Marco Egidio Allegri
(Flamelicus)
Sovereign Grand General Hierophant, 1945-1949
Marco Egidio Allegri was a very important figure of Freemasonry and Martinism.
He was initiated into Martinism in 1914 (initiatic name Flamelicus). In 1919, he joined the Supreme Council of the Martinist Order. In 1929, being already a Freemason, he was arrested on charges of masonic propaganda (at the time Freemasonry was outlawed in Italy). After the war, he was elected Grand Master of the Martinist Order and was a member of the Grand Orient of Italy (it. Grande Oriente d'Italia) in which he advanced to the 33rd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
In 1924, he fully participated in the decision according to which the Martinist Order officially split from the Martinism of Jean Bricaud, who had violated the Declaration of Principles established by the first Sovereign Grand Council of the Martinist Order set up by Papus (Gerard Encausse) and other important individuals. (Jean Bricaud had tampered with the Rituals, moreover he had established as a rule that all Martinists should be Freemasons too and had declared Gnosticism as the official belief system of Martinism).
In 1923, Allegri became the Supreme Authority of the Misraim Rite of Venice and life-long, Grand Preserver of the Memphis Rite of Palermo. On 16th of May 1945, Allegri recreated the Sovereign General Council of the 90th and last degree of the Misraim Rite and the following day he merged it with the Secret Temple of the Patriarchs Princes of Memphis. That way, the Council was temporarily entrusted with the powers of the Sovereign Sanctuary of Italy for the Unified Rites of Misraim and Memphis (Sovereign World Council)
On 18th of May, he created, in perpetuity, the Orient of Venice,the Mother and Master Lodge “Osiris” (Universal Grand Lodge) and nominated the Officers bestowing upon them “the right, duty and acceptance of the Entered Apprentices, Fellowcrafts and Master Masons according to the Constitution of our Order and of Freemasonry”.
The creation of all Superior Chambers was followed, hence the Sovereign Grand Sanctuary of the Adriatic (Supreme Council and Highest Executive Body of the Rite) formed all the necessary Masonic Bodies for the complete function of the Rite whose Constitution and Regulations had been reformed in a conference of the Grand Working College of the Order and the Rite. A previous serious effort for the unification of all Italian Masonic bodies by Allegri had failed.
Allegri travelled in Africa, Persia and below the Equator in an effort to promulgate the ideas of esotericism.
He became the first Sovereign Grand General Hierophant, Sovereign Grand Master and in 1966 he nominated Ottavio Ulderico Zasio as the Grand Hierophant by inheritance. The title was then bestowed upon Gastone Ventura in 1966 in a similar manner and in 1981 to Sebastiano Caracciolo. In 4-4-2013 the Sovereign Grand General Hierophant - Sovereign Grand Master Sebastiano Caracciolo 33° 90° 97° passed in the Eternal Great Pyramid. He chose Roberto Randellini as his successor.