‘A look inside the Masonic Building in Boston’

    

Magpie coverage of the Boston Tea Party anniversary celebration last weekend continues belatedly with a quick tour of the Masonic Building, headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, in Boston. The following photos were shot both during a formal guided tour and while I was exploring on my own. Some items are permanently displayed; others were exhibited for the special weekend. Descriptions are mostly the official histories, but some also have my editorializing, which you’ll be able to discern. Enjoy.

The seal of the Grand Lodge greets you upon entering the side door. Not a typical mosaic, but each tile is a stone shaft of (I think) two inches bored into the floor by artisans from Italy who labored several years throughout the building in the early twentieth century. A shame everyone trods across, but evidently it can take it. You might recognize ‘Follow Reason,’ which also is the motto of St. John’s Lodge 1 in New York. A tour guide was unsure where the motto originates, but it may come from the coat of arms of the Duke of Montague, sixth Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England. Those are beavers flanking the shield; a nineteenth century study by Grand Lodge said they were lizards! (Don’t tell David Icke.) The tour guide didn’t know what to make of the left side, saying the castles may have something to do with Henry Knox, but of course that comes from the arms of the first Grand Lodge of England, and is still used on the UGLE’s arms.

I was told this portrait of Bro. George Washington was painted by Gilbert Stuart, which is not impossible, I suppose, considering the artist’s Athenaeum Portrait is displayed in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. The brother also mentioned it had undergone very extensive restoration in recent years.

The Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, (1767-1842) first Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.

Christmastime is a good time to visit Boston.

The immortal Warren!
That such men lived is miraculous.

A sample of the Boston Tea Party tea! Said to have come out of the boots of one of the participants, and donated to the Grand Lodge by W. Bro. Paul F. Dudley of Milton Lodge.

Read the description below.

Click to enlarge.

A copy of the very rare first edition of Ahiman Rezon, Pennsylvania’s Masonic constitutions, dedicated to George Washington.

Joseph Warren’s King James Bible, printed 1614.

Until modern scholarship, which I’ll get to in the next edition of The Magpie Mason, this eyewitness account of the Boston Tea Party by George Hewes is the most reliable source. (I was told on Faceypage last week that the Tea Party was a revolt against the Stamp Act. ‘Tea tax,’ I reminded the brother. He told me to read the lodge secretary’s minutes. Ooh boy.)

Certificate of Rising States Lodge, Boston, signed by Paul Revere, September 3, 1800.

You know St. Andrew’s Lodge was the Scottish lodge that met in the Green Dragon Tavern, but you might not have known that the tavern got its name on account of the oxidized copper dragon employed as signage above the door. It turned green over time. And this is it! The actual green dragon!

Note the dragon above the entrance.

Detail.

Henry Price. The reason Massachusetts claims to have the first grand lodge in the Western Hemisphere is because Provincial Grand Master Henry Price constituted the original grand lodge there. Knowledge of the original Grand Lodge of England’s way of doing things is needed, I think, because while we today might assume provincial grand lodges were akin to our current Masonic districts, the truth is the Premier Grand Lodge considered provincial grand lodges to be local sovereign authorities.

Henry Price’s headstone. At some point, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts obtained permission from Price’s family to take possession of this headstone and move it to the Masonic Building to prevent damage caused by time and weather. It now is installed in a wall upstairs. In exchange, the brethren commissioned a massive monument for their founder.

MW John T. Heard, Grand Master 1856-58, was said to have weighed more than 400 pounds...

…consequently, this eight-legged chair was made for him.

Click to enlarge to read the card.

Franklin + Pallas Athena = Wisdom. Corinthian Hall.

And finally, a portrait of Ned Flanders. No inscription accompanies his portrait because he was not a grand master, but his picture hangs in respect for (I think) a massive donation he made to the Grand Lodge. Remind me to tell Tabbert there’s a Ned Flanders!

I shot many more photos, but these are the most interesting. Thanks for looking.

     

‘Tommaso Crudeli: Masonic martyr’

    

The plaque reads:

TOMMASO CRUDELI
(1702-1745) Florence, Italy
FIRST MARTYR OF
UNIVERSAL FREEMASONRY
Presented by the President
of HSTCI of America
MWGM KENNETH S. WYVILL Jr of GL of MD
MMXV

I wish I could have copyedited that.

