‘Masonic treasures on display’

    

Magpie coverage of Grotto Week in New Orleans is forthcoming, I promise, but let me just publish another time sensitive post before I delve into a ton of photos and memories.

Two of New York Freemasonry’s most treasured sites will be open to visiting groups later this month.

MCC photo

Next Monday, the 17th, the Landmarks Society of Greater Utica will gather at the Daniel D. Tompkins Memorial Chapel in Utica. The Masonic Chapel Walk and Talk will be guided by Mara Mulligan.

Everyone will meet in the parking lot of the chapel (2150 Bleecker St.), located on Grand Lodge’s Masonic Care Community campus, at six o’clock for the 90-minute tour.

Donations are welcome. Click here.

On Sunday, June 23, New York Adventure Club will spend a few hours inside Masonic Hall in Manhattan (71 W. 23rd St.), the headquarters of Grand Lodge. From the publicity:

What do notable New Yorkers like John Jacob Astor, Harry Houdini, and New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia all have in common? The answer: They were members of Freemasonry, the world’s first and largest fraternity dating back to the 1600s.

From separating fact from fiction behind this members-only organization, to exploring more than a dozen breathtaking spaces that have been painstakingly restored to their original grandeur, it’s time to uncover the secrets behind one of New York City’s most unique buildings like never before.

Join New York Adventure Club for a special access trip through the historic Masonic Hall, the headquarters of the Freemasons’ Grand Lodge of New York since 1873. Led by one of the New York Grand Lodge’s most senior members, this rare two-hour weekend experience through many of the Masonic Hall rooms will include:

🎩 An overview of the history and concepts of Masonry

🎩 The story of Masonic Hall and why it was completely rebuilt in 1911 as a towering 19-story building

🎩 A look inside nearly a dozen meeting rooms and their eclectic architectural styles, such as the Renaissance Room, Ionic Room, and French Doric Room

🎩 A special visit to the Hollender Room, featuring a two-story vaulted ceiling, subtle Mayan and Incan motifs, leaded glass bookcases containing rare books, and a statue of George Washington (a Freemason himself!)

🎩 Famous Freemasons who visited Masonic Hall since the late 19th century, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt

🎩 A trip to the famed Grand Lodge Room, a masterpiece of design containing iconic stained glass windows and other elements that are believed to have influenced the design of the ill-fated Titanic

🎩 A discussion of the Library and Museum within Masonic Hall. Open during weekdays, these rooms house rare Masonic books, artifacts, and regalia that offer a glimpse into the cultural and historical contributions of the Freemasons.

Cost per person: $39.98. Begins at two o’clock. Click here.

If you cannot attend this time, the group will do it again on Sunday, July 21 at 2 p.m.

     

‘Masonic Hall wins award, plans for upgrades’

    

Hoffman Architects + Engineers

Our beloved Masonic Hall is making news.

The headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York, located on Twenty-Third Street in Manhattan, is a winner of the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award for 2024. The New York Landmarks Conservancy’s 34th annual awards night on April 10 was a sell-out with 600 attendees at the Plaza. Masonic Hall was among fifteen properties honored with the Conservancy’s top honor for preservation.

The improvements to the building included replacement of the roof and repair of the building façade, all completed last year. Just speaking as a nobody, it was great to see, at last, the removal of the scaffolding that had enveloped our home for so many years.

Also newsworthy is the Masonic Hall and Home Trustees’ recent decision to convert 71 West 23rd Street from Class B office space to Class A. This will be a big undertaking, as the differences between B and A are substantial. Class A spaces are prized and command premium prices per square foot.

For those who do not understand, Masonic Hall actually is two buildings. Our lodges meet in the building fronted on Twenty-Fourth Street. The Twenty-Third Street property is where many commercial tenants lease their office spaces. With extensive capital improvements, rents will increase sharply, and I have to assume a fancier character of rental client will replace our current neighbors. The point of it all is to create capital to develop Masonic Care Communities around the state. (There had been a few other plans under review, including turning our godsend parking lot into either office space or 460 apartments, but these were shelved.)

I think it’s amazing how a building nearing its 115th birthday can be improved and kept relevant in the Manhattan cityscape.

