‘Bolívar’s Scottish Rite regalia’

   

Magpie file photo

The Thirty-Second Degree collar and apron owned by Simón Bolívar. I shot this photo at Fraunces Tavern Museum twenty years ago when Tom Savini curated an exhibit of Livingston Library treasures there. I had this published in The Northern Light not long after.

One week from tomorrow, the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library will host an online discussion of the Scottish Rite regalia owned by Bro. Simón Bolívar. Bro. Alexander Vastola, Director of the library, will be the presenter, explaining Bolívar’s Masonic life, and how his Thirty-Second Degree collar and apron became the property of the library.

Thursday, September 29 at 7 p.m. Click here to register.

Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), “the George Washington of South America,” was a military and political leader essential to the liberation of multiple South American nations from Spanish colonial control, including Venezuela, Colombia, and, of course, Bolivia. His Masonic lodge is unknown, but history remembers him, with Argentine José de San Martin and Cuban José Martí, also Freemasons, as heroes of their nations’ wars of independence.

Central Park Conservancy

Our city has been adorned with several Bolívar monuments since 1891. The current statue was dedicated at Bolivar Hill in 1921. President Warren Harding, made a Mason the previous year in Marion Lodge 70 in Ohio, delivered a foreign policy speech on relations among the Americas at the dedication. The statue was moved to Sixth Avenue at 59th Street, at Central Park, in 1951, after Sixth was dubbed the Avenue of the Americas. (The statues of San Martin and Martí were added there later.)

     

‘Livingston Masonic Library’s digital archives’

     

I’ve been sworn to secrecy since January, but with the Grand Lodge Communication behind us, I feel free to share this great news from the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library. Actually this announcement comes from RW Bruce Renner, President of the Library Board of Trustees:


This year the Library is engaged in another project to bring your Lodge’s history to digital life. As many of you are aware, the Library maintains historical information about Lodges in Lodge Folders, and I’m happy to announce a project that will greatly enhance the way these folders are created, updated, accessed, and preserved.

These folders contain documents dating primarily from the 20th century, provided by the Lodges, that cover a wide range, including information about important events, meeting notices, information on notable people, and even Lodge histories. They have been kept in paper folders, and stored the traditional way in metal filing cabinets. The only way to access your folder was to visit the Library, often during your brief visit to Grand Lodge each year; with several hundred Lodges wanting a look at their files, things can get quite congested.

There are many other challenges with these folders. Even for Lodges in the New York City area, there is limited access. Many Lodges, therefore, lose interest in the process, and let valuable historical information be lost. Over time, a Lodge Folder may be forgotten. In addition, many of the documents are fragile. An excellent example is newspaper clipping that demonstrates a public interest in Lodge activity, but which is printed on very cheap paper. Paper folders also are hard to maintain with our limited staff, and duplications occur frequently. Because adding documents, especially remotely, requires some work, good intentions aside, many Lodges fail to get it done. This leads to information gaps sometime spanning many years.

Finally, the only way to search for something is to handle the physical folder and each document. This requires an on-site presence, and exposes the folder to additional handling with all the incumbent preservation issues.

So just how many documents are we talking about? We estimate the collection contains at least 300,000 documents. They are stored in 35 four-drawer filing cabinets, or 140 file drawers. There is a huge variety of documents and even some three-dimensional objects stored with our museum artifacts.

Over the past several years the Library Board and Staff have been moving the Library into the digital age. The collection of Lodge Folders was an excellent target for early digitalization. After some discussion, the Board set aside funds for the project, which amounted to about $35,000. The Library undertook the digitalization of fragile materials that couldn’t be subjected to high speed scanning, but outsourced the rest of the work.

From our Board, RW Ed Chiani, our Technology Chairman, was key to getting this project off the ground.

At a high level, the process is fairly straight forward, although the actual scanning of 300,000 items is not a trivial task. First, items were presorted, and fragile items were separated out. The remaining documents were then packed into file boxes and transported to the outsourcer’s image processing center by their staff. Once there, the remaining documents are processed using high-speed scanners. An important valued added step to this process is that optical character scanning technology allows many of the documents to be indexed for on-line retrieval. The original documents were then returned to the Library. The remaining steps include enabling access for Lodges and Brothers. We expect this to be in beta test sometime this summer.

