DeMolay International (Youth Fraternity)

Origins and history

The story begins with a telephone call in January 1919. Frank S. Land, a 28-year-old Kansas City restaurateur who ran the Masonic Relief and Employment Bureau of the local Scottish Rite, was asked by Sam Freet, Senior Warden of Ivanhoe Lodge, whether he could find part-time work for a teenager named Louis G. Lower. Louis’s father, Elmer Lower, a member of the lodge, had died the year before, and the family was struggling. Land took the boy on in his office and was so impressed by him that he suggested Louis bring some friends along to meet him.

On 19 February 1919 Louis arrived at the Scottish Rite Temple with eight companions: Ralph Sewell, Elmer Dorsey, Edmund Marshall, Jerome Jacobson, William Steinhilber, Ivan Bentley, Gorman McBride and Clyde Stream. The nine agreed to form a club and debated what to call it. Greek letters were rejected as too much like a college fraternity, and the Knights of the Round Table seemed too remote. When Clyde Stream asked for a name connected with Freemasonry, Land, who that year presided over the DeMolai Council of Kadosh, told them about Jacques de Molay. The boys took to the name at once.

On 24 March 1919 thirty-one boys from the same high school gathered at the Temple and elected their first officers, with Land acting only as advisor. Members of Adoniram Lodge of Perfection, a Scottish Rite body, agreed to sponsor what became the “Mother Chapter”. The Order’s own history tells how the young members soon voted to cap membership at 75, and how Land rose from the back of the room to tell them that what was good for one boy must be good for every eligible boy in the city. The motion was rescinded, and within a year the Order had some 2,000 members. In 1921 and 1922 it reached Wisconsin, where Land and the original nine helped initiate about a thousand boys into twenty-two new chapters, and from there it spread across the United States and overseas.

The boys were uncomfortable calling a man older than themselves “Frank” but found “Mr. Land” too stiff, so Louis Lower began calling him “Dad”. The others followed, and “Dad Land” he remained; in time women advisors came to be called “Mom”. Land gave up his Scottish Rite post in 1922 to run the Order full time. He received the 33rd degree in 1925, served as Imperial Potentate of the Shriners in 1954–55, sat on the Kansas City school board and was a trustee of the Truman Presidential Library. He died on 8 November 1959 and is buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery, Kansas City. DeMolays mark the date each year as Frank S. Land Memorial Day.

The namesake: Jacques de Molay

According to the Order’s account, Jacques de Molay was born in 1244 at Vitrey in the Haute-Saône region of France and joined the Knights Templar at about 21. The Templars had been recognised by the Church in 1128 to protect pilgrims on the roads of the Holy Land, and over the following century they became famous for their courage in the Crusades and wealthy through gifts from noble families across Europe (see our history of the Templars).

De Molay became Grand Master in 1298, at a time when the crusading cause was failing. King Philip IV of France, eager for the Order’s riches, had him and hundreds of other Templars arrested in 1307. After seven years of imprisonment and torture he was brought before a special court on 18 March 1314 and confronted with a confession said to bear his signature. He repudiated it, as did his fellow knight Geoffroi de Charney, and both were burned at the stake that same day. DeMolay remembers him not for the politics of his age but for his refusal to betray his companions, which is why the date of his death became a fixture in the Order’s calendar.

Membership

DeMolay is open to young men of good character between 12 and 21 who believe in a higher power; some jurisdictions also run a “Squire” programme for younger boys. (Older handbooks, such as Wisconsin’s of 2003, give the starting age as 13.) A candidate does not need a Masonic father or relative. He is recommended by a Master Mason or by members of the chapter he wishes to join, and he undertakes to live by the Order’s teachings, which include respect for every faith and the idea of a universal brotherhood of man.

A local unit is called a Chapter. It is led by a Master Councilor, elected by the members, with a Senior Councilor and Junior Councilor beside him and other officers appointed by him. Every chapter must be sponsored by a Masonic body or another group made up entirely of Masons, which provides a meeting place and an advisory council of adults. Advisors are often Masons or “Senior DeMolays” (members who have passed 21), but fathers and other community volunteers serve too, and women may be advisors. Above the chapters sit state or national bodies, each overseen by an Executive Officer, and at the top the International Supreme Council, headed by a Grand Master. Active members have their own voice through the International DeMolay Congress, which elects an International Master Councilor each year.

Young women cannot join, but many chapters elect a “Sweetheart” and other young women, often members of Rainbow or Job’s Daughters, to represent the chapter at its events.

