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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Secret society (disambiguation).

“Secret Society Buildings at Yale College” by Alice Donlevy c. 1880. Pictured are: Psi Upsilon (Beta chapter), 120 High Street. Left center: Skull and Bones (Russell Trust Association), 64 High Street. Right center: Delta Kappa Epsilon (Phi chapter), east side of York Street, south of Elm Street. Bottom: Scroll and Key (Kingsley Trust SSS Nonse Association), 490 College Street.

A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, membership, and sometimes also existence, are concealed. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla warfare insurgencies, that hide their activities and memberships but maintain a public presence.[1]

Secret societies may be community-based or associated with colleges and universities. These societies exist in countries around the world.

The Brethren of Purity were a secret society[1] of Muslim philosophers in Basra, Iraq, in the 9th or 10th century CE.

Definitions

The exact qualifications for labeling a group a secret society are disputed, but definitions generally rely on the degree to which the organization insists on secrecy and might involve the retention and transmission of secret knowledge, the denial of membership or knowledge of the group, the creation of personal bonds between members of the organization, and the use of secret rites or rituals.

Anthropologically and historically, secret societies have been deeply interlinked with the concept of the Männerbund, the all-male “warrior-band” or “warrior-society” of pre-modern cultures (see H. Schurtz, Alterklassen und Männerbünde, Berlin, 1902; A. Van Gennep, The Rites of Passage, Chicago, 1960).

A purported “family tree of secret societies” has been proposed, although it may not be comprehensive.[2]

Alan Axelrod, author of the International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders,[3] defines a secret society as an organization that:

  • is exclusive
  • claims to own special secrets
  • shows a strong inclination to favor its members.

Historian Richard B. Spence[4] of the University of Idaho offered a similar three-pronged definition:

  • The group’s existence is usually not kept secret, but some beliefs or practices are concealed from the public and require an oath of secrecy and loyalty to learn.
  • The group promises superior status or knowledge to members.
  • The group’s membership is in some way restrictive, such as by race, sex, religious affiliation, or invitation only.

Spence also proposes a sub-category of “Elite Secret Societies” (composed of high-income or socially influential people) and notes that secret societies have a frequent if not universal tendency towards factionalism, infighting, and claiming origins older than can be reliably documented. Spence’s definition includes groups traditionally thought of as secret societies (Freemasons and Rosicrucians) and other groups not so traditionally classified such as certain organized crime cabals (the Mafia), religious groups (Order of Assassins and Thelema) and political movements (Bolsheviks and Black Dragon Society).

Historian Jasper Ridley says that Freemasonry is “the world’s most powerful secret Society”.[5]

The organization “Opus Dei” (Latin for “Work of God”) is portrayed as a “secret society”[6][7][8] of the Catholic Church. Critics such as the Jesuit Wladimir Ledóchowski sometimes refer to Opus Dei as a Catholic (or Christian or “white“) form of Freemasonry.[9][10][11][12][13] Other critics label Opus Dei as “Holy Mafia”[14] or “Santa Mafia”[15]

The National Christian Association (1868–1983) is an example of an organization opposed to secret societies.[16]

Realms

Politics

Because some secret societies have political aims, they are illegal in several countries. Italy (Constitution of Italy, Section 2, Articles 13–28) and Poland,[17] for example, ban secret political parties and political organizations in their constitutions.

Colleges and universities

See also: Collegiate secret societies in North America

Many student societies established on university campuses in the United States have been considered secret societies. Perhaps one of the most famous secret collegiate societies is Skull and Bones at Yale University.[18] The influence of undergraduate secret societies at colleges such as Harvard College, Cornell University, Florida State University, Dartmouth College, Emory University, the University of Chicago,[19] the University of Virginia, Georgetown University, New York University,[20] and Wellesley College has been publicly acknowledged, if anonymously and circumspectly, since the 19th century.[21][22]

British universities have a long history of secret societies or quasi-secret clubs, such as The Pitt Club at Cambridge University,[23][24] Bullingdon Club at Oxford University,[24] the Kate Kennedy Club, The Kensington Club and the Praetorian Club at the University of St Andrews, and the 16′ Club at St David’s College.[25] Another British secret society is the Cambridge Apostles, founded as an essay and debating society in 1820. Not all British universities host solely academic secret societies; both The Night Climbers of Cambridge and The Night Climbers of Oxford require both brains and brawn.

In France, Vandermonde is the secret society of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers.[26]

Notable examples in Canada include Episkopon at the University of Toronto‘s Trinity College and the Society of Thoth at the University of British Columbia.[27][28]

Secret societies are disallowed in a few colleges. The Virginia Military Institute has rules that no cadet may join a secret society,[29] and secret societies have been banned at Oberlin College from 1847[30] to the present,[31] and at Princeton University since the beginning of the 20th century.

