Who are we?
Réunion Fraternelle et Tradition is a French Masonic Lodge in London working under the auspices of the Grande Loge Traditionnelle et Symbolique Opéra (G.L.T.S.O.). The obedience to which it belongs does not opt for direct intervention in civil society, but rather encourages its members to carry outwardly the virtues they have pledged to exemplify.
Founded in 2017 by some twenty Brethren from the Grande Loge Traditionnelle et Symbolique Opéra, Réunion Fraternelle et Tradition is the 4th French Masonic Lodge in London, the 3rd working in the language of Molière, and the 1st for the G.L.T.S.O. A men’s Lodge, it practises the Traditional French Rite (R.F.T.). With the Régulateur du Maçon of 1801 as its reference, this rite is the fruit of research into the original rite, introduced to continental Europe by the English at the beginning of the 18th century. Among themselves, its members call one another “Brethren” and work to the Glory of the Great Architect of the Universe.
In the beginning:
It all begins in late 2015, when a Brother of our Obedience decides to take his professional career abroad. After a few months of research and interviews, he prepares his move to England, on the edge of Greater London. Once the broad outlines of this relocation had been set out on a secular level, he turned to the Masonic ones. He visits the local lodges. The work there is remarkable and the welcome most fraternal. But it is neither his rite nor his Obedience. So, with the poem “My Mother Lodge” by Rudyard Kipling in mind, he lets himself be tempted by the idea of branching out.
And so it was that 22 Brethren from France, Belgium and England gathered one sunny Sunday in March 2017 for their first meeting. Almost a year later, the caterpillar became a butterfly. Thanks to the keeping of our commitments and to the support we received from everyone — from the Obedience, from friendly Lodges, from visiting Brethren, from our families… — we were even more numerous to celebrate the consecration of our Lodge.
To the Brethren of the very first day came Brethren for the long haul, who knew how to brave the Sunday-morning lie-ins to make them moments of pure fraternity.
A founding member.
Any man “free and of good morals” who believes in the transcendence of the human being may ask to join the Brethren of Réunion Fraternelle et Tradition, whatever his political and religious opinions — even though, in Lodge, Freemasons must speak neither of politics nor of religion. On the other hand, membership of an extremist or sectarian movement is incompatible with the quality of a Mason. A written undertaking will be required to this effect.