Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/732

 ILLUMINATI

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ILLUMINATI

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 W'eis- haupt, which resulted in the final withdrawal of the former on 1 July, 17S4. Knigge could no longer endure Weishaupt's pedantic domineering, whioh fre- quently assumed offensive forms. He accused Weis- haupt of "Jesuitism", and suspected him of being "a Jesuit in disguise" (Nachtr., I, 129). "Anil 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 17S3 the anarchistic tendencies of the orderprovoked public denunciations which led, in 1784, to interference on the part of the Bavarian Go\-ern- ment. Astheactivity of the Illuminati still continued, four successive enactments were issued against them (22 June, 1784; 2 March, and 16 Augu.st, 17S5; 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 publicatioUj in 1786, of its degrees and of other documents concernmg it — for the most part of a rather compromising nature — its further extension outside Bavaria became impos- sible. 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 adilressed to the Bi.shop of Freising (18 June an<l 12 November, 1785) Pius VI had also condemned the order. As early as 16 Feb- ruary, 1785, Weishaupt had fled from Ingolstadt, and in 17S7 he settled at Gotha. His numerous apolo- getic 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.

Object.? and Organiz.\tion. — 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 sub.se- quent 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 pulilished. 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 "en- lightenment " 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 ren- ders him conscious of his dignity, his destiny, and his power. The principal means for effecting the "re- demption" of the world was foimd in unification, and this was to be brought about by "secret schools of wisdom". These "schools", he declares, "were al- ways 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 be- come 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 abso- lute lord of his household, and reason will be man's only coile of law" ("Nachtr.", pp. 80 sq.; repeated verbatim in Knigge, "Die ncuesten .\rlieiten ", p. 38). This redemption of mankind by the restoration of the original "freedom and equality" through "illumina- tion " and imiversal charity, fraternity, and tolerance, is likewise the true esoteric doctrine of Christ and his Apostle,s. Those in whom the "illuminating" grace of Christ is operative (cf. Hel)., vi, 4) are the " Illuminati ". The object of pure (i. c. 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 extirpa- tion, however violent, will avail to prevent the har- vest ("Nachtr.", pp. 44, US; "Die neuesten Arb.", pp. 11, 70). Weishaupt later declared (Nachtrag zu meiner Rechtfertigung, 77 sqq., 112 sqq.) that Ma- sonry 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 preliminar.y degrees were to serve for the selection, preparation, and con- cealment of the true "Illuminati"; the others were to open the way for the free religion and social organi- zation 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 Mi- nerval "churches", "provincials", "nationals", and "areopagites" (who constituted the supreme council), under the direction of Weishaupt as general of the order. Members were actjuainted 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 in- formation, and on all matters which coulil possibly affect either themselves or the order they were to hand in sealed reports; these were ojiened 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, cathe- dral 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 Ije surrounded by a legion of enlightenetl 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 totdl its enemies.

Concerning the influence actually exerted by the Illuminati, the statements of ex-Freemasons — L. A. Hossman, J. A. Starck, J. Robinson, the Abb^ Bar- ruel, etc. — must be accepted iN-ith reserve, when they ascribe to the order a leading rcMe in the outl)reak and progress of the French Revolution of 1789. Their presentation of facts is often erroneous, their infer- ences are imtenable, and their the.ses not only lack proof, l>ut. in view of our present knowledge of the French Revolution (cf ., e. g., Aulard, " Hist. pol. de la