Jean-Baptiste Bidegain

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Jean-Baptiste Bidegain (26 April 1870 – 8 December 1926) was a personality of the Grand Orient of France implicated in the Affair of the Cards. He later became an anti-Mason activist and essayist.

Biography

Jean-Baptiste Bidegain was born at the 2nd arrondissement of Paris (in the Sentier neighbourhood), into a family of poor Basque Catholic peasants. The journalist Séverine described him as "of unspecified appearance, neither good nor bad, but tainted with vulgarity; round face, insignificant moustache, binoculars — of those whose every article in the passport is accompanied by the mention 'ordinary'".[1] After studying at the Brothers of the Christian Schools, beset by doubt, Bidegain frequented "for twelve years, the occultists, the spiritualists, the collectivists, the anarchists even, and generally all the devotees of Error".[2] He committed suicide with his wife.[3]

Masonic involvement

He enters "by curiosity" in the Freemasonry in 1893 in the lodge "The Work" and "True Faithful Friends" of the Grande Loge Symbolique Écossaise. Influenced by the spiritualist Oswald Wirth who was the figurehead, he also asked to enter the Martinist order, in 1895, as revealed in a letter kept in the Papus collection of the Lyon Municipal Library. Jean-Baptiste Bidegain was then welcomed to the Grand Orient de France by Doctor Blatin. The latter, "the ointment merchant", president of the obedience in 1894, gave him "without having consulted him", according to Bidegain, a job in the secretariat of the Rue Cadet in May 1894. From then on, he became "a conscientious scribe with a modest salary of 150 F per month".

An active and zealous mason, he founded in 1902 the very republican Revue du XXe siècle and, with the collectivist Lucien Deslinières, the lodge "L'Action Socialiste".

Bidegain became secretary of this lodge of guesdist tendency, composed exclusively of socialists. The occultism inherited from Wirth and his political ideas made the future "traitor" an original and marginal element in the Grand Orient. He was nevertheless called to attend the meetings of the council of the order from 1900, appointed assistant secretary on January 1, 1901 and initiated into the 18th grade. The position of assistant secretary gave Bidegain considerable power within the Grand Orient. In the absence of the secretary Narcisse-Amédée Vadecard, he was "the true head of the order".

This idealistic Freemason, however, gradually returned to the Church with the help of his godfather, Abbé Odelin, Vicar General of the Archbishop of Paris, and with Abbé de Bessonies, and became linked to Maurice Barrès. A bereavement and a professional disappointment in 1903 are not foreign to this reversal. The announcement of an imminent departure of the secretary general Vadecard gave him the hope of a promotion. However, this departure did not take place until 1919, depriving Bidegain of any hope of promotion. For the latter, it is of course neither ambition nor jealousy but the disappointment and disgust of the patriot towards Freemasonry that provoke his progressive distance from the Rue Cadet. He declared moreover that he never hid his feelings about the delation from his brothers.

Affair of the Cards

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Main article: Affair of the Cards

In 1904, the nationalist deputy Jean Guyot de Villeneuve was contacted by a mysterious Freemason, "G.T.", who, "disgusted with the use that was being made of the cards, wanted, with a patriotic aim, to leave Freemasonry by shouting out loud the truth". This enigmatic character ws none other than the under-secretary of the Grand Orient de France, the "black sheep", Jean-Baptiste Bidegain. He announced to the deputy of Neuilly that he had the proof of the denunciation in the army, proof that could lead to the fall of the Combes ministry and discredit the radicals in the opinion. Bidegain, indeed, disgusted by his work of denunciation, entrusted a file "composed of some letters and original cards and photographs" to Gabriel de Bessonies. Abbé de Bessonies, vicar of the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires basilica, was a friend of Abbé Odelin, responsible for Bidegain's return to Catholicism. This abbot, who had already published two pamphlets hostile to Freemasonry, immediately saw the interest of the dossier. After reflection, he decided to share it with a politician in order to lead a press campaign and to make the scandal burst.