     

‘A serious alarm at the outer door’

    

Michael LaRocco

Information is scant, so pardon the sensationalism of this edition of The Magpie Mason, but an act of vandalism at Masonic Hall tonight is impossible to ignore. VW Bro. Michael LaRocco, Executive Director of the Livingston Library, posted the photos above on social media a short time ago with the explanation that a homeless person broke the glass in one of the leaves of the revolving door at the main entrance.

I’ll share more information if any becomes known.

You might recall the attempted firebombing of the building on October 8, 2019, when an unidentified man tossed an ineffective molotov cocktail at the 24th Street door. No injuries or damage that time.

The rot of this city is evident in thousands of ways.

     

‘A new look for Masonic Hall’

    

Masonic Hall has been behind scaffolding for so long—I really don’t recall how many years (six?)—that some of us may have forgotten what it looks like!

Bro. John Wayne quotation.

These scaffolding companies that blight the city leave their property on work sites long after the labors are completed because, basically, it’s just cheaper and easier to leave them, rather than deconstruct, truck off, stow away, and relocate & reassemble when needed next. There’s really nothing you can do about it.

Bro. Theodore Roosevelt quotation.

But it’s finally gone, and the coolest building straddling the Flatiron and Chelsea neighborhoods is unobstructed. To celebrate the return to normalcy, the Masonic Hall Trustees, acting through board member RW Michael Siegel and Ms. Nikole Kniesel, Director of Marketing and Special Events at Masonic Care-New Rochelle, have given the facade a new look. And in time for Grand Lodge’s 241st Annual Communication Monday too.

Grand Master Richard J. Kessler quotation.

Photos courtesy RW George Filippidis, Trustee.

Bro. Ray Robinson quotation.

      

‘Dusting off the Pot of Incense’

    

Magpie file photo

For the second time in two weeks, the Master of my lodge called on me to lead an educational discussion for the brethren. This is a very singular occurrence! Publicity Lodge actually didn’t hold an in-person meeting last night, opting instead for a Zoom gathering as New York City adjusts to the latest virus variant. (Only a few of us seem to understand how these variants will vary in perpetuity, so we might as well resume normalcy, but that’s another story.) Because my talk on mindfulness exercise last month on St. John’s Day went over okay, I thought I should double down and dust off my old presentation on the Pot of Incense as a Masonic symbol.

Actually, this was an abbreviated version of the original, at about half the length, that I had to read because it had been so many years since I last presented it. Rather than summarize it for you here, I hoped to link to some previous edition of The Magpie Mason that spells it all out, but I guess I never wrote that blog post. All I got is this from ten years ago. But “The Emblem of a Pure Heart” gives a history of incense’s ritual usages, several verses from the Hebrew Bible, bits of arcane Masonic rituals, quotations from natural philosophers of centuries past, and some suggestions for how to incorporate the burning of incense in our lodge meetings today—and that’s when things got interesting.

The brethren love the idea of adding a gentle amount of frankincense aroma at the Inner Door, when the candidate enters the worshipful lodge, and again at the altar upon being obligated. I made the case for the sense of smelling, in addition to being explained in the lecture of the Second Degree, also is a catalyst for recollecting vivid memories. One of the brethren listening said there are scientific data linking olfactory stimuli to the eliciting of old memories. So I’m envisioning our use of incense will plant meaningful impressions in our initiates that will re-emerge every time that familiar scent appears, and that all the brethren will share the experience.

While I was speaking, the Brother Secretary went online and procured a gizmo that vaporizes frankincense oil, so we’ll be able to enjoy the aroma, but without generating any smoke. (One of our most venerable Past Masters explained that it is possible to have our smoke detectors switched off temporarily, but it’s a complicated arrangement requiring the building management’s attention. The vaporizer will more than suffice.) My personal preference would be to load my censer with smoldering charcoal and roasting resins to fill the space with glorious plumes of aromatic smoke—but I can’t because I don’t own the place.

While preparing for last night’s discussion, I hacked away at the text to make it somewhat brief, and I deleted information I ought to have kept, and I kept stuff I could have done without. I omitted Thomas Reid(!) on the sense of smell, but retained Rene Descartes, when I should have done the reverse. Small matter. What’s more important is Publicity Lodge will initiate four petitioners on February 7 with an enhanced ambiance that further emphasizes the crossing into a new community, a new consciousness.

