Solomon's Temple
According to the Hebrew Bible, Solomon's Temple known as the First Temple, was the Holy Temple in ancient Jerusalem before its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar II after the Siege of Jerusalem of 587 BCE and its subsequent replacement with the Second Temple in the 6th century BCE. The period in which the First Temple or stood in Jerusalem, is known in academic literature as the First Temple period; the Hebrew Bible states that the temple was constructed under Solomon, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah and that during the Kingdom of Judah, the temple was dedicated to Yahweh, is said to have housed the Ark of the Covenant. Jewish historian Josephus says that "the temple was burnt four hundred and seventy years, six months, ten days after it was built"; because of the religious sensitivities involved, the politically volatile situation in Jerusalem, only limited archaeological surveys of the Temple Mount have been conducted. No archaeological excavations have been allowed on the Temple Mount during modern times.
Therefore, there are few pieces of archaeological evidence for the existence of Solomon's Temple. An ivory pomegranate which mentions priests in the house "of ---h", an inscription recording the Temple's restoration under Jehoash have both appeared on the antiquities market, but their authenticity has been challenged and they are the subject of controversy; the noun hekhal means "a large building". This can be either the main building of the Temple in Jerusalem, or a palace such as the "palace" of Ahab, king of Samaria, or the "palace" of the King of Babylon. Hekhal is used 80 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. Of these, 70 refer to the House of the LORD, the other 10 are references to palaces. There is no reference to any part of the tabernacle using this term in the Hebrew Bible. In the year that king Uzziah died. I saw the LORD sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, His train filled the hekhal. In older English versions of the Bible, including the King James Version, the term temple is used to translate hekhal.
In modern versions more reflective of archaeological research, the distinction is made of different sections of the whole Temple. Scholars and archaeologists agree on the structure of Solomon's Temple as described in 1 Kings 6:3–5, with three main elements: the porch. Schmid and Rupprecht are of the view that the site of the temple used to be a Jebusite shrine which Solomon chose in an attempt to unify the Jebusites and Israelites. Rabbinic sources state that the First Temple stood for 410 years and, based on the 2nd-century work Seder Olam Rabbah, place construction in 832 BCE and destruction in 422 BCE, 165 years than secular estimates; the exact location of the Temple is unknown: it is believed to have been situated upon the hill which forms the site of the 1st century Second Temple and present-day Temple Mount, where the Dome of the Rock is situated. The only source of information on the First Temple is the Tanakh. According to the biblical sources, the temple was constructed under Solomon, during the united monarchy of Israel and Judah.
The Bible describes Hiram I of Tyre who furnished architects and cedar timbers for the temple of his ally Solomon at Jerusalem. He co-operated with Solomon in mounting an expedition on the Red Sea. 1 Kings 6:1 puts the date of the beginning of building the temple "in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel". The conventional dates of Solomon's reign are circa 970 to 931 BCE; this puts the date of its construction in the mid-10th century BCE. 1 Kings 9:10 says that it took Solomon 20 years altogether to build his royal palace. The Temple itself finished being built after 7 years. 1 Kings 8:10-66 and 2 Chronicles 6:1-42 recount the events of the temple's dedication. When the priests emerged from the holy of holies after placing the Ark there, the Temple was filled with an overpowering cloud which interrupted the dedication ceremony, "for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord". Solomon interpreted the cloud as " that his pious work was accepted": The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
I have built you a place for you to dwell in forever. The allusion is to Leviticus 16:2: The Lord said to Moses: Tell your brother Aaron not to come just at any time into the sanctuary inside the curtain before the mercy seat, upon the ark, or he will die. Solomon led the whole assembly of Israel in prayer, noting that the construction on the temple represented a fulfilment of God's promise to David, dedicating the temple as a place of prayer and reconciliation for the people of Israel and for foreigners living in Israel, highlighting the paradox that God who lives in the heavens cannot be contained within a single building; the dedication was concluded with sacrifices said to have included "twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep". During the United Monarchy the Temple was dedicated to the God of Israel. From the reign of King Manasseh until King Josiah, Baal and "the host of heaven" were worshipped; until the reforms of King Josiah, there was a statue for the goddess Asherah and priestesses wove ritual textiles for her.
