Proclamation | Declaration | Tablets From AbdulBaha | ResponseBiography of Charles Mason Remey
by Brent Mathieu, Boise, Idaho – Revised June, 2005
Charles Mason Remey (1874-1974) was an eminent and controversial American Baha’I with a distinguished life of service to the Baha’i Faith. Acquaintances knew him as Mason Remey. Born in Burlington, Iowa, on May 15, 1874, Mason was the eldest son of Rear Admiral George Collier Remey and Mary Josephine Mason Remey, the daughter of Charles Mason, the first Chief Justice of Iowa. One of his ancestors, John Howland, came to America as a pilgrim aboard the Mayflower.
Charles Mason Remey’s parents raised him in the Episcopal Church. Remey was introduced to the Baha’I Faith in 1899 by May Ellis Bolles while in Paris, France.
Remey trained as an architect at Cornell University (1893-1896) and the Ecole des Arts in Paris, France (1896-1903). ‘Abdu’l Baha, the son and successor of Baha’u’llah, the Founder of the Baha’i Faith, appointed him to design the future Baha’i Temple at Mt Carmel, Israel. Shoghi Effendi, the grandson and successor of ‘Abdu’l Baha and the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith from 1922-1957, approved Remey’s design for the project. Shoghi Effendi further directed Mason Remey to design Baha’i Temples for construction in Teheran, Iran; Kampala, Africa; and Sidney, Australia, and to initiate the design of the International Baha’I Archives in Haifa, Israel. During ‘Abdu’l Baha’s leadership of the Faith, Remey was responsible for the approval the design for the “Mother Temple of the West,” the Baha’i House of Worship in North America, built in Willmette, Illinois, beginning in 1920.
‘Abdu’l Baha praised Remey’s efforts and character in a Tablet to Corrine True, published in the Baha’i newsletter “Star of the West” in August 1920. What follows is one of the many examples of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s affection and love for Mason Remey:
. . ."Praise be unto God, that the model of the Mashrekol-Askar [current transliteration: Mashriqu'l-Adhkár] made by Mr. [Louis J.] Bourgeois was approved by his honor, Mr. Remey, and selected by the Convention. His honor, Mr. Remey is, verily, of perfect sincerity. He is like unto transparent water, filtered. lucid and without any impurity. He worked earnestly for several years, but he did not have any personal motive. He has not attachment to anything except to the Cause of God. This is the spirit of the firm and this is the characteristic of the sincere."
(Star of the West. Volume 11, No. 9, 20 August 1920 p. 139):
Remey’s attachment to the Cause was well known at the time. He traveled extensively to promote the Baha’i Faith during the ministry of ‘Abdu’l Baha. Shoghi Effendi in “God Passes By” (1950 edition p261) recorded that Remey and his Baha’I companion, Howard Struven, were the first Baha’is to circle the globe teaching the Faith. Remey visited ‘Abdu’l Baha in the Holy Land several times and received numerous Tablets from The Master. “Star of the West”, a Baha’I periodical, published many of these letters during the years 1913-1922. ‘Abdu’l- Baha’s high regard for Remey is evident in these letters. Samples of ‘Abdu’l Baha’s greetings and words to him illustrate this affection.