Maybe one future night, after I’m long gone, one of these Apprentices (perhaps a Past Grand Master by then) will attend a degree at Publicity, and will be returned to that first Monday of February 2022 thanks to a familiar scent—coming from some AI app downloaded into his olfactory cortex.

My thanks to Worshipful Master Diego and to all the brethren. I feel like I finally accomplished something in Freemasonry.

     

‘Candidates in waiting’

    

Gothic Room in Masonic Hall. (GLNY photo)

Before the pandemic screwed up everything, my lodge had a dozen petitioners in waiting for the mysteries of Freemasonry. On Monday, at last, Publicity 1000 will bring eight of these gentlemen to see the Light by which Masons work.

Not gonna finesse the truth here; this is going to be logistically tricky. We’ll be at labor in the Gothic Room on 12.

At the dinner hour, we will retire to the second floor, to 2 East, to enjoy the Time of Refreshment together. The dining fee costs just $20 this time, which we collect only in advance. Click here to book your seat.

Magpie file photo

In other Publicity Lodge “news,” I shot this photo at Masonic Week 2010 at a time when Toye, Kenning, and Spencer endeavored to launch a Toye USA division to compete in America. This was five years before I became a member of the lodge, but I was interested in pursuing affiliation, and in fact was kicking myself long ago for failing to act then. Long story. Anyway, I wonder about the availability of these items, but recent attempts to learn from TKS are futile. You just cannot get a reply from this company.

     

‘Celebrate 15 years of OHNY at Masonic Hall’

     

Open House New York is an annual city-wide event in which hundreds of landmarks and other notable properties are made open to the public—or made more open than is usual—so the curious may enjoy tours highlighting architecture, art, décor, and history. Masonic Hall, featuring all the above in abundance, is a generous participant, and it will be there that OHNY will throw its Spring Benefit later this month. From the publicity:

Open House New York

15th Anniversary Spring Benefit

Monday, May 15 at 7 p.m.

Masonic Hall

71 West 23rd Street

Manhattan

Tickets here

Since 2003, Open House New York Weekend has opened thousands of buildings across New York City to educate and engage the public about architecture, urban design, and the future of the city.

The 15th Anniversary Spring Benefit will be held in the legendary Masonic Hall, one of a handful of sites that has opened its doors for OHNY Weekend every year since the first. Following cocktails in the Grand Lodge Room, guests will sit down to dinner in one of several exuberantly decorated rooms that Open House New York will open for the evening.

Please join us in celebrating the importance of openness and access to a vibrant civic life.

Click to enlarge.

How many rooms in Masonic Hall can you identify from the little images in the background?

Open House New York is the second city, following London, of what has become a worldwide movement to engage a broad public in a conversation about architecture, public space, and the future of urban life. Open House London was founded by Victoria Thornton in 1992. Thornton’s motivation was a simple one: open to the public the buildings that Londoners walk past everyday and in doing so foster a greater appreciation of the built environment. The Open House model was transferred to New York City in 2001 by OHNY founder Scott Lauer, a volunteer for Open House London before returning to his native United States. Taking shape in the months and years immediately following September 11, 2001, OHNY became an important platform for celebrating New York at a critical moment in its history. At a time when much of the city was closing itself off through increased security measures, OHNY offered a countervailing force, one that advocated for openness and access as key components of an enlightened and vibrant civic life. There are now more than thirty Open House cities around the world, ranging from Tel Aviv to Barcelona to Melbourne. Each Open House city is run as an independent organization but all adhere to a shared set of values and ideals.
The first Open House New York Weekend was held in 2003 as part of the city’s first Architecture Week. With the help of three hundred volunteers, the first OHNY Weekend included 84 sites in all five boroughs. Since the inaugural year, the event has grown exponentially, increasing its outreach and audience participation; the number of sites, talks and tours; and developing additional thematic and interpretive programming. The 2015 OHNY Weekend had more than 250 participating sites and tours with an estimated 80,000 visitors and more than 1,200 registered volunteers.