The Board has recommended not retaining the paper Lodge Folders. Lodges will be given the opportunity to reclaim their folders; unclaimed folders will be stored or discarded at the discretion of the library. The electronic version of the Lodge Folders takes up about 40.5G. It easily fits on a flash drive that fits in the palm of your hand! Now the dream of converting these files into electronic format will be realized!

Lodges should contact the Library to retain contents by July 1. Lodges may only receive folders of the current Lodge and past Lodges that have merged with their lodge. How to file your request:

Worshipful Masters or Secretaries, e-mail your requests with a list of lodge numbers for folders you wish returned. Provide shipping address to receive contents OR arrange for in-person pick-up at the Manhattan Branch by an authorized Lodge representative or DDGM.

Throughout the summer until Labor Day in-person pick-ups can be made by appointment at the Manhattan Library. Alternatively, we will also arrange for weekly shipments. DDGMs can also make pick-ups for Lodges in their districts. After Labor Day, future requests for contents will be processed on an annual basis—delivered to Lodges at St. John’s Weekend if they are still available.

Please contact the Library’s Manhattan branch by email above, or at 212-337-6619 with any questions.
     

‘Savini to present Walker Lecture’

     

One of the many great traditions in New York Freemasonry is the annual Wendell K. Walker Memorial Lecture sponsored by Independent Royal Arch Lodge No. 2 in the First Manhattan District. RW Bro. Thomas M. Savini, Director of the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library, will be this year’s honored speaker. This will take place Thursday night at 7:45 in the library, located on the 14th floor of Masonic Hall at 71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan.

Old No. 2 also will host dinner afterward ($50 cash per person) at Aleo on 20th Street at Fifth Avenue. Sorry for the late notice, but if you wish to attend the event, make your reservation right now by contacting Junior Warden Larry Wolff at jw(at)irano2.org Right now as in immediately. The deadline was Sunday. The Sunday that was two days ago.

This memorable occasion is open to Masons, their ladies, and friends. Business attire please.
     

‘Deveney at the Valley’

  
I had intended to forward this announcement to you last month, but my usual lack of organization always sabotages me, but then the event was postponed a week anyway. This lecture will take place Tuesday night. I’m committed to my own Valley’s business meeting, so I cannot be there, but you should get there...and bring a brother!

The Valley of New York City

Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry

Presents a Brother Bring a Brother Evening

With a Lecture by RW John Patrick Deveney, Author

Introduction by RW Thomas Savini, Executive Director

Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library

Tuesday, December 11 at 8 p.m.

Masonic Hall

71 W. 23rd Street, New York City

Lodge Room To Be Announced

  

‘The End is near’

    
Registration for the Semi-Annual Meeting of The Masonic Society in Philadelphia closes one week from Saturday.

Courtesy 20th Century Fox

There will be events throughout the day and night on Saturday, July 28 in the City of Brotherly Love, including presentations from three Masonic scholars you in New Jersey know well:

RW Ben Hoff, Past Master of New Jersey Lodge of Masonic Research and Education; RW Howard Kanowitz, one of our most prolific researchers and writers; and RW Ray Thorne, current Master of the research lodge, all will speak. They will be joined by RW Tom Savini, director of the Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of the Grand Lodge of New York, who also will make a presentation.

The full itinerary can be read here.

Take notice of the banquet at The Union League. Not to be missed!

The Masonic Society holds its semi-annual meetings in different cities around the country, and this year’s is the closest to New Jersey yet. (Our Annual Meeting is held in Virginia every February during Masonic Week.)

The New Jersey Second Circle of The Masonic Society will meet next on (or about) Friday, November 30 for our annual Feast of Saint Andrew. Details TBA.
    

‘Beethoven’s Tenth discovered in Masonic library’

  

Beethoven, by Andy Warhol, 1987.

WQXR host Naomi Lewin reports today on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Sunday that a manuscript described as two movements of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 10 has been discovered in the archives of the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library, located in Masonic Hall, the headquarters of the Grand Lodge of New York.

Livingston Library Executive Director Tom Savini is quoted only briefly, but the report explains that the manuscript may have seen the light of day already, just more than a century ago, when Masonic archives were being transferred from the previous Masonic Hall to the current building, and may even have been seen by Gustav Mahler, then the conductor of the New York Philharmonic, who was known for rearranging certain Beethoven works.

It never has been established if the great composer was a Brother in the Craft, although the themes of some of his best known works show Masonic thinking, and some of his collaborators, like Schiller, who wrote the Ode to Joy libretto for Symphony No. 9, were Freemasons.

