41 Facts About Mason Remey

Mason Remey was elected to serve as one of the nine custodial Hands, a body that became the interim leadership until the election of the Universal House of Justice in 1963.

Mason Remey's claim was rejected by all the other Hands of the Cause due to his lack of scriptural authority, and he was excommunicated along with about 100 supporters, mostly from the United States.

The Navy destroyer USS Mason Remey was named after his father.

Mason Remey studied comparative religion in college, including a course on Buddhism, which made him receptive to other religions.

Mason Remey studied architecture at Cornell University without completing a degree, and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Mason Remey proposed the idea to the Baha'is in Washington to organize the first local Spiritual Assembly in the city, which he was elected to on 14 March 1907.

In part due to his fear of global cataclysm, Mason Remey compiled much of his records and in 1940 he provided copies to several public libraries, requesting them not to be opened until 1995.

Mason Remey was briefly married to heiress Gertrude Heim Klemm from 17 July 1931 until her suicide on 5 August 1932.

The design by Mason Remey was approved by Shoghi Effendi.

Mason Remey made suggestions for the design of the Shrine of the Bab.

Mason Remey had a large personal fortune from his family and his late wife.

Mason Remey spent much of it on two projects: his mansion on Embassy Row in Washington, built around 1930, and the "Remeum".

Mason Remey contracted with Pohick Church in 1937 to build a huge family mausoleum on its grounds in Virginia, to be located on five acres of land about one half-mile south of the church building.

Mason Remey transported the bodies of fifteen relatives to the Remeum.

Mason Remey planned to crown it with a three-story structure that would have dwarfed the church.

Soon negotiations began to break the original contract; in 1968 the property reverted to the church, and Mason Remey was given five years to remove anything of value from the site.

The Remeum reflected a nearly obsessive concern about immortality and his future place in history that Mason Remey increasingly manifested as he grew older.

Mason Remey moved his residence from Washington to Haifa, and the public announcement of the Council was made on 9 January 1951.

Mason Remey was appointed president of the council in March 1951, with Amelia Collins as vice-president.

Mason Remey was included in Shoghi Effendi's first contingent of 12 appointments to the rank of Hand of the Cause on 24 December 1951.

Mason Remey attended all four international teaching conferences in 1953, in Kampala, Chicago, Stockholm, and New Delhi.

Mason Remey signed the declaration that Shoghi Effendi died "without having appointed his successor" and was appointed as one of the Custodians to stay in Haifa.

Mason Remey wrote that his status as president of the International Baha'i Council was never mentioned in any of the conclaves, and that the idea of not having another Guardian was introduced by Rahmatu'llah Muhajir.

At the third conclave, Mason Remey refused to sign the joint statement of the Hands, which was converting the International Council from an appointed to an elected body, an act that would end his position as president.

Mason Remey then abandoned his position, moved to Washington, and began to circulate the claim that he should be recognized as the second Guardian.

Mason Remey believed his appointment as president of the international council represented an appointment by Shoghi Effendi as Guardian, because the appointed council was a precursor to the elected Universal House of Justice.

Mason Remey wrote that his delay in announcing his status was to give others "ample time to discover for themselves", but "until now no one, other than I have discovered that such authority was vested in me".

Mason Remey claimed in the proclamation that he made the declaration as Guardian to the Hands previously, and that he had "definitely known for the past twelve years more or less".

Mason Remey gained very little support around the world, and himself noted that "almost the entire Baha'i world" rejected his claim.

Mason Remey sent his proclamation to other National Spiritual Assemblies, and a majority of the one in France accepted him.

Mason Remey gained supporters mostly from the United States, but in parts of Europe, Pakistan, and in Lucknow, India.

Mason Remey settled in Florence, Italy, until the end of his life.

Besides dissolving the institutions that he had organized, Mason Remey began focusing on impending global catastrophe and criticizing Shoghi Effendi.

Mason Remey encouraged his followers to move to high ground in the Rocky Mountains to avoid the imminent floods.

Mason Remey flaunted and disobeyed the laws of the Aqdas and created all this confusion himself.

The majority of them claimed that Mason Remey was showing signs of senility.

From 1962, Mason Remey resided in Florence, Italy, and died there on 4 February 1974, at the age of 99.

In 1965 Mason Remey activated the council, and in 1966 wrote letters passing the "affairs of the Faith" to the council, then later dissolving it.

In 1969 he traveled to Italy with the hope of having Mason Remey pass affairs over to him, but instead was labeled with the "station of satan".

Mason Remey claimed that he, Rex King, was a "regent" pending the emergence of the second Guardian who was in "occultation".

Mason Remey wrote several pamphlets that were among the first available to Americans:.