join them, is also very credible. But that a set of men of learning and abilities, such as Weishaupt and his associates are allowed to be, should form a conspiracy to overturn, and with more than Gothic rage utterly abolish the arts and sciences, and to restore the supposed original savage state of man, appears to us a phenomenon in the history of the human heart totally unaccountable.
That “the heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, ” is a melancholy truth, which not Scripture alone, but the history of mankind in all ages and nations, affords full proof of, as well as the shocking history of the Illuminati; but while pride and vanity have a place in the human heart, to say nothing of our other passions, which are more or less interested in the preservation of the discoveries and improvements in arts, sciences, and their inseparable concomitant luxury, we are persuaded no man, or body of men, who have enjoyed the sweets of civilized life, ever formed a serious wish for the total abolition of the arts and sciences. In the fury and rage of war, Goths, Vandals, and Turks, may burn and destroy monuments of art and repositories of science; but when the wars are over, instead of returning to the savage state, the barbarous conquerors miss and amalgamate with the conquered, and become themselves more or less civilized. Dr. Weishaupt is allowed to be influenced by a high degree of vanity; as an evidence of which he communicates as the last secret to his most favoured adepts, that the mysteries of Illuminism, which, in going through the inferior degrees, had been successively attributed to the most ancient patriarchs and philosophers, and even to Christ himself, owed its origin to no other than Adam Weishaupt, known in the order by the name of Spartacus. the same vanity which leads the doctor to take this traditional method, while secrecy is deemed necessary, of securing to himself the honour of having founded the society, would lead him, were the Illuminati actually victorious over all religions and governments, to wish to have his memory recorded in a more durable manner by writing or printing.
But if these and all the other arts were to perish in a mass, then the memory of the doctor, and the important services he had done to the order and to savagism, must, within a century at the utmost, perish along with them. But if, in fact, the total annihilation of the arts and sciences, as well as of all religion and government, be really the object of Weishaupt and his Illuminees, then we may agree with the celebrated Mandeville, that “human nature is the true Libyan desert, daily producing new monsters, ” and that of these monsters the doctor and his associates are beyond a doubt the most extraordinary. Professor Robison informs us, that “the order of the Illuminati was abolished in 1786 by the elector of Bavaria, but revived immediately after, under another name, and in a different form, all over Germany. It was again detected and seemingly broken up; but it had by this time taken so deep root, that it still subsists without being detected, and has spread, we are told, into all the countries of Europe.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
Illuminati
The name assumed by the members of a secret society founded by Adam Weishaupt in 1776.
HISTORY
Weishaupt was born of Westphalian parents at Ingolstadt (Bavaria), on 6 February, 1748, and lost his father in 1753. Although educated at a Jesuit school, he fell early under the influence of his free-thinking godfather, the director of the high-school of Ickstatt, to whom he owed his appointment as professor of civil law at the University of Ingolstadt in 1772. He was the first layman to occupy the chair of canon law at this university (1773), but, in consequence of the growing rationalistic influence which he exerted over the students both in his academic capacity and in his personal intercourse with them, he came into ever sharper collision with the loyal adherents of the Church and with those who were influential in government circles. As, furthermore, his obstinate nature led him to quarrel with almost everyone with whom his intercourse was at all prolonged, he felt the need of a powerful secret organization to support him in the conflict with his adversaries and in the execution of his rationalistic schemes along ecclesiastical and political lines. At first (1774) he aimed at an arrangement with the Freemasons. Closer inquiry, however, destroyed his high estimate of this organization, and he resolved to found a new society which, surrounded with the greatest possible secrecy, would enable him most effectually to realize his aims and could at all times be precisely adapted to the needs of the age and local conditions.