In addition to OHNY Weekend, Open House New York organizes year-round programs that extend the conversation that begins during the two days of the Weekend. Programs include the Projects in Planning lecture series, which explores the design process and unique challenges involved with designing and building large-scale projects in the contemporary city; the Field Guide series, in which a variety of architecturally and culturally significant sites in one neighborhood welcome visitors over the course of a Saturday afternoon to explore how different uses of space work in concert to create a sense of place and local identity; and the ongoing Urban Systems Series, year-long thematic programs that explore important issues in New York City’s built environment, from manufacturing, to food, to waste. Open House New York’s year-round programs are a significant platform for fostering discussion about how the city might take shape in the years ahead, and address issues including planning, preservation, infrastructure, and contemporary design.
     

‘Livingston Library lecture and debut of Ari’s Art’

     
The lecture series at the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of the Grand Lodge of New York will continue in three weeks with the return of Bro. Ari Roussimoff, who will discuss the Masonic inspirations behind his paintings, and will unveil a new painting. From the publicity:

Ari Roussimoff Lecture and Exhibit

Thursday, April 27 at 6:30 p.m.

Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Library

Masonic Hall

71 West 23rd Street, 14th floor

Manhattan

Magpie file photo

Ari Roussimoff, a critically acclaimed painter and film director, has been called one of the most prolific and creative artists of his generation. His paintings of Russian, Ukrainian, and symbolic Masonic themes have earned him much praise. Early on, his work was even lauded by the modern art masters Marc Chagall and Oskar Kokoschka. Having become a Freemason in 2002, he has devoted many paintings to Masonic subjects. Inspired by Freemasonry and its rich symbols, he incorporates Masonic ideas and philosophies into uniquely imaginative compositions. In addition, Roussimoff has revived painted Masonic aprons, embedding them with his very own artistic vision.

He will be speaking about how the symbols and ideals of Freemasonry have given him the inspiration to create artwork that integrates the Masonic spirit into an altogether universal context. Roussimoff will also be debuting his newest Masonic artwork.

Seating is very limited, so please RSVP here.

We serve white wine and water at our lectures. Note: Photo ID is required to enter Masonic Hall.


In other library and museum news, an exhibit will be installed on the ground floor of Masonic Hall to present a sampling of the Livingston Library’s massive collection of Masonic aprons. Click here to see more. Click here to see Catherine Walter’s blog post introducing the exhibit. (Photos courtesy Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library.)

 

  

‘Livingston Library’s March lecture’

     
The Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of the Grand Lodge of New York hosts a monthly lecture series on Thursday nights to the delight of standing room only audiences and for the betterment of the Craft. On March 30 at 6:30, the library will welcome to the lectern William M. Sardone, grand master of DeMolay International. The library is located on the 14th floor of Masonic Hall (71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan). From the publicity:

Courtesy DeMolay International

Order of DeMolay Grand Master Bill Sardone

at the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Library.

The Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of the Grand Lodge of New York is extremely proud to welcome William M. Sardone, Grand Master, DeMolay International, who will speak about the history of the medieval Knight Templar after whom the Order of DeMolay is named.

Jacques DeMolay lived from 1244-1314, and joined the Knights Templar, a group of “warrior monks” who were charged by the Catholic Church to protect pilgrims to Jerusalem, and who also fought in the Crusades. Eventually, the Knights Templar became very wealthy, and were targeted by local lords, who won from the Church condemnation of the order in 1312. Jacques DeMolay remained loyal to his fellow Knights, even under pain of torture. He was burned at the stake and became a symbol of loyalty and friendship.

The Order of DeMolay is a Masonic youth group founded in 1919. It is open to young men between the ages of 12 and 21. In order to join, the young men must also be of good moral character. They must also believe in a supreme being, with all religions welcome.

RW William M. Sardone is credited with the revitalization of the Order of DeMolan New York State, and was elected as the Grand Master of DeMolay International in June of 2016. He has served on the following Boards: NYC Business Advisory Council, NYC Department of Education, President Executive Board of AT&T Northeast Chapter Pioneers, Executive Board of New York Junior Achievement, Associate Board of USO and Harlem Boys and Girls Club. In addition, Sardone served 38 years in the U.S. Army Active and Reserves, receiving numerous medals and commendations. He also has more than 30 years experience in established and start-up companies, and credits his DeMolay foundation for his success.

Seating is limited. Please RSVP here.

White wine will be served.

Photo ID is required to enter the building.

The timing is right! Remember March 18 is the anniversary of DeMolay’s execution in Paris. I hope that white wine ain’t French!

