Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

Multum in Parbo , or Masonic Notes and Queries .

o THE " RED CROSS" ORDER . I have read the somewhat remarkable statement of "R . XV . L . " at page 151 , which seems to herald the advent of a new phase in the history of this Masonic " Order . " In another place I

have ventured to make a few observations upon the subject , and had intended that they should be my last , beyond mere queries , when occasion arose . If , however , the "Order" is to take up fresh ground , I shall feel at liberty to return to the question when I have had an opportunity

to see the nature of the claims upon which the new position is to be founded . We were once told by "R . W . L . " that "the English Order has never boasted any connection with the Parniese-Neapolitan institution ; " and we have been more than once distinctly informed that the English

branch claims to have been founded by the Abbe Giuistiniani , a Grand Cross of the original Order . As a preliminary step I would suggest that the forthcoming report may well commence by shewing that any Knight Grand Cross , of any

Order that ever existed in Europe , possessed , at any time , the power to found a branch of an Order in his own or another country , or even to add a single member to any Order , beyond some mere subordinate appointment , of any essentially personal description . LUPUS .

I am glad to see that " Lupus , " whose nom de plume I recognize as that of an honorable and zealous Masonic writer , has become a contributor to THE FREEMASON . The question he puts at page 151 is so pertinent that it deserves reproduction . " Is there any document in

existence , of more than a few years ago , which allies the Masonic ' Red Cross' degree with the Constantinian name ? " The most conclusive evidence on this point is naturally only to be found in the rituals of the Order , and these , of course , cannot be published ; but other

documents are in existence which will go far towards proving the connection . I may first refer to the " Histoire des Francs-Magons , " by J . P . Dubreuil , published at Brussels in 1838 . At page 164 , and the succeeding pages , a catechism of the Order may be found . The degree is called "Chevalier

tempher Ecos . \ de la croix rouge , ou de Rome et de Constantin , " and I may quote the following : " Le grand maitres' appelle Constantin ; le depute grand maitre , Eusebe ; les officiers sont un general ancien , et un jeune , un grand porte-6 tendard , un portier ( janitor ) ou tuileur . The opening is thus sketched : —

Const . Seigneurs chevaliers et compagnons , assistez-moi a ouvrir le conclave des seigneurs les chevaliers compagnons de la croix rouge de Rome et de Constantin . Tous les chevaliers dcbout tirent leurs dpdcs et se placent sur deux rangs .

Const . Seigneur chevalier Eusebius , quel est le premier devoir des compagnons dc cct ordrc ? Euseb . Dc voir si le conclave est composd de membres qui en ont le droit , si lc couvretir est ;\ sa place dument armc et puis si le conclave e " st convert .

Const . Seigneur chevalier Jeune ge ' ndral regardez s'il est 5 . son devoir , et faites votrc rapport dans les formes usitees . Apres ce rapport , le conclave est ddclare au nom du noble et royal fondateur Constantin . & c .

It may be noticed that Dubreuil gives the name of " templier ecossais" to the Order , and it is perfectly true that it has been conferred from time immemorial in the Scottish K . T . Encampments . This , however , docs not militate against the legitimacy of the English branch , which has

never , so far as can be traced , been other than an independent body working under its own peculiar laws and regulations . The next point to which I would direct the attention of " Lupus " is the recent discovery of Red Cross documents in a box at Freemasons' Hall . An inventory of its contents , of which the following is a literal

copy , was found at the top of the box : — Ex Relatione I 3 r . Baumcr . Royal Arch . Knight Templar . Kadosh Harodim . Perfect Mason . Rosicrucian .

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

Ne plus ultra . Should be conferred by the Grand Master in person at the Temple Church upon Good Friday .

RED CROSS OF CONSTANTINE . - * The Priesthood . In pencil , and scarcely legible , are the following memoranda under the above list : — Now only to be had in Scotland .

Br . MSS . of the degree was borrowed but never returned . On the other side of the paper are the

following words : —¦ Ex Relatione Br . Burckhardt . The Red Cross Knights of Palestine were to have had a warrant for conferring all the Lower Degrees ; but not the Royal Arch or Knights Templars .

This will probably settle the question as to the identity of the ' Red Cross' Masonic Order with the Constantinian name . The document signed by the Duke of Sussex will be published in the Annual Report of the Red Cross

Executive Committee , and , in all probability , afterwards , in the columns of THE FREEMASON . I give here , however , a copy of a summons addressed , in the handwriting of Waller Rodwell Wright himself , to the celebrated Da Costa : —

A . D . A . L . 1810 . 5814 . Order ofthe Red Cross , Division of St . George . Sir Knight , You are hereby required to attend a Grand

Chapter of the said Order , to be holden at Freemasons' Tavern , on Monday , the 30 th day of April precisely , at three o ' clock in the afternoon , then and there to be installed a Knight of the Grand Cross of the said Order , in pursuance of your election at the

last Grand Chapter thereof—and also for other Business relating to the said Order . Hereof fail not . Given under my Hand and the private Signet of the said Order this 21 st day of April A . D . 1810 , A . I .. 5 S 14 .

( Signed ) WALLER RODWELL WRIGHT , ( Seal ) Gd . Master of the said Order . To Sir Joseph Hippolyto Da Costa , a Knight Noviciate of the sd Order . N . B . —You arc requested to send an early answer directed to me , No . 1 Hans Place , Sloanc Street .

The seal , it may be stated , is a double-headed eagle—the symbol of the union of the Eastern and Western Empires under Constantine—and it is borne at the present time by the Senators of the . revived Order . R . W . L .