His order was to be based entirely on human nature and observation; hence its degrees, ceremonies, and statutes were to be developed only gradually; then, in the light of experience and wider knowledge, and with the co-operation of all the members, they were to be steadily improved. For his prototype he relied mainly on Freemasonry, in accordance with which he modelled the degrees and ceremonial of his order. After the pattern of the Society of Jesus, though distorting to the point of caricature its essential features, he built up the strictly hierarchical organization of his society. “To utilize for good purposes the very means which that order employed for evil ends”, such was, according to Philo (Endl. Erkl., 60 sq.), “his pet design”. For the realization of his plans, he regarded as essential the “despotism of superiors” an the “blind, unconditional obedience of subordinates” (ibid.), along with the utmost secrecy and mysteriousness. At the beginning of 1777 he entered a Masonic Lodge and endeavoured, with other members of the order, to render Freemasonry as subservient as possible to his aims. As Weishaupt, however, despite all his activity as an agitator and the theoretic shrewdness he displayed, was at bottom only an unpractical bookworm, without the necessary experience of the world, his order for a long time made no headway. The accession to it, in 1780, of the Masonic agent Freiherr von Knigge (Philo), a man of wide experience and well known everywhere in Masonic circles, gave matters a decisive turn. In company with Weishaupt, who, as a philosopher and jurist, evolved the ideas and main lines of the constitution, Knigge began to elaborate rapidly the necessary degrees and statutes (until 1780 the Minerval degree was the only one in use), and at the same time worked vigorously to extend the order, for which within two years he secured 500 members. When the great international convention of Freemasons was held at Wilhelmsbad (16 July to 29 August, 1782) the “Illuminated Freemasonry”, which Knigge and Weishaupt now proclaimed to be the only “pure” Freemasonry, had already gained such a reputation that almost all the members of the convention clamoured for admission into the new institution. Particularly valuable for the order was the accession of Bode (Amelius), who commanded the highest respect in all Masonic circles. Assisted by Bode, Knigge laboured diligently to convert the whole Masonic body into “Illuminated Freemasons”. A number of the most prominent representatives of Freemasonry and “enlightenment” became Illuminati, including, in 1783, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, the foremost leader of European Freemasonry and the princely representative of the illuminism of his age. Other famous members were Goethe, Herder, and Nicolai. The order was also propagated in Sweden, Russia, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, and France. But in 1783 dissensions arose between Knigge and Weishaupt, which resulted in the final withdrawal of the former on 1 July, 1784. Knigge could no longer endure Weishaupt’s pedantic domineering, which frequently assumed offensive forms. He accused Weishaupt of “Jesuitism”, and suspected him of being “a Jesuit in disguise” (Nachtr., I, 129). “And was I”, he adds, “to labour under his banner for mankind, to lead men under the yoke of so stiff-necked a fellow?–Never!”
Moreover, in 1783 the anarchistic tendencies of the order provoked public denunciations which led, in 1784, to interference on the part of the Bavarian Government. As the activity of the Illuminati still continued, four successive enactments were issued against them (22 June, 1784; 2 March, and 16 August, 1785; and 16 August, 1787), in the last of which recruiting for the order was forbidden under penalty of death. These measures put an end to the corporate existence of the order in Bavaria, and, as a result of the publication, in 1786, of its degrees and of other documents concerning it–for the most part of a rather compromising nature–its further extension outside Bavaria became impossible. The spread of the spirit of the Illuminati, which coincided substantially with the general teachings of the “enlightenment”, especially that of France, was rather accelerated than retarded by the persecution in Bavaria. In two letters addressed to the Bishop of Freising (18 June and 12 November, 1785) Pius VI had also condemned the order. As early as 16 February, 1785, Weishaupt had fled from Ingolstadt, and in 1787 he settled at Gotha. His numerous apologetic writings failed to exonerate either the order or himself. Being now the head of a numerous family, his views on religious and political matters grew more sober. After 1787 he renounced all active connexion with secret societies, and again drew near to the Church, displaying remarkable zeal in the building of the Catholic church at Gotha. he died on 18 November, 1830, “reconciled with the Catholic Church, which, as a youthful professor, he had doomed to death and destruction”–as the chronicle of the Catholic parish in Gotha relates.
