‘The historic lodge without a grand lodge’

      

The seal of Holland Lodge 8, warranted September 20, 1787 when it worked the three degrees of Craft Masonry and the Mark Master Mason Degree. Its motto, ‘Deugd Zy Uw Cierrad,’ means ‘Virtue Is Your Jewel’ in the Low Dutch of that period.

I noticed fairly early in my studies of Freemasonry how its history generally is the story of Freemasons segregating themselves from other Freemasons. That is what 1717 was about. That’s what 1751 was about. Ditto the proliferation of the countless high degrees in Europe that century.

During the 1800s and closer to home, a series of schisms, rebellions, and flashpoints in New York Freemasonry made it simply miraculous that our fraternity survived intact by 1900. There was frictional competition for leadership between city and country lodges; there was one or two start-up grand lodges; they had various Scottish Rite factions; and in the back rooms, famous Masons who wielded great political power from their public offices battled each other within the fraternity. And, keep in mind, all the above happened during the same era that also saw the twenty or so years of collapse following the Morgan Scandal.

Absolute anarchy.

Amid these catastrophes, Holland Lodge 8, established 1787, saw reason to break from the Grand Lodge of New York and be at labor independently.

On Thursday, February 25, from 7 to 8 p.m., the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library will host a lecture online that will explain the unusual story of Holland’s secession.

From the publicity:

The Crane-Balestier Letters

by W. Bro. Bradley Corsello

This presentation will tell for the first time the complete story of Holland Lodge’s independence, introducing the Masons whose plots and intrigues nearly destroyed one of the oldest and most eminent lodges in New York City.

W. Corsello is a Past Master of Solomon’s Lodge 196 in Tarrytown. He also is a Royal Arch Mason in Ancient Chapter 1, and is a Prophet in Azim Grotto 7.

Admission is free. Register here.