The Order - An Overview

History

The earliest history of the Order of the Secret Monitor (OSM) is somewhat vague and uncertain, but the modern system took root in London in 1887 when Dr Issachar Zacharie and a number of distinguished and like-minded London Masons who had previously received the Secret Monitor in their masonic progress in various parts of the world, met on May 5 to form the Alfred Meadows Conclave (or Premier, no.1) of the Order, with Dr Zacharie as its first leader. Matters progressed quickly and the Grand Council of the Order of the United Kingdom was constituted on June 17, 1887 with Dr Zacharie as first ‘Supreme Grand Ruler’, and with five warrants being issued by the end of 1887, including one for Penang, Malaysia. The Order grew apace, and from 1888, further warrants were issued for other far-flung parts of the Empire – including Southern and Eastern India, Burma, Jamaica, Singapore, South Africa and Australia. It was also in this first two years of the Grand Council that the modern degree structure for the Order was consolidated.

The appendant Ancient and Masonic Order of Knights of the Scarlet Cord was developed in 1889 from 18th century documents housed in the Amsterdam Masonic archives as a means of raising funds for the Fund of Benevolence. In its first incarnation it consisted of only Metropolitan Consistory and four sub-Consistories, went into abeyance during the First World War, was revived but faltered in subsequent years, and again going into abeyance in 1929. However, the Order was formally revived on July 21, 2010, in London, with the constitution of the Grand Senatus for England, Wales, etc., and has rapidly spread within other Grand Councils of the Order of the Secret Monitor: with the first meetings of the Order in Australia also being held in 2010.

Raison d’être

The Order of the Secret Monitor is grounded in the simple understanding that each must be his ‘brother’s keeper’, which especially emphasises friendship and fidelity. The Order also has a strong filiation with the social duties of benevolence and charity, which are especially drawn out in the appendant Ancient Order of Masonic Knights of the Scarlet Cord. Traditionally, the Order of the Scarlet Cord had three charitable columns – the aged, the ill and infirm, and education.

Organisation

The Order of the Secret Monitor is led by a Grand Supreme Ruler, supported by his Grand Council, who administer via a Grand Conclave, held at least once annually. The Grand Council of the Order for Southern Australia currently has authority over 18 Conclaves, with 14 meeting across Victoria, two in Tasmania and two in Western Australia. The Grand Supreme Ruler is supported in the management of this geographically broad jurisdiction by the appointment of a Deputy Grand Supreme Ruler in each State, and by the further appointment of Grand Visitors to oversee the labours of the various Conclaves.

Conclaves of the Order of the Secret Monitor meet regularly, under the leadership of a Worthy Supreme Ruler, to administer the first two Degrees of the Order. The Supreme Rulers are supported by a number of officers in each Degree. The most important officers in each Conclave are the Visiting Deacons, whose responsibilities extend to the fraternal care and concern for the brethren under their charge between meetings.

The Order of the Scarlet Cord has its own leadership and organisational structures: The first three Degrees are administered within a Consistory of the Order, the fourth Degree in a Court of Assistants and the final two Degrees within the Grand Senatus, the ruling body of the Order, led by a Grand Summus. However, within the Grand Council of the Secret Monitor for Southern Australia, the Order of the Scarlet Cord is administered directly by the Grand Supreme Ruler, acting as the Grand Summus of the Order, and not by a separate administrative structure, as occurs in the UK. Click here for a PDF copy (2.6MB) of a Scarlet Cord history, prepared by Most Distinguished Companion Peter Glyn-Williams of the Grand Senatus of England, etc., when the Order was revived.

Qualifications

The Order of the Secret Monitor is open to all Master Masons who are financial members of a regular Craft Lodge recognised by the several Australia Grand Lodges covering the jurisdiction of the Grand Council of this Order. Within the Grand Council for Southern Australia, any interested Master Mason may petition a convenient Conclave for membership.

Membership and progress within the appendant Order of the Scarlet Cord is based upon prior service and rank within the Order of the Secret Monitor, and is necessarily restrictive. All candidates for admission to the Order of the Scarlet Cord must be Princes of the Order and subscribers to the Fund of Benevolence of the Order of the Secret Monitor. Princes may be admitted to the first two Degrees of the Order of the Scarlet Cord, but further progress requires the brethren to be installed Supreme Rulers and then, for subsequent Degrees, to have been previously accorded increasingly higher grand ranks within the Order of the Secret Monitor.

Degrees

There are three, outwardly simple but profoundly important, Degrees administered within a Conclave of the Order of the Secret Monitor:

(1) Brother of the Secret Monitor;

(2) Prince of the Order; and 

(3) Supreme Ruler within the Order.

The last Degree being also the ‘chair’ Degree wherein the brother is commissioned and installed – a curious distinction from many other Masonic ‘chair’ ceremonies.

The First Degree recounts the great and abiding friendship of David and Jonathan, and the lesson this Degree imparts is the intrinsic importance of true friendship. The Second Degree emphasises the further lesson of fidelity to the brethren. The Third Degree prepares a brother for the responsibilities of leadership and reinforces the new relationship he has with his brethren as a Supreme Ruler within the Order.

Appendant Order of the Scarlet Cord

There are a further six Grades within the appendant Ancient Order of Masonic Knights of the Scarlet Cord:

(1) Ostiarius, or Doorkeeper;

(2) Lector, or Reader;

(3) Fellow, or Healer & Exorcist;

(4) Councillor, or Courtly Companion;

(5) High Priest, or Keeper of the Hidden Secret; and

(6) Knight, or Prince of Jerusalem.

These impressive degrees further develop the underlying stories and figures of Freemasonry, particularly of those already identified within the Degrees of the Secret Monitor. 

Regalia

The brethren dress in normal Masonic attire for meetings and wear a breast jewel and gloves and carry a sword.

Supreme Rulers attire in a robe and sash of office, while Past Supreme Rulers change their breast jewel for a collarette jewel. Grand Council officers also wear sashes or chain collars appropriate to their rank and office within the Order. 

There are also distinctive regalia for the various Degrees of the Order of the Scarlet Cord.