Jean Bricaud (February 11, 1881, Neuville-sur-Ain

Neuville-sur-Ain

Neuville-sur-Ain is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France.-Population:-References:*...

, Ain

Ain

Ain is a department named after the Ain River on the eastern edge of France. Being part of the region Rhône-Alpes and bordered by the rivers Saône and Rhône, the department of Ain enjoys a privileged geographic situation...

 – February 24, 1934), also known as Tau Jean II, was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 student of the occult

Occult

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...

 and esoteric matters. Bricaud was heavily involved in the French neo-Gnostic movement. He was consecrated a Gnostic

Gnosticism

Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...

 bishop on July 21, 1913 by bishop Louis-Marie-François Giraud. He was the Patriarch

Patriarch

Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...

 of the l'Église Gnostique Universelle (French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 for "Universal Gnostic Church") and a central figure in the various lines of the apostolic succession

Apostolic Succession

Apostolic succession is a doctrine, held by some Christian denominations, which asserts that the chosen successors of the Twelve Apostles, from the first century to the present day, have inherited the spiritual, ecclesiastical and sacramental authority, power, and responsibility that were...

 of subsequent Gnostic Churches

Gnostic church

Gnostic church may refer to a variety of religious organizations which identify themselves with Gnosticism. Various Gnostic religious organizations include:*Ecclesia Gnostica*Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica*Society of Novus Spiritus...

, as well as a spiritual heir of Jules Doinel

Jules Doinel

Jules-Benoît Stanislas Doinel du Val-Michel , also simply Jules Doinel, was an archivist and the founder of the first Gnostic church in modern times.-Gnostic Church Revival:...

 (Valentinus II). From 1916 he was head of the L'Ordre Martiniste

Martinism

Martinism is a form of mystical and esoteric Christianity concerned with the fall of the first man, his state of material privation from his divine source, and the process of his return, called 'Reintegration' or illumination....

.