Saint-Just and the Masons

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I finally finished reading _Saint-Just_ by Bernard Vinot and thought I would share what he thought about the Masonic connection...a topic some of us discussed awhile back.

Vinot concluded that S-J was not a Mason for the following reasons:

In _Organt_ he mocked the Neuf-Soeurs Lodge.

In S-J's "neighborhood" there were two Lodges. One was conservative and anti-revolution. Another was more moderate but closed down in 1792 due to lack of interest. And S-J was too young to join anyway for most of that time.

S-J oversaw the Bureau of Police for the Commitee, which did not trust Masonic organizations.

He had more local rivals than friends that were known to be Masons.

His brother-in-law was a Mason. But we do have a list of members for his Lodge and S-J was not on it. And that Lodge also closed down in 1791.

Masonry was generally in decline at this point, surpassed by the events of the Revolution. S-J would have known this and would not have had anything to gain by membership.

Of course...this is only one book. Others may disagree!