The Order of the Secret Monitor (OSM) is an Appendant Order of Freemasonry. It is a relatively lesser-known Masonic organization that exists in certain jurisdictions around the world.
The OSM focuses on promoting friendship, brotherhood, and the principles of Masonic teachings.
The Order of the Secret Monitor
The order is often referred to as a “side degree” or “side order” within Freemasonry, meaning it is an additional degree that Masons can pursue after attaining the Master Mason degree, which is the third degree in the Blue Lodge.
The Order is based on the friendship of the biblical figures of King David and Jonathan (the eldest son of King Saul), who according to the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible, formed a covenant, and took a mutual oath.
The ritual of the OSM emphasizes the importance of secrecy, fidelity, and the watchful care of one’s brethren. It draws its symbolism and teachings from the biblical stories.
Membership in the Order of the Secret Monitor is usually by invitation only. It consists of a series of degrees, each with its own rituals, teachings, and ceremonies. These degrees often incorporate allegorical narratives and symbolic elements to convey moral and ethical lessons to the members.
It’s important to note that the Order of the Secret Monitor may vary in its practices and structure depending on the jurisdiction or Grand Lodge under which it operates. Therefore, specific details and rituals may differ between different regions or Masonic jurisdictions.
Albert Mackey describes it in his Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry:
An honorary or side Degree once commonly conferred in the United States. The communication of it was not accompanied, it is true, with any impressive ceremonies, but it inculcates a lesson of unfaltering friendship which the prospect of danger could not appal, and the hour of adversity could not betray.
It is, in fact, devoted to the practical elucidation of the Masonic virtue of Brotherly Love. In conferring it, those passages of Scripture which are contained in the twentieth chapter of the First Book of Samuel, from the sixteenth to the twenty-third, and from the thirty-fifth to the forty-second verses inclusive, are usually considered as appropriate.
It may be conferred on a worthy Master Mason by any Brother who is in possession of its Ritual. There was in Holland, in 1778, a secret Masonic society called the Order of Jonathan and David, which was probably much the same as this American Degree.
Kloss in his Catalogue, of 1844, gives the title of a book published in that year at Amsterdam which gives its statutes and formulary of reception.
The Grand Recorder W. C. Spratling, of London, England, where a Grand Council of the Order of the Secret Monitor was formed on June 17, 1887, has furnished information from which the following notes have been prepared.
He has found that the Order of the Secret Monitor is developed from a still more ancient Degree known as the Brotherhood of Dated and Jonathan, and is at least as old as Freemasonry itself, its principles and watch-words being founded upon the examples set by the two Hebrew Princes, as recorded in the his history and traditions of the Jews.
He points out that it is often forgotten that the Israelites, slaves in Egypt for more than four hundred years, absorbed much of the ancient lore of their taskmasters who long before Jewish history begins, were already an ancient race in an advanced state of civilization.
They indeed trace their mysteries as a heritage Mom a still more ancient people who overran Asia Minor long before the dawn of written history.
Brother Spratling says that Statutes covering such a Body as the above are on record in Amsterdam having the date of 1773 and indicating that the organization had been founded three years earlier.
Further traces of this brotherhood of David and Jonathan are found in 1775 but the working of the degree seems to have had its development in the United States where it was carried by immigrants to view Amsterdam and from thence it spread through the Republic in a very simple form and capable of considerable variation.
However, the prevailing ceremonies were adopted and then somewhat adapted for English use by the Grand Council in that country. The Degree had been communicated to any Master Mason with little ceremony at any time or place.
In this way it was communicated to the following Brethren at or about the dates mentioned:
1840—Dr. Issachar Zacharie in California.
1845—Colonel Shadwell E. Clerke, in Malta.
1846—James Lewis Thomas, in St. Vincent, the West Indies.
1848—Rev. J. Oxley Oxland, M.A., in Jerusalem
1865—Charles Fitzgerald Alatier, by an American passing through London.
The Order meets in Conclaves, each with a Supreme Ruler at its head. There are three degrees in the Order, as practised in the UK.
The first degree, the Secret Monitor in which the legend of David and Jonathan is acted out in the ceremony of induction.
The second degree, Prince, the admission ceremony is derived from the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament.
The third degree, is the ceremony of installation of Supreme Ruler, and is normally carried out once a year at the installation meeting. [1]
All Master Masons are eligible for membership of this Order, but must be invited by a member.
In the UK and under the UK jurisdiction overseas there are approximately 6250 Secret Monitors in 360 conclaves. In addition the Order of the Secret Monitor is very active in the USA, Canada, France, Australia, New Zealand, India and South East Asia.
Source: Order of the Secret Monitor Province of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire
The OSM is administrated from Mark Masons’ Hall in London.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Secret_Monitor
Further Reading and Resources:
Information on the history, and the modern Order of the Secret Monitor https://osmbch.org.uk/
Mark Masons’ Hall – the Home of the Companion Orders in Freemasonry – Order of the Secret Monitor
Beyond the Craft 6th Edition
By: Keith B. Jackson
Beyond the Craft has been one of Lewis Masonic’s best-selling titles since it was first published in 1980. Since then author Keith Jackson has updated the book through five editions, most recently in 2005 but there is now scope for a major revision of this book to bring in all the newly founded orders that have not been included up to now and to reflect the expansion in membership of many of these orders in recent years.
To accommodate this extra material the book will be produced in a slightly larger paperback format. This fully revised edition, fully illustrated in colour will be an indispensible guide to Masonic Orders practised in the UK, giving invaluable in-depth information about the history of each Order, as well as detailing the joing qualifications, hierarchy, important rituals, teachings, regalia and much more.
The book is recognised as one of the most relevant books a Freemason can acquire and the updates will allow it to continue to keep its position as an indispensible guide for all those Freemasons wishing to explore other degrees within the Masonic structure
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