"O thou illumined youth and my spiritual beloved!” (SOTW, April, 1913)
"O my dear son! Numerous letters have been received from you and their contents have all been conducive to happiness. Praise be to God, thou art confirmed in service to the Kingdom, art promulgating divine teachings, art raising the call of the oneness of mankind, art detaching the souls from ignorant racial prejudices, art summoning them to the investigation of truth, art showing forth unto them the light of guidance and art offering them the chalice of the wine of the love of God. This blessed purpose of thine is the magnet of the confirmations of the Abha Kingdom." (July 1919 – translation by Shoghi Efffendi)
"O thou enlightened beloved son!" (November 1920)
"O thou herald of the Covenant! Thy letters have been received and an answer has been written. Verily thou art firm in the Covenant, art self-sacrificing, art the son of the Kingdom and dost deserve the confirmations of His Holiness Baha'o'llah." (December 1920 – translation by Shoghi Effendi)
A prolific writer, Remey wrote numerous published and personal articles promoting the Baha’i Faith, including ‘Abdu’l Baha – The Center of the Covenant and the five volume A Comprehensive History of the Baha’i Movement (1927). The Bahai Revelation and Reconstruction, published in 1919; Constructive Principles of The Bahai Movement, published in 1917; and The Bahai Movement: A Series of Nineteen Papers, published in 1912 are a few of the titles of the many works Remey produced while ‘Abud’l-Baha was still alive. A dedicated diarist, Remey also recorded his life in considerable detail. In 1940 he provided copies of his diaries and selected writings to several public libraries.[3] Included in most of these collections are the letters and tablets ‘Abdu’l-Baha wrote to him.
Remey’s memoir of his final visit with ‘Abdu’l Baha in 1921 records the words ‘Abdu’l Baha’s spoke to him at that time.
"I have adopted you as my son. You have to appreciate this favor very much indeed. One should see that you are living according to the requirements of this sonship. You should be aware of your responsibilities. My prayers will help you. I always pray for you."[4]
Juliet Thompson, a Baha’i pilgrim who knew both ‘Abdu’l Baha and Remey, confirmed the special relationship the two shared. In her diary, published in 1983, she reveals a message that ‘Abdu’l Baha asked to be given to Mason Remey:
“Give my greatest love to Mr. Remey and say: You are very dear to me. You are so dear to me that I think of you day and night. You are my real son. Therefore I have an idea for you. I hope it may come to pass.” [5]
According to Juliet Thompson, ‘Abdu’l-Baha wished for her and Remey to be married. “He told me He loved Mason Remey so much,” Thompson writes, “and He loved me so much that he wished us to marry. That was the meaning of His message to Mason. He said it would be a perfect union and good for the Cause. Then he asked me how I felt about it.” [6] They did not marry, although Thompson anguished over her decision, which she felt would cause ‘Abdu’l-Baha disappointment.
Shoghi Effendi was also aware of ‘Abdu’l Baha and Remey’s relationship. Shoghi Effendi translated some of ‘Abdu’l Baha’s letters to Remey, and may have served as translator during their meetings. After ‘Abdu’l Baha’s passing, Remey made his eighth pilgrimage to the Holy Land. There he met with Shoghi Effendi, who showed him the original text of ‘Abdu’l Baha’s Will and Testament and provided him with a copy of it.
In one of his diaries Remey recorded his reaction to his first reading of the Master’s Will and Testament:
“Never have I read anything which gave me the joy and inspiration that this Holy document produced in my heart. It filled my heart with assurance that the Cause was safely guarded and gave me a fixed direction toward which to turn and a continuous center about which we are all to revolve so long as we are in this world. I rejoice at the Baha’i standard of excellence which it established…” [7]
At the end of his 1922 pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Shoghi Effendi handed Remey a packet, sealed and signed by himself sometime in the months after ‘Abdu’l Baha’s passing. [8] This packet was found among Remey’s stored papers after his death in 1974.[9]
The packet’s outside envelope contained these handwritten words:
Coagulated drops of Baha'u'llah's All-Sacred Blood and Ringlets of His Most Blessed Locks presented as my most precious possession to 'Abdu'l-Baha's "dear son" Mr. Charles Mason Remey as a token of my Baha'i affection and brotherly love. Shoghi
On the packet’s inner sealed envelope was handwritten:
Of all the remnants of Baha'u'llah's all-Sacred Person, the most hallowed, the most precious, confidently delivered into the hands of my brother and co-worker in the Cause of God, Mr. Remey. Shoghi March 1922
Remey lived for some time in Washington, D.C., in the 1930s and 1940s, enjoying his family’s high social standing. In 1932 Remey married Gertrude Heim Klemm. She died a year later. Little is known about their relationship, and Remey never married again.
