ADELPHI, Society of the. - A secret society that arose in France, according to some in 1804, through the work of Col. Oudet, Gen. Lafayette and Luigi Angeloni of Frosinone, according to others in earlier times; it is nevertheless generally admitted that it was an offshoot of Freemasonry, to which it became hostile when, in the last years of the Empire, Freemasonry remained faithful to Napoleon, its great protector. Its aims were hostility to every revealed religion, the overthrow of monarchies, and the inspiration of popular republics. According to Salvotti, who mentions it in the indictment against Maroncelli (A. Luzio, Il processo Pellico-Maroncelli, Milan 1903, p. 446), it was divided into churches presided over by bishops.
(phot. Anderson)
The society spread throughout every country of Europe, and in Italy, especially in Piedmont, after the fall of Napoleon. In 1818 its adherents took the name of Sublime Perfect Masters, and were the leaven and the secret bond of all the other sects. They also gave rise to the Federates. The A. and the Federates formed a Committee of liaison and understanding, which resided in Geneva and was answerable to the Grand Firmament of Paris. The soul of the Geneva Committee was, for Italy, the exile Filippo Buonarroti. From Geneva was promoted the revival of the Italian secret societies after the failure of the uprisings of 1820-21. The A. penetrated into the Carboneria, but did not merge with it. According to I. Rinieri (Della vita di Silvio Pellico, Turin 1899, pp. 17-18) the society of the A. would be nothing but a front for the Carboneria; but this is not correct. The A. appear in the trials against the Carbonari of 1821 (Luzio, op. cit., pp. 446-504). According to the Duke of Modena all the liberal secret societies would have been but a single society, which changed its name in order to avoid falling as a body into the hands of the justice that persecuted it.