Royal Arch Purple
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Royal Arch Purple is a "higher degree" of initiation within the Orange Order which is believed to be of Masonic origin.[1]
It was started in 1798. The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland disliked the ritualism and tried to suppress it as being incompatible with Protestantism. The degrees were practised in great secrecy for fear of expulsion from the Order. The Grand Lodge maintained this position throughout the nineteenth and into the early 20th century, which was mirrored throughout Great Britain.[2]
Although the Royal Arch Purple is officially forbidden it is now widely practised as a natural step of advancement within the Orange Institution.
[edit] Notes and References
- ^ "The ritualists were those renegade Orangemen who adhered to the neo-Masonic Royal Arch Purple Order and Royal Black Preceptory degrees. Their unflinching aim was to introduce these ritualistic degrees into the Orange Institution and as a consequence make it a mirror of Freemasonry." GRAND ORANGE LODGE OF IRELAND hostility towards the RAP and Black degrees from the Evangelical Truth website
- ^ The Orange Order from the Evangelical Truth website
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[edit] External links
- The opinions of those sympathetic to the Royal Arch Purple
- Video clip of Mohawk LOL 99 in Belfast
- Orange Chronicle
