ON
THE ISLAMIC ORIGIN OF THE ROSE-CROIX - intro
By Emile Dantinne ( Sar Hieronymus)
Originally published in the review "Inconnues" 1951
Sar Hieronymus
To know the history of the mysterious Order of the Rose-Croix, it is indispensable
to refer to the ancient documents which attest to its existence in Europe
at the beginning of the 17th century.
The most important of these documents and the earliest is entitled: Allegemeine
und generale Reformation des gantzen weiten Welte,heneben der Fama Fraternitatis
des löblichen Ordens des Rosenkreutzes an alle Gelehrte und Haupter
Europae geschrieben .... This anonymous text of 147 pages in octavo appeared
in Cassel from the printery of Wilhelm Wessel in 1614.
The essential and original part of the Reformation is the Fama Fraternitatis
comprising pages 91 to 118 of the 1614 edition. 1
The Fama Fraternitatis speaks of a secret fraternity founded two centuries
before by Christian Rosenkreutz2 whose life it recounts.
Born of a noble family, Christian Rosenkreutz became orphaned at an early
age. He grew up in a convent which he left at the age of sixteen years in
order to travel in Arabia, Egypt and Morocco (Sedir, Histoire des Rose-Croix,
p 42).
It is during the course of these travels in Islamic countries that he was
put into contact with the sages of the East, who revealed to him the universal
harmonic science derived from the Book M which Rosenkreutz translated.
It is on the foundation of this teaching that he conceived the plan for
simultaneous universal religious, philosophic, scientific, political, and
artistic reform. For the realization of this plan he united with several
disciples to whom he gave the name of Rose-Croix.
The founder of the Order of the Rose-Croix belonged, as affirmed by his
historians, to a noble family, but no document allows us to affirm this
peremptorily. But that which is certain is that he was an orientalist and
a great traveler.
The Fama tells us "that in his youth he attempted a journey to the
Holy Sepulchre with a brother P.A.L. Although this brother died in Cyprus
and so did not see Jerusalem, our brother C.R. did not turn back, but embarked
for the other coast and directing himself towards Damascus, wanting to continue
by visiting Jerusalem, but die to sickness of body, he stopped himself and
thanks to the use of some drugs (which were not foreign to him) he received
the favor of the Turks and entered into contact with the Sages of Damasco
(Damcar) in Arabia...."3
He became acquainted with the miracles accomplished by the Sages and how
the whole of nature was unveiled to them. Not being able to contain his
impatience, he made an agreement with the Arabs that they would take him
to Damcar for a certain sum of money.
If one admits the date 1378 as the date of birth of Christian Rosenkreutz,
it is incontestable that the beginning of his voyage to the Middle East
is situated in the first years of the 15th century during the interregnum
of 1389 to 1402, during the epoch of Sultan Sulieman the First (1402-1410)4.
...but incontestably before the great catastrophe of 29th May 1453, the
date of the taking of Constantinople by the Turks. Before that time, there
is no doubt that relations between Europe and the Islamic world were quite
normal and that a young lover of things Arabian such as C. Rosenkreutz would
not have lost the opportunity to be accepted in the learned circles of Islamic
countries.
In spite of the intellectual decadence which marked the end of the Caliphate
" the universities of Cairo, Baghdad and Damascus were highly reputed5."
There is nothing at all surprising that this young German savant should
go to Jerusalem and have the desire to know about the Arab philosophy whose
influence had been so considerable on medieval scholasticism since Gregory
IX had lifted the prohibition on Aristotle and the Arab philosophers6.
The text of the Fama relative to the relationship of C.Rosenkreutz with
the Sages of Damasco is not yet as clear as one thinks. Does it suggest
Damascus? This village in Arabia is named Damashqûn. In addition,
the ancient capital of the realm of Damacène, the capital of Syria,
is not at all in Arabia.