In 1950 Remey moved his residence from Washington, D.C., to Haifa, Israel, at the request of Shoghi Effendi. In January 1951, Shoghi Effendi issued his historic Proclamation announcing the formation of the International Baha’i Council (IBC), the evolution of which he described as
“this first embryonic International Institution, marking its development into officially recognized Bahá’í Court, its transformation into duly elected body, its efflorescence into Universal House (of) Justice .”[12]
Shoghi Effendi announced Remey’s appointment as the President of the International Baha’i Council (IBC) in a cablegram dated March 2, 1951.[13] The same cablegram to the Persian and Arabic Baha’is used the term “Ra’is” (meaning in both Arabic and Farsi “president” or “head”) of the IBC. [14] “Ra’is” is the same term used by ‘Abdu’l Baha in His Will and Testament in the passage referring to the Guardian as the “sacred head and distinguished member” of the Universal House of Justice.
At the end of the year, December 24, 1951, Shoghi Effendi appointed Remey to be among the first contingent of the Hands of the Cause of God.[15]
One Baha’I who recognized the significance of Remey’s appointment as IBC President was Joel Marangella. Marangella wrote an account of an “unforgettable incident” that transpired on November 30, 1952, during his pilgrimage to Haifa. In his fourth letter to Ruhiyyih Khanum (Naw Ruz, 1999), Marangella reminded her of their dinner together with Shoghi Effendi, which also included Remey and Marangella’s wife. In Marangella’s account, Shoghi Effendi made a remark to Remey, asking if he was prepared to be the “Judge” of the Baha’i World Court. The creation of a Baha’i World Court was one of the goals of Shoghi Effendi’s 1953 Ten Year Plan. The court served as a stage in the evolution of the International Baha’i Council into the Universal House of Justice elected by universal suffrage.
Remey was a resident Hand at Haifa when Shoghi Effendi died in November 1957 while in England. The cablegrams sent by Hands, Ruhiyyih Khanum and Leroy Ioas, immediately after Shoghi Effendi’s death called upon the world’s Baha’is to “remain steadfast” and thus maintain unity, and to “cling” to the institution of the Hands for guidance. The potential authority of the International Baha’i Council, the embryonic Universal House of Justice, was not recognized or discussed, except for a brief mention in the Hands’ first Conclave’s official statement.
During the first Conclave of the Hands, Remey, together with the other Hands, unanimously signed a document stating that Shoghi Effendi had passed away "without having appointed his successor. . . .” This proclamation by the Hands announced their conclusion: “The Aghsan (branches) one and all are either dead or have been declared violators of the Covenant by the Guardian." Thus the Hands reasoned "that no successor to Shoghi Effendi could have been appointed by him. . . ."
One explanation for Remey’s signature on such a document, despite his belief in the necessity of a living Guardian, is the established Baha’i principle of collective action. Once an assembly reaches a majority decision, all dissenters must cease opposition and accept the decision in an effort to maintain unity, even if they believe it to be in error. [17] Baha’is trust in God that eventually the truth will be revealed and the error corrected.
The first Conclave of the Hands selected Remey to serve as one of the nine Custodian Hands to reside at the International Baha’i Centre in Haifa, Israel. This collective institution of Hands assumed direction of the Baha’i Administration. The International Baha’i Council, which Shoghi Effendi had created and designated as the forerunner of the Universal House of Justice, remained inactive.
During the years of 1957-1960, Remey wrote more diaries, which he subsequently self-published as Daily Observations of Things and Conditions in The Holy Land. In three volumes he recorded his memoirs of the years in Haifa after Shoghi Effendi’s passing. Remey urged the Hands repeatedly to “seek their Guardian.” Remey’s conviction that the Faith required a living Guardian resounded throughout his diaries.
