¿Fue José Martí fue un Caballero de la Luz? La Orden Caballero de la Luz fue fundada el 9 de mayo de 1873 en la ciudad estadounidense de Filadelfia y por el tabaquero cubano José González Curbelo bajo el nombre de Sociedad de Socorros Mutuos La Luz. Se propuso agrupar a simpatizantes de la gesta emancipadora para surtir de pertrecho militar y hombres a los campos de la Mayor de las Antillas, todo ello mediante el trabajo discreto y organizado. Aunque en un inicio la agrupación adoptó el estilo litúrgico de la masonería, ya para finales de 1874 acuerda regirse por las ideas del sabio mentor José de la Luz y Caballero, y toma el título de Caballero de la Luz. Según consta en su Declaración de… More
The Order Knight of Light was founded on May 9, 1873 in the American city of Philadelphia and by Cuban Tobacco Jose Gonz ález Curbelo under the name of Society of Mutual Socorros La Luz. It was proposed to group supporters of the emancipating gesta to supply military and men to the fields of the Mayor of the West Indies, all through discreet and organized work. Although at first the grouping adopted the liturgical style of freemasonry, already by the end of 1874 agrees to be guided by the ideas of the wise mentor Jose de la Luz and Caballero, and takes the title of Knight of the Light. According to his Statement of Principles, he assumed ′′ belief in a Supreme Being, the practice of good, the exaltation of virtue, the conquest of liberty, the rule of justice, love and brotherhood «. The Order slowly gained relevance until it became a must-have link within the migration, despite the railway surveillance of the American authorities and the discrepancies between the followers of Miguel Aldama and Manuel de Quesada, in theory, who are responsible for supporting the conflict with Spain from outside. Letters similar to the sent by Quesada himself on November 26, 1873 on behalf of the Confidential Agency of the Republic of Cuba to Gonz ález Curbelo in which he addressed the impossibility of carrying out an expedition to move volunteers ′′ by lack of the necessary resources «, speak for themselves of the influence of the newly created organization and the many weaknesses of exile. After the end of the Ten Year s’ War, the Order continued to expand across the territory of the United States and came to Cuban jurisdiction on May 18, 1879 with the creation of the Matanzas Lodge No. 4. Always with the conspiracy work for a new insurrection as the main objective. Mart í’s appearance on the political stage in 1881 revived and strengthened patriotic clubs, especially those based in the state of Florida, where the building of the Grand Lodge of the Knights of Light was established by the date. With the establishment of the Cuban Revolutionary Party (PRC) on April 10, 1892, the Order, headed by Gonz ález Curbelo, subordinated to his interests. Even in the PRC’s Secret Statutes it was established that it would count for its operation with the Independent Associations. Something that the Patria newspaper number four would let you know when writing Mart í: ′′ In societies of Socorro, in the Knights of Light, in the Masonic societies, cultivate, Cubans and Puerto Ricans, Republican virtues. And as much as you encourage them, he deserves praise, as if you deserve censorship «. The complicity of the highest ideologist and manager of the so-called Necessary War with the Knights of Light is craving an irrefutable fact. But did he belong to that association? According to the Grand Luminar Past of the Grand Lodge of Cuba, Santiago Nogueira Perez, such a question becomes one of the great unknowns yet to be solved. ′′ It is difficult to imagine Mart í outside an entity that has emerged to free Cuba from the colonial yoke and which, among others, Juan Gualberto Gomez or José Dolores Poyo, his great friends. To date it has never been found in the certified country capable of corroborating suspicions. If there is any document, it is found in the United States «, Nogueiras Perez said.
However, the past Luminar Master and once-great Florida Grand Lodge official Julio Fierro regretted the loss of old documentation due to deterioration or neglect and expressed his ignorance about any dossier related to Marti. Still, in the book After the footprints of the unknown patriot, the researchers Julio Ismael Martinez Betancourt and Idael Sanabria G állvez, it is found that on January 3, 1892 Jose Mart í was started in the Caballero de la Luz in the Florida’s Perseverance No. 6 Lodge and was confirmed at the same time the three philosophical degrees that make up the Order as a special deference. On this same line is the text Historic Notes of the Order Knight of Light, Inc. From its foundation to 1929, intellectual L ázaro Ferr áss Hern ándndez, saying that ′′ the Lodge Perseverance (…) being one of the most nourished of the time (…) had the honor of telling Mart í in the Paint of its Members «. His visit to Cayo Bone had a primary purpose: the constitution of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, which was done with the collaboration, among others, of the Lords José Dolores Poyo, Gualterio Garcia, Frank E. Bolio, Jose Gonzalez Curbelo, Aurelio C. Rodriguez, Angel Pel áez, Genre Hernandez, Pompez, etc. A different version offers the magazine Luz y Verdad, in its special publication in 1953, when he interviewed the then active member of Perseverance No. 6, Jose Ram ónn H úguez. ′′ When Marti came to Key Bone he was already a Knight of Light. He knew all our rituals; possessed the word of pass; knew fully the symbolism of each degree (…) The Luminar of our lodge (…) told us that Marti had received the three degrees in the Lodge La Luz No 1 from the city of Philadelphia «, Ramon H úguez recalled. Beyond the logical probability of initiation in one place or another, for the Adviser of the Office of the Martiano Program and Member of the Scientific Council of Martian Studies, Jorge Juan Lozano Ros, Mart í must have belonged to the Order ′′ because he was a huge follower of Light and Knight and because the men led by Gonzalez Curbelo en masse joined the PRC «. Among speculations and justified suspicions lies the history of the filiation of the Most Universal of Cubans to a brotherhood that holds the guiding principles of our nationality in antonomasia. While it is assumed less likely to find the minutes that end with uncertainty, they would have little value. Well, the interviewees say, in any way Marti made enough merits to bear the honorable distinction of the Knight of Light. By Haroldo Luis Castro ·