     

‘Amity for Masons wherever dispersed’

     

Saturday brought the long-awaited and highly anticipated Webmasters Conference at Masonic Hall in New York City. Brothers Ken, Stephen, and Brad provided a great experience where dozens of attendees learned about the practical thinking that goes into the great responsibility of hosting a website for a Masonic lodge, or district of lodges, or other Masonic group. This was a Digital Square Club event.

Diverse matters, varying from how to create a website, to what Grand Lodge expects of those websites operated by its constituent lodges, to cyber-security, with breakout sessions on public relations and social media, were hungrily received by the audience. Grand Lodge VIPs, including the Grand Treasurer, provided insights into GLNY’s specific requirements on sometimes misunderstood aspects of media management, such as photography inside the lodge room. Having a background in media myself, I don’t benefit from the Masonic Public Relations Handbook provided there as much as I do from hearing from Bro. Ed, chairman of the Technology Committee, about the Grand Lodge’s best practices on website maintenance. Some of it is common sense (e.g. no political endorsements), but some of it is not so obvious to those, like me, who are new to New York Masonry. (The Magpie Mason is not an official New York Masonry website. I’m not sure it’s on their radar screen.)

But one particular revelation from the day stands out for me. Two Freemasons have designed an app that puts considerable information power in your pocket. Named Amity, this technology is highly secure, available free of charge, and can provide global connectivity for brethren wherever dispersed over the face of the earth and water.

From communication needs of the lodge secretary to security assistance for the tiler, Amity can add a new dimension to lodge governance while also helping sojourning Masons locate meetings of regular lodges anywhere.

Read all about it here.
     

‘Town Hall at Masonic Hall next week’

     
Bro. Charles Catapano, the Right Worshipful Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York, will host a Town Hall meeting next week for the discussion of his and the brethren’s concerns and ideas on the state of the Craft and on best ways to affect improvements.

Tuesday, January 31
7:30 p.m.
Masonic Hall
71 West 23rd Street
Grand Lodge Room
New York City
Light refreshments to be served

I don’t know how common a practice this is among Masonic jurisdictions across the country, but an open forum to hear from and talk to elected leaders—particularly your future grand masters—can go a long way toward readying your lodge for the next several years.
     

‘Congratulations in the Glorious Fourth’

     

Click to enlarge.

I cannot attend the festivities tomorrow night, so I want to extend my best wishes to the four honorees, who will be reinvested with the regalia of their offices, in a black tie gala at Masonic Hall hosted by the Fourth Manhattan District.

In New York Freemasonry, those who attain grand rank receive their aprons and other regalia upon being installed in office, and there also are local celebrations, where the regalia is re-presented in a setting their lodge brethren and loved ones may attend more conveniently.

I’m happy for you all. See you Monday at Publicity.
     

‘Light! Camera! Aprons!’

     
What a great night at Masonic Hall underway now! As this edition of The Magpie Mason goes to press, a film crew from Pinstripe Productions Ltd. from Glasgow is filming inside the Livingston Library for an upcoming BBC Scotland documentary on Robert Burns and the importance of Freemasonry to his life and work, but just a little more than an hour ago they were filming a group of us making believe we were in lodge assembled for a philosophical discussion.

Forget Hollywood glitz, this is Glasgow glamour!

The production company contacted Grand Lodge a week ago to express its desire to include New York Masons in this documentary to illustrate how Burns’ poetry is beloved in America. None other than RW Bro. Piers Vaughan—a U.S. citizen with a Brighton accent—was put in command of organizing this thing. (He has experience managing CBS News in Masonic Hall.) So, after securing the permission of the Grand Master, of the Masonic Hall Trustees, and, most importantly, of the building management staff, he was able to corral everybody inside the Empire Room on 12, while securing the altar cloth (but no Washington Bible) and regalia of venerable St. John’s Lodge No. 1 so we’d all look good. We’re told this will be broadcast in the United Kingdom next Burns Night.

As I mentioned, the crew is now in the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library interviewing Librarian Morgan Aronson and Curator Catherine Walter on the library’s various Rabbie Burns artifacts and books, but for our segment, we were seated in the Empire Room for a talk on the Masonic symbolism of the Number 3.

Piers, standing, addresses the East, with RW Jim,
RW Earnest, and Bro. Parker listening.