The 5:35 audio of this Sunday, April 1 story can be heard here.

‘Free to keep secrets’

     

Standing before a bookcase stocked with a complete set of AQCs, author James Wasserman addressed a packed room May 29 at the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Library at the Grand Lodge of New York.

Author James Wasserman was the guest lecturer for “Freemasonry and the Quest for Liberty” at the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Library at the Grand Lodge of New York May 29, promoting his latest book The Secrets of Masonic Washington: A Guidebook to Signs, Symbols, and Ceremonies at the Origin of America’s Capital.

I think library Director Tom Savini should be proud. It was an excellent event that drew a standing room only crowd, which is amazing considering how many other things there are to do in New York City on a warm, still, summertime Friday evening. The Master of The American Lodge of Research was there, as was the Junior Warden of Civil War Lodge of Research, and other accomplished people in the field of Masonic education, like John Mauk Hilliard. But it seemed as though most of those present were not Masons, which indicates to me that Freemasonry can pique the interest of educated adults by hosting cultural events in elegant settings.

“Freemasonry is the spiritual component of the greatest political experiment in history,” said Wasserman, introducing his thesis of the Craft’s significance in the birth of the American Republic. He divided Freemasonry’s inevitability into three historical epochs. The first is Biblical history, wherein we see man attempting to govern himself in Eden, followed by that gradual evolution of patriarchal leadership, from Noah to Moses. His point: that the political governance we know today has a spiritual basis. He illustrated this with a recollection of the prophet Samuel who sagely warned the Israelites that they should be careful what they wish for when it comes to hoping for a king to lead them. Investing their faith in a temporal king would displease the Lord. Quoting 1 Samuel 8:10-14:

And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king.... This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.... And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards.... and give them to his servants.

A period of about 500 years in which the Hebrews would be ruled by kings ensued, ending with the Babylonian Captivity. This, Wasserman said, would not have escaped the notice of those who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence, with its list of grievances against George III.

We remember the somber observation of the Declaration’s first paragraph, where it is stated that people with sufficient cause have the right to dissolve political ties with others for their self-preservation. Then of course there is the immortal, stirring, poetic clarion of the second paragraph.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

What many of us probably forget is the list of several dozen very specific complaints enumerated against the Crown, “a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny,” and that foreshadow the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

At approximately the same time Samuel’s warning came to fruition, Classical Greece and Rome were giving the world new forms of government, Wasserman explained. Direct democracy was practiced by the former (c. 500 BCE to 322 BCE), and an embryonic form of representational government was established by the latter (c. 509 BCE to the first Caesar). Greek Democracy proved to be unwieldy and inevitably dysfunctional; Roman politics morphed into militarism, which led to empire and “bread and circuses” until “leaner, meaner and hungrier barbarian tribes” undid it, he added. A millennium later, the Catholic Church proved to be the stabilizing force that established a political hegemony over Europe’s many regional rulers. This brings us to Wasserman’s second, if ironic, historical period of Freemasonry’s eventuality: feudalism.

While this term often is applied to other places and times, feudalism is the political and legal system of medieval Europe in which peasants, who were bound to the land on which they lived, were in effect possessions of the lords who owned those lands. Needless to say, these peasants, or “serfs,” had no political rights or access to justice. Even the advent of the Magna Carta in 1215, a revolution well remembered by the Founding Fathers, did not adequately address the rights of the peasantry. This backdrop reveals the glaring contrast embodied by the operative stone masons who were free to travel to practice their craft.

From the 12th to the 16th centuries, thousands of cathedrals, churches and other stone structures were built across the British Isles and throughout Europe, Wasserman explained, “about 1,200 of them, in 25 countries, remain today.” Their existence is thanks to “skilled craftsmen, geometricians and architects” who were permitted and capable of electing their own officials, occupying their own residential areas, tending to their own charitable and health care benefits for their workers and dependents.

Masons developed the guild system, which expanded on those existing freedoms, adding the ability to establish rates of pay, delineation of responsibilities, prevention of fraud and, of course, systems of recognition – those ritualized answers to questions that affirm ownership of one’s mind.

“Secrecy is the right of a free person,” Wasserman said, thus operative masonry is the second building-block, set atop the foundation stone of Biblical man’s struggle to establish self-rule, leading toward a culmination of individual liberty and political governance. That operative masonry, with its “magnificent edifices reaching skyward,” best represents the singular experience of a free person, for its successful transformation of mysteries, like geometry, into permanent achievements.