Degrees, ritual and teachings

The ritual was written in 1919, at Land’s request, by Frank A. Marshall, a Kansas City Mason who worked as drama and music critic for the Kansas City Journal and wrote poetry. Drawing on his knowledge of the Scottish Rite and the story of de Molay, he produced a ceremony in two parts: the Initiatory Degree and the DeMolay Degree, the latter a dramatic presentation of the last days of Jacques de Molay. The first class received both degrees on 27 September 1919. Marshall later wrote further ceremonies for the Order, and the ritual has been revised at various points since.

At the heart of the teaching are seven “cardinal virtues”, which the Order describes as the foundation of good character:

• Filial love: honouring and repaying the care of one’s parents
• Reverence for sacred things: keeping one’s own faith while respecting the beliefs of others
• Courtesy: kindness at home and among friends as well as in public
• Comradeship: friendship that holds in hard times as well as good
• Fidelity: faithfulness to one’s obligations, the virtue de Molay is remembered for
• Cleanness: care in thought, word and action, not just personal hygiene
• Patriotism: loyalty to one’s country and respect for those who serve it

The Order’s motto sums up the aim: “No DeMolay shall fail as a citizen, as a leader, or as a man.” DeMolay also speaks of defending three freedoms, religious, civil and intellectual, represented in its meetings by a holy book, the national flag and school books.

The emblem

Dad Land designed the emblem himself, and the Order publishes the meaning of each part. The crossed swords stand for justice, fortitude and mercy, and for the struggle against arrogance, despotism and ignorance. The crown is the “Crown of Youth”, a reminder of the seven virtues. The helmet stands for chivalry, the white cross for purity of intention, and the stars around the crescent for hope and for the duties members owe one another. Set in the crown are ten jewels honouring Land and the nine founders. They were first shown as pearls, and as each founder died his pearl was changed to a ruby; today all ten are rubies.

The memorial window

After Land’s death a memorial committee was formed in 1960. It recommended keeping his office as he had left it and turning the neighbouring room into a small museum for his jewels, regalia, paintings and the bronze head presented to him at a testimonial dinner. H. Malvern Marks proposed a stained-glass window, based on a drawing from the Members Record Book that had been given to new members since 1925. The window, in rich colours, shows a young DeMolay in robes kneeling at the altar, on which rest the Crown of Youth, the Bible and school books. It was placed so that it could be seen, and lit at night, from the street. When the Order’s headquarters moved in 1986 the window was brought indoors, and after restoration it was rededicated on 18 March 1988.

The Order today

DeMolay International is incorporated in the United States as a non-profit organisation and has roughly 12,000 active members. Besides the United States it has chapters in Canada, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, Romania, Greece, Serbia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia and a number of other countries; in some regions, such as Brazil, it has handed control to a local Supreme Council. Chapters combine ceremonial work with sport, camping, community service, fundraising and joint events with the girls’ orders, and members compete in state and international events.

The DeMolay Hall of Fame includes Walt Disney, John Wayne, the voice actor Mel Blanc, the actor Buddy Ebsen, the folk singer Burl Ives, House Speaker Carl Albert and the American football player Fran Tarkenton. Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and Gerald Ford all served as Honorary Grand Masters.

An inspirational piece long reprinted in DeMolay circles imagines what becomes of “any 100 young men” who join. A handful will lead their chapters as Master Councilor, and at least one will rank that experience above his degree. Most will go on to further study, some will find their careers or their faith through chapter activities, and many will later join a Masonic lodge. Even the thirty or so who leave in the first year, it says, will remember the Order kindly. It is offered as encouragement rather than as statistics, but it reflects how the Order sees itself.

Because DeMolay is so closely tied to Freemasonry, it is sometimes drawn into conspiracy theories. Our fact check Claim #27 looks at one such accusation and at what the Order actually is.

Learn more or join

For more information, or to join, visit:
– https://beademolay.org/ (DeMolay International)
– https://beademolay.org/chapter-locator/ (find a chapter near you)
– https://www.demolay.org.au/
– https://www.thesquaremagazine.com/mag/article/202105who-are-the-order-of-demolay/
– https://grandlodge.ph/demolay-international
– https://www.facebook.com/DeMolay.International/
– https://norcaldemolay.com/
– https://www.coloradodemolay.org/
– https://www.fldemolay.org/
– https://www.njdemolay.org/
– https://www.texasdemolay.com/