It was great fun. Nothing was scripted, and I think about 20 of us took turns to be upstanding for the Worshipful Master, holding the Sign of Fidelity, and expounding on the various meanings the Number 3 has to the Masonic Order.

Our impromptu Junior Warden.

I didn’t take a lot of notes because we were supposed to look natural, but the discussion ranged from religious trios (Father, Son, Holy Spirit; Osiris, Isis, Horus) to Masonic ritual (three degrees, three ancient grand masters, three to open a lodge, “three distinct knocks,” three raps of the gavel, etc., etc.) to Craft symbolism (three stages of life, the Trivium, three symbolic supports, Theological Virtues, etc., etc.) and a lot more, even from outside the fraternity, such as the three equal branches of American governance. None of this has anything directly to do with Robert Burns, Freemasonry’s Poet Laureate, but the point was to display to the television audience how a Masonic lodge functions. The more than half-hour discussion probably will be distilled to a half-minute clip in the final production, I’d guess.

Later someone noted there were 33 of us in the meeting!

At some point during the exhibition, The Magpie Mason rose, stood on the Sign of Fidelity, and suggested:

Worshipful Master, in Freemasonry we see the Freemason himself embodying the Number 3. By symbolically being the Rough Ashlar in need of moral improvement; and by being the builder himself who endeavors that work; and finally by becoming the Perfect Ashlar at the end of life’s labors, it is Masonic Man who is the Number 3.

(When it looked as though things were winding down, I also offered: “This is off topic, but when we get to the Festive Board, we will charge our cannons and fire three times,” hoping for more of a laugh than I got!)

WHY IN THE EAST?—Wearing a kilt tonight got
you plum seating for the shoot!

So, those of you in the U.K. should expect to see us, however briefly, on January 25, 2017—Burns Night. Maybe the program will make it to American viewers on one of the BBC cable channels eventually.

God, I love New York Freemasonry.
     

‘This lodge is your lodge’

     
The Fourth Manhattan District, known among New York Masons as “The Capital of the Metropolitan Districts,” includes a fascinating diversity of Craft lodges. For starters, there is my own lodge, Publicity 1000, and amid the others is historic St. Cecile Lodge 568—known as The Lodge of the Arts. It meets in the early afternoon because its brethren are employed in the evenings performing the theater, music, etc. of the New York City nightlife that brings us all together.

There will be a special program before its next meeting on Tuesday. From the publicity:

Our upcoming Stated Communication on Tuesday, October 4 at 1 p.m. will be preceded by a Lodge of the Arts tribute honoring Woody Guthrie’s birthday, “This Land is Your Land.” While Guthrie was not a Free and Accepted Mason (to the best of our knowledge), he certainly was a traveling man among Traveling Men, a troubadour for “brotherhood, freedom, and equality,” in solidarity with Kindred Souls & Brothers of the Craft, such as John Steinbeck.

That’s Masonic Hall, at 71 West 23rd Street, in the Empire Room on 12. (Security is pretty tight these days, so bring ID and proof of Masonic membership.)
     

‘Scottish Masonic 2° in NYC next week’

     
Just because it’s July don’t mean there’s nothing cool going on in Freemasonry in New York City.

Mariners Lodge 67 in the venerable First Manhattan District will host brethren from Lodge Greenock Kilwinning XII, from the arguably even more venerable Grand Lodge of Scotland, July 13 for an exemplification of their Scottish Fellow Craft Degree and the customary awesome Mariners Festive Board. And, remember, Scottish Freemasonry has no standardized rituals, so there is no guessing what we will see here.

From the publicity:


You are cordially and fraternally invited to the Lodge’s upcoming Special Communication and Maritime Festive Board.

Wednesday, July 13 at 7 p.m.

Masonic Hall

Doric Room, eighth floor

71 West 23rd Street

Manhattan

Work of the Evening: Exemplification of a Scottish Fellow Craft Degree by Lodge Greenock Kilwinning XII.

This meeting is open to Master Masons and Fellow Crafts only. Black Tie for officers and Black Tie or Business Formal for Brethren.