Jacques Piou, president of the Liberal Action, who had been considered, was absent for two weeks. Canon Odelin and Abbé de Bessonies then asked for advice from Abbé Tourmentin, a recognized specialist in the fight against Freemasonry and director of the Bulletin de l'Association antimaçonnique de France. The latter, astonished and delighted, recommended an interpellation in the House. He dissuaded them from calling on Mr. Piou, who was not very inclined to this kind of polemic, and Jean Guyot de Villeneuve, a parliamentarian and former officer, was finally preferred.

After a short investigation with the priest of Neuilly, which proved to be excellent, Odelin, Bessonies and Bidegain decided to contact the deputy. They took advantage of a large reception at Boni de Castellane's house, on Saturday, May 28, 1904, to inform him and propose an interview. It was only three weeks later, on Monday, June 20, at the Palais Bourbon, that abbot Gabriel de Bessonies revealed to the deputy the existence of a file able to overthrow the ministry. Guyot de Villeneuve was astonished but reserved and it was only during the second interview, the following day, after having inquired about his interlocutor with Laurent Prache and having read the documents, that he declared himself ready to intervene. The appointments follow one another between the abbot, "M. G. S.", as Bidegain called him, and the deputy. While the latter was copying the files at the Grand Orient, the latter met Bessonies at his home on September 30 and October 7. Villeneuve returned on October 10 with a friend, Gabriel Syveton. "Of slender stature, supple in his movements, gifted with an agile gaze, a strong voice with round inflections, and a vast erudition," this ambitious nationalist deputy from the 2nd arrondissement, treasurer of the French Homeland League, was feared by the left and his support seemed necessary to Villeneuve. This meeting decides on the plan to be followed in order to bring the scandal to light.

For Bidegain, the objective was not the fall of the Combes ministry, but the disappearance of "the occult tyranny of the Freemasons and their allies. This goal is constantly repeated in his books on the affair of the files. According to him, "one had to intervene in the House very shortly before the general elections. [...] It was necessary to carry, in favorable time a dangerous blow to the regime by reserving all the possible chances of success". The intervention was therefore not to take place until the beginning of 1906, just before the elections. This plan foresaw a period of one year during which Bidegain would continue his activities in the Grand Orient and would continue copying the files.

For Villeneuve and Syveton the goal was short term: to bring down Combes. The plan of attack was as follows: to intervene as soon as possible, to provoke the indignation of the Chamber and of public opinion and to cause the departure of André and then of the President of the Council. Bidegain was finally forced to abandon his plan and adopt the short-term project aimed at the ministry alone. A mason informant of the General Security, present at Boni de Castellane's house, warned the Grand Orient of the offers made to Guyot de Villeneuve and of a forthcoming interpellation. The secretary general Narcisse-Amédée Vadecard, sure of his entourage, did not believe it and Bidegain took it upon himself to reassure him. André, informed in his turn, summoned Louis Lafferre who, confident, reassured him. However, after a meeting on October 15 during which Bessonies gave the completed file to the deputy, the interpellation was decided for October 28, day of an interpellation of the lieutenant-colonel Rousset. Informed in turn of the leaks, Syveton and Villeneuve decided to release the information to the press that the deputy of Neuilly was in possession of damning evidence on denunciation in the army. Villeneuve met with Bidegain one last time on October 25 to present his speech and modify it according to his instructions.

