The Order's Manifest
Introduction
Dignity is an International Order which may be envisioned as a pyramid, with the Grand Master at its apex. The Founder and Grand Master of Dignity is Giuliano Di Bernardo.
The Order’s purpose is the defence of human dignity: that is, the state of moral nobility in which Man is placed as a consequence of his intrinsic qualities and his nature. The notion of “dignity” is therefore inherent in Man: it is the expression of a universal characteristic to be found in all men, without distinction of sex, age, race, religion, language, or culture. It is therefore one of the elements that constitute a man, in the sense that if a man loses his dignity, he is no longer a man.
It is precisely because dignity is an irremovable element of man expressing his nature that it may be found in all philosophical anthropologies, whether religious or secular. But in the contemporary world, dignity is scorned and humiliated. Numerous men and women are obliged to live without dignity; it is for this reason that humanity is losing the ideal values that have always sustained it. Even our faith in God is being extinguished, and humanity seems to be lost in a fog of atheism and utilitarianism.
Because the notion of “dignity” is universal, it has unlimited capacity, and the innumerable qualities that characterize human nature all fall within its sphere.
Any Order that proposes the defence of Man’s dignity must choose those qualities, from among the many that constitute it, which are judged primary and essential when located them on a scale of values. Our choice must take account of the particular historical and contingent conditions in which Man finds himself. In the modern world, defending human dignity means above all the defence of ethnic minorities, women, the weak and the persecuted.
The principal purpose of our Order is to defend these aspects of human dignity; this purpose must be achieved by employing the highest levels of moral and spiritual commitment.
Dignity draws its inspiration from the esoteric and initiatory societies found throughout the history of mankind, of which typical examples are the Orphic and Pythagorean societies of antiquity, and the Rosicrucians, the Illuminati, and other similar societies in more recent times.
The aim of Dignity is to pursue the moral, cultural, and social development of Man. It seeks in particular to develop intellectual activities such as philosophy, science, medicine, law, economics, art, religion, and communications through projects which express harmony and respect in regard to all conceptions of Man and life.
Within a universalistic vision, Dignity suggests and lends its support to ethical and cultural projects, with the participation of all those who keep within them the light to illuminate the dark shadows that threaten humanity. Particular significance is attached to the education of the younger generation by providing them with the means to learn about the world in which they live and – above all – with the ethical and spiritual principals required to establish harmony among men.
THE ESOTERIC FOUNDATIONS OF DIGNITY
Dignity is situated within humanity’s millenarian esoteric tradition, which began with Orphism, the greatest religious movement of Greece in the 6th Century B.C. This period was significant not only for the birth of philosophy, but above all for Man’s religious history, because it was this century that saw the emergence of Confucius and Lao-Tse in China, the Buddha in India, Zarathustra in Iran, and Pythagoras among the Hellenics.
For Greece, the 6th Century was an era of profound social transformations, coming as it did between the collapse of the ancient monarchies described in the poems of Homer and the rise of the democratic states, of which Athens is the most striking example. As a religious vision, Orphism represented the yearning for liberation from the oppression of oligarchic regimes during those troubled times, a sacred refuge for the chosen spirits, and a means for moral enhancement within a religious cosmogony.
Hence the central god of theology and the cult of Orphism was Dionysius, the youngest of the gods, who came from Thrace, like Orpheus, and is famous for his suffering and unjust death. The gods of Olympus, who had glorified the old warrior aristocracy of whom Homer sang, increasingly lost their importance.
Orphism, therefore, is a theology of the mysteries of Dionysius. The murder of Dionysius (deicide) ignited the divine spark hidden within human bodies, which only the Orphic rites could liberate, causing it to rise to its eternal arche. For Orphics, the soul’s origin was divine, but the body was a tomb into which it had fallen as the consequence of a primordial guilt. The distance separating the dark prison of the body from the blessed place for which the soul yearned could only be reduced at the price of a purificatory atonement (catharsis).
Atonement could be attained in two ways: rebirth in other bodies or ritual purification. One life alone was not enough to atone for original sin, and so the soul must migrate from body to body in a succession of lives that rotated as in a circle: the circle of the generations, which inexorably turned like a wheel: the wheel of destiny. The highest aspiration of the Orphics was to break this wheel in order finally to return to the principle which generated them. The second method was to live a pure life of asceticism and purification through ritual ceremonies. In this way, followers were given the freedom to shorten the period of atonement by leading a life inspired by the highest moral values and by subjecting themselves to ritual ceremonies.
There were two forms of religion in 6th century Greece: public religion (which consisted of the gods of Olympus) and mysteries. The presence of a mystery religion was the clearest possible signal that the official religion was incapable of interpreting the need for an authentic religious sense, in addition to the political reasons outlined above. It is precisely to a mystery religion - Orphism - that we attribute a decisive influence on the growing philosophy movement, not so much as a consequence of its belief in reincarnation as a result of the dualistic concept of Man, according to which the demon was equivalent to the soul, while the body was the place (the prison) for its atonement. For the first time, Man became a blend of two contrasting principles: the immortal soul and the mortal body. Man also had a tendency for good, which was supported by the soul, and a tendency for evil, which was supported by the body. In this way, a dualism was created which would traverse the history of philosophical thought until the present day. Without Orphism, we would not be able to explain Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, or all the philosophers who have drawn on their thought.
With its cosmogony and its rites, Orphism was the first esoteric society to have initiatory practices. It was esoteric in the sense that its mysteries were revealed only to those who belonged to it (followers). It was initiatory because access to it was secured by a ceremony of death and resurrection during which the person being initiated was subjected to, and had to pass, certain tests.
It exercised a powerful influence not only on the birth of philosophical reflection but also on the schools inspired by it. The most important of these was the Pythgorean School, founded by Pythagoras in Crotone, in Magna Grecia, in around 530 B.C.
As with Orphism, from which it was derived, Pythagorean doctrine had a religious foundation which preached the migration of souls, which were obliged to atone for their grave original sin by becoming incarnate in human or animal bodies until total purification (catharsis) had been attained.
The innovative feature of Pythagoras’ thought compared with Orphism was his belief that science could be an instrument of purification, in the sense that ignorance was considered to be an evil from which one could be liberated by knowledge. Therefore, scientific knowledge, together with an ethically-lived life, was, together with the customary ritual ceremonies, a way to shorten the period of the soul’s atonement.
Very little certain information is available on the rules of this school. Nonetheless, we can be sure that distinctions were made among its disciples: there were the acousmatics (listeners who were obliged to follow lessons in silence), and the mathematicians (who could converse with the teacher, and to whom the most profound aspects of scientific knowledge were revealed).
We can be almost certain that Pythagorean teaching had a mystical-religious foundation which consisted in dogmatic indoctrination, following the school’s motto "ipse dixit" (thus he said), which did not permit objections to or criticisms of Pythagoras’s teachings.
The theorem which bears his name was already known to the Babylonians. We are indebted to Pythagoras, however, for the intuition that it might be a valid one. His original contribution was that he proposed the harmony created by the relationship between numbers and musical notes as the origin of all things.
The Pythagorean School, specific though it may have been, was based on esoteric and initiatory foundations, exactly like Orphism.
Orpheus and Pythagoras, who were luminous expressions of the nascent philosophy, gave rise to a secret tradition of human thought reserved to only a few which, with the exception of the Middle Ages, has persisted until the present day.
In the mediaeval Christian era, faith dominated reason, and religion pervaded all the spheres of human existence. It was not until the Renaissance, which relocated Man at the centre of the universe, that reason regained the primacy assigned to it by Greek philosophy in all of human knowledge from the sciences to the arts.
While this was coming about in Christian Europe, the Muslim world, which had been radically transformed by the teachings of Mohammed, was being nourished by esoteric schools dominated by Sufism.
Sufism is the mystical search for knowledge of God. Its doctrines are derived from the Koran, although it has also had Greek, Persian and Hindu influences. Nevertheless, the essence of Sufism is Islamic.