Of course before that zenith is reached, Europe evolves through the Renaissance, described by Wasserman as the offspring of the communion of Christianity and Islam, and the Reformation, and it is shortly thereafter that masonry undergoes an important, if enigmatic, transformation. The 17th century saw membership in masons’ lodges opened to men who had no connection to the building trades. The best known of these is Elias Ashmole (1617-92), an intellectual possessing a strong interest in Natural Philosophy, who was drawn to the society for its possession of Sacred Geometry and other hidden wisdom.

Wasserman’s third building-block, his capstone, is the Enlightenment. The labors of Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Denis Diderot, Christopher Wren and so many others gave rise to and defined the Enlightenment, when “rationality, as a means to understand reality, rejected the hopelessness of earlier Catholic thought.” To Wasserman, the United States, its Declaration of Independence, its Constitution and Bill of Rights embody mankind’s desire for spirituality. “The human soul craves religion, spirituality, and oneness with God,” he said, whereas atheism and agnosticism “leave an unsatisfied hunger in the human psyche.” And Freemasonry is a companion to this new nation and its government. It offers to the seeker after knowledge that very quest, without causing him to leave his intellect at the door of a church. “I believe that resulted in the greatest quest for human liberty in history. The United States of America and its entire legal and ethical system is based on the Bible, and it is no mistake to identify America as a Christian country. (I’m Jewish, by the way.)”

For James Wasserman, Freemasonry is the “most refined advance of Western culture.” While it consisted of wealthy elites at the time it took root in America, it grew and spread throughout the new nation when it embraced soldiers, artisans, merchants and other self-made men, proving itself to be an ordered society of far-thinking individuals who also would work outside of the lodge to help society strengthen its democracy by dismantling social and economic barriers.

It was a great event for the Livingston Library. The only problem is the talk Wasserman gave was more interesting than the book he wrote. In recent years there have been a bunch of quality books about Freemasonry that are excellent resources for Mason and non-Mason alike, and Wasserman’s “Secrets” definitely ranks among them. His book is one of the more lavishly illustrated, with dozens of outstanding color photographs – many of them close-ups – revealing the amazing details of the symbols and codes embedded in the architecture of our nation’s capital.


Monuments, statues, friezes, plaques, and other architectural voices tell the story of a peculiar system of human governance, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols that are mysterious to all but the initiated eye. But to be honest, a great many of these do not have connections to Freemasonry. To be sure, there are many Masons depicted in stone and metal, from George Washington to Albert Pike, and there are symbols that also appear in Masonic instruction, but the majority of these landmarks have oblique relationships to the Craft: Biblical figures, Greco-Roman gods, zodiac symbols, et al. “The Secrets of Masonic Washington” is valuable reading to the student of symbolism, but its Masonic education value is more contextual; in a way, it actually demonstrates that Washington, DC is not the physical manifestation of Masonic idiom that inexperienced or naïve Masonic students want to believe it is.

The stronger expressions of the Wasserman thesis are found in his discussion of the city’s man-made topography itself, and while nearly all Masons in the United States know at least a little about how Brothers L’Enfant and Washington sketched the earliest drafts of the federal city’s layout, Wasserman does a great service by poetically likening the square shape of the capital to both moral integrity, as in a square deal, and to a more esoteric understanding of the four physical elements of Fire, Air, Earth and Water. Other eye-openers include Wasserman’s perspectives on the Constitution’s relationship to the placement of the seats of the three branches of government; on the cruciform nature of the city’s design; and the spiritual harmony it all was meant to convey to the people. Invaluable reading, but outweighed by the Walking Tour that begins on page 71 that illustrates the many beautiful, but not necessarily Masonic, sights to see.

James Wasserman is not a Freemason. He said he is pursuing membership in the Craft in Florida, where he resides. It is no secret that many of the best books written about Freemasonry in the past 20 years were authored by non-Masons, and Wasserman deserves to be listed among those despite what I think might be a misguided enthusiasm to credit the Craft with too much.
     

‘Freemasonry and the Quest for Liberty’

At the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library
at the Grand Lodge of New York:

Freemasonry and the Quest for Liberty:
An Evening with James Wasserman.

Friday, May 29 at 6 p.m.