Late in 1959, Remey left Haifa and returned to the United States after the announcement by the Hands of the plan to elect the body of the International Baha’i Council in 1961. This plan bypassed Shoghi Effendi’s intermediary stage of the formation of a Baha’i World Court. Shoghi Effendi’s Ten Year Plan, outlined in 1953, delineated the formation of a Baha’i World Court by 1963, prior to the election of the International Baha’i Council. Such a divergence from the Ten Year Plan convinced Remey to leave Haifa and appeal to the Baha’is of America and the world to pressure the Hands to reconsider their decision to elect an IBC and end the institution of Guardianship. The 1959 plan called for the election of the IBC in 1961 as a prelude to the formation of a Universal House of Justice in 1963.
In April 1960 Remey issued a public Proclamation[21] that he was the “Second Guardian of the Baha’i Faith.” In it, Remey explained:
The Beloved Guardian chose me to be the President of the Bahá'í International Council that is according to his explanation the President of the Embrionic Universal House of Justice. Therefore I am the President of the Embrionic Universal House of Justice. When this August body becomes the Universal House of Justice, if such being during my lifetime, I will then be the President of the First Universal House of Justice of the Bahá'í Dispensation.
Therefore, inasmuch as The Beloved Guardian in His Infallibility has thus placed me in command of the Faith to protect and to guard the Faith, I can do nothing but assume my place that he has given me with all of the responsibilities, the perquisites and emoluments that go with this position, therefore by his infallible orders I now alone after him command the cause and guard its integrity.
Remey requested the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States to read his proclamation before the assembled delegates at the annual National Convention in 1960, and to transmit it to the other NSAs around the world. Instead, Remey’s Proclamation was prohibited from circulating among the Baha’is. Most Baha’is rejected his Proclamation as spurious. Remey’s belief was ridiculed as a delusional aberration of his alleged senility and ego.[22] Although he would live almost another fifteen years, Remey was 85 when he made his proclamation.
Ruhiyyih Khanum, in her introduction to the book The Ministry of the Custiodians, wrote of the Hands’ reaction to Remey’s Proclamation:
“But there was one agonizing issue we could not agree on. Year after year we could come to no conclusion about whether the Guardianship was closed for the period of this Faith. The death of Shoghi Effendi had really been like an arrow shot into our hearts. Each one struggled with his bereavement in his own way. One of us, Mason Remey, one of the oldest and most distinguished, solved his personal dilemma by concluding that the Baha'i Faith could not go on without a Guardian and that undoubtedly Shoghi Effendi's successor was himself—for various invalid and unprovable reasons, such as that he was one of the earliest, famous believers of the West, had been made a Hand of the Cause by Shoghi Effendi and President of the International Baha'i Council. All this was true, but it still did not make him the second Guardian. Mason Remey's activities, beginning in 1960, when he "proclaimed" himself the second Guardian, were a profound source of embarrassment to his fellow-Hands who, in addition to all their other heavy, heartbreaking responsibilities, now found themselves obliged to progressively remonstrate with, admonish, warn, expose and finally excommunicate him. This extraordinary and sudden display of unexpected pride and conceit passed over the Baha'i world, producing a brief flutter in France, a passing ripple in Chile and sundry vibrations in the United States, Pakistan and one or two other countries, and was soon gone forever. For those who, like myself and Paul Haney, had known and loved him all our lives, and Milly Collins, who had been a particularly old friend and co-worker, it was a very bitter and tragic experience. Unfollowed and unmourned, alone and isolated in his old age, when he died he was buried by his young secretary who was not a Baha'i. Although this whole episode had no effect on the Faith, it added to the burdens of the Custodians, consumed hours of consideration better spent on constructive matters, and saddened our hearts. Like any branch cut off from the root, the Remey incident withered away.”[23]
The Hands barred independent investigation and discussion of Remey’s claim, and they enforced this censorship by excommunication. The National Spiritual Assembly of France was the only national Baha’i institution to officially recognize him in 1960. Soon thereafter, the Hands dissolved the French NSA when five of its nine members remained steadfast in their recognition of Remey as Guardian.[24]
Remey wrote separately to the Hands of the Cause in April 1960 of a “prophetic vision that [he] had about a year and a half before the Beloved Guardian called [him] to Haifa,” and prior to his appointments by Shoghi Effendi. [25] This “flash vision” influenced and strengthened his conviction that he was the intended Guardian of the Faith after the passing of Shoghi Effendi.
