The Freemasons Are the Oldest Fraternal Organization in the World

Freemasons belong to the oldest fraternal organization in the world, a group begun during the Middle Ages in Europe as a guild of skilled builders. With the decline of cathedral building, the focus of the society shifted. Today, “Freemasons are a social and philanthropic organization meant to make its members lead more virtuous and socially oriented lives,” says Margaret Jacob, professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Europe. Grounded in the Enlightenment, the organization “still conveys [the era’s] core values, religious tolerance, thirst for knowledge [and] sociability,” says Cécile Révauger, a Freemason, historian of Freemasonry and professor at the University of Bordeaux.

While not a secret society, per se, it does have secret passwords and rituals that originate with the medieval guild, says Jacob: “In the original guild, there were three stages: Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Masons who oversaw everyone working on a site. Today, these degrees are more philosophical.”