Saint-Just and the Masons
Oct. 23rd, 2008 06:17 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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revolution_frI 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!
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!
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Date: 2008-11-03 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-03 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-10 06:19 pm (UTC)Thank you for this link, indeed :)
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Date: 2008-11-10 11:06 pm (UTC)I've just read that Young's 'Night Thoughts' - incredibly popular romantic book about death - contains masonic symbolism. Desmoulins took a copy with him into prison, and Robespierre was also supposed to keep a copy - but then, I expect everyone did, as it was so popular (Goethe learned English from reading it).