‘My new favorite thing in Freemasonry’

     

You know John Keats died too young in Italy in 1821, and you know P.B. Shelley died too young in Italy in 1822, but did you know there is a lodge in Rome named Keats and Shelley Lodge?

Well, there is.

The first lodge on the roll of the Gran Loggia Regolare d’Italia celebrates its 45th anniversary this year. It’s an English-language lodge (no surprise there, I guess) that meets on the fourth Saturdays of February, May, September, and November.

I don’t know if the lodge has any relationship to Keats-Shelley House.
     

‘Lecture: Freemasonry in the Spanish Antilles’

     
The next lecture at the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library will bring back to the lectern Bro. Jorge Romeu. From the publicity:

An Overview of Freemasonry

in the Spanish Antilles

by Bro. Jorge Romeu

Tuesday, December 10 at 6:30

Chancellor Robert R. Livingston

Masonic Library

71 West 23rd Street, 14th floor

Manhattan

RSVP here

This month we are proud to welcome back Bro. Jorge Romeu to present his research providing a historic overview of the history of grand lodges in the Spanish Antilles during the 19th century. Freemasonry appeared, first and briefly, in the Spanish Antilles (Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic) as a result of the Haitian slave revolt at the beginning of the 19th century. Haiti’s French colonizers moved to the neighboring Spanish islands, taking Freemasonry with them. Freemasonry reappeared in the 1860s after an interlude of 30 years when it was forbidden by Spain. Freemasonry was then instrumental in these islands’ struggle for political autonomy, and eventually for independence.

Jorge Luis Romeu

Bro. Jorge L. Romeu holds dual Masonic memberships in New York (Liverpool-Syracuse 501, The American Lodge of Research, and Western New York Lodge of Research) and in Puerto Rico (Jose Celso Barbosa Lodge 106 and Jose G. Bloise Lodge 113). He holds doctorate and master’s degrees in Operations Research from Syracuse University, and serves as a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Research Professor. Romeu is director of the Juarez Lincoln Marti Project, dedicated to enhancing faculty development exchanges. He is a member of the Fulbright Speakers Specialist roster, which has provided the opportunity to teach at numerous international universities.

Photo ID is required to enter Masonic Hall.
     

‘2020 Prestonian Lecturer’

     
And the envelope please…

Magpie file photo

The Prestonian Lecture for 2020 will be “A System of Morality: Aristotle and the Making of the Ritual” as presented by W Bro. George Boys-Stones, Past Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies.

Congratulations, Bro. Boys-Stones! Please let me know if your travels bring you to the United States, particularly the New York City area. I have some experience in arranging Prestonian speaking engagements.

George Boys-Stones

W. Boys-Stones, unsurprisingly, is a professor of Classics, a member of the Classics Department at Durham University from 1999 to 2019 before joining the faculty of the University of Toronto for the 2019-20 term. He is a prolific author on subjects pertaining to the philosophies of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, and is managing editor of Phronesis, a journal of ancient philosophy. Earlier this year, he published Platonist Philosophy 80 BC to AD 250: An Introduction and Collection of Sources in Translation which, among other feats, puts into English for the first time a number of Platonist primary writings.

Click here to see other books.

A Prestonian Lecturer is appointed every year by the United Grand Lodge of England in a tradition commenced in 1818, thanks to a bequest to the Grand Lodge from William Preston, that has gone uninterrupted excepting for the years of the Second World War (if I recall correctly).

Having attempted myself to speak a number of times on the Four Cardinal Virtues, I’m very eager to hear this Prestonian Lecture because I glossed over Aristotle, jumping from Plato to Aquinas.
     

‘John Acaster, R.I.P.’

     
There are times when news of someone’s death makes you gasp loudly in disbelief and dismay, and that was the case for me today upon learning of the loss yesterday of Bro. John Acaster.

I’ll enjoy fond memories of chatting with him about things Masonic, especially things Masonic education. He was one of the greats. He founded several Craft lodges and a Royal Arch chapter. He was a scholar and Past Master for QC2076 and Manchester Lodge of Research, and was a joy to hear from the lectern.