A major argument against Remey’s claim to the Guardianship is found in ‘Abdu’l Baha’s Will and Testament on page 11, where it states that the Guardian must choose “another branch” if the Guardian’s first born does not manifest the spiritual within him. Shoghi Effendi interpreted the meaning of “branch” to be a “descendant of Baha’u’llah.” Most Baha’is have interpreted this to mean that the successor to the first Guardian must be a male physical descendant of Baha’u’llah. As an American, Remey was not of the blood lineage of Baha’u’llah.
Consider instead ‘Abdu’l Baha’s words:
That manifestation of the kindness of the Supreme God states that the line (selseleh: lineage, genealogy, family) of the descendants (salaleh: progeny, descendants, specifically descendants traced patrilineally) is divided into two types, one is the physical descendants, and the other is the spiritual descendants. One is born of water and clay, and the other is born of soul and heart. When the two gather, then it would become light (nur: light, epithet of God, one who enlightens) upon light. (‘Abdu'l Baha, Ma'idiy-i-Asmani, Part II, compiled by Khavari, First Indian Edition, October 1984, p. 275)
There are two kinds of relationship - Physical and Spiritual Relationship. The highest and greatest is the Spiritual. The physical is of no importance. It is very good to possess both in each other....We are all of one family because we are under the shadow of the Blessed Perfection....Spiritual Relationship is the true Family-hood of God's children. The Bab had many relatives. He particularly wished that His mother should believe in this Revelation and attain. Christ said that His mother Mary was not of His Relationship; also that those were his brothers and sisters who were in the Kingdom of God. (‘Abdu’l Baha, Ten Days in the Light of Acca, compiled by Grundy, 1907 Edition, p46-7)
Consider also the Words of Baha’u’llah:
“He doth what He pleaseth. He chooseth; and none may question His choice. Whatsoever He, the Well-Beloved, ordaineth, the same is, verily, beloved.” (Gleanings, p333)
Knowledge is a light which God casts into the heart of whomsoever He willeth. (Seven Valleys)
On whom He will, He bestoweth His grace. (Certitude p160)
Remey, after Shoghi Effendi’s sudden death, and prior to his 1960 Proclamation, wrote in his Daily Observations:
Later on after a generation or so some of the Agsan [sic] will we trust come back into the fold of the Faith and then the line of Guardianship will be arranged to be back again in the line of the direct descendants of Baha'u'llah as prescribed by Abdu'l Baha.
[Daily Observations, Vol. I, p. 38]
We are at an impasse in the History of the Baha'i Faith. The line of the succession by birth of the Guardianship is broken. Now the blank question before us is where and how shall we make the [next] step.
[Daily Observations, Vol. I, p. 63]
No evidence is known whether Remey informed his fellow Hands that ‘Abdu’l Baha regarded him as his son, and thus he may be considered as “another branch,” a spiritual descendant of Baha’u’llah. Remey’s Proclamation of 1960, and his adopted son’s (Joseph Pepe) letters, indicate that Remey believed himself to be the successor of Shoghi Effendi primarily because of his appointment as the President of the IBC.
Remey’s supporters did point to a passage from ‘Abdu’l Baha’s “Last Tablet to America,”:
Consider! The Divine Gardener cuts off the dry or weak branch from the good tree and grafts to it a branch from another tree. He both separates and unites. This is that which His Holiness Christ says: that from all the world they come and enter the Kingdom, and the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out. (Baha'i World Faith p438)
Another argument against Remey’s succession was the Will and Testament’s passage that the Hands must elect nine of their number to assent to the Guardian’s choice of successor. The nine Custodian Hands never assented to Remey as successor, with the exception of Remey himself.