Next to the temple was a house for the temple prostitutes (2 Kings
Papal ban of Freemasonry
The Catholic Church first prohibited Catholics from membership in Masonic organizations and other secret societies in 1738. Since at least eleven popes have made pronouncements about the incompatibility of Catholic doctrines and Freemasonry. From 1738 until 1983, Catholics who publicly associated with, or publicly supported, Masonic organizations were censured with automatic excommunication. Since 1983, the prohibition on membership exists in a different form. Although there was some confusion about membership following the 1965 Second Vatican Council, the Church continues to prohibit membership in Freemasonry because it concluded that Masonic principles and rituals are irreconcilable with Catholic doctrines; the current norm, the 1983 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's Declaration on Masonic associations, states that "faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion" and membership in Masonic associations is prohibited. The most recent CDF document about the "incompatibility of Freemasonry with the Catholic faith" was issued in 1985.
In 1736, the Inquisition investigated a Masonic lodge in Florence, which it condemned in June 1737. The lodge had been founded in 1733 by the English Freemason Charles Sackville, 2nd Duke of Dorset, but accepted Italian members, such as the lodge's secretary Tommaso Crudeli. In 1736, on 26 December, Andrew Michael Ramsay delivered an oration to a masonic meeting in Paris on the eve of the election of Charles Radclyffe as Grand Master of the French Freemasons. In March 1737 he sent an edited copy to the chief minister, Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury, seeking his approval for its delivery to an assembly of Freemasons, his approval of the craft in general. Fleury's response was to brand the Freemasons as traitors, ban their assemblies; this ban, the Italian investigation led, in 1738, to Pope Clement XII promulgating In eminenti apostolatus, the first canonical prohibition of Masonic associations. Clement XII wrote that the reasons for prohibiting masonic associations are that members, "content with form of natural virtue, are associated with one another" by oaths with "grave penalties" "to conceal in inviolable silence whatever they secretly do together."
These associations have aroused suspicions that "to join these associations is synonymous with incurring the taint of evil and infamy, for if they were not involved in evil doing, they would never be so averse to the light." "The rumor has so grown that" several governments have suppressed them "as being opposed to the welfare of the kingdom." Clement XII wrote, that these kinds of associations are "not consistent with the provisions of either civil or canon law" since they harm both "the peace of the civil state" and "the spiritual salvation of souls." Pope Leo XII attempted to assess the influence of anti-social organizations. Leo XII inserted and confirmed the texts of Clement XII, Benedict XIV, Pius VII, in his 1825 constitution Quo graviora "to condemn them in such a way that it would be impossible to claim exemption from the condemnation." The ban in In eminenti apostolatus was reiterated and expanded upon by Benedict XIV, Pius VII, Leo XII, Pius VIII, Gregory XVI, Pius IX. "The decisive impetus for the Catholic anti-Masonic movement" was Humanum genus, promulgated by Pope Leo XIII in 1884.
Leo XIII wrote that his primary objection to Masonry was naturalism, his accusations were about pantheism and naturalism. Leo XIII analysed continental Grand Orient type philosophical "principles and practices." While naturalism was present everywhere in other types of lodges, "the subversive, revolutionary activity characteristic of the Grand Orient lodges of the continent" was not. Leo XIII "emphasises that'the ultimate and principle aim' of Masonry'was to destroy to its foundations any civil or religious order established throughout Christendom, bring about in its place a new order founded on laws drawn out of the entrails of naturalism'." Under 1917 CIC, in effect May 1918 to November 1983, Catholics associated with Masonry were: automatically, i.e. latae sententia, deprived of marriage in the Catholic Church, excluded from Catholic associations, deprived of Catholic funeral rites, invalidated from novitiate, invalidated reception of personal jus patronatus, with additional penalties against clergy and members of secular institutes.