Magpie file photo

This seems to be my only photo of John Acaster, center, in dark blue regalia. Taken at Alpha Lodge 116, December 2007.

It was about 12 years ago that I first met him. It was a special event at historic Alpha Lodge 116, but it was after hours, downstairs in the dining room, where I got to talk with John at length about his enthusiasm for focused research and for general learning. If I’m not mistaken, he would have marked his golden anniversary in Freemasonry next year.

What got to me was how I considered him “the young one” of the Quatuor Coronati members.

Rest in peace.
     

‘Wellness services planned for New Rochelle’

     
MW Bro. William M. Sardone, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York, released a brief statement today on the subject of the acquisition of the campus of the former College of New Rochelle (see previous two Magpie posts). Excerpted:


“For several years and with the support of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, the Trustees have been searching for a suitable site closer to the Metropolitan New York City area. This long-range plan was to bring some of the services available in Utica, New York closer to Masons who live in the New York City area. When it was learned that the former campus of the College of New Rochelle became available, it was acknowledged that this property would not only provide that opportunity, but also wellness services to a larger community.”
     

‘Bankruptcy court approves Grand Lodge college purchase’

     

Courtesy WCBS/Channel 2

Today a New York bankruptcy court approved Grand Lodge’s $32 million purchase at auction of the defunct College of New Rochelle campus in Westchester.

News story here.

Now we await an announcement from the 17th floor disclosing our fraternity’s intention for the property.

More Magpie information here.
     

‘Grand Lodge acquiring defunct college property’

     
UPDATED INFO HERE.

Courtesy Bloomberg News

With a winning bid of $32 million, the Grand Lodge of New York prevailed days ago in an auction of the 16-acre campus of the former College of New Rochelle, according to a news report published late last night.

No, me neither.

Courtesy Westchester Magazine

No title has been transferred yet. Tomorrow a hearing in bankruptcy court will convene to discuss approval of this plan. The College of New Rochelle went bankrupt in September in a criminal financial fraud leaving behind liabilities of approximately $80 million.

The buyer actually is the Masonic Hall & Asylum Fund, which is the corporation entrusted with the management of Grand Lodge’s real properties, from Masonic Hall in Manhattan to the Masonic Care Community in Utica, and also DeWint House and Camp Turk.

Courtesy Athletic Business

Campus Wellness Center.

The property is located in Westchester County, located northeast of Manhattan and near the Connecticut border, less than 20 miles from midtown via I-95.

Courtesy New York Times

Leland Castle, built in the 1850s and landmarked, is part of the campus. 

Read all about it here. These photos of the campus are culled from assorted news sources.
     

‘Congratulations to one in a million’

     

On Thursday, the inimitable, irrepressible, and inspiring Jim Hogg was honored in the United Grand Lodge of England, where he was made a Past Provincial Senior Grand Warden!

Jim is a Florida Mason who holds dual membership in UGLE’s Internet Lodge 9659, where he served as Worshipful Master. He was one of only six brethren so honored from among the 166 lodges of the Provincial Grand Lodge of East Lancashire. This is the highest honor that may be bestowed on a brother by a Provincial Grand Master. The brethren enjoyed a meeting and festive board at King George’s Hall in Blackburn.

To know Jim is to love him—and to groan in incurable agony at the ceaseless torrent of puns and cracks he improvises throughout his waking hour. And likely in his slumbers too!

He also is a Founding Fellow of the Masonic Society, where he served a number of years on our Board of Directors, so I can attest to his outstanding leadership qualities.

Congratulations, Jim! Wear that beautiful regalia in good health for many years.

Photos courtesy Jim Hogg

     

‘Speakers Bureau is a go’

     

Illinois Lodge of Research announced Saturday the launch of a speakers bureau. More than 60(!) Masons have said they would travel the state to present topics of Masonic interest.

It’s not a free-for-all. The speakers are vetted. Suitable topics are understood in three denominations: history, symbolism/esoterica, and ritual/literature.

