ILLUMINATI. — Secret society with an ethical-political-religious basis, founded in Germany, in the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt, on 1 May 1776 by Adamo Weishaupt (1748–1830). According to the intentions of its founder, it aimed at the moral and political perfection of its members (who were, in fact, initially called perfettibilisti); moreover, it sought to restore to the individual the natural rights nullified by governmental institutions and religion, and to initiate a religion of reason with which to supplant Christianity.
The organization of the society was based on unconditional obedience, mutual surveillance, and the utmost secrecy. The members, who distinguished themselves from one another by names borrowed from classical antiquity (under the name of Spartacus, for example, Weishaupt himself was concealed), were divided into various classes: the “novices” and the “lesser illuminati” (first class), the “Scottish novices” and the “Scottish knights” (second class), and those belonging to the “lesser” and “greater mysteries” (third class).
The society spread rapidly, extending beyond Germany as well, especially in the Netherlands, although it never reached a large number of members: Goethe was among those who belonged to II. Its activity was nevertheless short-lived; having fallen under suspicion of the state, an edict of the Elector Karl Theodor of Bavaria dated 22 June 1784 ordered its dissolution. It was also condemned by Pius VI in two letters sent to the bishop of Freising on 18 June and 12 November 1785; the association’s actual disintegration occurred with the French Revolution.
For the I., Spanish pseudo-mystics of the 16th and 17th centuries, V. ALUMBRADOS.