What is the Order of the Secret Monitor?

The Order of the Secret Monitor is a Masonic order founded on the biblical story of the friendship between David and Jonathan, drawing its main scriptural readings from 1 Samuel 20 1. Developed in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century as a side degree conferred on Master Masons, its primary objective is to cultivate practical brotherly love, mutual aid, and support 12.

Originally communicated informally with minimal ceremony 12, the degree was brought to England, where a Grand Council was established in London in 1887 to adapt and structure its rituals 1. An unsigned page on Quatuor Coronati Lodge's website records that the Secret Monitor was originally part of the Allied Degrees until it became established as an independent order in its own right in the 1930s.

Under its English governance, the system includes two Secret Monitor degrees, with seven degrees of the Scarlet Cord attached under the same overarching authority 2. Symbolically and practical in operation, the order uses a system where appointed Deacons act as "intenders" to keep in personal contact with brethren between meetings, reporting on their welfare and providing assistance when required 2. In American jurisdictions, such as within the Sovereign College or Allied Masonic Bodies, the Secret Monitor is conferred alongside related side degrees like Saint Lawrence the Martyr and the Knights of Constantinople 31.

Warrants for the Order of the Secret Monitor began to be issued for Southern and Eastern India in 1888, following the establishment of the Grand Council in London in 1887, as an article on the Grand Conclave for India's website records. The Order subsequently maintained a continuous presence in India under the Grand Conclave in the British Isles for more than 125 years.

Early development reached a milestone in 1889 when Conclave No. 3 received permission to append "Primus In India" to its title, as noted on the Grand Conclave for India's website. This long period of overseas administration concluded on December 14, 2013, when the sovereign Grand Conclave in India was constituted and consecrated in Chennai.

Governance of the Order of the Secret Monitor in India today is held by an independent sovereign body known as the Grand Conclave of India, as recorded on Mark Masons' Hall's website.

It is not administered by the Grand Lodge of India or any of its four Regional Grand Lodges (Southern, Western, Northern, or Eastern India), whose jurisdiction covers only the Craft, Royal Arch Chapter, Mark, and Royal Ark Mariner degrees, as documented on the Grand Lodge of India's website and those of its Regional Grand Lodges. Additionally, the acronym "OSM" appearing on the rolls of the Grand Lodge of India refers to the "Order of Service to Masonry"—an honor awarded by the Grand Master—rather than to the Order of the Secret Monitor itself.

Lessons of unfaltering friendship, loyalty, and lasting bonds of brotherhood form the core of what is taught in the Order of the Secret Monitor 1. Drawing upon the biblical narrative of David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 20, the Order is devoted to the practical elucidation of the Masonic virtue of Brotherly Love 1. Wy.Bro. Brian C. Wright, writing on Mark Masons' Hall's website, notes that this story of two Hebrew Princes around the year 1000 BCE conveys fundamental values of loyalty, friendship, and lasting bonds of brotherhood.

Practical mutual help and support lie at the heart of the degree's instruction 12. Developed as a side degree in the mid-nineteenth century, its purpose was to reinforce active fellowship and ensure that mutual aid would stand firm against danger or adversity 12. An unsigned page on Mark Masons' Hall's website states that the Order is framed upon the principles of self-sacrifice, mutual trust, watchful brotherly care, warning in time of danger, solace in time of sorrow, and skilful and effective friendly advice in every circumstance of life.

To translate these moral precepts into everyday practice, the Order incorporates a structured system of personal care, placing each member in the charge of a Deacon whose duty between meetings is to keep in touch and render assistance whenever a brother faces difficulty 2.