A counter argument can be made that Shoghi Effendi’s appointment of Remey in March 1951 preceded his appointment of any Hands. Evidently, Shoghi Effendi never presented his appointment of Remey as President of the IBC to the Hands for their assent, or officially directed the Hands to recognize Remey as his potential successor. During Shoghi Effendi’s lifetime, none of the Hands expressed their dissent concerning Shoghi Effendi’s appointment of Remey as President.
In “Baha’i News,” February 1955, Shoghi Effendi’s secretary wrote on his behalf the following explanation of ‘Abdu’l Baha’s requirement that the Hands assent to the succession:
The statement in the Will of 'Abdu'l-Bahá does not imply that the Hands of the Cause of God have been given the authority to overrule the Guardian. 'Abdu'l-Bahá could not have provided for a conflict of authority in the Faith.
For the rest of his life, Remey continued his efforts to persuade Baha’is that he was Shoghi Effendi’s successor as the Guardian.
Remey had some success initially in the early 1960s among Baha’is who believed the continuation of the Guardianship was essential as one of the Twin Pillars of the Baha’i Administrative Order. They based this belief on Shoghi Effendi’s statements in the “Dispensation of Baha’u’llah”, which many Baha’is regard as Shoghi Effendi’s Will and Testament, and is found in the book The World Order of Baha’u’llah,. Prior to Shoghi Effendi’s death, Baha’is generally anticipated future Guardians, and official statements and actions by Shoghi Effendi confirmed this belief.
Remey gathered supporters internationally in France, India, Pakistan, the United States, South America, and Iran. His American supporters organized to elect a National Spiritual Assembly under his Guardianship in 1963.
Circa 1961, Remey gave Joel Marangella, a member of the French NSA that recognized Remey as Guardian, a sealed envelope to be opened upon Remey’s death.28 The envelope contained Remey’s instructions to Marangella to inform the Baha’i world that Marangella was Remey’s successor to the Guardianship.
Remey’s American supporters published a newsletter titled “Glad Tidings” in the mid-1960s. In the October 1964 issue, Remey published his appointment of the “Second International Baha’i Council,” with Joel Marangella as President and the rest of members as Vice Presidents. Remey stated, “All powers vested in the appointed members of this Council are ‘potential’; and “in the event the Guardian should be prevented from appointing his successor to the Guardianship of the Faith, the President of this Council will become the Third Guardian of the Faith.” Remey devised the council to assure the survival of a potential successor, as he believed in an impending world catastrophe.
After a period of residence in Washington, D.C., in the early 1960s, Remey moved to Italy. He persuaded his Italian friend, Joseph Pepe, to live with him as a companion, personal attendant, and secretary. In 1963 Remey adopted Pepe as his son, granted him power of attorney over his affairs, and made him his financial and material heir. Remey’s close relationship with Pepe caused concern among his supporters. They did not trust Remey’s isolation and dependence on Pepe. This distrust eventually contributed to the estrangement of some, including Marangella.
Remey came under criticism among his followers for other reasons as well. Remey began a study of prophecies of an approaching world cataclysm. Remey believed that there would be worldwide cataclysm in the imminent future. He made the decision not to pursue a civil law suit against the American National Spiritual Assemby; which caused more criticism. In the late 1960s, he stated that Shoghi Effendi made a “mistake” with his Administration. Allegations arose that Remey was senile, or being unduly influenced.
Prominent Baha’is under Remey began to contend amongst themselves for position. Remey wrote his supporters on several occasions, urging them to cease and desist from their fighting. In his February 18, 1966, letter to Marangella, published in the May 1966 “Glad Tidings,” Remey wrote: “The time has come for all contests between the friends under the Guardianship to cease—TO STOP. At this same time the friends should arise to teach the Faith. As I myself have teaching to do here in Italy, I am turning the affairs of the Faith over to you (Marangella) as the President of the second Baha’i International Council to handle this for me.”