Sufism is the extreme expression of the esoteric tradition, and a transversal and widespread movement in Islam, although it is difficult to determine due the high degree of confidentiality observed by its followers.
It is especially widespread among Sunnis, but far less so among Shiites. This is a result of the fact that when seeking to know the will of Allah, Shiism, unlike Sunnism, can draw on the works of its scholars, who constitute almost a priesthood.
In Sunni Islam, on the other hand, the lack of any type of priesthood which might act as an intermediary between God and his creatures means that the search for God and his will is far more difficult, because it requires the search to be be personalized. It is performed through a lengthy spiritual and mental discipline which, without ignoring official esoteric doctrine, can open up a personal esoteric pathway towards God which can be travelled with the help of a Master who acts as a guide.
For Sufis, the only great Master is the Prophet Mohammed, who transmitted the blessing received from God to his companions. They, in turn, transmitted it to later generations, thereby creating an initiatory chain known as silsila. All authentic Sufi Orders are linked in this chain.
In the meantime, the Christian West was on the point of emerging from the fog of faith in which the mediaeval era had shrouded it. Within this very short period, astonishing events occurred which would radically alter not only our knowledge of the universe but also the very manner in which Man communicates with God.
This was a period of great geographical discoveries: in 1492, the discovery of America marked the onset of profound changes in the politics and economy of Old Europe.
In that same year, the Jews were expelled from Spain, thus beginning a diaspora that would accompany the Jewish people until modern times.
The very concept of the solar system was revolutionized by Copernicus, who, in conflict with Holy Scripture, placed the sun, and not the earth, at its centre. The value of this change of perspective was not merely scientific: it was also religious, in the sense that by removing the Earth from its central position in the universe, the idea of Man as a privileged creation of God was fundamentally reshaped. With the passage of the centuries, and with the acquisition of new scientific knowledge, Man would become a product of a natural evolution.
Copernicus’s astronomical revolution announced the birth of the new science which would find its most authoritative representative in Galileo. After Galileo (and the sentence of heresy imposed on him by the Catholic Church), scientific research broke through all barriers and spread across all spheres of knowledge until today’s marvels and our knowledge of the origins of life and the universe.
All these events culminated in resumption of the concept of Man as expressed in Greek philosophy: Man was no longer understood to be a divine creature, but a thinking being with the freedom to investigate the many dimensions of everything that can be known, with no religious restrictions.
This new perspective, precisely called “humanism”, begins to produce significant consequences also in religion and philosophy.
The Protestant Reformation set in motion by Luther in Germany assumed a significance that was profoundly different from the conflicts and wars of religion that had characterized the Middle Ages, almost all of which revolved around heresy. Luther, on the other hand, criticized certain fundamental aspects of Catholic theology, such as the effectiveness of indulgences, the nature of penitence, and the authority of the Pope. His actions, which found their expression in the ninety-five theses nailed to the door of the church in Wittenberg on 31 October 1517, were a response to the sale of indulgences that had been authorized by Pope Leo X for the construction of the Basilica of St Peter in Rome. Luther maintained that it was inadmissible that the salvation of the soul could be guaranteed by an offering made to the Church of Rome. These ideas gave rise to a theological debate which ended with the birth of the Protestant Reformation, which, after shaking Catholic theology to its foundations, then extended into politics and changed relationships among the states of Europe.
Some years later, the Catholic Church would be rocked by the English schism which gave origin to the Anglican Church.
For the reasons set out above, the passage from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance is apparently easy to understand, just as historians have always maintained. Nonetheless, if we enquire whether there might be reasons other than those that have already been cited, and if we take the recent studies by Frances Yates into consideration, our answer might be in the negative, and further investigation might be required.
In order fully to comprehend the origins of the Renaissance and its relationship to the mediaeval era from this perspective, it is necessary to cast some light on what has been termed “occult philosophy”. This is a virtually unknown school of thought, although its supporters are very well known. I refer in particular to Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola in Italy, Francis Bacon, John Dee, and William Shakespeare in England, and Anton Dürer and Johann Reuchlin in Germany. The Ariadne’s thread that draws their lines of thought together is occult philosophy, and I shall now describe its general principles, while leaving a more detailed presentation for elsewhere.
Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola were the founders and popularizers of a movement known as “Renaissance Neo-Platonism”, which drew its inspiration from the works of Plato and the Neo-Platonists and an amalgam of truly Platonic doctrine and archaic philosophical occultism.
A text entitled Corpus Hermeticumemerged from the vast body of literature which attracted the attention of both thinkers. It was attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a mythical Egyptian man of learning who was considered to possess an ancient body of knowledge from which Plato himself took inspiration. It is beileved that Hermes Trismegistus lived at the time of Moses, if not earlier, and hence the text was as sacred as the Book of Genesis.
Florentine Neo-Platonism (Ficino and Pico della Mirandola both lived at the Medici court in Florence) was dedicated to the study of ancient knowledge: in addition to the Corpus Hermeticum, it made use of the Kabbalah, which was also believed to represent a tradition of ancient knowledge with Mosaic origins.
It was Pico della Mirandola who introduced the Kabbalah into the emerging Neo-Platonism; as a fervent Christian, he was convinced that not only could Hebrew teachings expand understanding of Christianity by returning to the ancient Hebrew truths, but also that they could confirm the truth of Christianity. His ultimate purpose was to build a bridge between Judaism and Christianity by demonstrating a sense of continuity. The most effective way to achieve this was by means of a cabalistic combination of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, through which it could be proved that Jesus was the name of the Messiah as emerged from the Sacred Tetragrammaton.
Pico’s convictions regarding the Kabbalah were described in the seventy-two cabalistic Conclusiones which he presented as confirmation of the Christian religion by the foundations of Hebrew wisdom. In turn, the Conclusiones formed part of the nine hundred texts which presented his summary of all the philosophies, culminating in his celebrated discourse on the dignity of Man (Oratio de hominis dignitate), in which he expressed the Renaissance vision of Man and his position in the world. With regard to Hermeticism and the Kabbalah, suffused with ancient wisdom, some of it magical, the man discussed in the discourse on dignity is to be considered as Renaissance “magician”, a figure of importance endowed with the power to intervene in the world in order to improve it.
To conclude, the Christian Kabbalah is the true keystone of Renaissance thought, which is extremely significantly connected with religion. If it is not taken into account, it is difficult to understand the “occult” factors behind the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. Between one and the other lie the Rosicrucians.
In Germany, the early years of the seventeenth century saw the beginnings of the Confraternity of the Rose Cross. Its manifesto, which advocated the mystical regeneration of the world, was published anonymously in 1614 with the title Fama Fraternitatis. It recounted the life of Christian Rosenkreuz, who, after long travels, founded an esoteric fraternity in Germany. In 1604, one hundred and twenty years after his death, his tomb was discovered, and rules for life and magic formulae were found within it.
Interests in the Rose Cross continued with publication of the Confessio fraternitatisin Frankfurt in 1615, which announced the return of the light that had been lost after the fall of Adam. The following year saw publication of the Rosicrucians’ most important document, the Nozze alchemiche di Christian Rosenkreuz, by Johann Valentin Andreae, a Lutheran theologian from Tübingen, who described the path to salvation through ecstasy and illumination. Andreae’s work immediately attracted the attention of alchemists, theosophists, doctors, and astrologers, who founded Rosicrucian fraternities not only in Germany but also in France, Austria, England, and the Netherlands.
When the Confraternity of the Rose Cross, which arose in Germany at the beginning of the seventeenth century, is compared with other esoteric societies, it exhibits a number of highly distinctive characteristics. There is no doubt that it existed; nonetheless, except for Andreae, who signed a manifesto, all its other members are shrouded in mystery. Possibly, after the uproar across Europe and the reaction of the Church, they felt it appropriate not to reveal themselves, for fear of persecution.