Read all about it here.

Bravo, brethren!
     

‘The Working Tool for the holiday season’

     
Straight from the publicity:


The George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association is proud to offer for the 2019 holiday season a beautiful gold and enamel plated ornament—The Working Tool: United in Brotherly Love.

This ornament unites several essential Masonic symbols that illustrate the crucial and divine lesson of brotherly love. The triangular frame, topped by the Masonic emblem over a sky blue circle, represents the fraternity. The raised Trowel is every Master Mason’s primary tool. As the Trowel spreads the cement that unites the many different stones or bricks of a building into a single, strong whole, so Master Masons spread brotherly love to unite men throughout the world. Behind the Trowel shines the Blazing Star, an ancient Masonic symbol of Divine Providence, representing the divine nature of brotherhood. As President and Brother George Washington used an ivory-handled trowel to lay the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol, the trowel inspires Masons to use brotherly love to overcome their differences. The new American Republic united all the states under the motto E Pluribus Unum, “from many, one.”

To order yours, please visit our website here.
     

‘Great day planned for MMRS’

     
It’s that time of year for elections and installations of officers, and Maryland Masonic Research Society will meet for its annual meeting on Saturday, December 7 for a nicely well rounded gathering.

9:15 a.m. – a light breakfast will be served ($12 per person).

10:15 – the meeting, with a presentation by S. Brent Morris on “A Timeline of High Degree Masonry,” and the “very quickly done” elections/installations.

Then a tour of Freemasons Hall, the headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Maryland.

The group asks for a $5 entrance fee to defray the costs of renting the Gothic Room.

Kindly book your seat for breakfast no later than Tuesday, December 3 by writing the secretary here.

All Masons and their guests are welcome to attend.

From the publicity:


“A Timeline of High Degree Masonry” focuses on the remarkably complex and interconnected group of Masonic organizations. We will begin our exploration from the base, where the Craft Degrees are controlled by Grand Lodges, and grafted onto these are “High Degrees” that expand and amplify the basic Craft ceremonies. This talk traces the first appearance and growth of High Degrees from the formation of the Premier Grand Lodge to the creation of the first Supreme Council in 1801.

Courtesy Dummkopf Blog

S. Brent Morris is a Past President of Maryland Masonic Research Society, Past Master of both Patmos Lodge 70 in Maryland and Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076 in London. He is managing editor of The Scottish Rite Journal, a Past Grand Abbot of the Society of Blue Friars, and the author and editor of numerous books and articles on Freemasonry. He is a Founding Fellow of the Masonic Society, a Fellow of the Philalethes Society, and an Honorary Fellow of the Phylaxis Society. A 33° Mason in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction, he also is a recipient of the Grand Cross of the Court of Honor. He is a mathematician by training and a magician by inclination.

The tour will follow Brent’s lecture and will be led by Stephen J. Ponzillo and Edward Heimiller.

Freemasons Hall is located at 304 International Circle in Cockeysville, Maryland. Free parking is available.
      

‘Lecture: Origins of Masonry’

     

On Tuesday, December 3, Hancock-Dirigo-Adelphi Lodge 23 will host a brother from Holland Lodge 8 to present a lecture. From the publicity:

The Origins of Masonry:

from Operative to Speculative

by RW Andrew Paine

Tuesday, December 3 at 7 p.m.

Masonic Hall, Manhattan

Doric Room on 8

We are honored and privileged to have RW Andrew Paine presenting this lecture, and we invite brethren of your lodge to attend. Candidates are welcome to attend, accompanied by their lodge sponsor.

Reserve by email here with your name, lodge, and degree, and write “Masonic Light with RW Andrew Paine” in the subject line. Your current membership card will be needed at the door. Photo ID is required to enter Masonic Hall.

Dinner to follow, at $35 per person, in the Jacobean Room.