A few months later Remey dissolved the second International Baha’i Council in October 1966. Remey ordered Marangella, its former President, to "turn over to me such records as you have of the second Council that no longer exists".
On May 23, 1967, Remey appointed Donald A. Harvey of France to be his successor. Remey hand wrote the appointment:
In the Most Holy Name of El Baha, I, the second Guardian of the Baha’I Faith, hereby appoint Donald Harvey at my death to be my successor the third Guardian of the Faith. (Signed) Mason Remey, May 23rd 1967, Florence Italy
Remey added the following prayer as a post script to the appointment.
May the Spirit of El Abha ever protect this line of spiritual descent from ‘Abdu’l Baha, the Center of the Covenant of El Baha. [27]
Donald Harvey, another member of the 1960 French NSA that initially recognized Remey as Guardian, was regarded by Remey as a selfless, devoted Baha’i.[28]
In the late 1960s most of Remey’s supporters eventually abandoned him. Many accepted Joel Marangella’s 1969 announcement that he was the new Guardian, even though Remey was still alive, and accepted Marangella’s explanation that Remey had abdicated as Guardian with the activation of the Second International Baha’i Council in 1965.
At the time of his death, Remey had few faithful supporters. Among those steadfast, the author has had acquaintance with Joseph Pepe, Charles Gaines, Mary Magdalene Wilkins, Donald Harvey, Jacques Soghomonian, Jean Miller, and several others that need anonymity.
Remey lived his remaining years in relative inactivity, and his loyal supporters became mostly quiescent. He died February 4, 1974, at the age of ninety-nine in Florence, Italy. After a simple burial, Pepe, with the assistance of some of Remey’s supporters, arranged for a monument at Remey’s grave.
Remey has been judged guilty on the charge of Covenant-breaking by the mass of Baha’i believers. In fact, most Baha’is are not familiar with Remey’s life or his role in the Faith’s history—other than as an alleged example of a Covenant-breaker. Remey’s life ended in obscurity; this perception, and his simple grave, are interpreted by many as signs of divine justice for actions of his alleged opposition to the Covenant of Baha’u’llah after the death of Shoghi Effendi. Remey’s decades of meritorious service to the Baha’i Cause under ‘Abdu’l Baha and Shoghi Effendi have been disregarded. ‘Abdu’l Baha’s confidence in Remey as His “dear son,” as a “Herald of the Covenant” of “perfect sincerity,” and as one who was “firm in the Covenant,” have all been dismissed.
Remey was lucid and in good spirits to the end of his life, according to his companion, Pepe and their visitors.[29] Pepe reported that Remey remained steadfast in his conviction that he was the Guardian of the Cause of God. Remey stayed optimistic that eventually the mass of the Baha’i world would recognize his Guardianship as valid.
Time, and divine judgment, will determine whether— as in the words of Yeshoa (Jesus), the Christ— the fruit of Charles Mason Remey’s tree of life was ripe or not, and good or evil.
Donald A. Harvey of France succeeded Charles Mason Remey as Third Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, and his spiritual lineage continues.
May God bless the soul of Charles Mason Remey, and give him peace.
Note on author: Brent Mathieu accepted the Baha’i Faith in December 1973 and recognized Mason Remey as its Guardian. This was prior to Remey’s death in February 1974. Mathieu’s first teachers in the Faith were Leland and Opal Jensen of Missoula, Montana. He corresponded extensively with Joseph Pepe, the adopted son and companion of Remey, from 1975 to1993. He maintains a personal collection of Pepe’s correspondence with Baha’is during that time. Mathieu’s collection includes personal correspondence with Donald A Harvey, Remey’s successor, and Orthodox Baha’is Frank Schlatter and Joel Marangella. It contains other individuals’ correspondence supportive of Remey’s Guardianship. The above biography is based on Mathieu’s memoirs, personal letters, and research of credible histories. More footnotes and references are planned to be added. You can contact the author at bmathieu@spro.net, or Brent Mathieu, 1412 W. Washington, Boise, Idaho 83702.
