In so far as we are able to trace in the authentic pages of history, Egypt was the birthplace, not of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, but of the Ancient Mysteries and the Secret Doctrines, which gradually, slowly and almost imperceptibly, throughout the centuries of time, developed a system which became officially the Fraternity Rosae Crucis in the year 1614. It was Herodotus who claimed that the Egyptians were the first who distinctly taught the Immortality of the human Soul, not as a Conscious entity, but with the capability of becoming, or attainting to, such Consciousness.
The Egyptian mysteries of Isis and Osiris were transplanted into Greece by Cadmus and Inachus; Zoroaster brought them into Persia; Orpheus into Thrace; Melapus into Argo; Trophonious nto Boeotia; Minos into Crete; Cinyras into Cyprus, and Erechtheus into Athens. By the time of the Nazarene, the Essenian Community was the only Mystery School actively functioning. The Gnostics, or early Christian Initiates, kept the Mysteries alive after the death of the Nazarene.
While it is true that these Secret Mystery Schools of Initiation existed in Egypt, India, Greece, and other countries and while it is equally certain that these schools had in view the identical ends of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, nevertheless, the Rosicrusians were unknown before 1614.
Thus, the Rosicrucian Fraternity was not the result of a sudden impulse on the part of any one individual, whether Paracelsus or Andrea, but was the outgrowth of these Ancient Mysteries, of the work and teachings of the pre-Rosicrucian Orders such as the early Pythagoreans, Plantonists, Essenes, Cabalists, Gnostics, Magi, and the mediaeval Alchemists, Hermetists, Occultists and Paracelsians. All who were members of these ancient Mystery Schools, had some part in the gestation of the Fraternity Rosae Crucis. As such, each of many master initiates either added to or subtracted from, the philosophy and Arcanum which finally birthed the Rosicrucian Fraternity.
John Trithemius (1462-1516), Henry Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486-1535) and Paracelsus (1493-1541) were the trio of men that became the reformers of Science, Religion and Medicine of their time. Trithemius laid the structural foundation of the future Fraternity, Agrippa continued the work where Trithemius left off, and Paracelsus forged the final product of what in the future was to be the Fraternity Rosae Crucis.
Paracelsus, aka Father Christian Rosenkreutz, is known as the “Father of the Fraternity Rosae Crucis” as he harmonized all of the many Secret Schools active during the previous centuries together into the pre-Rosicrusian “Confederation of Initiates.” Furthermore, it was he who authored the original draft of the Fama Fraternitas which was not published until 1614. This Confederation finally crystallized into the Fraternity Rosae Crucis in 1614, 73 years after the death of Paracelsus.
Philosophical Initiates who were interested in the consolidation of the Initiates of all the Arcane Schools into one supreme unit became members of the “World Council” of the Confederation of Initiates. Initiates of all schools in all countries belonged to this loosely joined Confederation and included such names as Aegidius Gutmann, Valentine Weigel, Simon Studion, Jean Braccesco, Dennis Zachaire, Thomac Charnock, John Fountaine, Alexander von Suchten, Nicholas Bernaud, Julius Sperber, and Henry Khunrath.
Seven individuals composed the original “co-founders” of the newly formed Fraternity Rosae Crucis: Berigard of Pisa (France, 1567-1664) John Baptista van Helmont (Belguim, 1557-1644), Jean D’Aspagnet (France, 1566-1630), Michael Maier (Germany,1568-1622), Robert Fludd (England, 1574-1637), Henricus Madathanas (Germany, 1575-1639) and John Valentine Andrae (Germany, 1586-1654). Michael Maier became the first Supreme Grand Master of the newly formed Fraternity Rosae Crucis and maintained this position until his death. John Valentine Andrae, was chosen the “spokesman” for the newly formed Fraternity Rosae Crucis and thus edited and published the Fama Fraternitas et Confessio Fratrum Rosae Crucis in Germany, December, 1614. The Fama was subsequently republished in English in 1652 by Eugenius Philalethes titled “Discovery of the Fraternity of the Most Laudable Order of the Rosy Cross.” The Fraternity grew and flourished throughout Europe and other countries such as Russia.
The first American Great Council of the August Fraternity was held in Philadelphia in 1772. Many of the founding fathers of the American Revolution were members of the Fraternity Rosae Crucis as the ideal of freedom from tyranny in order to pursue one’s spiritual vocation was and is a paramount fundamental tenet of the Fraternity. In 1774, the great Council of Three (the Fraternity's ultimate governing body) was composed of Benjamin Franklin, George Clymer and Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine was later succeeded by Lafayette, who, like Benjamin Franklin, was a member of the Paris Rosicrucian lodge “Humanidad.” In 1842, the Great Council of Three was revitalized by the novelist, George Lippard.
During the period between 1854 and 1856, it was decided by Count Guinotti and the World Council of the Fraternity, then sitting in Paris, that the time had come for a division of authority; the establishment of a Supreme Grand Master for Europe (England not included) and one for the Western World. Thus in 1858 the Supreme Grand Dome of the Fraternity met in Paris where Dr. Paschel Beverly Randolph was inducted into his office as the first Supreme Grand Master of the Fraternitas Rosæ Crucis for the Western World (North, Central and South America) and the Isles of the Sea. During the Civil War the Council of Three was composed of Dr. Randolph, General Ethan Allen Hitchcock and Abraham Lincoln. The need for a visible organization was due to what they saw as the rise of fraudulent Rosicrucian organizations in the country.