Born on this date* in 1702 was Bro. Tommaso Crudeli.

That’s a new name to me, having learned of him only last weekend. Taking in the many sights inside the Boston Masonic Building, home to the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts, on Saturday, I was drawn to this bust. The plaque on its pedestal is not the most informative inscription, but I shot a photo and looked up Bro. Crudeli later. There’s an amazing story.

From the Institute of Historical Studies Tommaso Crudeli:

Tommaso Baldasarre Crudeli (December 21, 1702-March 27, 1745) was a Tuscan free-thinker who was imprisoned by the Roman Inquisition in Florence. He was a poet, lawyer, champion of free thought, and is remembered as the First Martyr of Universal Freemasonry.... Tommaso was the seventh [Crudeli generation] to graduate from the University of Pisa [both canon and civil law, 1726]. His mentor was Bernardo Tanucci (Premier of Naples and Sicily Kingdom) during the preparation of studies and university years; in Pisa he had strong relationships with teachers and colleagues for cultural affinities Lucretian and above the nascent Enlightenment.

Tommaso moved to Venice at the family of the Counts Contarini and then he returned to Florence as professor of Italian for English Colony. For his lively intellect and his boldness, Tommaso was brought into the English Lodge, first Masonic Lodge in Italy and dependant from Grand Lodge of England, in which he was initiated on May 5, 1735. He became secretary, but also a scapegoat for a strong conflict between the Vatican and English Freemasonry, who began in Florence at the end of the long dynasty of the Medici trying to establish the Lorraine, titled dynastically, to change the political destiny of the Grand Duchy.

 

He was arrested for suspicion of heresy, or worse, to be the bearer of heresies, and was left in prison in total darkness and without air for three months. He was interrogated for days on “francmassonery,” but he did not cooperate and he would not sign the papers falsely noted his guilt so he was incarcerated again for another four months in inhumane conditions.

 

Questioned again about the aims of Freemasonry in Florence, members’ names, and Masonic rituals, he would not comply. He was sent back to jail even though his body was tried and he was vomiting blood. Meanwhile his father, Atto Crudeli, pleading the liberty for his child, sadly died of a broken heart for sorrow. Before Christmas, his brother Antonio clumsily attempted to free Tommaso, with a daring plan that ended before it was started. The Inquisitor interpreted the plan as proof of guilt and was convinced even more the need to pursue the prisoner. After another four months in prison, still in the darkness with sealed windows for fear of escape, he was questioned and charged with sins against religion whose list was irrelevant but that eventually concluded “and other serious facts known only to us.”

 

Subsequently, the inquisitors carried him, near death, to the prison at the Fortezza da Basso in Florence where he spent three months. In August 1740, in a church parade in black, they did ask him to recant, accepting his gasp as explicit consent. After the sentence came the partial grace that provided the compulsory residence in his home until the end of his life with a series of religious obligations that Tommaso never fulfilled.

 

CORRECTION: Apparently, I saw a copy of the bust at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial during a visit in November 2022.

Meanwhile all of Florence was in turmoil and especially the Governor, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice, and brothers of the lodge. Even the Grand Lodge of England mobilized, giving the King these facts, among others, that touched British interests in the dynastic succession in Europe. The Grand Duke of Tuscany (also a Mason) asked for a report from Tommaso. Because he had some bed rest, but was still sick and dying, Tommaso was able to dictate a detailed report which was why Francis Stephen of Lorraine, husband of Maria Theresa of Austria in 1742 closed the Inquisition Tribunal forever (next to the Basilica of Santa Croce), and after five years had it demolished.

 

Meanwhile Tommaso died in his bed because of the after-effects of imprisonment on March 27, 1745. He did have the satisfaction of seeing the Inquisition abolished by the secular power, the first in the Catholic world. The “Antica Condanna” which in fact was the first conviction by the Papal Bull of April 1738, was heard for many decades in which the writings and poems of Tommaso Crudeli were scattered, as it was altered many times [and] on the basis of which the Grand Duke did close the Inquisition Tribunal.

A brief video from 2008 when the Grand Lodge of New York memorialized Bro. Tommaso Crudeli.

*They used another calendar back then, so just play along.

