Orange
Orders
Orangemen
usually refers to a group of militant anti-Catholic organizations first formed
as the Loyal Orange Lodge in Armagh, Ireland, in 1795. The precise number of
Orangemen today is hard to determine, because some organizations are called
“Orange” by their detractors while denying any such affiliation themselves,
and some so-called Loyal Orange Lodges are not really exceptionable or even
traditionally “Orange.” The Orange in the word Orangemen refers
to William of Orange, who led Protestant troops to victory against the Catholic
forces of James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. William of Orange, or
William III, is also the hero of the Orange-men’s song, “In Good King
Billy’s Golden Day.”
By 1797, two years after the founding of the first Orange Lodge, there were
about 200,000 Orangemen, who fought Catholicism with a will. Particularly bloody
fighting took place in 1828 and 1829, and the order was officially dissolved in
Ireland in 1836. Meanwhile, it had spread to England in 1808. Headquarters was
initially in Manchester, but moved to London in 1821. In 1827, the Duke of
Cumberland lent the movement some respectability, and by 1845 the Loyal Orange
Lodges were re-formed in Ireland.
The movement refuses to die, and while it does undertake some good works, it is
hard to deny that its main driving force is anti-Catholicism. To this day,
Orange parades to commemorate the Battle of the Boyne are held in many
countries, including Ireland, and violent clashes with Catholic
counterprotesters are by no means unusual. In Ireland, the Loyal Irish Lodges
can claim that they are Unionists—in other words, that they support the Union
of the Six Counties with the United Kingdom.
Loyal
Orange Lodge of British America
This was
founded in 1830 as a religious, fraternal, political order in the United States
and Canada for Protestant men over the age of 18 who met a number of religious
and patriotic requirements including belief in the Trinity. They publish The
Sentinel 10 times a year.
In Canada (‘British America’), there were army Orange lodges as early as
1812, though the Grand Lodge of British America was not formed until 1830. Loyal
Orange Lodges were formed throughout the British Empire and elsewhere throughout
the 19th century. The first United States Lodge was founded in 1867, and the
United States Grand Lodge was founded in 1870. On July 12, 1871, Orangemen
marching in New York City were attacked by Catholics of Irish ancestry or
sympathy. Sixty perished in the riot that followed. In 1891, the Loyal Orange
Lodge Association of Canada took on fraternal insurance functions. It also
maintains a number of children’s homes and a senior citizens’ home.
Lodges work five degrees, which are Protestant in orientation. The lowest is the
Orange Degree, and the highest is the Scarlet Degree, members of which are
eligible to become Royal Black Knights of the Camp of Israel. Unusually, the
lodge hierarchy is fourfold, though the lowest level (Primary Lodge) may be
omitted in some areas The superior lodges are County Lodge, Provincial Grand
Lodge (in Canada), and Grand Lodge. The overall leader is the Most Worshipful
Master; there is clear borrowing from freemasonry in the structure.
While the organization is fairly small in the United States, it is strong in Canada, where it is both anti-Catholic and anti-French Canadian.
From the orange orders the Royal Black Association of
the Knights of Malta emerged, from which later the Ancient and Illustrious
Order Knights of Malta was founded.
Orange
Degree
Blue
Degree
Royal
Arch Purple Degree
Royal Scarlet Order