ISRO . BUCHAN AND " ST . CLAIR . The remarks on this subject by Bro Buchan are ol" value , and are well worthy of examination , especially when he says that St . Clair was made a Freemason before the Grand Lodge of

Scotland was instituted , with the idea of electing him Grand Master . The belief generally is that he and his predecessors had been Masons long befo ' .-e the eighteenth century , and that " St . Clair" resigned his right as Grand Master , and

then was elected to that office . The latter view I do not believe myself , as no record extant mentions the term Grand Master in Scotland , bearing date before the institution of Grand Lodge A . D . 1736 . W . J . HUGHAN .

/ 'IS POPE PIUS IX . A FREEMASON ? Some two years ago I explained the fact tint Pope Pius IX . was initiated into the order ol Freamasonry . I shall ' , in the course of a very short time , send to THE FREEMASON furthei particulars . CHALMERS I . PATON .

THE . HEREDITARY GRAND MASTER OF SCOTLAND . Some matters of importance on this point are at p .-esent being discussed in Masonic publications ,. Let the Depute Grand Master Mason of Scot ' iand look after the disgraceful and unfounded attacks . WARNER .

BRO . BUCHAN AND THE 8 l 2 TII ANNIVERSARY , LATELY HELD IN GLASGOW . I-Ind Bro . Buchan attended this meeting and

entered his protest against their calling it the 812 th anniversary , he would onl y have done his duty . He would have gained respect to himself by ninny . EDINBURGH . Is _ , 9 radlaugh , the infidel , a Mason ?

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

BROS . " LEO , " W . P . BUCHAN , AND " ONE WHO WISHES FACTS" ON MOTHER LODGE KILWINNING . In the interesting communications by the above will be found much of value relating to "Mother Lodge Kilwinning , " and other old lodges , with which if brethren generally were

more familiar there would be little danger of their accepting as facts of history what after all is but fiction and pure imagination . With respect to Bro . " Leo , " I still maintain that , no one has ever stated " Mother Kilwinning is the mother lodge of Scotland , all the others being offshoots from it . " If my friend Bro . "Leo" will turn to

THE FREEMASON for March 19 th he will find the latter part of the sentence in italics , and it is to that part my remark applies , as no one to my knowledge has ever pretended that all the other lodges are offshoots from Mother Kilwinning . " All the others being offshoots from it " occurs in Bro . Leo ' s communication of the 12 th March

( page 127 ) , and it is to that I take exception . Bro . Lawrie , in "History of Freemasonry , " & c , 1804 , mentions two lodges which were the parents of other lodges—not Mother Kilwinning alone—and hence I am equally anxious with him and Bro . Buchan , of Glasgow , that the Lodge of

Edinburgh ( Mary ' s Chapel ) should receive its due share of antiquity and importance before the institution of the Grand Lodge of Scotland A . D . 173 6 . Thus my objection to Bro . "Leo" is simply that to two old lodges the statements of Bro . Lawrie and others refer , and not to one dnly . I think that few Masons who read THE

FREEMASON—and I am glad to find so many do read this valuable paper—will consider the Lodge of St . John and Kilwinni » g legends as facts , after the excellent letters on the subject by Brothers Buchan , " Leo , " and others . I do not myself , nor have I at any time , believed them . " Mother

Lodge Kilwinning " was even declared by Bro . Lawrie to have worked other than the three degrees of Masonry , but that , Bro . Lyon , the historian of the lodge , has disproved , and on the Continent the name of "Kilwinning , " Scotland , has been the usual "City of Refuge" to account

for the origin of about one thousand degrees ! We live now in an age when facts are preferred to fiction , and so much the better . My remarks are mostly derived from the history of the Lodge No . o , by Bro . Lyon , and as Bro . Buchan has kindly mentioned where that excellent work is

to be found , I will not stay to reiterate what Bro . Lyon has already done so well . Taking all the lodges that were offshoots from Mother Lodge Kilwinning before and since A . D . 6 ( see my statement in THE FREEMASON , page 139 ) , I am not aware of anv six other lodges existing before

the institution of the Grand Lodge of Scotland having constituted so man }' . Of course if such can be found , it is only for their evidence to be produced to secure my acknowledgment of error , but at present facts point otherwise . "One who wishes Facts" asks for a fact I

cannot give him , nor do I know of any one who can , viz ., as to when Mother Lodge Kilwinning first existed . It seems to me quit . } impossible to decide this matter—just as it is with the origin of Lodge St . John , No . 3 bis , and other old lodges . I ( 11 not speak of charters with respect to Mother Kilwinning , but simply as to its being

tlie parent of a number of lodges before and since the year 173 6 , and though unable to answer some of tlie queries of "One who wishes Facts , " I hope the publication of Bro . Lyon ' s histories of Mother Kilwinning and the Mary ' s Chapel lodges , will not lie much longer postponed , as correct ami authoritative information is much to be desired on the subject .

From a private letter received from Bro . Lyon lately , I fear we shall have to wait a few months yet for the latier ; so we must try to exercise patience , and admire the diligence and masonic zeal of the historian , until the issue of the histories of both lodges will enable us practically to judge of tlie merits of the discussion as to the

priority or greater antiquity of these two old Scotch lodges . In Brother Buchan ' s answer to enquiries ( page 152 ) will be found evidence of how brethren will keep to old dates although their errors have long since been shown . The 813 th anniversary will likely enough be held of St . John ' s Lodge No .