Gaston Méry defended Bidegain in La Libre Parole, who was attacked by the media during the affair of the cards.[4]

Writings

According to Bidegain, the Grand Orient of France betrays Freemasonry, which it has completely diverted from its purpose and turned into an exclusively political grouping and an office of secret and defamatory information, thus betraying democracy and the republic, making it Caesarian, sectarian and persecuting.[5] For him, the secret aim of Masonry is the denationalization of France and the destruction of its traditions and forces.[6] He considered that the death of Gabriel Syveton constitutes an assassination.[7] He declared that Freemasonry has never been able to elaborate a philosophy or a doctrine likely to replace the dogmas that it wants to destroy[8] and that for this reason one becomes a Mason by congenital tendency to clericalism.[9] For him, true intellectuals are not Masons and the order will always refuse to integrate workers, depriving itself of their good sense, and who, according to the directives of the order, should be initiated only very exceptionally so as not to harm its financial power.[10]

Bidegain will thus mock the "Masonic vows" which are emitted during the convents, as the expression of a world of illusion which he compares to the Christian sign of the cross, from which the Masons distance themselves however.[11] He denounces the existence of an occult government of Freemasonry by taking as an example the criticism, during the general assembly of the GODF of 1901, of the abuse of power of which the Bureau of the Council of the Order and the Bureau of the Convent of 1900 had been guilty in order to suppress a speech compromising the Order from the minutes of the Convent of 1900, declaring that it is revolting to see 11 people suppressing the opinion of 20,000 others.[12] By citation, he revealed that a convent may constitute itself as a secret committee and that nothing be published in the minutes.[13]

He highlighted the social and parliamentary Judeo-Masonic collusion, arguing that the ambitions of these two groups are common[14] and underlining the Jewish financing of Masonic candidacies for the National Assembly at the beginning of the 20th century, in the political context following the Dreyfus Affair.[15]

On the subject of the Affair of the Cards, Bidegain stated that an intelligence service had existed within the Grand Orient since 1891 and was concerned with obtaining information on civil servants in general,[16] it was from 1901 onwards that it was concerned with creating files on officers.[17] According to him, the GODF hoped for ministerial favors in return.[18]

Works

  • Le Grand Orient de France (1905)
  • Masques et visages maçonniques (1906)
  • Ce qu'est la Franc-Maçonnerie, votre député obéit aux ordres de la Franc-Maçonnerie (1906)
  • Magistrature et justice maçonniques (1907)
  • Une conspiration sous la troisième République, la vérité sur l'affaire des fiches (1910)
  • Contre nos enfants, le projet de loi sur l'enseignement primaire (1911)
  • La Franc-Maçonnerie est antipatriotique (1912)
  • La lutte antimaçonnique (1914)

Notes

  1. ↑ Séverine (1 Décembre 1926). "L'Ilote," Le Petit Provençal, 51e Année, No. 18205, p. 1.
  2. ↑ L'Éclair, 23e Année, No. 7728 (24 Janvier 1910), p. 1.
  3. ↑ Mariel, Pierre (1969). Les Francs-maçons en France. Verviers: Gérard & Cie.
  4. ↑ Bidegain, Jean-Baptiste (1905). Le Grand-Orient de France. Sa Doctrine et ses Actes. Paris: Librairie Antisémite, pp. 65–66.
  5. ↑ Bidegain (1905), pp. 4–5.
  6. ↑ Bidegain (1905), p. 11.
  7. ↑ Bidegain (1905), p. 51.
  8. ↑ Bidegain (1905), p. 156.
  9. ↑ Bidegain (1905), pp. 155–56.
  10. ↑ Bidegain (1905), p. 157.
  11. ↑ Bidegain (1905), p. 182.
  12. ↑ Bidegain (1905), pp. 214–15.
  13. ↑ Bidegain (1905), p. 228.
  14. ↑ Bidegain (1905), pp. 258.
  15. ↑ Bidegain (1905), p. 277.
  16. ↑ Bidegain (1905), p. 115.
  17. ↑ Bidegain (1905), p. 243.
  18. ↑ Bidegain (1905), p. 28.

References

  • Doessant, Serge (2009). Le Général André, de l'Affaire Dreyfus à l'Affaire des Fiches. Paris: Éditions Glyphe.
  • Vindé, François (1989). L'Affaire des Fiches, 1900-1904: Chronique d'un Scandale. Paris: Éditions Universitaires.

External links

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