‘About Last Night: The RAM° at Chapter No. 3’

    

Officers and new Royal Arch Masons yesternight.

Scratch another one off the bucket list!

Enjoyed a great time with Chapter No. 3 of Royal Arch Masons in Philadelphia last night to witness the RAM° à la the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania. After twenty-seven years in Capitular Masonry, I really ought to have witnessed this ritual already, but somehow never got to it, and resolved during the summer to correct that. Months ago, I contacted M.E. Eric C. Stahley, Grand H.P. of the Grand Chapter to ask if he knew of any upcoming RAM degrees in the eastern part of the Keystone State; he enlisted the help of R.E. Tony Dintino, DDGHP of the First Capitular; he put me in contact with both MEGHP Amit Vyas and Secretary Brendan Shaw of Chapter No. 3; and they explained how to score free parking in the Masonic Temple’s neighborhood on the night of November 4, when the degree was scheduled. (For a New York City Freemason, that is the epitome of the Red Carpet Treatment! Or scarlet, as the case may be.) My deep thanks to all.

The point was to experience something new and maybe discern whatever aspects would make the ritual different from what I’ve always known at Scott Chapter 4. (In York bodies, I’m still affiliated in New Jersey.) I likely missed a lot of those variations, because I’m no ritual expert and, honestly, it’s been a long while since I’ve seen a Royal Arch Degree. But, I know both Chapter No. 3 (1758 or ’67) and the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania (1795) were founded before the General Grand Chapter (1797) and remain independent from it, which could indicate variations between No. 3’s rituals and those I know. And so there were.

A view of the stained glass in the South.

One huge distinction between the two systems is the VPM°. It’s no secret how Pennsylvania does without it, and I’ve long thought it is an extraneous step along the path that ought to be retired. Even the Chapter Opening differs. For example, when we grouped into threes to form the arch, the physical aspects were consistent, but some of the spoken words (not The Word) were not the same, so I was a little tongue tied at that moment. I was impressed to see thirty of us present, which made for even grouping into trios.

In the English system, Royal Arch aprons show a pattern of blue and red, symbolizing the continuity of lodge and chapter.

The officers did not speak their duties. In regalia, I was pleased to see the companions clothed in the English style. No. 3 does descend from the Ancients, not General Grand, after all.

‘It’s a beautiful room, but the acoustics are horrible,’ said one ritualist. He has a point! Voices seem to rise to the 52-foot ceiling. Unless a speaker faces you, it is hard to hear him.

They have veils, not banners, which is fair considering they meet in Renaissance Hall, the Masonic Temple’s Royal Arch room. The upholstery of the Grand Masters’ chairs are color coordinated with those veils but, again, Renaissance Hall.

Joshua has loomed above the East since 1906. 

The MEGHP in the East has the M.E. in his title, whereas New Jersey did away with that in recent years due to the bureaucratic mentality that shapes decisions there.

After the new Royal Arch Masons are instructed in the East, they are put through ritual movements I don’t think I’ve seen before. I’ll liken them to calisthenics. Not physically taxing, and I was too far away to hear what was said during, but it looked interesting. (Inadvertently reminds of the talk I used to give on mindfulness techniques for the lodge—even presented it inside Norman Hall in 2015.)

In the West. A painting of The Evangelist is above. December 27 is the red-letter date of Pennsylvania Royal Arch Masonry.

Some of the officer stations are different; three are seated in the West, which I think is consistent with Craft lodges there.

One illicit thing I was sorry to see, but it’s ubiquitous: Masons under age forty who cannot put away their phones. Placed in a triangular form about me were youngish Royal Arch companions who were texting or whatever the whole night. Again, it’s nothing new or unique to any single place, but I wonder why they attend if their phones mentally transport them away. I’m there, feeling like I am witnessing history: visiting a chapter older than our country; sitting in Renaissance Hall, where the Grand Chapter has been meeting for a century and a half, and where countless MEMs have been exalted; and witnessing the RAM°—but I digress.

The Seal of Solomon in the crown of the ceiling.

Before the degree, the elected officer positions for the ensuing year were sorted out; the junior Past HP received his PHP apron; and a certificate for achievement in education was presented.

Outside Renaissance Hall.

I arrived too late to join for dinner—had to finagle some time off from work to get there at all. Anyway, here is a little early history of Chapter No. 3 excerpted from the Grand Chapter’s 1870 book of proceedings:

The destruction of the Masonic Hall, by fire, in the year 1819, caused great loss to the Masons of Pennsylvania, in the burning of nearly all their old records. From the minutes of the Royal Arch Lodge, No. 3, and the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, we have gleaned the following up to December 1812, from which time the records of the Grand Chapter are perfect. It is with great pleasure that we are able to present records which prove beyond question that Chapter No. 3, (now Jerusalem Chapter, No. 3,) of Philadelphia, is the oldest Royal Arch Chapter in the United States, and that the Grand Holy Royal Arch Chapter of Pennsylvania was the first Grand Chapter organized in this country.

   

The earliest records of Royal Arch Lodge, No. 3, now in the possession of Lodge No. 3, dated December 3, 1767, read, “that the minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved;” thus showing that there was an older book of minutes which had been mislaid or destroyed. The minutes of Lodge No. 3 are perfect and complete from December 3, 1767, to the present date. The Ahiman Rezon, edition of 1825, page 79, says: “The first Royal Arch Chapter [in] America of which we possess a particular account is that held in Pennsylvania, anterior to the year 1758. This Chapter, working under the warrant of No. 3, was recognized by and had communion with a Military Chapter, working under a warrant 351, granted by the Grand Lodge of England; and its proceedings were subsequently approved by that honorable body, as appears from a communication from its Deputy Grand Master Dermott.”

   

The records of the Grand Lodge show that, on November 23, 1795, the Grand Chapter was opened under the immediate sanction of the Grand Lodge. The Grand Chapter met under the above sanction until January 5, 1824, at which time it became independent.

View of the Masonic Temple from the top
of the parking deck.

I don’t know when, but Jerusalem Chapter 3 dropped its proper noun name and reverted to its numeric name.

Here’s a 47-second video depicting Renaissance Hall: