AMD: II - Order of the Secret Monitor

If you haven't done so yet, read my Introduction to the Allied Masonic Degrees, to which this post is a follow-up.

A degree of Brotherly Love, demonstrated through the example of David and Jonathan.

Originally, this degree was conferred by any Mason who received it. In England, there was a Grand Council of the Order of the Secret Monitor formed in 1887. Until 1894, the Grand Council and AMD disputed over right to confer the degree. In 1931, the Grand Council was given control of this degree and it was removed from AMD in Europe, but it remains part of AMD in the USA. In Europe, there are now provincial Grand Conclaves just as there are provincial Grand Mark Lodges. Shown here is the banner of the Grand Conclave of the Order of the Secret Monitor of Great Britain. The emblem in the center, consisting of the Star of David, with the three arrows and the initials D and J, is the general emblem of the Order of the Secret Monitor, and is the emblem used by AMD in reference to this degree.

This is considered one of the happiest, and friendliest of Masonic Orders. Local bodies are called Conclaves, and when operated under the Grand Conclaves, rather then under AMD, each Conclave has four officers titled Visiting Deacons, who are assigned a portion of the members which they personally visit between each meeting, to extend their support and help in any way needed, as well as to invite the Brethren to the next meeting, an example I think all Masons should undertake to follow.

This degree is important because it symbolically demonstrates that the Masonic principles which survived the flood with Noah were yet alive among the children of Israel, providing a link between Antediluvian Masonry and the "Solomonic" Masonry which is commonly known to us.