Under 1917 CIC, books which argue that "Masonic sects" and similar groups are "useful and not harmful to the Church and civil society" were prohibited. The Catholic Church began an evaluation of its understanding of Masonry during, Vatican II. Throughout the jubilee of 1966, Pope Paul VI granted every confessor the faculty to absolve censures and penalties of 1917 CIC canon 2335 incurred by penitents who separated themselves from Masonic association and promised to repair and prevent, as far as possible, any scandal and damage they caused. In addition, Saint Padre Pio demonstrated the power of conversion by speaking with a member of the Italian parliament, a self professed agnostic and freemason. Pio converted the man to Catholicism. After a four-year investigation in five Scandinavian Bishops' Conference countries, the CES decided in 1967 to apply the 1966 post-conciliar norms in De Episcoporum Muneribus, "which empowers bishops in special cases to dispense from certain injunctions of Canon Law."
The CES permitted, within its jurisdiction, converts to Catholicism to retain their Swedish Rite membership, "but only with the specific permission of that person's bishop."In early 19
Freemasonry
Freemasonry or Masonry consists of fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons, which from the end of the fourteenth century regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients. The degrees of Freemasonry retain the three grades of medieval craft guilds, those of Apprentice, Journeyman or fellow, Master Mason; the candidate of these three degrees is progressively taught the meanings of the symbols of Freemasonry, entrusted with grips and words to signify to other members that he has been so initiated. The initiations are part allegorical morality part lecture; the three degrees are offered by Craft Freemasonry. Members of these organisations are known as Masons. There are additional degrees, which vary with locality and jurisdiction, are administered by their own bodies; the basic, local organisational unit of Freemasonry is the Lodge. The Lodges are supervised and governed at the regional level by a Grand Lodge or Grand Orient.
There is no worldwide Grand Lodge that supervises all of Freemasonry. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of two main recognition groups. Regular Freemasonry insists that a volume of scripture is open in a working lodge, that every member profess belief in a Supreme Being, that no women are admitted, that the discussion of religion and politics is banned. Continental Freemasonry is now the general term for the jurisdictions which have removed some, or all, of these restrictions; the Masonic lodge is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. The Lodge meets to conduct the usual formal business of any small organisation. In addition to business, the meeting may perform a ceremony to confer a Masonic degree or receive a lecture, on some aspect of Masonic history or ritual. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Lodge might adjourn for a formal dinner, or festive board, sometimes involving toasting and song; the bulk of Masonic ritual consists of degree ceremonies. Candidates for Freemasonry are progressively initiated into Freemasonry, first in the degree of Entered Apprentice.
Some time in a separate ceremony, they will be passed to the degree of Fellowcraft, they will be raised to the degree of Master Mason. In all of these ceremonies, the candidate is entrusted with passwords and grips peculiar to his new rank. Another ceremony is officers of the Lodge. In some jurisdictions Installed Master is valued as a separate rank, with its own secrets to distinguish its members. In other jurisdictions, the grade is not recognised, no inner ceremony conveys new secrets during the installation of a new Master of the Lodge. Most Lodges have some sort of social calendar, allowing Masons and their partners to meet in a less ritualised environment. Coupled with these events is the obligation placed on every Mason to contribute to charity; this occurs at both Grand Lodge level. Masonic charities contribute to many fields, such as disaster relief; these private local Lodges form the backbone of Freemasonry, a Freemason will have been initiated into one of these. There exist specialist Lodges where Masons meet to celebrate events, such as sport or Masonic research.
