‘Quatuor Coronati Conference 2018 in Virginia’

     
Today is the feast day of the Four Crowned Martyrs, so what better time to share the news of the 2018 Quatuor Coronati Conference planned for the George Washington Masonic National Memorial?

A call for papers has been published. From the publicity:

Magpie file photo

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial.
(Yes, National is back in the name.)

Quatuor Coronati Conference:

Freemasons in the Transatlantic World

During the Long Eighteenth Century

September 14-16, 2018

George Washington Masonic National Memorial

Alexandria, Virginia

CALL FOR PAPERS

Subject Fields: History, Freemasonry, Eighteenth Century, Biography, Prosopography

Sponsors: Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association

Title: The Academic Committee of the 2018 Quatuor Coronati Conference, co-sponsored by Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 of the United Grand Lodge of England, and the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association, invite proposals for papers presenting new research in the form of biographical or prosopographical findings in the history of Anglo-American Freemasonry during the long eighteenth century, including studies of Freemasons in or from Britain, Ireland, all of North America and the Caribbean. Early and mid-career academics are particularly encouraged to apply, though proposals from senior and independent scholars are also welcomed.

Abstracts/proposals of up to 500 words, along with a brief CV, should be submitted in the body of an e-mail to Susan Sommers here with “QC 2018” in the subject line.

The closing date for submissions is May 1, 2017.

And if that isn’t enough QC2076 news for you, I just learned from W. Gerald Reilly, everybody’s favorite from the ML group, that he will attend Quatuor Coronati tonight to receive the Norman B. Spencer Prize(!) for his paper: “Urbanization of Harwich and Freemasonry.”

Congratulations, my venerable and beloved brother!

       

‘Calvi and P2 Lodge topics next month’

     
Bro. Michael Kearsley, who served the United Grand Lodge of England as its Prestonian Lecturer in 2014, will return to New Jersey next month for another speaking engagement. On the first Saturday of December every year, the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of New Jersey hosts its Feast of St. John, which is highlighted by a keynote speaker. Rarely is there a Masonic topic—if I’m not mistaken, 2007 was the last such talk, delivered by Chris Hodapp, which was the only of these events that I’ve attended—but Bro. Kearsley is slated to break with form and present something of important and odd Masonic history.

Feast of St. John

Saturday, December 5

Social Hour at 5:30

Dinner at 6:45

Program at Eight

Fellowship Center

1114 Oxmead Road

Burlington, New Jersey

$45 per person

RSVP no later than Friday. Tables for eight or ten guests can be booked. Phone 609.239.3950, and have your credit card ready.

RW Michael Kearsley

RW Bro. Michael Kearsley will speak on “The Roberto Calvi Affair.” In addition to his Prestonian tenure, Bro. Kearsley served as the Right Worshipful Grand Orator of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Middlesex, and is a Past Master of four lodges, and is secretary of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076. His research is widely published—one paper garnered QC2076’s Norman Spencer Prize—and he is editor of The Square, among other distinctions.

Roberto Calvi, nicknamed “God’s Banker,” was murdered in outlandish circumstances in 1982 after being at the center of the billion dollar mafia-Vatican bank collapse that is said to have involved a Masonic lodge named Propaganda Due, or P2 for short.

Don’t Google it. Let Bro. Kearsley’s telling of the story stimulate you and leave you with much to talk about.
     

‘Prestonian Lecture 2015’

     
The United Grand Lodge of England has announced the Prestonian Lecture for 2015, titled “Wherever Dispersed: The Traveling Mason,” to be presented by Bro. Roger Burt of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, among other Masonic affiliations.

Read and download the paper here.

Roger Burt, Ph.D. enjoyed a lengthy academic career at the University of Exeter, where he is an Emeritus Professor, studying and teaching the effects of the Industrial Revolution on society. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of the Geological Society, and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. In Freemasonry, Burt is a Past Master of Vectis Lodge No. 3075 in West Kent; a Past Master of Quatuor Coronati; a Royal Arch Mason; and an Honorary Professor in what was the Center for Research into Freemasonry at the University of Sheffield.

Magpie file photo

Front: Trevor Stewart and Roger Burt. Rear: John Acaster and Peter Currie
at Alpha Lodge No. 116, December 12, 2007.

A Prestonian Lecturer is appointed annually by UGLE to promote education among the brethren in the jurisdiction. By tradition, the lecturer travels about England presenting his work, and raising funds for a charity of his choice. In more recent years, it has become common for Prestonian Lecturers to travel abroad, with a number of them accepting speaking engagements in New Jersey and elsewhere in America. I shot this photo of Bro. Trevor Stewart (Prestonian Lecturer 2004) and Bro. Burt December 12, 2007 at Alpha Lodge No. 116 in East Orange.

Additionally, the Norman Spencer Prize for 2014 has been awarded to Bro Michael Karn of Temple of Athene Lodge No. 9541 in Middlesex, England for his paper “English Freemasonry During the Great War,” which presented the effects of the First World War on English Masonic lodges. The Spencer Prize is QC2076’s only honor named for a person; Norman Spencer served as Master of the lodge in 1959-60. In 1970, two years after Spencer’s death, the lodge instituted this tradition of honoring scholarly achievement in this way. He was a veteran of the First World War, having served in Egypt and France, making this year’s prize-winning paper an apt choice.

My thanks to The Canberra Curmudgeon, Bro. Neil Wynes Morse, for this news from England.

In closing, let us pray and send healing energies to Bro. Trevor Stewart, who is facing a daunting health challenge at this time. My brother, you are in my thoughts often, and I wish there were something I could do to spare you this trial. I hope to sit in lodge with you again soon.