Confraternities in Nigeria are secret-society-like student groups within higher education, some of which have histories of violence and organized crime. The exact death toll from confraternity activities is unclear. One estimate in 2002 was that 250 people had been killed in campus cult-related murders in the previous decade,[32] while the Exam Ethics Project lobby group estimated that 115 students and teachers had been killed between 1993 and 2003.[33]

The Mandatory Monday Association is thought to operate out of a variety of Australian universities including the Australian Defence Force Academy. The Association has numerous chapters that meet only on Mondays to discuss business and carry out rituals.[34]

The only secret society abolished and then legalized is that of The Philomaths,[35] which is now a legitimate academic association founded on a strict selection of its members.

Internet

While their existence had been speculated for years, Internet-based secret societies first became known to the public in 2012 when Cicada 3301 began recruiting from the public via Internet-based puzzles.[36][37] The goals of the society remain unknown, but it is believed to be involved in cryptography.[38][39]

Around the world

The following contemporary and historic secret societies formed in Africa, by country:

Africa

Cameroon

Ghana

The Gambia

Guinea

Ivory Coast

Liberia

Mali

Nigeria

Sierra Leone

South Africa

Zimbabwe

Asia

China

Secret societies played a major role in Chinese affairs for centuries. They were a key aspect of the Anti-Qing sentiments of the 20th century. After the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, they were tacitly supported by and actively collaborated with the Nationalist government. Having played prominent roles in history, they were targeted by the anti-secret society campaigns of the newly established government of the People’s Republic of China during the 1950s.[40] Examples of Chinese secret societies include:

India

A group of Thuggees strangling a traveller on a highway in India in the early 19th century.

Secret societies in India include:

Japan

Secret societies in Japan include:

Malaysia

Secret societies in Malaysia include:

Philippines

Secret societies in the Philippines include:

Singapore

Main articles: Secret societies in Singapore and Secret societies in colonial Singapore

Australia

Secret societies in Australia include:

Europe

Several secret societies existing across Europe, including:

Other organizations are listed by country.

Albania

Bulgaria

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Ireland

Italy

Poland

Portugal

Russia

Serbia

Spain

United Kingdom

North America

Main article: Collegiate secret societies in North America

Canada

Secret societies in Canada that are non-collegiate include:

Cuba

United States

Secret societies in the United States that are non-collegiate include:

Mexico

South America

Brazil

Opposition

See also: Anti-Masonry

The Catholic Church strongly opposed secret societies, especially the Freemasons. It did relent somewhat in the United States and allowed membership in labour unions and the Knights of Columbus, but not the Masons.[45][46] Some Christian denominations continue to forbid their members from joining secret societies in the 21st century, such as the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection and Seventh-day Adventists.[47][48]

