Jean-Marie Ragon de Bettignies (born 25 February 1781 at Bray-sur-Seine, died 1862 at Bruges) was a Freemason, author and editor.

Biography

Jean-Marie Ragon was born at

Bray-sur-Seine Bray-sur-Seine (, literally ''Bray on Seine'') is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Demographics The inhabitants are called ''Braytois''. Natives * Nicholas of Bray (fl. 1226), Fre ...

. His father worked as a notary. He was initiated into

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

in 1804 at

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

where his duties as paymaster in the imperial administration had led him. He worked as a member of a team charged with the critical examination of dictionaries for the ''Journal Grammatical'' and published a method of reading. He was also the editor of the first French Masonic revue, ''Hermes.''.

Masonic career

Jean-Marie Ragon was initiated into the lodge Les amis du Nord at Bruges, which at that time was administered as a department of France. He likewise belonged to the lodge Le Phœnix of the Grand Orient de France and to the

Rite of Memphis-Misraim The Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis-Misraïm is a masonic rite founded in Naples, Italy in September 1881 by the merger of two older rites; the ''Rite of Misraïm'' and the ''Rite of Memphis''. Although founded in 1881, its predecessors h ...

, as well as to the Order of the Temple of

Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat (29 May 1773 – 18 February 1838), presented a Knights Templar and popular culture#Modern organizations, neo-Templar order called ''Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, l'Ordre du Temple'' in 1804 ...

. He founded and presided over the celebrated Parisian lodge Les Vrais Amis, which later became Les Trinosophes, which enjoyed, thanks to him, a certain renown. He occupied the post of

Worshipful Master In Craft Freemasonry, sometimes known as Blue Lodge Freemasonry, every Masonic lodge elects or appoints Masonic lodge officers to execute the necessary functions of the lodge's life and work. The precise list of such offices may vary between the ...

of this lodge for many years, from 1817 onwards. According to Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, the editor of The Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, Ragon "laboured hard to distinguish between the actual history of various Masonic societies and that vague traditional history which to so great an extent refutes itself." Mackenzie also asserted that Ragon "supported the idea that

Elias Ashmole Elias Ashmole (; 23 May 1617 – 18 May 1692) was an English antiquary, politician, officer of arms, astrologer and student of alchemy. Ashmole supported the royalist side during the English Civil War, and at the restoration of Charles II he ...

was the main founder of Freemasonry in its present form."Kenneth Mackenzie,''Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia'', 1877, p. 592. 61Zvf9waUGL

Literary works

He was the author of a number of widely influential Masonic works : * ''Cours philosophique et interprétatif des initiations anciennes et modernes'' (1840) (available o
Gallica
; * ''De la maçonnerie occulte et de l'initiation hermétique'' (1853), Maison de vie publisher, 2009, 171 p. ; * ''Rituel d'Apprenti'' (1859), Éditions du Prieuré, 1992, 108 p. ; * ''Rituel de Compagnon'' (1859), Éditions du Prieuré, 1992, 69 p. ; * ''Rituel du Maître'' (1859), Éditions du Prieuré, 1992, 80 p. ; * ''Orthodoxie maçonnique'' (1853), Cercle des amis de la Bibliothèque initiatique, 1972, 414 p. ; * ''Rituel d'une pompe funèbre maçonnique'', Equinoxis, 2014, 21 p. ; * ''Rituel de la maçonnerie forestière'' (1860), Editions du Prieuré, 1993, 48 p. ; * Perhaps ''Le Livre rouge'', Lavigne, 1842, 144 p. *''La Messe et ses mystères comparés aux mystères anciens, ou Complément de la science initiatique,'' 1844, 468 p. ; *'' ''Edition : Paris : Éd. Télètes, 200
Tuileur general de la Franc-Maçonnerie
; *Notice Historique sur le Calendrier,'' 1842, 48 p.

;

Literary works translated into English

*
The Mass and its Mysteries Compared to the Ancient Mysteries
' 2011, 423 p. ; *
Short Treatise on (Modes of Use of) the Calendar
'' 2017, 100 p. ;

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ragon, Jean-Marie 1781 births 1862 deaths 19th-century French writers Writers from Bruges French Freemasons