The Swedenborg Rite or Rite of Swedenborg was a fraternal order modeled on

Freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

and based upon the teachings of

Emanuel Swedenborg Emanuel Swedenborg (; ; born Emanuel Swedberg; (29 January 168829 March 1772) was a Swedish polymath; scientist, engineer, astronomer, anatomist, Christian theologian, philosopher, and mysticism, mystic. He became best known for his book on the ...

(1688–1772). It comprised six Degrees: Apprentice, Fellow Craft, Master Neophyte, Illuminated Theosophite, Blue Brother, and Red Brother.Albert Gallatin Mackey and H. L. Haywood, ''Encyclopedia of Freemasonry Vol. 2'', p. 997 reprinted by Kessinger Publishing, 2003 It was created in

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

in 1773 by the Marquis de Thorn. It was initially a political organization, although the political ideology was eventually discarded from the rite. This version of the Swedenborg Rite died out within a decade of its founding. Starting in the 1870s, the Rite was resurrected as an hermetic organization. This version faded out sometime around 1908. In 1982 a patent of the Swedenborg Rite was transmitted by the English Freemason Desmond Bourke, in his office at the British Museum, to Masonic author

Michele Moramarco Michele Moramarco (Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia (; ), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until Unification of Italy, 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-R ...

, who after revising the rituals by Bourke's permission revived that tradition in Italy under the title of "Antico Rito Noachita" ("Ancient Noachide Rite")

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Further reading