If it’s May, it must be time for the Livingston Library’s fifth lecture of 2018. From the publicity:
Last year, Freemasonry, as it exists today, arrived at its 300th anniversary. On June 24, 1717, four London lodges met to create the first grand lodge. Before that, Masonic lodges had existed, but mostly operated independently from each other. The new Grand Lodge of England provided Freemasonry with structure, common rules, visitation rights, and a modern philosophy: the Enlightenment. It was the beginnings of modern civil society.
Freemasonry introduced several concepts revolutionary for their time and place. Men were assessed by their merits, and not by their wealth or social status. Lodge leadership was elected, not hereditary. Members observed religious tolerance. Such ideas had a strong impact in the development of modern Western thought, as well as in the histories of many countries in Europe and the Americas.
The study of the history of Freemasonry has become an academic topic. CEHME (Centro de Estudios Históricos de la Masonería Española), a European academic organization, holds an international meeting every three years, most recently in Spain, and soon in Portugal. REHMLAC (Revista de Estudios Históricos de la Masonería Latinoamericana y Caribeña), a sister Latin American academic organization, also holds similar meetings. In the United States, UCLA also has held such seminars, among other academic institutions.
Bro. Romeu is a dual member of the Grand Lodge of New York and the Gran Logia Soberana de Puerto Rico. He is a Lodge member of Liverpool Syracuse Lodge 501, The American Lodge of Research, Western New York Lodge of Research, and Jose Celso Barbosa Logia 106 in Puerto Rico.
Jorge Luis Romeu |
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