The rank of Master Mason entitles a Freemason to explore Masonry further through other degrees, administered separately from the Craft, or "Blue Lodge" degrees described here, but having a similar format to their meetings. There is little consistency in Freemasonry; because each Masonic jurisdiction is independent, each sets its own procedures. The wording of the ritual, the number of officers present, the layout of the meeting room, etc. varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The officers of the Lodge are appointed annually; every Masonic Lodge has two Wardens, a secretary and a treasurer. There is a Tyler, or outer guard, always present outside the door of a working Lodge. Other offices vary between jurisdictions; each Masonic Lodge exists and operates according to a set of ancient principles known as the Landmarks of Freemasonry. These principles have thus far eluded any universally accepted definition. Candidates for Freemasonry will have met most active members of the Lodge they are joining before they are initiated.
The process varies between jurisdictions, but the candidate will have been introduced by a friend at a Lodge social function, or at some form of open evening in the Lodge. In modern times, interested people track down a local Lodge through the Internet; the onus is on candidates to ask to join. Once the initial inquiry is made, an interview follows to determine the candidate's suitability. If the candidate decides to proceed from here, the Lodge ballots on the application before he can be accepted; the absolute minimum requirement of any body of Freemasons is that the candidate must be free, considered to be of good character. There is an age requirement, varying between Grand Lodges, capable of being overridden by a dispensation from the Grand Lodge; the underlying assumption is that the candidate should
Red Cross of Constantine
The Red Cross of Constantine, or more formally the Masonic and Military Order of the Red Cross of Constantine and the Appendant Orders of the Holy Sepulchre and of St John the Evangelist, is a Christian fraternal order of Freemasonry. Candidates for the order must be members of Craft Freemasonry and Royal Arch Freemasonry; the Masonic and Military Order of the Red Cross of Constantine is a three-degree Order of masonry, with its "Appendant Orders" a total of five degrees are conferred within this system. Installation as a “Knight of the Red Cross of Constantine” is admission to the Order’s first degree. There are two more degrees which follow, the two other distinct Orders of Masonry which are under the control of each national Grand Imperial Conclave of the Order. On admission to the Order a member becomes a Knight-Mason, or a Knight of the Red Cross of Constantine; this ceremony is known as installation, is performed in a ‘Conclave’. A Conclave is the regular unit of this Order, the name for any assembly of members of the Order’s first degree.
The ceremony is short and simple, but teaches valuable moral lessons to the candidate, based upon the story of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. On election to serve as Viceroy, a member must be admitted to the second degree, by which ceremony he becomes a Venerable Priest-Mason, or an Installed Eusebius; this ceremony is performed in a ‘College’ of Priests-Mason. A College is the name for any assembly of members of the Order’s second degree; the ceremony is spiritual in nature, incorporates more overtly religious symbolism and ritual. Having received this degree the Installed Eusebius or Priest-Mason is entitled to serve as Viceroy in his own, or any other, Conclave or College. In general this degree may only be conferred on those elected to serve as Viceroy of a Conclave, although exceptions are possible by dispensation. On election to serve as Sovereign, a member must be admitted to the third degree, by which ceremony he becomes a Perfect Prince-Mason.
The ceremony is performed in a ‘Senate’ of Princes-Mason. A Senate is the name for any assembly of members of the Order’s third degree. Having received this degree the Prince-Mason is entitled to serve as Sovereign in his own, or any other, Conclave or Senate. Except by dispensation, this degree is only conferred on those elected as Sovereign; as with all masonic degrees, it may only be conferred on a person once - therefore a person becoming Sovereign for a second time, or in a different Conclave, would be appointed and installed into office, would not go for a second time through the full degree ceremony. Two additional Christian Orders of Masonry are under the control of the Grand Imperial Conclaves of the Red Cross of Constantine. One is the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and the other is the Order of St John the Evangelist; each of these Orders consists of a single degree or ceremony, although the two Orders are conferred separately, they are conferred on the same day, one straight after the other.