     

‘Tuesday: 1919 time capsule opened’

     

Last month, a time capsule installed a century ago inside the cornerstone of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital at the Masonic Care Community in Utica was excavated and opened by the new director of the Livingston Library and Grand Master Sardone. On Tuesday night, the treasures formerly kept and concealed will be shown to the brethren at Masonic Hall. From the publicity:

Chancellor Robert R. Livingston

Masonic Library

Monthly Lecture Series

1919 Time Capsule

from the Soldiers and Sailors

Memorial Hospital Cornerstone

Tuesday, November 19 at 6 p.m.

Masonic Hall, Manhattan

French Ionic Room on 10

Bro. Fellow Craft Alexander Vastola, of Yorktown-Diamond Thistle Lodge 55, director of the library, will reveal the contents of the time capsule, and will discuss the histories of the artifacts and their donors. Prior to becoming library director, Vastola worked as the archives assistant for the Century Association Archives Foundation, as an archives consultant for Jan Hird Pokorny Associates, Inc., and as a researcher for the New York Preservation Archive Project. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Medieval and Renaissance Studies from Vassar College, a Certificate in Museum Studies from SUNY Purchase, and a Master of Library and Information Science Degree, with a Certificate in Archives, from Pratt Institute’s School of Information.

Photo ID is required to enter Masonic Hall. Please book your seat by writing the library here.
     

‘See the original “Garibaldi” degree!’

     
Okay, so you attended Garibaldi Lodge two weeks ago to witness the amazing 18th century French Rite ceremony of initiation, and were duly dazzled by the Rosicrucian ritual elements you had no idea existed in Masonic rites—well, now you can visit the lodge that gave Garibaldi its Entered Apprentice ritual, and experience it in its original French.

That lodge, l’Union Française 17, also in the Tenth Manhattan District, will confer the EA° on two aspirants Tuesday night. (In fact, No. 17 is the eldest lodge in the Tenth Manhattan, dating to 1797. This was J.J.J. Gourgas’ lodge.)

This will take place on the tenth floor inside the French Doric Room, a small space—tiny compared to the Grand Lodge Room, where hundreds visit Garibaldi—where we sideliners really can view the ritualists’ labors. The lodge shall open at 6 p.m. The degree will begin at 6:45. No one will be admitted after the degree has started.

As you reasonably may expect of a French lodge, there will be a sumptuous feast afterward. That’s $45 per person, cash, which covers everything, including wine, taxes, and gratuities.

Bring your photo identification to enter Masonic Hall, and your current membership card to enter the lodge, but leave the French-English dictionary at home. You’ll be able to follow along despite the language barrier. (I’d see you there, but urgent Grotto business awaits downstairs.) Enjoy!
     

'Masonic Week registration is open'

     
To get started, click here.

Remember, the Masonic Society dinner-meeting on Friday night costs only $55 per person. A sirloin entree will be served. Open to all Freemasons and guests.

Come hear Bro. Mark Tabbert present the keynote: "A Deserving Brother: George Washington and Freemasonry."

This will be our Annual Meeting, with elections of officers, presenting new Fellows, and other exciting announcements.
     

‘Garibaldi Lodge’s EAº in November’

     

Bust of MW Giuseppe Garibaldi
by RW Anthony Cuonzo, presented
to MW Vincent Libone in 2010.

Garibaldi Lodge 542 in the Tenth Manhattan District will confer its famous Entered Apprentice Degree on Friday, November 1. This is the unforgettable ceremony of initiation that attracts busloads of Freemasons from throughout the Northeastern United States and beyond.

What draws hundreds of Masons eager to make an advancement in Masonic knowledge is the 18th century French Rite ritual that is delivered in the Italian language. Unless you are from a Red Lodge or other Craft lodge that works European rituals, this First Degree is very unlike anything your lodge does. It is worlds apart from the Preston-Webb-Cross rituals known in almost every jurisdiction in America, as it is heavily laden with Rosicrucian and Alchemical symbolism. To be clear, it is a wholly Masonic ritual. Furthermore, it is easy to follow the action even with the foreign tongue being spoken.

