ILLUMINATI. - A secret society with an ethical, political, and religious foundation, founded in the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt, Germany, on 1 May 1776 by Adam Weishaupt (1748–1830). According to the intentions of its founder, it aimed at the moral and political improvement of its members (who were initially called "Perfectibilitarians"); its purpose was also 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, including "novices" and "minor illuminati" (first class), "Scottish novices" and "Scottish knights" (second class), and those admitted to the "minor" and "major mysteries" (third class).
The society spread rapidly, extending beyond Germany, especially to the Netherlands, though it never reached a large number of members: among its adherents was Goethe. Its activity, however, was short-lived; indeed, having fallen under suspicion by the state, an edict of the Elector Charles Theodore of Bavaria on 22 June 1784 ordered its dissolution. Condemned also by Pius VI in two letters sent to the Bishop of Freising on 18 June and 12 November 1785, the true disintegration of the association occurred with the French Revolution.
For the I., pseudo-mystics of 16th- and 17th-century Spain, V. ALUMBRADOS.