Join us for a lecture, discussion, and book-signing with James Wasserman, the bestselling author of “The Secrets of Masonic Washington: A Guidebook to Signs, Symbols, and Ceremonies at the Origin of America's Capital.”

He will share his thoughts on the crucial role Freemasonry played in the development of political liberty worldwide, and especially in the founding of the American republic. He will explore the idea that political liberty is a spiritual value, tracing its history from biblical times.

“The Secrets of Masonic Washington” provides an exquisitely illustrated tour of the spiritual, esoteric, religious, and mythic symbols of our nation's capital. From the magnificent monument erected to Freemason and first President George Washington, to the classic pantheon built to honor Enlightenment philosopher and Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C. is a hymnal in stone.

This book is an archaeological expedition to a “lost city” whose mystical treasures and traditions are hidden in plain sight, a city designed and built as the beating heart of a spiritual entity that transcends all religions, whose very streets invoke the invisible energies that drive the evolution of human consciousness, a city inspired by a civic priesthood we know today as Freemasonry.


The $20 cost of the book includes a donation to the Masonic Library. We accept cash, check or credit card. For more information, call 212-337-6620 or e-mail: info@nymasoniclibrary.org

Thomas M. Savini, Director
Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of the Grand Lodge of New York
71 West 23rd St., 14th floor
New York, NY 10010

Another Big Night at ‘The Little Inn’ (conclusion)

It normally doesn’t take your correspondent a week and a half to complete a thought, but it’s been a hectic week and a half. Forthwith, here is Part Four of “Another Big Night at the Little Inn.”

“Thank you for the 48 hours notice,” said Bro. Trevor Stewart to Master of Ceremonies Bill Thomas. “I appreciate the gesture!” It was true. Trevor had been drafted into the program at the proverbial eleventh hour. Not having a talk formally prepared, he nonetheless professorially clutched a sheaf of papers as he spoke engagingly of the ways brethren of the 18th century supported the arts in their communities.


“We know from playbills and other ephemera that, as the 18th century went on, Freemasons, as individuals or lodges, were involved with theatrical performances,” he said, beginning a short lecture on what could be titled “Processions: Masons in Regalia.” Torch-lit parades, even with military bands, would march from the tavern/lodge to the theater and back. “This happened frequently.” I don’t know if Trevor realized it, but he was expanding on a detail in the talk he gave in this very room 52 Mondays ago.

This started around 1723. It was “strange in England,” because a ban on Masonic processions was attempted in 1745 in the wake of scurrilous embarrassments. “But the Irish, bless them, had frequent processions,” Trevor said. We know from newspapers, diaries and playbills that comedies and Shakespeare were the frequent beneficiaries of Masonic sponsorship. “In the early 18th century, there were 11 lodges dedicated specifically to the name of Shakespeare!” And in fact, we had a Shakespeare Lodge with us that evening. The Bard’s comedies were very popular, but his historical plays – “Henry IV,” “Henry V,” and “Henry VI” also were underwritten by the brethren. These dramas, particularly “Henry V,” were popular because “they espoused ideas that went to the heart of the Hanoverian times” with melodrama, heroism and idealism.

This item has nothing to do with Trevor’s talk exactly, but it is in the archives of the Livingston Library, and was included in its exhibit at Fraunces Tavern Museum seven years ago. It is the program of St. Patrick’s Lodge’s St. John’s Day procession in New York City in 1795. The lodge was accompanied by 10 other lodges, two marching bands, a contingent of Knights Templar, and the Grand Lodge officers. They marched from City Hall, through what is today the Financial District, and to “the Church,” which I take to mean St. Paul's. They returned to City Hall by a different route.

There were exceptions though.

“Prior to 1745, there were plays of ‘Macbeth’ sponsored by the Masons,” Trevor Stewart explained, but that stopped because the Hanoverians, “a very querulous people,” feared any talk of rebellion.

There were several motives at work in the Masonic patronage of the performing arts. The brethren quickly arranged to sponsor plays and to put themselves on parade, “making a spectacle of themselves in a theatrical and political statement.” These processions had order, and were characterized with “great dignity and decorum.” The brethren were not only on display in the street, but at the theater they’d sit in special boxes with the Lord Provost and other civil authorities. “Masonic lodges were taking active part in the body politic at this time. They were guys who had arrived, socially.”