Did the manifestos that they circulated in Europe express original projects or were they inspired by projects developed by others? The answer must be sought in England, and in that school of occult thought that was a feature of Elizabethan times. It all began with Pico della Mirandola, who introduced the Christian Kabbalah, which was a mixture of Hermeticism and magic, into the Florentine Renaissance. A Venetian Franciscan monk named Francesco Giorgi accepted Pico’s philosophical doctrine and developed it in Christian terms. The result was a project that was able to revive Christian theology, which had remained tied to medieval scholasticism and had become sterile.
There was no “Rosicrucian” philosophy at Giorgi’s time. The Christian Kabbalah that he developed took this name when it became associated with Elizabethan movements and the Tudor rose, with the British imperialism of John Dee’s science, and the Messianic movement to unify the states of Europe against the Catholic-Habsburg powers.
The philosopher who best represented the Elizabethan age was John Dee, who was celebrated not only as a mathematician but also as a “wizard”. He was a Christian cabalist inspired by the Neo-Platonism of Pico, Giorgi, Reuchlin, and Agrippa to promote a universal Christian reformist movement both in England and the whole of Europe.
Dee’s historical context was the late Renaissance period. In the continental Europe of that time, the reaction against Neo-Platonism and occultist tendencies was growing in intensity, driven by the Counter-Reformation, which saw a return to Scholasticism as a means to regain control over Christianity following the success of the Protestant Reformation.
It was during the Elizabethan Renaissance that occult philosophy was transformed into Rosicrucianism; and this was the vision that inspired the Confraternity of the Rose Cross in Germany at the beginning of the seventeenth century.
This spiritual movement was a form of evangelical Christianity supported by a philosophy that was more complete than scholasticism – namely occult philosophy. It represented a powerful ideal force which was tied to Christianity but opposed to the forces of reaction, whether Catholic or Protestant. As a consequence, it was violently detested and persecuted as diabolical, to be exterminated as witches had been.
The persecution of the Renaissance philosophers who supported the Christian Kabbalah and its occultist implications reached its peak in the work of the Dominican monk Marin Mersenne in 1623, when he launched a violent attack on Renaissance Neo-Platonism, citing the philosophers associated with this doctrine: Ficino, Pico, and above all the Franciscan monk Giorgi. When Mersenne was writing, the Elizabethan Renaissance had already ended. The Rose Cross movement in Germany was also annihilated. The Counter-Reformation, led by the Jesuits, expanded and triumphed across Europe. The Renaissance philosophers (or magicians), from Pico to Ficino, from Giorgi to Reuchlin and Agrippa, and from Dee to Francis Bacon, who had conceived a new (occult) philosophy which was to become the foundation of Christianity in the stead of sterile scholasticism, were finally defeated by the Counter-Reformation. Europe had lost the opportunity to live in liberty, free from fanaticism and oppression.
In modern times, the most important of the esoteric societies is undoubtedly the Illuminati. The order of the Illuminati was founded in Bavaria on 1 May 1776 by Adam Weishaupt. His declared purpose was that his followers should attain the highest level of morality and virtue, freeing their minds from prejudice and superstition, and defeating the ills that afflicted them.
Weishaupt was convinced that the Order of the Illuminati should remain apart from Freemasonry, which was triumphing throughout Europe at the time, because the mysteries of Freemasonry were puerile and easily accessible to the profane. As a result, the Illuminatis’ rituals had to be different from those of Freemasonry.
The Order of the Illuminati underwent unforeseen development in 1780, when it admitted Baron Adolf Franz Friederich Knigge, who was entrusted with the task of perfecting the vision that Weishaupt had outlined. Knigge brought significant changes to the Order by further developing certain of Weishaupt’s ideas, and by introducing new ones. In particular, his innovations included: a) collaboration with the Masonry; b) introducing more Grades than the three that already existed; c) abandoning the rule that only especially gifted young men could be admitted, in order to permit the admission of men of experience; and d) renouncing political and religious controversy in favour of focusing on the struggle against superstition and ignorance.