     

‘St. John’s Lodge installation’

    

Look to the West!
Ionic Hall, Masonic Building, Boston.

There’s something infectious about the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts’ claim to be the oldest in the New World (and third eldest in the world, after England and Ireland) when you are inside the Masonic Building in Boston, the Grand Lodge’s headquarters. Yes, Pennsylvania Masons say something about that claim—and, as far as I’m concerned, the current English grand lodge dates only to 1813!—but when the Massachusetts Grand Master says it inside Ionic Hall on the occasion of the 154th installation of officers of St. John’s Lodge… it’s just extremely persuasive!

The original grapes!

Furthermore, this lodge dates to July 30, 1733, when it began meeting at the Bunch of Grapes tavern, prompting the claim that it is “the oldest Masonic lodge in the Western Hemisphere.” Again, the Philadelphians harrumph, and there even is local confusion thanks to some accounts pointing to some lodge holding meetings in King’s Chapel in Boston in the 1720s(!), but this edition of The Magpie Mason is the first in a series on the past weekend’s celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, which united Masons and other groups in proud remembrance. The photo at right shows the original grapes that hung outside the tavern in the 1700s! Straightforward advertising signage in a time of near universal illiteracy. They are displayed in the East for special occasions.

St. John’s is an amalgamation of First Lodge, Second Lodge, and Third Lodge, the originals of that period, if I understand correctly.

I had to disable my IroniMeter2000™️ because what passes for government in Boston and Massachusetts today seems an impossible fate to befall the land of the Boston Massacre, Tea Party, Shot Heard ’Round the World, Bunker Hill, and so much more in the birth of this nation.

Worshipful Master Mark and his officers.

Anyway, preceding St. John’s installation, there was the Historic Tavern Tour, originally a six-stop pub crawl until Democracy Brewing backed out at the last minute for some reason. But the brethren persevered and marched from Elephant & Castle to Sam Adams Tap Room to Union Oyster House to Bell in Hand Tavern to, at last, the Green Dragon Tavern.

I had signed up for this, but reconsidered. It was to begin at three o’clock; the installation was set for 6 p.m. I figured all the walking, the waiting for drink (and food) orders, and the drinking and eating would not be possible in that timeframe. I really wanted to attend this installation. And I don’t take alcohol before lodge meetings anyway. Someday I will get back up there when I have more time, and I’ll visit those esteemed establishments—especially the Green Dragon!

MWGM Hamilton, center, with his retinue.

But the installation was pretty quick, open to families and friends, and elegant. W. Bro. Mark is the new Worshipful Master. Huzzah! (There was a lot of that during the weekend.) Grand Master George F. Hamilton presided in the East. I didn’t know a soul in the room except for Bro. Rob, who traveled from the South to the West; and Bro. Rich, the new Grand Historian in New Jersey, on the sidelines.

The Three Great Lights.

They had an official photographer, who gradually is sharing his work on Faceypage, but these are authentic Magpie photos. Yet again, I regret not bringing a real camera.

I’d had a really long Friday, rising at about 3 a.m. so, by the time the lodge closed, I was happy to return to the hotel and collapse.

I always check out regalia,
especially in historic lodges.

One thing in particular said by MW Hamilton really caught my ear. He mentioned how Fourth Estate Lodge had consolidated with St. John’s Lodge. Fourth Estate consisted of newspaper journalists and, it is said, every paper in the city was represented in its membership. I have read a little about this lodge in my research of my own lodge, Publicity 1000. Publicity was instituted October 30, 1922, and Fourth Estate was constituted October 2, 1923. I don’t know if there ever was any interaction, visitation, etc. between the two. Fourth Estate consolidated with St. John’s on May 23, 1985. Hugo Tatsch was a member in the thirties! We got Haywood from Iowa, and they got Tatsch from Iowa.

Once upon a time, the Masonic Building had DC power and these handles controlled the electricity in Ionic Hall. Kelitrol Stage Switchboard, installed by Clark & Mills Electric Co.

Congratulations and happy 290th anniversary to St. John’s Lodge! It felt like a warm and welcoming place.

MW Melvin M. Johnson, Grand Master, 1914-16.

     

‘Boston cops: Paul Revere’s tombstone vandalized’

    

Lowell Sun

Boston Police said a homeless man was arrested during the morning of Sunday, November 26, after a lengthy vandalism spree victimizing a number of properties—and gravesites, including that of Founding Father and Freemason Paul Revere.