OBJECTS AND ORGANIZATION
As exhibiting the objects and methods of the order, those documents are authoritative which are given in the first and second sections of works in the bibliography. The subsequent modifications of the system, announced by Weishaupt in his writings after 1785, are irrelevant, since the order had spread far and wide before these modifications were published. The above-named documents reveal as the real object of the Illuminati the elaboration and propagation of a new popular religion and, in the domain of politics, the gradual establishment of a universal democratic republic. In this society of the future everything, according to Weishaupt, was to be regulated by reason. By “enlightenment” men were to be liberated from their silly prejudices, to become “mature” or “moral”, and thus to outgrow the religious and political tutelage of Church and State, of “priest and prince”. Morals was the science which makes man “mature”, and renders him conscious of his dignity, his destiny, and his power. The principal means for effecting the “redemption” was found in unification, and this was to be brought about by “secret schools of wisdom”. These “schools”, he declares, “were always the archives of nature and of the rights of man; through their agency, man will recover from his fall; princes and nations, without violence to force them, will vanish from the earth; the human race will become one family, and the world the habitation of rational beings. Moral science alone will effect these reforms `imperceptibly’; every father will become, like Abraham and the patriarchs, the priest and absolute lord of his household, and reason will be man’s only code of law” (“Nachtr.”, p. 80 sq.; repeated verbatim in Knigge, “Die neuesten Arbeiten”, p. 38). This redemption of mankind by the restoration of the original “freedom and equality” through “illumination” and universal charity, fraternity, and tolerance, is likewise the true esoteric doctrine of Christ and his Apostles. Those in whom the “illuminating” grace of Christ is operative (cf. Hebrews 6:4) are the “Illuminati”. The object of pure (i. e. illuminated) Freemasonry is none other than the propagation of the “enlightenment” whereby the seed of a new world will be so widely scattered that no efforts at extirpation, however violent, will avail to prevent the harvest (“Nachtr.”, pp. 44, 118; “Die neuesten Arb.”, pp. 11, 70). Weishaupt later declared (Nachtrag zu meiner Rechtfertigung, 77 sqq., 112 sqq.) that Masonry was the school from which “these ideas” emanated.
These objects of the order were to be revealed to members only after their promotion to the “priestly” degree (Nachtr., I, 68). The preliminary degrees were to serve for the selection, preparation, and concealment of the true “Illuminati”; the others were to open the way for the free religion and social organization of the future, in which all distinction of nations, creeds, etc., would disappear. The government of the order was administered by the superiors of the Minerval “churches”, “provincials”, “nationals”, and “areopagites” (who constituted the supreme council), under the direction of Weishaupt as general of the order. Members were acquainted only with their immediate superiors, and only a few trusted members knew that Weishaupt was the founder and supreme head of the order. All the members were obliged to give themselves a training in accordance with the aims of the society, and to make themselves useful, while the order, on its part, pledged itself to further their interests by the most effectual means. They were especially recommended to systematically observe persons and events, to acquire knowledge, and to pursue scientific research in so far as it might serve the purposes of the order. Concerning all persons with whom they had intercourse they were to gather information, and on all matters which could possibly affect either themselves or the order they were to hand in sealed reports; these were opened by superiors unknown to the writers, and were, in substance, referred to the general. The purpose of this and other regulations was to enable the order to attain its object by securing for it a controlling influence in all directions, and especially by pressing culture and enlightenment into its service. All illuministic and official organs, the press, schools, seminaries, cathedral chapters (hence, too, all appointments to sees, pulpits, and chairs) were to be brought as far as possible under the influence of the organization, and princes themselves were to be surrounded by a legion of enlightened men, in order not only to disarm their opposition, but also to compel their energetic co-operation. A complete transformation would thus be effected; public opinion would be controlled; “priests and princes” would find their hands tied; the marplots who ventured to interfere would repent their temerity; and the order would become an object of dread to all its enemies.
Concerning the influence actually exerted by the Illuminati, the statements of ex-Freemasons–L. A. Hossman, J. A. Starck, J. Robinson, the Abbé Barruel, etc.–must be accepted with reserve, when they ascribe to the order a leading rôle in the outbreak and progress of the French Revolution of 1789. Their presentation of facts is often erroneous, their inferences are untenable, and their theses not only lack proof, but, in view of our present knowledge of the French Revolution (cf., e. g., Aulard, “Hist. pol. de la Rév. Franç.”, 3rd ed., 1905; Lavisse-Rambaud, “Hist. générale”, VIII, 1896), they are extremely improbable. On the other hand, once it had discarded, after 1786, the peculiarities of Weishaupt, “Illuminationism” was simply the carrying out of the principles of “enlightenment”; in other words, it was Freemasonry and practical Liberalism adapted to the requirements of the age; as such it exerted an important influence on the intellectual and social development of the nineteenth century. (See MASONRY; SECRET SOCIETIES.)
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The documents, unquestionably genuine, that originated within the order and were published by the Bavarian government: Einige Originalschr. des Ill. Ordens (confiscated from Zwack) (Munich, 1787); with Nachtrag (seized from Baron Bassus) (in 2 parts, 1787); also documents made public through other agencies and recognized as genuine by Knigge and Weishaupt: Der echte Illuminat (Edessa, 1788); Illuminatus dirigens oder schottischer Ritter (1794); SPARTACUS AND PHILO (KNIGGE), Die neuesten Arbeiten (1794); PHILO, Endliche Erklärung (1788).
