Additional Names Included in the List of Saints by Theodor Reuss

The list of saints included in Theodor Reuss's 1920 e.v. German translation of the Gnostic Mass includes four names which are not found in the standard list: Dante Alighieri, Ludwig von Fischer, Doktor Franz Hartmann and Charles Détré. Of these four, all but Charles Détré are included in the list of members of the "constituent originating assemblies" of O.T.O. published in Book 52, the Manifesto of the O.T.O. The name Ludwig von Fischer was actually included in Crowley's original list of Saints in the version of the Gnostic Mass published in The International in 1918 e.v., but was dropped from subsequent versions.

Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321 e.v.) was the greatest of Italian poets and one of the half dozen greatest writers of all time. His works alone established Italian as a literary language. His most important work was the Commedia (first published 1472), which later became known as the Divina Commedia, the Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy is one of the greatest literary masterpieces of history, a true foundation-stone of western culture; and nothing else needs to be said of it here. Dante's other works include Vita Nuova (c. 1300, first published 1576), De Monarchia (1313, first published 1559), Convito (first published 1490) and De Vulgari Eloquentia (first published 1529). Also see this.

Ludwig von Fischer
This name is obscure. There are a number of individuals in the historical records with this name (with or without the "von"), none of whom seem to have a clear claim to esoteric sainthood. This would explain Crowley's deletion of the name from his list of saints after 1918 e.v. The name was probably included initially at Reuss's request. A list of some of the more plausible candidates follows.

• Ludwig Eberhard Fischer (1695 - 1773 e.v.) was a theologian and minor German statesman.

• Ludwig Johann Ignaz Fischer (1745 - 1825 e.v.) was a member of Mozart's entourage and the greatest bass singer of his time (Reuss was, at one time, a member of Richard Wagner's operatic entourage). He may have been a Masonic Brother of Mozart as well. The part of "Osmin" in The Abduction from the Seraglio was written for Fischer.

• Ludwig von Fischer (1828 - 1907 e.v.) was a professor of botany in Bern, Switzerland. His son, Ludwig Eduard (1861 - 1939 e.v.) followed in his father's footsteps and became a very influential botanist.

• Ludwig Fischer (b. 1867 e.v.) is or was the philosopher who wrote the book Die natürliche Ordnung unseres Denkens (Leipzig, 1927), translated into English as The Structure of Thought: a Survey of Natural Philosophy (London, 1931).

• Ludwig Fischer was also the name of the Bürgermeister of Augsburg during Reuss's youth there, who in 1898 provided Reuss with a character reference for his service as a war correspondent.

Franz Hartmann (1838 - 1912 e.v.)

Charles Détré ("Teder," 1855 - 1918 e.v.) 33º 90º 95º IXº was Reuss's primary co-worker in France, and another co-founder of O.T.O. When Papus died in 1916, Détré succeeded, briefly, to the leadership of the Martinist Order and the French sections of the Rites of Memphis and Mizraim, the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Croix, and the O.T.O.

References:

- Dante Alighieri:
Benton, William (Publ.); Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1768/1973

- Ludwig von Fischer:
Historischen Kommission bei der Königlich Akademie der Wissenschaften; Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879
Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften; Neue Deutsche Biographie, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961
Möller, Helmut and Ellic Howe; Merlin Peregrinus, vom Untergrund des Abendlandes, Koenigshausen & Neumann, Wuertzburg 1986

- Charles Détré:
Laban, Rudolf Laban de; Alliance Internationale de la Dames de la Rose+Croix, pamphlet 1918
Le Forestier, René; L'Occultisme en France aux XIXème et XXème siècles: L'Église Gnostique, Ouvrage inédit publié par Antoine Faivre, Archè, Milano 1990
Möller; op. cit.

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