See also

References

  1.  Daraul, Arkon (6 November 2015). A History Of Secret Societies. Pickle Partners Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78625-613-3.
  2.  Stevens (1899), p. vii.
  3.  Checkmark Books (1998), ISBN 0816038716
  4.  Spence, Richard B. The Real History of Secret Societies (2019), The Great Courses
  5.  Jasper Ridley (2011). The Freemasons: A History of the World’s Most Powerful Secret Society. Arcade. ISBN 978-1-61145-010-1. see also Jeffers, H. Paul. Freemasons: A History and Exploration of the World’s Oldest Secret Society. (Citadel Press, 2005).
  6.  Walsh, Michael. OPUS DEI: An Investigation into the Secret Society Struggling for Power within the Roman Catholic Church.
  7.  Secret Society: Opus Dei – Catholicism’s Secret Sect.
  8.  Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei.
  9.  “Beyond the Threshold”. archive.nytimes.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  10.  Preston, Paul (1986). The triumph of democracy in Spain. London: Methuen. p. 28. ISBN 9780416900101. OCLC 14586560.
  11.  Harding, Nick (2005). Secret societies. Edison, N.J.: Chartwell Books, Inc. p. 107. ISBN 9780785821700. OCLC 78244509.
  12.  Hesse, Alexander (2015), Geheimbünde Freimaurer und Illuminaten, Opus Dei und Schwarze Hand (in German), Reinbek: Rowohlt Taschenbuch, p. 54, ISBN 9783499630491
  13.  Augias, Corrado (2012), Die Geheimnisse des Vatikan : Eine andere Geschichte der Papststadt (in German) (1., neue Ausg ed.), München: Beck, C H, p. 415, ISBN 9783406630927
  14.  Pilapil, Vicente R. (1971). “Opus Dei in Spain”. The World Today. 27 (5): 211–221. ISSN 0043-9134. JSTOR 40394504. Archived from the original on 28 June 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  15.  SPIEGEL, Peter Hertel, DER (7 April 2005). “Vatikan intern: Der Aufstieg der Santa Mafia”. Der Spiegel (in German). Archived from the original on 22 July 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  16.  Fuerbringer, Ludwig (1927). The Concordia Cyclopedia: A Handbook of Religious Information, with Special Reference to the History, Doctrine, Work, and Usages of the Lutheran Church. St. Louis, Missouri: Concordia Publishing House. pp. 532–33. Retrieved 11 October 2024. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  17.  “The Constitution of the Republic of Poland”. 2 April 1997. Archived from the original on 20 April 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2009. Article 13: Political parties and other organizations whose programs are based upon totalitarian methods and the modes of activity of nazism, fascism and communism, as well as those whose programs or activities sanction racial or national hatred, the application of violence for the purpose of obtaining power or to influence the State policy, or provide for the secrecy of their own structure or membership, shall be prohibited.
  18.  “Skull And Bones”. The Secret Society Manual. thesecretbookgarden.com. Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  19.  “To The Members of the University of Chicago”. The University of Chicago Magazine. 5 (9): 298. July 1913. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  20.  Megan Findling (3 November 2011). “Edgar Allan Poe in Greenwich Village” (article). Researching Greenwich Village History. greenwichvillagehistory.wordpress.com. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  21.  “Secret Societies. | News | The Harvard Crimson”. www.thecrimson.com. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  22.  “Student Government at Wellesley and How It Makes for Loyalty among the College Girls and Faculty”. The New York Times. 12 February 1912. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  23.  Bowers, Mary (17 November 2006). “Pitt Club under pressure from Council” (PDF). Varsity. p. 5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  24.  Gray, Kirsty (11 February 2011). “Oxford’s Bully-ingdon Club faces more scandal”. Varsity. Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  25.  D.T.W. Price. A History of Saint David’s University College, Lampeter. University of Wales Press, Cardiff. Volume One, to 1898 (ISBN 0-7083-0606-3)
  26.  “Naissance de ” Alexandre-Théophile Vandermonde “, mathématicien français – Espace ” Sciences du Numérique ” Alan Turing (LJAD – CNRS/UNS)”. www.espace-turing.fr. Archived from the original on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  27.  “Episkopon Policy”. Trinity College. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  28.  Ramsay, Bailey (2 May 2017). “The Society of Thoth: How The Ubyssey began as an actual cult”. The Ubyssey. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  29.  “Regulations for the Virginia Military Institute, Part II, Revised 5 December 2008, 12–16(b)”. vmi.edu.
  30.  Fletcher, Robert Samuel (1943). A History of Oberlin College from Its Foundation Through the Civil War. Oberlin College. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2012. “Revised codes were issued every few years, but not many important changes were made in them. Provisions with regard to the hours of ‘athletic exercises and sport’ were added in 1847. In the same revision, there appeared for the first time the ‘peculiar’ Oberlin rule against secret societies. ‘No student,’ it runs, ‘is permitted to join any secret society or military company.'”
  31.  Student Regulations, Policies, and Procedures, Oberlin College 2011–2012 (PDF). Oberlin College. 2011. p. 34. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 March 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2012. “No secret society is allowed at Oberlin, and no other societies or self-perpetuating organizations are allowed among students, except by permission of the faculty. This is to be understood to include social and rooming-house clubs.”
  32.  “NIGERIA: Focus on the menace of student cults” Archived 11 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, IRIN, 1 August 2002
  33.  “Cults of violence” Archived 21 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Economist, 31 July 2008
  34.  “IV. The Secret Societies”, Omaha Secret Societies, Columbia University Press, 31 December 1969, pp. 58–132, doi:10.7312/fort92186-004, ISBN 9780231887458
  35.  Arthur Morius Francis. Secret Societies. Vol. 3: The Collegiate Secret Societies of America. 2015 (file pdf).
  36.  Bell, Chris (25 November 2013). “The internet mystery that has the world baffled”. Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  37.  Ernst, Douglas (26 November 2013). “Secret society seeks world’s brightest: Recruits navigate ‘darknet’ filled with terrorism, drugs”. The Washington Times. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  38.  NPR staff (5 January 2014). “The Internet’s Cicada: A Mystery without an Answer”. All Things Considered, National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 27 June 2018. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  39.  Scott, Sam (16 December 2013). “Cicada 3301: The most elaborate and mysterious puzzle of the internet age”. Metro. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  40.  Purbrick, Martin (2019). “Patriotic Chinese Triads and Secret Societies: From the Imperial Dynasties, to Nationalism, and Communism”. Asian Affairs. 50 (3): 305–322. doi:10.1080/03068374.2019.1636515. S2CID 199953554.
  41.  “Mateship & Fraternal Secret Societies in Australia”. Fraternal Secrets. Archived from the original on 8 February 2023. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  42.  “Secret Societies in Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia”. www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Archived from the original on 8 February 2023. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  43.  Prado, Firmino Vinhas. A Sociedade Hy-Bráz e o Destino do Brazil – via Open Library.
  44.  “Sociedade Hy-Bráz. Fundada em 1899 no interior de Minas… | by Gabriel Santos – FRENASPAN | Apr, 2025 | Medium”. medium.com. Retrieved 22 May 2025.
  45.  Christopher J. Kauffman, Faith and Fraternalism: The History of the Knights of Columbus, 1882–1982 (1982) p. 8.
  46.  Simon Sarlin and Dan Rouyer, “The Anti-Masonic Congress of Trento (1896): International Mobilization and the Circulation of Practices against Freemasonry.” Contemporanea: Rivista di Storia dell’800 e del ‘900 (July-Sep 2021, 24#3, pp. 517-536.
  47.  The Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection (Original Allegheny Conference). Salem: Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection. 2014. pp. 20–21.
  48.  Ellen G. White, “Selected Messages Book 2”, Chapter 13. (1958)

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