After 1780, the Order spread rapidly, not only in Germany but also in Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, and Italy. Among its members were such illustrious men as Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, Duke Ernst of Gotha, Duke Karl Albert of Saxe-Weimar, Prince August of Saxe-Gotha, Prince Karl of Hesse, Baron Dalberg, Baron William von Busche, the Count of Saint Germain, the Marquis of Costanzo, the philosopher Herder, the poet Goethe, the composer Mayr, and the pedagogue Pestalozzi. By the end of 1784, the Illuminati numbered around 3,000, and represented the cream of European society of the time.
When it seemed that the future of the Order was well assured, however, its decline commenced. There were two main reasons: one internal, the other external. The admission of Knigge had produced not only radical change in its principles and its relationship with other Orders (Freemasonry) but also a quantitative growth, with the addition of illustrious personalities. All this had given Knigge great authority and control over the Order. At first, Weishaupt let him do his work, but when he realized that his prestige was diminishing, he reacted by criticizing what Knigge had done. A violent dispute erupted between the two men and involved their supporters as well. Shortly thereafter, Knigge resigned from the Order, leaving Weishaupt as its absolute ruler.
Weishaupt had little time to enjoy his position, however. On 22 June 1784, the Bavarian monarch, Carl Theodore, issued an edict against the secret societies that had been constituted without his authority. The intention to strike Freemasonry was clear. The Illuminati celebrated, because the edict did not concern them, but on March 2 of the following year, another edict was issued specifically to strike at the Order of the Illuminati, which was treated as a branch of Freemasonry. On 16 August 1787, the Duke of Baviera issued a third edict which reiterated all the accusations made in the previous edicts, and listed the sanctions that would be levied against the Illuminati if they continued to meet. A short time later, the Order of the Illuminati ceased to exist throughout Europe. All of this occurred because of Knigge’s error of associating the Order with Freemasonry: the Illuminati were persecuted because they were believed to be affiliated with Freemasonry.
Freemasonry also belongs in the esoteric tradition, at least insofar as its origins and early historical development are concerned. This is not the appropriate place for a presentation of masonic thought. I refer the reader to my book entitled “Freemasonry and its Image of Man: a Philosophical Investigation" [ “Freemasonry and its Image of Man: a Philosophical Investigation"], which has been translated into the main languages of the world. In its pages the reader will find detailed answers to these questions: What is Freemasonry? What are the symbols of Freemasonry? What is masonic morality? What are the masonic Constitutions? What are the relations between Freemasonry and religion? What are its relations with the State?
In this brief historical review, I have presented some of the essential stages of mankind’s esoteric and initiatory pathway. The esoteric societies described here operated in different times and places, and used methods that were expressions of the particular conditions of the time. Nonetheless, regardless of the historical relativism, all of them had the same formal structure and employed the same methodology: the mysteries and paths to improvement were revealed only to their adepts, and one became an adept by passing an initiation test. Esotericism and initiation, therefore, are the pillars that support these societies.
Dignity pertains to humanity’s’s millenarian esoteric and initiatory tradition, to which it contributes by defending the dignity of Man. Its international structure, its Constitutions, and its General Regulations will all be explained in what follows.
The International Structure of Dignity
Dignity is an international esoteric Order whose purpose is to apply its principles and values to the defence of the dignity of Man in every region of the planet, regardless of language, skin color, religion, sex or culture.
It can be depicted in the form of a pyramid, with the Grand Master at its apex.
The pyramid is divided into two parts: the upper level, which includes the International Bodies, and the lower level, which comprises the National Bodies. All these Bodies, whether international or national, are appointed by the Grand Master.
The International Bodies are: (A) the Council of the Grand Master; (B) the International Association, which has its head office in Vienna.
The International Bodies are headed by the Grand Master.
The Grand Master
The Grand Master is the moral guide of the Order. He exercises the authority, the powers, and the prerogatives of his rank in accordance with the most noble and ancient traditions, and represents Dignity throughout the world.
The title to be used for the Grand Master is “Most Eminent and Supreme Grand Master”.
Authority descends from the Grand Master to all the subordinate levels.
In the exercise of his authority, which cannot be questioned, he appoints the Grand Priors, who remain in office for the period established by the Grand Master.