In 1871 Dr. Randolph selected Freeman B. Dowd to be his successor and after Randolph’s death in 1875, Mr. Dowd assumed his position as the second Supreme Grand Master of the Fraternity Rosae Crucis for the Western World. Under Mr. Dowd, James R. Phelps, M.D. (member of the Council of Three and Grand Master, Illuminatae Americanae) and the initiate Sorona performed the majority of the instruction and training of the neophytes. Edward Brown was one of these acolytes and was instructed under the wise guidance of Sorona. Mr. Dowd quickly recognized Edward Brown’s innate abilities and spiritual qualities and selected him to succeed him. Due to age and infirmary, on April 12, 1907 Dowd resigned his position and on April 15, 1907 Edward Brown became the third Supreme Grand Master of the Fraternity Rosae Crucis for the Western World with the title Supreme Grand Master, Temple of the Rosy Cross and Hierarch of Imperial Eulis. Mr. Brown held this position until his death in 1922.
During this same time period, Reuben Swinburne Clymer, M.D. was accepted as a neophyte under the authority of Freeman B. Dowd in 1897. He was instructed and guided by James R. Phelps and was then accepted as of the first degree in November, 1899. Still under the Fraternal authority of Dowd, he was inducted into the office of Grand Master of the Fraternity Rosae Crucis in 1905. He was then chosen as the Supreme Grand Master of the Aeth Priesthood in 1907.
During the time of Dowd, the Fraternity Rosae Crucis was composed of several different “sub” Orders and Societies all functioning in harmony with the ultimate authority of the Supreme Grand Master of the Fraternity Rosae Crucis for the Western World. These included the Order of the Illuminati (Dr. Phelps was the Grand Master), Order of Melchizadek, Priesthood of Aeth, Ancient Order of the Magi, Sons of Isis and Osiris, Rosicrucian Brotherhood, Rosicrusian Order, Secret Scools, Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, Elphantes, and Atlantis. During this same time period, “copy-cat” organizations began to arise without any connection to the Fraternity Rosae Crucis but plagiarizing the names of these individual Orders and Societies. It was decided by the Brethren in both Europe, Central and South America and North America that an outer association was required to protect these already established legitimate bodies.
Consequently, under the Fraternal authority of Mr. Down and then Mr. Brown, Dr. Clymer began the process of bringing together all of “sub” Allied Orders and Societies of the Fraternity Rosae Crucis. This process began in 1902 and in 1908-1909 these varied Orders and Societies of the Fraternity Rosae Crucis consolidated together under the umbrella appellate The Royal Fraternity Association. Furthermore, in 1908 he obtained land in Quakertown, PA which was to become both the Shrine and future headquarters of the Fraternity. In 1910 the building known as “Beverly Hall” was built and the Chapel followed in 1911-1912. The first Convocation was held in June, 1911 on Beverly Hall premises. After Edward Brown made his transition from this earth on May 11, 1922, he named Dr. Clymer as his successor and he held the position of Supreme Grand Master of the Fraternity Rosae Crucis until his death in 1966.
In 1929 the Royal Fraternity Association became the Universal Confederation of Initiates and was duly registered in Pennsylvania on July 24, 1929 as the Confederation of Initiates. From 1929 to 1938 the Supreme officers of all the legitimate organizations based on the Arcane were busily engaged in the formation of plans, the writing of a FAMA and agreeing upon the methods of procedure to unite all of the World’s Orders that were legitimately associated with Fraternity Rosae Crucis. Finally, on March 20th, 1939, in Paris, France, this work was completed and a Constitution was ratified as La Federation Universelle des Ordes, Societes et Fraternites des Inities or The Universal Confederation of Orders, Societies and Fraternities of Initiates and so registered in every country in which legitimate member organizations were active. It was at this time that Dr. Clymer was presented with many ancient books, manuscripts and records of the Fraternity prior to the Nazi invasion in which the libraries were decimated and the Fraternity leaders executed.
The Fraternity Rosae Crucis continues is this form to the present day. It has no association with any other "Rosicrucian" Order or organization who use this name.
The following texts provide further details on the history and authenticity of the Fraternity Rosae Crucis currently headquartered in Quakertown, PA.
The Book of Rosicruciae(In three volumes)
Compiled by Dr. R. S. Clymer
The history, philosophy, and symbolism of the Rosicrucian movement through the centuries are given in this series, together with biographies of great Alchemists and Hermeticists. The benevolence of the Fraternal ideals and the individuals who loved and exemplified them are inspiring.
853 pages, three volumes
The Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis
By Dr. R. S. Clymer
When and where did the Fraternity of the Rose Cross have its beginning? By whom was it originated? Was it always the Rosicrucian Fraternity? Or does it owe its existence to older organizations? These are among the questions answered in detail as the Fraternity's Hermetic and Alchemic traditions are highlighted.
221 pages
The Rose Cross Order
By Dr. R. S. Clymer
Differences between the works of Aleister Crowley, a well known black magician of the early twentieth century, and the Rose Cross are compared. The book also covers the court litigation between the Fraternity and H. Spencer Lewis, founder of A.M.O.R.C. in California.
208 pages.