[1]
May Ellis Bolles was beloved by Baha’is as the “Mother of Paris” for her teaching efforts establishing the Faith there. Sutherland Maxwell, the architect of the Bab’s Sepulcher, and Bolles were posthumously elevated by Shoghi Effendi to the rank of Hands of the Cause of God. Their daughter Mary Maxwell later became known as Ruhiyyih Khanum after her marriage to Shoghi Effendi.[3]
A description of one these collections is online at the website of John Hopkins University: www.library.jhu.edu/collections/specialcollections/manuscripts/msregisters/ms375.html[4]
'Abdu'l-Baha to Remey, 1921: Final Visit in Tiberias, Folio 2, "A Pilgrimage to the Holy Land: Reminisces of the Master, 1921", pp.127-129. John Hopkins University, Special collections[5]
‘Abdu’l Baha cited by Juliet Thompson, The Diary of Juliet Thompson, Kalimat Press, Los Angeles, 1983, p.71[6] Ibid, p 75-76
[7]
Charles Mason Remey, “A Pilgrimage to the Holy Land,” 1922, Baha’i Archives of Washington, D.C., pp 8-9[8]
Charles Mason Remey, “A Pilgrimage to the Holy Land” 1922, Baha’i Archives of Washington, D.C, p 48[9]
Joseph (aka Guisepe) Pepe, October 22, 1985 letter to Leland Jensen. Pepe was Remey’s adopted son and companion until the end of Remey’s life. Letter available online at: http://www.lelandjensen.net/[10]
Messages to the Baha’I World, p.7-8[11]
Messages to the Baha’I World, pp. 8-9[12]
Letter from the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice to Brent Mathieu, circa 1992[13]
Messages to the Baha’I World, p20[14]
Letters from Joseph Pepe to Brent Mathieu, circa 1990, Brent Mathieu collection, Boise Idaho[15]
An exception to this principle is explained by Shoghi Effendi in the “Dispensation of Baha’u’llah”, that the Guardian may ask the Universal House of Justice to reconsider their decision.[18]
The Ministry of the Custodians, Introduction p12[19]
This policy is explained by Ruhiyyih Khanum in the introduction to The Ministry of the Custodians, p10[20]
Joseph Pepe letter to Brent Mathieu, circa 1990, Brent Mathieu private collection[21]
Charles Mason Remey, PROCLAMATION OF THE SECOND GUARDIAN OF THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH, April 1960 [Link to Proclamation][22]
For example read David Hofman's original essay published in his booklet: Commentary on the Will and Testament of Abdu'l Baha” 1982. Hofman was a former member of the Universal House of Justice.[23]
Ruhiyyih Khanum, Introduction to The Ministry of the Custodians, p16[24]
Monir Derakhchan, an Iranian Baha’I on the NSA of France, and a supporter of Remey, wrote a testament describing these events. Brent Mathieu collection [Link to Derakchan’s testament][25]
Charles Mason Remey, “A Last Appeal to the Hands”, April 1960, p.8 [Link to Last Appeal][26]
“The Guardian, like the Master before him, has not considered it advisable to as yet permit any person or assembly to put another out of the Cause of God.” Letter to NSA by Shoghi Effendi’s secretary on his behalf, April 11, 1949
[27]
Scanned image of Remey’s appointment of Harvey is online at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeartoftheBahaiFaith/files/ Follow links The Guardians – III Guardian – Donald Alphonse Harvey[28]
Remey letter to Mrs M. C. Timmerman, August 18, 1967 Also Pepe letters to Brent Mathieu, Mathieu collection, Boise, Idaho[29]
Joseph Pepe letters circa 1974-1991, and report of Donald Harvey and Jacques Soghomonian, circa 1971, Brent Mathieu private collection, Boise Idaho. Also Harvey letter to Charley Murphy, March 13, 1974
Jacques Soghomonian | Donald Harvey | Mason Remey | Shoghi Effendi | 'Abdu'l-Baha | Baha'u'llah | The Bab