Captain Cook had yet to discover the Antipodes, and Culloden was still eighteen years away when the first meeting of Lodge Greenock Kilwinning No. XII was held in the hostelry of vintner Robert Moor on The Feast of St John, on 27 December 1728. No. XII was represented at the institution of the Grand Lodge of Scotland at Mary’s Chapel, Edinburgh, on 30 November 1736. The lodge received its charter from the Grand Lodge of Scotland on 12 October 1737, with the number on the roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland based on the date of the first meeting of the lodge.

In the two hundred and seventy-five years and more of its existence, Lodge Greenock Kilwinning No. XII has been proud to count among its members aristocrats, captains of industry, provosts, ministers of religion, servicemen, tradesmen, magistrates, butchers, clerks, lawyers, and many others from all walks of life. All have had but one aim in view: to promote the fundamentals of our order—Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth.

Maritime Festive Board Menu: Seared Flank Steak, Garlic Chicken, Slow-Roasted Marinated Pork Shoulder, Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Chopped Salad, Buttermilk Biscuits, Assorted Cannoli, Sodas, Water, Wine, and Flowing Bowls of the Infamous 19th Century Mariners Punch.

Cost of the Festive Board is $35, plus transaction fees. Click here to purchase a reservation via the Mariners Lodge web portal.

(More than a quarter of the available seats are sold out already as I post this on Saturday morning, so don’t delay! Special dietary concerns can be accommodated.)

     

‘Angel Millar lecture at Livingston Masonic Library next month’

     

Bro. Angel Millar will present a lecture July 28 on “Freemasonry and Traditionalism in the East and West” at the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of the Grand Lodge of New York.

7 p.m. on the 14th floor of Masonic Hall, at 71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan.

Millar is a Masonic researcher and author whose books include Freemasonry: Foundation of the Western Esoteric Tradition and The Crescent and the Compass. He is a member of The American Lodge of Research as well.

Don’t forget RW Bro. Jean-Luc Leguay’s lecture tomorrow night. And be sure to check out the library’s newly redesigned and more functional website.
     

‘Livingston Masonic Library on the radio’

     

Last Sunday, WFDU broadcast an interview with the librarian and the curator of the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of the Grand Lodge of New York.

Click here to listen to the 30-minute chat.

Every Mason should visit this amazing resource, if you can. Hours are:

8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; and noon to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

That’s the 14th floor of Masonic Hall, located at 71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan.
     

‘See Eleven Beatus on Tuesday’

     
In other Jean-Luc Leguay news, word comes from Bro. Francis Dumaurier of a special night planned for Tuesday in his lodge.

Special presentation of “Eleven Beatus”

by Bro. Jean-Luc Leguay

Tuesday, June 21 at 6 p.m.

l’Union Française Lodge 17

Masonic Hall

71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan

French Doric Room, 10th floor

The lodge will host Bro. Leguay for a presentation of “Eleven Beatus,” the work created by the Master Illuminator in tribute to those killed on September 11, 2001.

Leguay, already a famous choreographer and director of several great theaters and operas in France and Italy, developed a passion for the art of manuscript illumination, a tradition dating to the eighth century. He started to study in 1980 with a hermit in southern Italy, who taught him the craft secrets of this sacred art that incorporates symbolism, colors, and geometry.

After he had learned to master the skills necessary to select the proper parchment materials, the techniques of making his own colors from organic sources, and the art of painting his subjects, the artist gradually began to dedicate his life entirely to this craft when his teacher passed away in 1990.

More biographical details, as well as splendid examples of his work, can be seen here.

“Eleven Beatus” will be on display for all to see while the artist introduces it from his own personal perspective. There will also be other masterpieces on display as well as a copy of the amazing 64-page manuscript of paintings that enlighten the theme of “Initiation.”

Bro. Leguay is a Mason at labor in Giordano Bruno Lodge 181 under the Grande Loge Nationale Française, and his presentation will be in French. All present will have the opportunity to shake his hand, view the masterpieces, and receive one of the souvenir tricolor coins which were recently minted for UF17.

The meeting will be tiled but the Great Lights will be lowered to the First Degree in Masonry during his presentation so that Entered Apprentices and Fellow-Crafts may attend.

A post-meeting three course dinner with wine will follow on the 15th floor in the French style of our very own Executive Chef, W. Daniel Monneaux, DSA. The cost will be a minimal, all-inclusive $40 (cash only) per person. Reservations for this dinner are required, and can be made with the lodge secretary here.