It is a rule of most jurisdictions that a member of the first degree of the Red Cross of Constantine must subsequently take these two Appendant Orders, before he may be considered qualified to proceed to the second and third degrees of the Red Cross of Constantine. The Masonic Order should not be confused with the identically named Order of the Holy Sepulchre within the Roman Catholic Church. Although both Orders recall the same historical events, there is no actual connection between them; the Masonic Order of the Holy Sepulchre has a long and complex ritual of symbolic meaning, based upon the legend of knights guarding the supposed place of burial of Jesus Christ. Both the Masonic and ecclesiastical Orders take the Jerusalem Cross as their symbol, but whereas the ecclesiastical Order displays this cross in red on a white shield, the Masonic Order displays the cross within a circle set at the centre of a Cross potent. A meeting of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre takes place in a ‘Sanctuary’, the presiding officer is called the'Prelate'.
This Order is conferred in a short ceremony of an overtly Christian character. A meeting of the Order of St John the Evangelist takes place in a ‘Commandery’, the presiding officer is called the'Commander'; the jewel of the Order of St John the Evangelist features a silver eagle with its wings extended, to which a crown is added in reference to the role of Commander, or any member of the Order, a current or past Commander. The eagle is a traditional symbol of St John the Evangelist. Since at least the 18th century, Freemasonry has incorporated symbols and rituals of several Medieval military orders in a number of Masonic bodies, most notably, in the "Red Cross of Constantine", the "Order of Malta", the "Order of the Temple", the latter two featuring prominently in the York Rite. Tracing the precise origins of these Orders has proved problematic to historians, not least due to the large number of fraternal organisations whose titles include, or have included, the phrase "Red Cross", it seems that the Order of the Red Cross of Constant
International Order of the Rainbow for Girls
The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls is a Masonic youth service organization which teaches leadership training through community service. Young women learn about the value of charity and service through their work and involvement with their annual local and Grand service projects; the order came into existence in 1922, when the Reverend W. Mark Sexson, a Freemason, was asked to make an address before South McAlester Chapter #149, Order of the Eastern Star, in McAlester, Oklahoma; as the Order of DeMolay had come under his close study during his Masonic activities, he suggested that a similar order for young women would be beneficial. The first Initiation consisted of a class of 171 young women on April 6, 1922, in the auditorium of the Scottish Rite Temple in McAlester; the original name was "Order of the Rainbow for Girls". Members can hold many different offices in the local Assembly; each requires some memory work and all but two serve for one term. Some offices are elected by the other members in the assembly.
These offices include Faith, Charity, Worthy Associate Advisor, Worthy Advisor. There are two offices that are elected in January but serve a full year which are Treasurer and Recorder; the other offices are appointed by the Worthy Mother Advisor. All offices include: Worthy Advisor Presides at meetings and plans activities for her term like a President: the highest office in an Assembly Worthy Associate Advisor Duties similar to a Vice President. Presides over a meeting in the absence of the Worthy Advisor Charity Teaches about charitable deeds Hope Teaches that hope is always there for us Faith Teaches that faith is our constant companion, she is the officer who guides new candidates throughout an initiation ceremony Recorder Records minutes and handles correspondence Treasurer Handles money and bills and compiles reports about the balances of the Assembly's various money accounts Chaplain Leads in prayers Drill Leader Leads the officers in their floor work and leads guests around the Assembly room Seven Bow Stations Teach lessons about the colors of the rainbow and their corresponding virtues: Love In all its forms Religion The importance of religion in all its forms Nature Its importance in your daily life Immortality The understanding of death is a part of life Fidelity Emphasis on being honest and reliable Patriotism Encouraging citizenship to your country Service Service to others which bind all the colors together Confidential and Outer Observers Guard the inner and outer doors Musician and Choir Director Provide music for the meetingsSome Assemblies and Grand Assemblies have other officers not specified in the ritual, such as Historian, Assistant Grand Editor, Circulation Manager, Bible Bearer, Goodwill Ambassador, American Flag Bearer, State Flag Bearer, Christian Flag Bearer, Rainbow Flag Bearer, Assembly Banner Bearer.