The Grand Master’s Council
The Council of the Grand Master is composed of the Grand Master, who acts as Chairman, the Grand Priors, the Grand Secretary, and the Grand Treasurer.
It currently consists of the following persons:
- Grand Master: Giuliano Di Bernardo
- Grand Prior of Italy
- Grand Prior of Ukraine
- Grand Secretary
- Grand Treasurer
The International Association
Because Dignity is an international order, it is necessary to constitute a supra-national body to govern all matters relating to the National Associations.
Dignity was born in Italy by will of the Grand Master, Giuliano Di Bernardo, and then spread to other countries.
This gives rise to the need to regulate relations among the Grand Priorates. Who will be responsible for this? How can it be carried out? It cannot be the duty of Italy, which will be on a level with all the other Grand Priorates. It must therefore be the responsibility of a supranational organization.
After examining the legislation of some European states, Austria was chosen as the country in which to formally establish the International Association Dignity. Following strictly the procedure necessary to achieve this goal, in accordance with Austrian legislation, the International Association Dignity was established and formally registered.
Pursuant to Austrian law, Dignity’s International Association has a registered office in Vienna at the following address:
Dignity. Orden zum Schutz der Menschenwuerde
Untere Donaustrasse 13-15
1020 Vienna
Austria
As will be seen from the Constitution, the Bodies that make up the Association are:
- The Chairman
- The Grand Council
- The General Assembly
The General Assembly consists of the Chairman, the Vice-Chairman, the Legal Representatives of the National Associations of Dignity (the Grand Priors), and the Secretary, who will be addressed with the title of “Most Eminent”.
Meetings of the International Bodies (the Council of the Grand Master and the International Association) will be held in Vienna, at the registered offices of Dignity.
The lower part of the pyramid is composed of the National Bodies: the Grand Priorates, the Priorates, and the Commands.
Grand Priorates
The Grand Master has the authority to create Grand Priorates in all the countries of the world. Grand Priorates are governed by a Grand Prior, who is appointed by the Grand Master, and who remains in office for three years. This appointment may be extended. The title to be used when addressing a Grand Prior is “Most Eminent”. Grand Priors will wear the Collar that identifies their rank.
Grand Priors appoint Priors and Commanders in their territory, and establish their term of office, which may not exceed that of a Grand Prior.
Grand Priors have the duty to spread awareness of Dignity in their countries by organizing Meetings and Events and creating relationships with private and public authorities.
They send the Grand Master an annual report on the state of their Grand Priorate. They set the annual subscriptions to be paid by followers for the performance of the Order’s activities.
Grand Priors govern the Order through the following Bodies:
- The Order’s Council
- The Council of the Priors
- The Council of Commanders.
The Priorates
In order to carry out the institutional purposes of the Order, the Grand Prior appoints Priors, who represent the Order in their territory and remain in office for three years. In the case of Italy, each Grand Prior governs a single Region.
The principal role of Grand Priors is to promote relations among the Commanders of their Region with the aim of creating and developing harmony. To this end. they will organize and preside over periodic meetings with the Commanders in order to learn of their problems and resolve them. Finally, they will find solutions to any disputes. They will request that cultural and social events be organized to make Dignity known in society.
Priors will be addressed as “Very Eminent”. Priors will wear the Collar that identify their rank.
The Commands
The Grand Prior appoints Commanders, who remain in office for three years. In the case of Italy, each Commander governs one of the Provinces that make up a Region.
Commands are the order’s “cells”. This means that the selection of Candidates, their ritual investiture, and the passage to higher Grades must be carried out within the Command.
The Ceremonial Clothing, Jewelry and Temple Furnishing
All followers of Dignity will wear a blue cloak. Grand Priors, Deputy Grand Priors and the Members of the Management Council of the International Association will wear a blue cloak. The Grand Master will wear a red cloak.
The Grand Master, Grand Priors, the Ladies of the Team, Members of the Council, Priors, and Commanders will wear a Collar that identifies their rank. With the exception of the Grand Master, they will wear a white Sash.