Arrive at Masonic Hall (71 West 23rd Street in Manhattan) by 6 p.m. Bring your apron and membership card, and be prepared to work your way into a tiled Masonic lodge at labor. Apprentices and Fellows are welcome—they need only be avouched by a Master Mason—and in fact are seated in the East with the dignitaries.

I’d say the evening should end by around ten o’clock.

The lodge needs a headcount. (The first time I visited for this degree, about ten years ago, hundreds of Pennsylvania Masons had to be turned away because the Fire Department would not permit them inside the room, which already was packed to capacity with about 1,200 Masons.) So contact the lodge secretary here to report how many are in your party.

It’s a must see, and is one of the most talked about events on the Masonic calendar in New York. See you there.
     

‘Masonic school named National Historic Place’

     
In a press release from last Monday, the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources announced the addition of a landmark Masonic site to America’s National Register of Historic Places. The press release:

Only school in the U.S.

founded by Masons

named to National Register

of Historic Places

The New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources has announced that the building first known as the New England Masonic Charitable Institute in Effingham has been honored by the United States Secretary of the Interior with placement on the National Register of Historic Places, for both its architecture and for its role in the history and development of the Town of Effingham.

Built in 1858, the two-and-a-half story New England Masonic Charitable Institute is the only large public building in Effingham. Its Italianate details include boxed eaves with paired scroll-sawn brackets, corner quoins and a heavy hood over the main entrance.

The building’s elaborate three-stage tower has a Masonic seal on the front and clock faces on the two adjacent sides. Its octagonal open belfry protects the 1863 bell, which was used during World War II for air-raid warnings.

Founded by the Charter Oak Lodge No. 58 of Free and Accepted Masons, the New England Masonic Charitable Institute is the only school in the United States known to have been run by the Masons. Opened as a coed institution in the fall of 1861, its ceased school operations in the early 1880s.

Charter Oak Lodge No. 58 sold the building to the Town of Effingham in 1891 for one dollar but retained rights to the second floor in perpetuity. The walls and ceilings of the Lodge’s temple space are covered with trompe l’oeil murals attributed to Boston painter Philip A. Butler. Images of classic sculptures, architectural details and Masonic symbols, including the All-Seeing Eye, are incorporated into the paintings. Heavily water-damaged in the late 1980s, they have since been restored.

The first floor, which was originally a single classroom for the Institute, served as Effingham’s town hall from 1891 to 2005. Established in 1893, the town library initially shared space with the town hall but has been the sole occupant of the first floor since 2005.

A Veterans Memorial, installed near the entrance in 1933 when town offices were in the building, includes a bronze plaque mounted on a rectangular piece of granite. It lists all Effingham men who served in the Revolutionary War, the Great Britain-United States War, Civil War, and the World Wars.

Administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official list of historic resources worthy of preservation and is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate and protect our historic and archaeological resources.

Listing to the National Register does not impose any new or additional restrictions or limitations on the use of private or non-federal properties. Listings identify historically significant properties and can serve as educational tools and increase heritage tourism opportunities. The rehabilitation of National Register-listed commercial or industrial buildings may qualify for certain federal tax provisions.

In New Hampshire, listing to the National Register makes applicable property owners eligible for grants such as the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program or LCHIP and the Conservation License Plate Program.

For more information on the National Register program in New Hampshire, please visit or contact the Division of Historical Resources at 603-271-3583.

New Hampshire’s Division of Historical Resources, the State Historic Preservation Office, was established in 1974 and is part of the N.H. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. NHDHR’s mission is to preserve and celebrate New Hampshire’s irreplaceable historic resources through programs and services that provide education, stewardship, and protection. For more information, visit us online here or call 603-271-3483.
     

‘Freemasonry in Latin American revolution’

     
Pelham Lodge 712 in the Bronx has an interesting lecture scheduled for Tuesday night. Please RSVP to the Junior Warden here. The lodge meets in the City Island Masonic Temple at 241 City Island Avenue.

Click to enlarge.