It is an unwritten law that each of the line officers advances to the next highest office, culminating in her term as Worthy Advisor. However, this is not a guarantee; the Mother Advisor is the primary adult working with the members. An Advisory Board of seven to fifteen adults consisting of at least two Master Masons and two members of the Order of the Eastern Star, members of the sponsoring body, Majority Members, aid in the supervision of the Assembly. All of the Assembly work is done by the members, with the advisors in support roles only; the appointing of Grand Officers varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. To be appointed or elected to a Grand Floor Office, a member must be a Past or Present Worthy Advisor in her assembly. Grand Representatives may be PWAs, but it is not mandatory. Other offices include: Grand Choir, Grand Assistant Outer Observer/Grand Confidential Observer Helper, Personal Page, Grand Page at Large; the Grand Cross of Color is the highest award given to a member or adult leader for outstanding service.
Recipients of the award are expected to meet once per year for a special service. In order for designates to be nominated, the assembly must initiate 3 new members within a calendar year. For every 3 new members, one member may be chosen to receive the Grand Cross of Color for service rendered above and beyond what is expected for Rainbow; the Masters of the Grand Cross of Color meet with the Advisory Board to decide which member to nominate as a designee for the Grand Cross of Color. The Grand Cross of Color may be awarded to adults that serve the assembly, but there may be no more adults than young women that are nominated; the governing body of Rainbow is the House of Gold. New members are elected by current members; the House of Gold consists of the Supreme Officers, Supreme Inspectors, several others making up a total of 50. Presiding Supreme Inspectors may retire their duties at any time, unless they are elected to the Supreme line, at which time they must find a successor by the time they reach Supreme Worthy Associate Advisor.
The current Supreme Inspector chooses the person whom they believe can best associate with the members of their jurisdiction. That person will become the next Supreme Deputy, it isn't until Supreme Deputies are elected into the House of Gold that they become Supreme Inspectors. There are 50 seats in the House of Gold, they are lifetime appointments. A Supreme Deputy is eligible for recommendation into the House of Gold after her 3rd Supreme Assembly af
Scottish Rite
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry known as the Scottish Rite, is one of several Rites of Freemasonry. A Rite is a progressive series of degrees conferred by various Masonic organizations or bodies, each of which operates under the control of its own central authority. In the Scottish Rite the central authority is called a Supreme Council; the Scottish Rite is one of the appendant bodies of Freemasonry that a Master Mason may join for further exposure to the principles of Freemasonry. It is concordant, in that some of its degrees relate to the degrees of Symbolic Freemasonry. In England and some other countries, while the Scottish Rite is not accorded official recognition by the Grand Lodge, there is no prohibition against a Freemason electing to join it. In the United States, the Scottish Rite is recognized by Grand Lodges as an extension of the degrees of Freemasonry; the Scottish Rite builds upon the ethical teachings and philosophy offered in the Craft Lodge, through dramatic presentation of the individual degrees.
The seed of the myth of Stuart Jacobite influence on the higher degrees may have been a careless and unsubstantiated remark made by John Noorthouk in the 1784 Book of Constitutions of the Premier Grand Lodge of London. It was stated, without support, that King Charles II was made a Freemason in the Netherlands during the years of his exile. However, there were no documented lodges of Freemasons on the continent during those years; the statement may have been made to flatter the fraternity by claiming membership for a previous monarch. This folly was embellished by John Robison, a professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, in an anti-Masonic work published in 1797; the lack of scholarship exhibited by Robison in that work caused the Encyclopædia Britannica to denounce it. A German bookseller and Freemason, living in Paris, working under the assumed name of C. Lenning, embellished the story further in a manuscript titled "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry" written between 1822 and 1828 at Leipzig.
