In the Southern Jurisdiction, the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite are worked in five bodies:
- (1) Lodge of Perfection – 4th° to 14th°
- (2) Chapter of Rose Croix – 15th° to 18th°
- (3) Council of Kadosh – 19th° to 30th°
- (4) Consistory – 31st° to 32nd°
- (5) Supreme Council – the 33rd°, conferred as an honour
Honorary
33rd° degree
The 33rd degree, Inspector General Honorary, is the best-known honour in Freemasonry and also one of the most misunderstood. It is not a rank of command over other Masons, and it cannot be earned by study or bought. Every Scottish Rite jurisdiction elects a small number of its members to receive it, in recognition of outstanding service to the Rite, or of public life that reflects the principles taught in the degrees. This page explains what the 33° is in the Southern Jurisdiction, how it is conferred and what its regalia means; the pages that follow describe the higher honour of the Grand Cross and the offices held by 33° Masons.
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What the 33rd degree is
The title “Inspector General” goes back to the eighteenth century. In 1761 the Frenchman Estienne Morin received a patent as “Grand Inspector” to spread the high degrees in the New World, and he and his successors appointed Deputy Inspectors General to carry them further. When the first Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree was opened at Charleston, South Carolina, on 31 May 1801, its members were the Inspectors General who governed the Rite. At first, according to Wikipedia’s history of the Southern Jurisdiction, the 33° was conferred only on those who would serve as active members of the Supreme Council.
Today the Southern Jurisdiction distinguishes two kinds of 33° Mason. A small number, never more than 33, are the active members of the Supreme Council, the Sovereign Grand Inspectors General who govern the Rite. All other recipients are Inspectors General Honorary and honorary members of the Supreme Council. The active members are chosen from among them.
The 33° cannot be asked for, and if it is asked for it must be refused. It is given, never sought.
How it is conferred
- Prerequisite: in the Southern Jurisdiction the candidate must already hold the rank and decoration of Knight Commander of the Court of Honour (KCCH), a rule recorded as early as 1890, and must normally have been a KCCH for at least 46 months.
- Election: the Supreme Council elects the new 33° Masons at its biennial session, with the approval of the Sovereign Grand Commander. The number elected is smaller still than the number of new Knights Commander.
- Coronation: the degree is conferred in a ceremony usually called a coronation. The member may travel to Washington, D.C., to receive it at the biennial session, or receive it later in his own Orient at a Valley where it is regularly conferred.
The Northern Masonic Jurisdiction follows a similar principle with different details. It also requires 46 months, but it has no KCCH, and every recipient of the 33° there is an honorary member of its Supreme Council, which may have up to 66 active members.
Regalia and symbols
The cap. An Inspector General Honorary wears a white cap, which the Wikipedia article on the Southern Jurisdiction describes as embroidered with a patriarchal cross (the cross of Lorraine, with two bars). The white cap is one of the eight official caps listed in the Supreme Council’s statutes. According to Arturo de Hoyos, the Supreme Council’s Grand Historian, the Scottish Rite caps descend from the arming cap worn under a knight’s helmet and also serve as a kind of prayer cap, a reminder “that the physical must be subject to the spiritual”.
The jewel. The Supreme Council notes that the 33° jewel was first described in the Grand Constitutions of 1786: a nine-pointed star of three interlaced gold triangles resting on a Teutonic cross, with a sword and a “hand of justice”, and at its centre a blue shield with a double-headed eagle, a balance and the square and compasses, surrounded by the motto Ordo ab Chao (“order out of chaos”). The Supreme Council’s official double-headed eagle carries the motto Deus Meumque Jus, “God and my right”.
The signature. Mackey records the custom of placing a small symbolic cross before a 33° Mason’s signature; for an Inspector General Honorary the Southern Jurisdiction’s 1921 statutes prescribed a plain cross with two bars, in crimson ink, followed by a rayed triangle enclosing the number 33.
Sources:
– The Supreme Council, 33°, S.J., “Where and when was the 33° jewel first described?”, “Featured Artifact: 33° Jewel”, “Earliest known 33° patent” and “What is the significance of the Scottish Rite cap?” (quoting Arturo de Hoyos, Scottish Rite Ritual Monitor and Guide, 3rd ed., 2010, p. 135).
– Albert G. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, entries “Court of Honor”, “Abbreviations” and “Characteristics” (signature symbols).
– Brief History of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1890), section on the Court of Honor.
– Wikipedia, “Supreme Council, Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction, USA)” (Scottish Rite Honors) and “Scottish Rite” (history; Northern Jurisdiction).
– Orange County Scottish Rite, “Our honorary hats explained”: https://www.ocscottishrite.org/our-honorary-hats-explained