Fraternal Orders and Sororities Ontology

A membership organisation whose members are admitted by initiation and advance through a system of degrees, usually under oath and with ritual. Covers fraternities, sororities, co-ed and adoptive orders. The kind of order is given with org:classification (see fraternalc:OrderTypes).

Also used for orders of chivalry, genuine or self-styled, described as organisations of their members (fraternalc:orderOfChivalry, fraternalc:selfStyledOrderOfChivalry). In Swedish these are riddarordnar, not ordenssällskap. An order of merit that consists only of a dignity and its insignia is a mbr:Distinction, not an organisation.

A governing body of a fraternal order, such as a grand lodge or supreme council, with jurisdiction over lodges.

A local unit of a fraternal order: lodge, chapter, court, tent and the like.

A fraternal order classified as a sorority.

A fraternal order classified as a college fraternity.

The ordered set of degrees of an order, its ladder. Each order's grade codelist is a DegreeSystem. Not the same as a rite, the ritual tradition an order works (see fraternalc:masonicRite).

A degree or grade within a degree system. A degree in the numbered sequence has its position given by fraternal:degreeRank and fraternal:nextDegree — not by skos:broader, which would state that a higher degree is a narrower concept of a lower one. Honorary, office and side degrees that stand outside the sequence have no rank; their kind is given with fraternal:degreeKind.

The order's own numeral or abbreviation for a degree (e.g. IV–V, 3=8, RKFV) goes in skos:notation. It may differ from the rank or run in reverse.

• degree rank ^dp
• degree kind ^op
• higher degree ^op

• higher degree ^op
• requires degree ^op

The conferral of a degree (mbr:conferred is a fraternal:Degree), usually at a ceremony.

The conferral of the entry degree, by which a candidate becomes a member. Record the admission itself as a mbr:MembershipEvent of type mbrc:admission.

A gathering at which ritual is worked or degrees and distinctions are conferred. The kind of ceremony is given with mbr:gatheringType (see fraternalc:CeremonyTypes).

A kind of regalia or insignia belonging to a degree, office or distinction: apron, collar, jewel, cross, star and so on.

• insignia of ^op
• insignia type ^op

One body's formal recognition of another over a period: a grand lodge that recognises another as regular, two orders in amity, two bodies that allow each other's members to visit. It gives the recognising body (fraternal:recognizingBody), the recognised body (fraternal:recognizedBody), the kind (fraternal:recognitionType), and when it began and, if it ended, when (mbr:startDate, mbr:endDate).

fraternal:recognizes and fraternal:inAmityWith state the present in one triple and stay for that. Use a recognition when the dates or the end of the relation matter. Recognition is directional: if both bodies recognise each other, give two recognitions; amity is mutual and is given once. A recognition that was withdrawn has an end date. Whether the other body was found regular, irregular or clandestine is a fraternal:LegitimacyAssessment.

• recognising body ^op
• recognised body ^op
• recognition type ^op

A statement by an agent — a commission such as the ICOC, the Holy See, a state or another order — about whether an order is a genuine order of chivalry or may be worn, with its outcome (fraternal:assessmentOutcome), date (mbr:startDate) and source (dcterms:source).

Also used for the regularity of a Masonic body, as judged by another grand body: the outcome is then fraternalc:regular, fraternalc:irregular or fraternalc:clandestine. The recognition that follows is a fraternal:Recognition.

• assessed order ^op
• assessed by ^op
• assessment outcome ^op

The degree immediately above this one.

The kind of degree: honorary, office, side, probationary and so on (see fraternalc:DegreeKinds). A degree without a kind is an ordinary degree in the numbered sequence.

Any degree above this one in the same system.

The degree system an order works.

The degree, office or distinction the insignia belongs to.

The generic kind of insignia (see fraternalc:InsigniaTypes).

How members address one another: brother, sister, sibling, companion … (see fraternalc:MemberTitles).

A defining feature of the order: initiation ritual, graded degrees, oath, secrecy … (see fraternalc:Characteristics).

The person or thing the order is named after, for example its patron.

An order, or other thing, whose structure this order imitates — for example grade names borrowed from a royal order of chivalry. States inspiration, not identity or hierarchy.

A grand body governs the lodge or order.

The body that issued the lodge's warrant or charter.

The shortcut for the current state. When the date or the state of the warrant matters, or it has a history, use an mbr:Charter.

The order formally recognises the other as regular (directional, as in Masonic recognition).

For a dated judgement by a commission, a state or the Holy See on whether an order of chivalry is genuine, use fraternal:LegitimacyAssessment.

The two orders have a mutual friendship agreement, for example allowing visits.

The authority from which an order derives its right to confer knighthood or honours: a sovereign state or its head, the head of a reigning or formerly reigning royal house, or the Holy See.

States the fons honorum an order claims or is recorded with. Whether the claim is accepted is a fraternal:LegitimacyAssessment.

The body that recognises. For amity, either of the two.

The body that is recognised.

The kind of relation a recognition states (see fraternalc:RecognitionTypes).

Membership of this body is a condition of entry to the order or the degree it is given for: the Royal Arch is open to Master Masons only.

Holding this degree is a condition of entry to the order or the degree it is given for. Use it where degrees are not one sequence: a degree system that branches is written as separate fraternal:DegreeSystem, each with its own fraternal:nextDegree, and the first degree of a branch requires the degree it grows from.

A candidate must be related, for example as spouse, daughter or sister, to a member of this body, as in the Order of the Eastern Star, which is open to Master Masons and to women related to them. The kind of relation is stated in the order's own rules.

The order the assessment is about.

The agent that made the assessment.

What the assessment concluded (see fraternalc:AssessmentOutcomes).

Position of the degree in the numbered sequence of its system, starting at 1 for the entry degree. Positional only: degrees outside the sequence have no rank.

Position of the degree in the numbered sequence of its system, starting at 1 for the entry degree. Positional only: degrees outside the sequence have no rank.

The degree immediately above this one.