This manuscript was revised and published by another German Freemason named Friedrich Mossdorf. Lenning stated that King James II of England, after his flight to France in 1688, resided at the Jesuit College of Clermont, where his followers fabricated certain degrees for the purpose of carrying out their political ends. By the mid-19th century, the story had gained currency; the well-known English Masonic writer, Dr. George Oliver, in his Historical Landmarks, 1846, carried the story forward and claimed that King Charles II was active in his attendance at meetings—an obvious invention, for if it had been true, it would not have escaped the notice of the historians of the time; the story was repeated by the French writers Jean-Baptiste Ragon and Emmanuel Rebold, in their Masonic histories. Rebold's claim that the high degrees were created and practiced in Lodge Canongate Kilwinning at Edinburgh are false. James II died in 1701 at the Palace of St. Germain en Laye, was succeeded in his claims to the British throne by his son, James Francis Edward Stuart, the Chevalier St. George, better known as "the Old Pretender", but recognized as James III by the French King Louis XIV.
He was succeeded in his claim by Charles Edward Stuart known as "the Young Pretender", whose ultimate defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 put an end to any serious hopes of the Stuarts regaining the British crowns. The natural confusion between the names of the Jesuit College of Clermont, the short-lived Masonic Chapter of Clermont, a Masonic body that controlled a few high degrees during its brief existence, only served to add fuel to the myth of Stuart Jacobite influence in Freemasonry's high degrees. However, the College and the Chapter had nothing to do with each other; the Jesuit College was located at Clermont. Rather, it was named "Clermont" in honor of the French Grand Master, the Comte de Clermont, not because of any connection with the Jesuit College of Clermont. A French trader, by the name of Estienne Morin, had been involved in high-degree Masonry in Bordeaux since 1744 and, in 1747, founded an "Écossais" lodge in the city of Le Cap Français, on the north coast of the French colony of Saint-Domingue.
Over the next decade, high-degree Freemasonry was carried by French men to other cities in the Western hemisphere. The high-degree lodge at Bordeaux recognized seven Écossais lodges there. In Paris in the year 1761, a patent was issued to Estienne Morin, dated 27 August, creating him "Grand Inspector for all parts of the New World"; this Patent was signed by officials of the Grand Lodge at Paris and appears to have granted him power over the craft lodges only, not over the high, or "Écossais", degree lodges. Copies of this Patent appear to have been embellished by Morin, to improve his position over the high-degree lodges in the West Indies. Morin returned to the West Indies to Saint-Domingue. Based on his new Patent, he assumed powers to constitute lodges of all degrees, spreading the high degrees throughout the West Indies and North America. Morin stayed in Saint-Domingue until 1766. At Kingston, Jamaica, in 1770, Morin created a "Grand Chapter" of his new Rite (the Gr
Liberté chérie
Liberté chérie was one of the few Masonic lodges founded within a Nazi concentration camp during the Second World War. On November 15, 1943, seven Belgian Freemasons and resistance fighters founded the Masonic Lodge Loge Liberté chérie inside Hut 6 of Emslandlager VII; the name of the lodge was derived from La Marseillaise. The original seven Freemasons of Loge Liberté chérie were: Paul Hanson Luc Somerhausen Jean De Schrijver Jean Sugg Henri Story Amédée Miclotte Franz Rochat Guy HannecartThey initiated and raised Brother Fernand Erauw, another Belgian. According to M. Franz Bridoux, former prisoner in Esterwegen’s Hut 6, the founding members of Loge Liberté chérie were Rochat, Hannecart, Somerhausen and Miclotte. De Schrijver and M. Story arrived well after the establishment of the lodge and were not be founding members, but members only. Paul Hanson was elected master; the brethren met for lodge work in Hut 6 around a table, otherwise used for cartridge sorting. A Catholic priest stood watch, so that the brethren could hold their meetings, protected their secrecy.