They were opportunistic, but they also raised money to give to charity, and “not just Masonic charity, but any charity.” A playbill in 1785 told how “a poor house and asylum for the mad folk” in Edinburgh was one such recipient. “They were motivated by the idea of being good, and being charitable to the less fortunate.”

“The gentlemen Masons were putting on street theater, but more importantly than that, they played a crucial part of the body politic at the time,” Trevor added. “As the 18th century progressed, the legitimate activity of a gentleman was not just to be in the isolation of his lodge room, but to also be out in the streets, in coffeehouses, literary clubs and attending the theater, culturally inspired.”

“So, what has this got to do with us? We can’t parade in the streets with our regalia as much as we might wish,” he added, “but we can sponsor plays and musical performances. Why not?”

He then went on to explain how last year’s International Conference on the History of Freemasonry featured the young musicians of the Royal Academy of Scotland, thanks to the sponsorship of the Grand Masters of England, Ireland and Scotland. He also told of the lavish catalog provided to him that chronicled a major artistic exhibition in London, but that had no mention of Freemasonry. “Why not?” he asked. “We can’t parade in the street, but we can make that statement.”

The Magpie Mason could not agree more! There is so much opportunity to show ourselves to the public. Not by bowling against the Elks lodge down the street, but by sponsoring the arts, especially in and around New York City. Just off the top of my head: Lincoln Center has “Mostly Mozart” and the Duke Ellington festival; there is “Shakespeare in the Park” in Central Park; the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival is just across the Hudson from West Point; “The Magic Flute” pops up at the Met and NJPAC on occasion. I may have been the only one who knew, but a mere 72 hours after this dinner-lecture the chamber orchestra called Suedama Ensemble would perform a concert inspired by Freemasonry just a few miles away! (But more on that later.) All of these endeavors rely mightily on private sector sponsorship.

Livingston Library Executive Director Tom Savini had the sobering answer.

“We need to look within before we look outside to help others,” he said, explaining how the library’s priority now is to find the resources to create the position of archivist. In the works is a database to record the histories of New York lodges, past and present.



Hopefully the means will be found to support many parallel projects in the effort to preserve Masonic culture, both within and without the temple.

Another Big Night at ‘The Little Inn’

Tonight the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library, of the Grand Lodge of New York, returned to La Petite Auberge in Murray Hill for its second annual dinner-lecture, this one titled “Freemasonry and the Arts.”

I’ll continue with a Magpie account of the evening shortly, but for now I’ll just share some photos.

These photos deny Bro. Ari Roussimoff’s work the justice it deserves. The colors, even in the subtly lit restaurant, are captivating and thrust the viewer into fantasy.

Thanks to the familiar symbols, the scenes are not entirely foreign, but clearly you’re taken into another world. (The poor quality of these photos is attributed to the need to shoot from an angle for lighting purposes. Really the best that could be managed without using more equipment.)

RW Bill Thomas, center, greets two of his guests. Bill is a Trustee of the Library. On Monday the 29th, he’ll be installed in the East of American Lodge of Research.

From left: artist Ari Roussimoff, Mark Koltko-Rivera, Daniel from the Livingston Library, and Tom Savini, Director of the Library.

That’s Bob Stutz on the right, as if you’re looking at him.

In the meantime, to read about last year’s festivities, click here.

ALR looks at Templars

RW Thomas Savini, director of the Grand Lodge of New York’s Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library, displays the painstakingly replicated facsimile of the famous Chinon Parchment to interested brethren of American Lodge of Research Wednesday evening.

What better setting than the French Ionic Room could there be to display the documents of the Avignon Pope’s trial of the French monastic order we call the Knights Templar?

There we were at the Regular Communication of American Lodge of Research Wednesday night in the Grand Lodge of New York building to view these spectacular reproductions of historic documents. I have heard of the quality of Vatican publications, but I was unprepared for the lavish packaging and the exacting detail created by the publisher in the production of “Processus Contra Templarios.”

It isn’t only a book. In addition to the oversize multi-lingual tome there are multiple facsimile copies, published on a realistic synthetic fabric that retains the look and feel of medieval parchment, of many ancillary documents – including one text that happens to record Pope Clement’s absolution of the Templar Order of the most serious charges against them. This item, dubbed the “Chinon Parchment,” was discovered in the Vatican Secret Archives in 2001 by a researching scholar, who found it and recognized its significance. It simply had been misfiled all these centuries, obscuring a giant historical fact.



The reproduction of the Chinon Parchment.

