The Final Fate of the Masonic Order

...to an excellent degree. When and how this man became acquainted with the Illuminati is still uncertain. He himself says that in July 1780, he was informed of the existence of the Illuminati in Frankfurt and immediately admitted () by the Marchese Costanza, whom the Bavarian Illuminati—who were already seeking to spread to several places ()—had sent out to establish colonies in Protestant lands. This, however, is reliably untrue. For as early as February of this year, Weishaupt mentions him under the name Philo () Philo was the secret "Order name" adopted by Baron Knigge, following the society's practice of using classical pseudonyms., which he also used thereafter; he must, therefore, have been admitted earlier.

Regardless of when or how he came to this abominable league, he was its second creator. Everything that Weishaupt, Zwackh Franz Xaver von Zwack, a high-ranking member and legal advisor to the order., and their associates had done until then was miserable bungling and poor craftsmanship compared to what Philo's genius now hatched. It is no wonder, then, that he soon rose to such a height that he outstripped the founder and could challenge him for the position of General. Initially, everything was prepared only through correspondence; but in the year 1781, he himself traveled to Bavaria.

() About a year and a half earlier, Weishaupt sought to set Illuminatism in motion in Vienna. See Original Writings original: Originalschriften; refers to the published collection of secret documents seized by the Bavarian government. page 282.
() Philo's final declaration: p. 32.
() Original Writings. p. 353.