Hut 6 was used for foreign Nacht und Nebel prisoners. The Emslandlagercamps were a group of camps whose history is represented by a permanent exhibition in the Documentation and Information Centre in Papenburg, Germany. Altogether 15 camps were established on the Netherlands border, with central administration in Papenburg. Luc Somerhausen described etc. as just as simple ceremonies. These ceremonies "took place at one of the tables.... after a highly simplified ritual—whose individual components were however explained to the initiate. More than hundred prisoners were in Hut 6, locked up nearly around the clock—allowed to leave only for a half-hour walk per day, under supervision. During the day, half of the camp had to sort cartridges and radio parts; the prisoners of the other half of the camp were forced to work under dreadful conditions in the surrounding peat bogs. The nutrition was so miserable that the prisoners lost on average 4 kilograms of body weight each month. After the first ritual meeting, with the admission of the new brother, further meetings were thematically prepared.
One was dedicated to the symbol of the Great Architect of the Universe, another to "the future of Belgium", a further one to "the position of women in Freemasonry". Only Somerhausen and Erauw survived detention, the lodge stopped "working" at the beginning of 1944. Lodge Master Paul Hanson was moved, died in the rubble of his prison, during an Allied air bombardment on Essen, on March 26, 1944. Jean Sugg and Franz Rochat, belonged to the Philanthropic Friends Lodge. Franz Rochat, a professor and director of an important pharmaceutical laboratory, was born on 10 March 1908 in Saint-Gilles, he was a worker in the underground press, the resistance publication Voice of the Belgians. He was arrested on 28 February 1942, arrived at Untermansfeld April 1944, died there on 6 April 1945. Jean Sugg was of Swiss German origin, he co-operated with Franz Rochat in the underground press, translated German and Swiss texts, contributed to clandestine publications, including, La Libre Belgique, La Légion Noire, Le Petit Belge, L'Anti Boche.
He died in a concentration camp on 8 February 1945. Amédée Miclotte was a high school teacher, he was born 20 December 1902 in Lahamaide, belonged to the lodge Union et Progrès. He was last seen in detention, on 8 February 1945. Jean De Schrijver, was a colonel in the Belgian Army, he was born 23 August 1893 in Aalst, was a brother of the lodge La Liberté in Ghent. On 2 September 1943 he was arrested on charges of espionage and possession of arms, died in February 1945. Henri Story was born on 27 November 1897 in Ghent, he was a member of the lodge Le Septentrion in Ghent. He died on 5 December 1944. Luc Somerhausen, a journalist, was born on 26 August 1903, in Hoeilaart, he was arrested on 28 May 1943 in Brussels. He was deputy secretary of the Grand Orient of Belgium. Fernand Erauw, an assessor at the Audit Office, reserve officer with the Infantry, was born on 29 January 1914, in Wemmel, he was arrested on 4 August 1942, as a member of the "Secret Army". He escaped and was arrested in 1943. Guy Hannecart a lawyer and leader of La Voix des Belges.
He was member of the lodge les Amis Philanthropes N°3. Survivors Erauw and Somerhausen met again 1944 in the Oranienburg Sachsenhausen concentration camp, remained inseparable from on. In the spring of 1945 they were involved in the death marches, although Erauw was 1.84 m tall, he weighed only 32 kg on 21 May 1945 — in the Saint Pierre Hospital in Brussels. In August 1945 Luc Somerhausen sent a detailed report to the grand master of the Grand Orient of Belgium, in which he delineated the history of the loge Liberté chérie. Luc Somerhausen died in 1982 at the age of 79; the last witness, Fernand Erauw, died at the age of 83, in 1997. A memorial, created by architect Jean de Salle, was raised by Belgian and German Freemasons on 13 November 2004, it is now part of the memorial site of the Esterwegen Cemetery. Wim Rutten, the grand master of the Belgian Federation of the Le Droit Humain said during an address: We are gathered here today on this Cemetery in Esterwegen, not to mourn, but to express free thoughts in public."
- "In memory of our brothers.
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the 