Declarations by members who left the order: COSANDEY, RENNER, AND GRÜNBERGER, Drei merkwürdige Aussagen (1786); IDEM (with UTZSCHNEIDER), Grosse Absichten des Ill. Ordens, with three appendices (1786).
In defence of the order: WEISHAUPT Apologie der Illuminaten (Frankfort and Leipzig, 1787); IDEM, Vollständige Gessch. d. Verfolgung der Illuminaten in Bayern (Frankfort and Leipzig, 1786); IDEM, Pythagoras, oder Betrachtungen über die geheime Welt- and Regierungskunst (1790).
Against the order or otherwise concerning it: STATTLER (Weishaupt’s colleague at Ingolstadt), Das Geheimniss der Bosheit des Stifters des Ill. Ordens (1787); PRESTON, Illustrations of Freemasonry (1856); MOUNIER, De l’influence attribuée aux Philosophes, aux Franc-maçons et aux Illuminés sur la révolution Française (1822); JARCKE, Vermischte Schriften, II (1839); DESCHAMPS-JANET, La société et les sociétés, II (3rd ed., 1880), 93 sqq., 115 sqq.; III (1883), 34 sqq.; WOLFRAM, Die Illuminaten in Bayern u. ihre Verfolgung (1899-1900); ENGEL, Gesch. des Ill. Ordens (1906) (rich in documents, but favourable to Weishaupt); Hist-polit. Blätter (1889), I, 926-41 (official list of Illuminati).
HERM. GRUBER Transcribed by Thomas J. Bress
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIICopyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Illuminati (1)
(Alumbrados.)
The name assumed by some false mystics who appeared in Spain in the sixteenth century and claimed to have direct intercourse with God. They held that the human soul can reach such a degree of perfection that it contemplates even in the present life the essence of God and comprehends the mystery of the Trinity. All external worship, they declared, is superfluous, the reception of the sacraments useless, and sin impossible in this state of complete union with Him Who is Perfection Itself. Carnal desires may be indulged and other sinful actions committed freely without staining the soul. The highest perfection attainable by the Christian consists in the elimination of all activity, the loss of individuality, and complete absorption in God (see QUIETISM).
The peasant girl known as La Beata de Piedrahita (d. 1511) is cited among the early adherents of these errors; but it is not certain that she was guilty of heresy. At Toledo, which was one of the main centres of Illuminism, Isabella of the Cross is said to have carried on an active propaganda. More celebrated was Magdalen of the Cross, a Poor Clare of Aguilar near Cordova, who, however, in 1546, solemnly abjured the heresy. So rapidly did the errors gain ground that the Inquisition proceeded with relentless energy against all suspects, even citing before its tribunal St. John of Avila and St. Ignatius of Loyola. In spite of this determined action, however, the heresy maintained itself until the middle of the seventeenth century and some of its features reappear in the Quietism of the Spaniard Michael de Molinos.
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MENENDEZ Y PELAYO, Historia de los heterodoxos espanoles (Madrid, 1880), II, 521-585; III, 403-408; SCHUTZ in Kirchenlexikon, s.v. Erleuchtete; MORONI, Dizionario di erud. stor.-ecclesiastico.
N.A. WEBER Transcribed by Herman F. Holbrook Credo et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XVI (Index Volume)Copyright © 1914 by The Encyclopedia Press, Inc.Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1914. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Illuminati
a name assumed at different periods by sects of Mystics or Enthusiasts and Theosophs, who claim a greater degree of illumination or perfection than other men.
1. The first sect known under this name was a party of mystic enthusiasts who made their appearance in Spain about 1575, and who also bore the name of Alumbrados or Alombrados. They considered prayer as such an efficacious means of union with God that the soul of man could by it become entirely identified with the nature of God, so that its actions would therefore be really the actions of God himself; and they further held that for such persons good works, the sacraments, etc., are superfluous as a means of sanctification. (We invite here to a comparison of the doctrines of this sect with the Jesuits, when first instituted by Ignatius Loyola. See Ranke, History of the Popes, transl. by Mrs. Austin, 1, 190.) They were persecuted by the Inquisition, and then disappeared from Spain; but in 1623 they reappeared in France, under the name of Guerinets, a sect very similar to the Alombrados of Spain, a sort of Illuminati, but who, in addition to the mystic belief of the Alombrados, believed in a special revelation of perfectibility, made to one of their number, a friar, whose name was Bouquet. But they also soon became extinct, and were no longer known in France in 1605.
