Martinez de Pasqually

Jacques de Livron Joachim de la Tour de la Casa Martinez de Pasqually (1727?–1774) was a theurgist and theosophist of uncertain origin. He was the founder of the l'Ordre de Chevaliers Maçons Élus Coëns de l'Univers - Commonly referred to as the 'Elus Cohens' in 1761. He was the tutor, initiator and friend of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin and Jean-Baptiste Willermoz, and therefore regarded as the originator of Martinism.

Martinez de Pasqually, whose biography is continually being researched, due to the lack of documentation, appears in the history of French freemasonry in 1754.

His exact date and place of birth, as well as his true nationality is unknown. Some say he was of Jewish descent, without being able to establish this with certainty.

He is also believed to have been a Portuguese citizen by some. In 1772 Pasqually went to collect an inheritance in the island of Hispaniola. Grainville, one of his fervent disciples, came from the Caribbean. In any case, at the time he went to Saint Domingue, the French colony which was soon to become Haiti, he was traveling back and forth to a French colony and Spanish colony, not a Portuguese holding. He died within two years and appears to have influenced early mystic groups in the Caribbean. Others again claim he was born in Grenoble. In reality, we know nothing with certainty of his origin. His activities before 1760 are also poorly understood. This is largely due to the fact that he used several different names and signatures on official documents during his lifetime.

For twenty years, spanning from 1754 to 1774, the year of his death, Pasqually worked ceaselessly to establish and promote his Ordre des Chevaliers Maçons Élus Coëns de l'Univers.

In 1754 he founded the Chapter of Scottish Judges in Montpellier.

In 1761, he became affiliated with the lodge La Française in Bordeaux and founded a Cohen Temple there.

In 1764 La Française was reorganized by him as Française Élue Écossaise to indicate that it now had a Chapter of superior degrees.

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