This stunning package of historical documents was purchased by the Grand Lodge of New York’s Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library, disbursing $8,600 from a fund bequeathed to the library for the purpose of acquiring singular research materials that otherwise would elude the brethren. But what has the fate of a crusading order of knights to do with Freemasonry, and why would one of the most important Masonic research libraries in the world acquire these archival reproductions?

RW Bro. Thomas Savini, director of the library, explained, saying part of the library’s mission is to “provide resources for the experiential side of Masonry – the intangibles that drove us all to become Freemasons – for our discussion, and study, and growth.” (The only other known Masonic organization in the United States to have acquired a copy is the House of the Temple, headquarters of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in Washington. The November-December issue of “Scottish Rite Journal” features a cover story on Ill. Hoyt Samples and his wife Mitzi who lavished that donated copy of “Processus.”)

Savini and RW Bill Thomas, who was acting Master of the lodge for the evening, continued the talk with a history of the medieval Knights Templar, from its founding to its dissolution, a story popular enough among Masons that it need not be related here, except for one interesting point Savini noted about the relationship between the French king and the Catholic pope. Explaining how Philip IV exerted control, “flexing his muscles,” Savini placed this political situation into the context of the Age of Reason. We see “a secular authority can hold more power than the pope,” he added, and in fact the king ordered the Church Inquisition to arrest the Templars. To make a long legal story short, the Order had been charged with the capital crime of heresy, plus a variety of lesser crimes, like sacrilege and sodomy, and were absolved by the pope of the former, but convicted of the latter.

I guess by today’s standards, the knights would be fit to serve in Congress.

RW Bill Thomas, a Trustee of the Livingston Library, noted the similarity of the Templar organization structure to Freemasonry, and how that affected the Inquisition’s prosecution, explaining how junior members of the Order were arrested, but were unable to answer the Inquisition’s most serious questions due to their lack of seniority.

But about these wonderful documents and their value to historian and hobbyist alike.

They provide “a real tactile experience,” Savini said, explaining how the synthetic material employed in the construction of the “parchments” and the deliberately placed folds, and even the replica mold stains all combine to recreate the originals. Having these facsimiles grants great freedom to scholars. “Here’s something you’d never see me do, and that would give me a heart attack if I saw anyone else doing,” he said, holding aloft one parchment measuring more than six feet in length, demonstrating how these can be handled, studied, and admired, while sparing the originals the wear and tear.

And the reproduction process involved much more than photographic copying. Because of the advanced age of the documents and the manner they were folded and stored, it was necessary for restorers to employ a Wood’s lamp to project ultraviolet light onto the original parchments to reveal handwritten content otherwise misunderstood or unintelligible.

In addition to the massive book itself, and the Chinon Parchment, and that six-footer, the package includes smaller parchments containing interrogation notes, summary documents, and executive findings, some of which show Pope Clement’s handwritten notes and signature.


Other attractions appeal to a broader scope of researchers. The original documents’ authenticity and authority were attested by the wax seals of the three Papal commissioners who examined the Templars. And sure enough, viewers of the replica collection are indeed greeted by three intricately molded replica wax seals, which brought students of that art to view the collection during its seven-stop tour of the state this month in the care of Thomas and Savini. The calligraphy also lured mavens of that craft.

“This is fascinating,” said ALR Secretary Harvey Eysman, at right. “I have a facsimile of Anderson’s Constitutions. It’s one thing to see the imperfections on those pages, but those are just copies. This is history!”

This copy of “Processus” is on hand at the Livingston Masonic Library. Library hours are:

Mondays, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Tuesdays, from noon to 8 p.m.
Wednesdays through Fridays, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The library, located on the 14th floor of the Grand Lodge building, is open to the public.

The showing of “Processus” was not the only highlight of the lodge’s meeting. ALR also elected its officers for the ensuing year. Bill Thomas, at left, is the Master-elect, and after about a decade of service at the Treasurer’s desk, RW Ron Goldwyn was honored with unanimous election as Treasurer Emeritus. Plus a bunch of others were elected to Corresponding Membership. Congratulations brethren! The Installation of Officers will take place Monday, December 29. The 2009 meetings of American Lodge of Research are scheduled for Monday, March 30 and Thursday, October 29.

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Whenever reporting from the Grand Lodge of New York, it is necessary to try to relay the marvelous architecture and design. In addition to viewing these photos, do take the virtual tour of the French Ionic Room.