Another very similar sect arose in Belgium.
2. But the name of Illuminati was really first given to an association of Deists and Republicans which was founded May 1, 1776, by Adam Weishaupt, professor of canon law at the University of Ingolstadt. This order, which, by its founder, was first called the Order of the Perfectibilists, was established on a masonic foundation like that of the organization of the Jesuits. They announced as their aim to elevate mankind to the highest possible degree of moral purity, and to lay the foundation for the reformation of the world by organizing an association of the best men to oppose the progress of moral evil. Practically, however, the order soon evinced tendencies dangerous alike to Church and State. In their opposition to religious and political Jesuitism, Which at that time, in Roman Catholic Germany, imposed unbearable restraints on the human mind, they aimed at nothing less than revolutionizing religion, abolishing Christianity in order to substitute reason in its place, deposing all civil powers, and establishing a nominal republican government. Weishaupt himself, however, was a very honorable man, actuated by the purest motives, and zealous for the religious and political improvement of mankind. The most active disciple, through whose influence the society increased with extraordinary rapidity, was the baron Adolph von Knigge, who joined the Illuminati in 1780. The baron maintained that Christianity was not so much a popular religion as a system exclusively applicable to the elect, and that, introduced by the Mystics; it had found its form of highest development in Freemasonry. Only a small number of the elect were allowed an insight into the ultimate object of the new organization, but the whole system was made profusely attractive to a certain class of minds by mysterious ceremonies and forms. The order aimed steadfastly at obtaining the control of the higher offices in Church and State; and, although liberty and equality were proclaimed as its fundamental principles, it sought absolute supremacy. With a view to reach that end, Weishaupt, who had himself been a Jesuit, finally made use of the same means by which the Jesuits had been so successful.
Thus he sought to win over to his side all persons of any influence; to surround rilers with members of the order; to make proselytes of men weak in mind but strong of purse, while at the same time he excluded such as, on account of their pride or their strength of character, would be unlikely to prove pliant subjects, or whose want of discretion might injure the order. Strict, unquestioning, and blind obedience was made the first duty of every member; every one was under the direct control of his immediate superiors, and knew in fact no other members of the order. Aside from this, each member was subject to a private supervision, which extended to the head of the society; and the Illuminati were soon involved in a system of mutual espionage, confession, and the like, essentially inconsistent with true freedom, but calculated to place the threads all in one hand, by which the holy legion was to be led on, as it was imagined, to the benefaction of mankind. Only such persons as were distinguished for prudence, wisdom, complete abnegation for self, and zeal for the interest of the society, were admitted to the higher degrees, wherein the mysteries of the higher order were revealed to them, while those of the lower degrees hardly suspected their existence.
These mysteries related to religion, on which subject they were of the character of naturalism and freethinking; and to politics, in regard to which the aim was to replace monarchy by republicanism and socialism. An active correspondence was kept up between the chiefs and the members of the order in the different districts where lodges were established. It was carried on by means of a cipher, generally of the usual figures; but the higher orders also made use of other signs. The months were designated by particular names; thus January became Dineh, February Benmeh; and Germany was called the Orient, Bavaria Achaia, Munich Athens. The order was represented by (symbol O) a lodge by (symbol) The letters addressed to a superior were marked Q. L., i.e. Qzuibus licet, to open the letter; if the letter was addressed to one of the higher chiefs, it was marked Soli; and if to one still superior, Prinzo. Each one of the Illuminati was, besides, known in the order by some particular name. Thus the founder went by the ominous appellation of Spartacus; Knigge by that of Philo, etc. The attractions which the order presented by its mysterious secret forms, and the extraordinary energy and Jesuitical acumen which the leaders brought to bear on their undertaking, soon swelled its numbers, and, during its most prosperous period, the association consisted of over 2000 members, among them some of the most prominent names of Germany, and even princes, who, however, could only be initiated into the lower orders, as the higher mysteries of the order inculcated republicanism. The headquarters of the order were in Bavaria, which, with Suabia and Franconia, formed the first province of the association in Germany, and it was not only established in all the principal cities of Germany, but also gained a foothold in France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, and Italy.