“Around 10:44 a.m., officers responded to the Granary Burying Ground, located in the area of Tremont Street and Bromfield Street, for a vandalism report,” a police report stated. “Officers were advised that multiple tombstones on the property had been vandalized, including Paul Revere’s. A total of fourteen tombstones were vandalized by being pulled from the ground or broken into pieces.”

(I have been unsuccessful in finding a photo from local media of Revere’s headstone. I’ll update this if I find one.)

Boston Herald

Lawrence Hawkins

For reference, that’s less than half a mile from Grand Lodge.

A man identified as Lawrence Hawkins, age 46,  described as homeless and said to have a history of mental illness, drug abuse, and arrests, was arrested. The suspect allegedly smashed the windshield of a police car, broke a window at the New England Holocaust Memorial, and damaged several businesses. Between the Granary Burying Ground and the King’s Chapel Burying Ground, a total of twenty headstones were damaged, many from the Colonial period. Police say one stone had been “pulled from the ground or broken into pieces.”

Lowell Sun

Hawkins was charged with multiple counts of destruction of property, and destruction of a place of worship. He was arraigned Monday on three of the alleged incidents, WCVB (local channel 5) reported. “A judge set bail at $7,500 for each of those three incidents he heard Monday morning, and ordered Hawkins to be seen by a doctor for a dangerousness hearing. In court it was revealed that Hawkins previously spent time at Bridgewater State Hospital. Hawkins at times during Monday’s arraignment was swearing, talking about the FBI and had to be told several times to listen to the allegations against him. Hawkins’ defense attorney said after court that Hawkins client suffers from psychiatric and substance abuse issues, which makes it difficult for him to speak with Hawkins.”

Of course he pleaded not guilty.

Three other acts of the alleged vandalism involved federal properties, and Hawkins will be arraigned for those incidents separately.

This sad news comes weeks before the city’s and the fraternity’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.

Bro. Paul Revere served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts from 1794-97. Thursday was the 253rd anniversary of his installation as Worshipful Master of St. Andrew’s Lodge (that’s St. Andrew’s Day).

Boston, founded in 1630, is today at the mercy of woke politicians, like District Attorney Kevin Hayden, who does all he can to keep criminals on the streets, employing “restorative justice” and other tactics to promote the interests of criminals.

     

’Dubbing Joseph Warren a Tea Party Architect'

    

The brethren in Massachusetts have more commemoration of the Boston Tea Party’s 250th anniversary planned. Primarily there will be this next month, but on November 22 (easy to remember: the date both Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis died in 1963) there will be a dual graveside observance of relevant historical personages. From the publicity:

The Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, Revolution 250, and the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in Massachusetts are partnering with Forest Hills Cemetery to place commemorative markers at the graves of Boston Tea Party participant Joseph Lovering and Boston Tea Party organizer Dr. Joseph Warren.

The ceremony will take place at Forest Hills Cemetery (95 Forest Hills Avenue in Jamaica Plain) on Wednesday, November 22 at 11 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Dr. Joseph Warren will receive the first of three special markers, indicating him as an “Architect” of the Boston Tea Party. The ceremony will begin promptly at 11 at the grave of Joseph Lovering, and will proceed to the grave and memorial to Dr. Joseph Warren.

Guests may park along the roads inside the main entrance along Forest Hills Avenue. From there, it will be a 12-minute walk to the grave of Joseph Lovering by following Mulberry Avenue, taking a right onto Red Oak Avenue, and then a right onto White Oak Avenue. Lovering’s grave is in the section on the left. After we place the marker, we will proceed to the grave of Dr. Warren, which will be a 10-minute walk.

In the event of rain, the speaking program will be moved to Forsyth Chapel, just inside the main entrance to Forest Hills, and guests have the option to walk to place markers afterward.

Speakers:

• George Milley, President, Forest Hills Cemetery: Welcome, Opening Remarks on behalf of Forest Hills Cemetery.
• Evan O’Brien, Creative Manager, Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum: Remarks on Joseph Lovering, involvement in the Boston Tea Party, and 250th initiatives.
• George F. Hamilton, Grand Master, Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts: Remarks on Dr. Joseph Warren, Freemasonry in the Boston Tea Party.
• Jonathan Lane, Executive Director, Revolution 250: Remarks on Community Involvement in the Early Revolution, Revolution 250.