     

‘A Perspective of Craft Symbols’

     

RW Gary Heinmiller

It’s been almost exactly 18 years since I first “met” Bro. Gary Heinmiller on the day he was admitted to the Masonic Light group. That was the place to be for thinking Freemasons in the world of Yahoo! Groups during the early days of this century—a simpler world before Facebook and the rest of that stuff ruined humanity. So long ago, in fact, Gary’s email provider was something called bluefrognet.net. Anyway, his regular participation in our discussions revealed his deep and wide knowledge of things Masonic, particularly in ritual and symbol, but also in history, philosophy, and other necessities. I think his internet labors on behalf of Masonic education actually predate the internet! Where would we be without this?

Today Bro. Gary is the Right Worshipful Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of New York (my Grand Lodge), and he serves the Craft in this capacity with the written and spoken word. Rashied says there are no coincidences, but a few months ago, I posted a message to my lodge brothers in our—d’oh!—Facebook private group about the history of flaming swords. (I’m one of those Past Master-Tilers, and I wish I had one of those implements.) It must have been at about that same day when Gary wrote an article for The Empire State Mason magazine (page 16) on the subject of—the history of swords, including flaming swords! His version is better than mine.

If you are in or near Fayetteville and are available Thursday the 24th, go hear Gary present “A Perspective of Craft Symbols of the Lodge.” From the publicity:


The Worshipful Master of Nortrip Lodge 998 cordially invites you to the October 24 presentation of “A Perspective of Craft Symbols of the Lodge” by RW Gary Heinmiller, Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York.

Refreshments will be served at 6:30 p.m. Tiled meeting and the presentation at 7:30 p.m. at the Fayetteville Masonic Temple, 116 East Genesee Street in Fayetteville, New York.

RW Gary Heinmiller is the Grand Historian for the Grand Lodge of New York. He founded and serves as the Archivist for the Onondaga and Oswego Masonic Districts Historical Societies, which maintains an active website with more than 8,000 pages of Masonic history, philosophy, ritual, geometry, and links. He has been the Charter Area 11 Historian for the Grand Lodge from 1994 to the present. Among his works are a list of New York lodges from 1759 to the present, the book Freemasonry and a View of the Perennial World Philosophy, a compilation of more than 4,000 pages of New York Freemasons in the Civil War, and lodge histories for nearly every lodge in the Grand Lodge of New York, most of which, and more, may be viewed at the OMDHS website.

Please RSVP before October 18 to the Worshipful Master here or to the Secretary here.


We’ll have to get him to the Fourth Manhattan District soon!
     

‘Ancient Freemasonry in the American Revolution’

     
Yes, yes, some clod tossed a molotov cocktail at Masonic Hall the other night. Welcome to New York City. Now walk faster.

You want explosive? Get thee to the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library in two weeks for the next lecture. From the publicity:

Moses Sproule:

Witness to Mysteries

Ancient Freemasonry

in the American Revolution

Presented by Bro. Jack Willoughby

Thursday, October 24 at 6:30 p.m.

Masonic Hall, 14th floor

RSVP here

The Livingston Library is proud to announce the eighth lecture of our 2019 free monthly lecture series. This month’s lecture will feature journalist Jack Willoughby, who will discuss how the teachings of Ancient Freemasonry influenced George Washington’s development of a uniform symbol for the American Republic in the Union Army. Additionally, Willoughby’s discourse will explore the Ancient mysteries and their contribution to the development of Freemasonry and the difference between Ancient Freemasonry and our contemporary Grand Lodge structure.

Jack Willoughby

Jack Willoughby is an award-winning financial journalist whose articles and columns have appeared in Barron’s, Forbes, Institutional Investor, the Globe, and the Mail. From New York, he consults on media and investor relations through a private firm Open-Door Creations. In his spare time, he is one of a group of amateur historians delving into the colonial history of his beloved mother lodge, Independent Royal Arch 2, of which he is a trustee. Old Number 2 has been operating in Manhattan since 1760, and represents one of New York’s oldest institutions.

Photo ID is required to enter the building. Admission is free and is open to the public. White wine is served, as is water. RSVP here.