As regards its interior organization, the order was established on the basis of the Society of Jesus, of which, as we have already observed, Weishaupt had once been a member. In 1777 he had joined the freemasons. From the first it had been his aim to connect his new society with freemasonry, for the purpose of giving it a firmer foundation, and with the ultimate object of finally absorbing the latter in the former. Knigge’s activity and enterprise finally succeeded in bringing the Illuminati to be considered as freemasons by the craft, bat this step made new enemies for the Illuminati, and ultimately caused their overthrow. Knigge modeled the material organization of the society after that of freemasonry, dividing the members into three classes, each of which was again composed of several degrees. The first, a preparatory class, was composed of novices, Minervites, and Illuninati minores. Any man eighteen years of age could become a novice, and on his conduct depended his promotion to the next degree, which could be effected after one, two, or three years. The second class, or that of freemasons, embraced apprentices, masons, and master-masons, besides the two higher grades of Illuminatus major and of Illuminatus dirigens, of Scottish knights. These latter had the control of the Minervite lodges. The third class, or that of the Mysteries, was divided into higher and lesser mysteries; the latter embraced the priests and the regents, or members to whom had been imparted the mysterious aims of the society in regard to religion and politics. The initiation to the degree of regent was conducted with great solemnity, and was very impressive. The adepts of the higher mysteries were also of two degrees, the Magneus and the Rex, to whom the principles of naturalism, republicanism, and socialism were further developed. These were the Areopagites of the order, and had no superiors but the secret council, presided over by the general of the order (Weishaupt), which composed the highest court of appeal for all members of the order.
A jealous feeling and contention for leadership, which sprang up between Weishaupt and Knigge, and a difference of opinion of the two greatest heads of the society on many points of organization and discipline, hastened the decline of the order, especially after Knigge had left it (July 1, 1784). As soon as the State and Church disturbing tendency, which for a time had remained hidden, became known, the order was vehemently denounced. June 22, 1784, the elector of Bavaria issued an edict for its suppression. But the society continued to exist in secret. When, however, the authorities had succeeded in obtaining further evidences of the dangerous tendency of the order by securing some of the papers of the association (which they published), they punished the members by fine, imprisonment, and exile. Many quit the country, among them Weishaupt (Feb. 16, 1785), on whose head a price had been set. He fled to Gotha (some say Halle), and resided there until his death, Nov. 18,1830. Edicts were again published by the elector of Bavaria, March 2 and August 16, 1785, which, by the severe punishment which it threatened to members, caused the rapid decline of the order, and they disappeared altogether towards the close of the last century (eighteenth). Great importance was at one time attached to the order of the Illuminati, whose secret influence was regarded as. a principal cause of many of the political events of the time of the French Revolution, and the works of Abbe Barruel and of Professor Kobison of Edinburgh upon this subject were eagerly read, but the highly exaggerated character of their views is now generally acknowledged. See Herzog, Real- Encyklop. 6, 636; Chambers, Cyclop. 5, 519; Grosse Absichten d. Ordens d. Illuminaten, etc., von vier ehemaligen Mitgliedern (Munich, 1786); Nachtrag z. d. grossen Absichten (Mun. 1786); Grundsatze, Verfassung u. Schicksale d. Illuminatenordens in Bayern (1786); Weishaupt, Apologie d. Illuminaten (Frank. 1786); same, Einleitung z. meiner Apologie (Frank. 1787); same, Das verbesserte System d. illominaten, etc. (Frank. 1787); Philo’s (Knigge’s) Endliche Erklarung und Antwort, etc. (Hannov. 1788).; Die neuen Arbeiten d. Spartacus u. Philo in d. Illuminatenorden, etc. (1794); Voss, Ueber d. Illuminatenorden (1799); Einige Originalschrijfen d. IIluminatenordens, etc., auf hochsten Bejehl z. Druck befordert (Munich. 1787); Natchtragv. weiteren Originalschriften, und der Illusminatensekte berhaupt, etc. (Munch. 1787); Henke, Kirchengesch. 7, 206 sq.; Zeitschriftf hist. Theol. 6, art. 2; Ersch und Gruber, Allgemo. Encyklop. sect. 2, 16:206 sq.; Kahnis, Germans Protestantisms, p. 59 sq. SEE MYSTICS. (J. H. W.)