After the speaking program at each grave site, a ceremonial marker will be placed by a costumed interpreter at the grave of Joseph Lovering, and by Grand Master George F. Hamilton at the grave of Dr. Joseph Warren, followed by Amazing Grace, played by a Masonic Piper.

There will be time for photos, questions, and interviews following the placement of the marker and the piping at Warren’s grave. We are pleased to be joined by a descendant of Dr. Joseph Warren, his sixth great-granddaughter, Sarah Hamilton; and the Henry Knox Guard, which will present colors at both graves.

     

‘The tea will spill (and if the boys wanna fight you better let ’em)’

    

Among the myths and legends that add flavor to Masonic history is the claim that Freemasons executed the attack on the East India Company’s ship at Boston Harbor December 16, 1773, when the cargo of 342 chests of tea was chucked into the water. I think it is more accurate and reasonable to say there were Freemasons involved, as some circumstantial evidence suggests that, but the caper was more complicated. (See A Retrospect of the Boston Tea Party, with a Memoir of George R.T. Hewes, a Survivor of the Little Band of Patriots who Downed the Tea in Boston Harbour in 1773, printed in New York, 1834.)

Next month, on the semiquincentennial anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts will host a weekend of events to commemorate that mostly peaceful flash of rebellion. From the publicity:

The Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts has partnered with the Massachusetts Sons of the American Revolution and the Dr. Joseph Warren Foundation to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.

From December 15-17, Freemasons and their families will be joining us from across the country, and we hope you will also. Fifty-four grand jurisdictions have been invited to join us.

Friday, December 15

(open to the public)

A Historic Tavern Tour has been created in collaboration with Revolution 250, an organization the Massachusetts Historical Society created to support the commemorative events leading up to 2026. Open to Freemasons, their families, and invited guests. 

If visiting from another jurisdiction, attend St. John’s Lodge’s annual installation. St. John’s Lodge was chartered in 1733 and is the oldest lodge in the Western Hemisphere.

Saturday, December 16

(open to the public free of charge)

We will host a world-class symposium at the Grand Lodge beginning at 8:30 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m. Through the generosity of our event sponsors, we can provide the events to the public at no cost.

8:30-9:10—Dr. Brooke Barbier: “Radicalizing John Hancock: The Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party.”

9:15-10 a.m.—RW Bro. Walter Hunt: “Freemasonry Before the Revolution.”

10:15-11:20—Boston-Lafayette Lodge of Perfection performing Treason to the Crown.

11:30-12:15 p.m.—Dr. Jayne Triber: “Brother Revere: How Freemasonry Shaped Paul Revere’s Revolutionary Role”

12:15-1 p.m.—Lunch

1:30-2 p.m.—Dr. William Fowler: “A Fireside Chat with Famed Author Dr. Fowler.”

2-3 p.m.—J.L. Bell: “How Bostonians Learned to Talk about the Destruction of the Tea.”

3-4 p.m.—Dr. James Fichter: “Tea: Consumption, Politics, and Revolution, 1773-1776.”

4-5 p.m.—Dr. Ben Carp: “Teapot in a Tempest: The Boston Tea Party of 1773.”

There will be guided tours of the Grand Lodge from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on a first come, first served basis. The Grand Lodge will also have several rare artifacts on display to view (Freemasons and their families).

There will also be opportunities to attend a group tour of a few local historic locations. The historic sites set prices for tours.

Following the symposium, Freemasons can join a procession with the Grand Master from the Grand Lodge to the Old South Meeting House, then to the Boston Tea Party Museum, retracing the steps of our forefathers 250 years ago. (Registration will be $10 per Brother and include a commemorative apron for the event.)

Sunday, December 17

(open to the public)

The Grand Chaplains will lead a non-denominational ecumenical service at the Grand Lodge at 10 a.m. Following the service, there will be a celebratory brunch in the Grand Master’s Banquet Hall with the Massachusetts Sons of the American Revolution. Tickets will be $50 and limited to 150 people.

To purchase event merch, please visit here and order now. Purchases will not be available on the day of the event.