THE BUILDER February, 1929

Freemasonry in Czechoslovakia

BY BRO. JOSEPH S. ROUCEK, New York

THE author of this account of Freemasonry in Czechoslovakia was
born in Prague, and received port of his education in the old
University there. He completed it in this country, in California
and New York, and he is now on the staff of the latter institution
as an Instructor in the Department of Diplomacy and Government. He
is well known throughout the country as a lecturer and author,
especially on subjects connected with modern history and
international relations, and also on the manners and customs of his
native land.

WHEN I decided to write the story of Czechoslovakian Masonry, I was
quite surprised to find out that almost nothing is known about it
to American Masons. My research work showed that Masonic literature
contains exactly five lines about it. This seems to be rather
curious in view of the fact that last May the National Grand Lodge
of Czechoslovakia was accorded recognition by the Grand Lodge of
New York, and that each Grand Lodge of this country received a
petition from Czechoslovakia for similar recognition. If we put the
story in a larger setting, it should be realized that
Czechoslovakia presents a very interesting and unusual subject for
the American reader. The father and maker of Czechoslovakia,
Theodor Garigue Masaryk, was a personal friend of President Wilson.
He declared the independence of his country in Washington, on Dec.
18, 1918, and hence Czechoslovakia considers herself a legitimate
child of America. Furthermore, Masaryk married an American lady.
His family connections with America and American Masonry will be
mentioned later, as well as other interesting facts.

In order to appreciate the present situation of Masonry in
Czechoslovakia it will be necessary to skim over a few historical
facts which will give us the necessary orientation.

The history of Masonry of Czechoslovakia, or rather of Bohemia, is
indissolubly woven into the history of an age-long struggle by a
valorous people for their freedom. that the first was destined to
be long and fierce is apparent by a glance at the map of the new
Europe. For Czechoslovakia lies in the heart of the Continent, a
veritable European crossroads. Lying midway between East and West,
she has had throughout her history to make a choice between, on the
one hand, the influences of Western culture and Western ideals,
pointing to progress, freedom and constitutional government, and
Eastern influence, wholly unprogressive in character, upon the
other; and very early she chose to link herself with the West.
Today, Czechoslovakia forms the middle ground between West and East
and North and South.

The name "Czechoslovakia" was something quite new to most Americans
in 1918. It comprises two words, "Czech" and "Slovak," the former
being pronounced as "check." "Czech" is identical with "Bohemian,"
while the Slovak is the Czech's kinsman, dwelling in that region
just east of Bohemia.

But this explanation does not give a complete picture of the
country. It is composed of several provinces which were included in
the old Austria Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia-while the former Kingdom
of Hungary included Slovakia and Carpathian Russia.

The Czechs are the westernmost branch of the Slavs, their name
being derived, according to tradition, from that of a noted
ancestral chief. The term Bohemia was applied to the country
probably during the Roman times, and was derived, like that of
Bavaria, from the Boii, who for some time before the Christian era
occupied or claimed parts of these regions.

WARS OF RELIGION IN BOHEMIA

It is a matter of interest that the checkered history of Bohemia
has developed in part out of the religious convictions of its
people. In the history of the Czechs, religious passion has been
the creative energy at the heart of their nationalism. The
religious fervour of the past has been the chief impulse governing
political events, and the great controlling force in the evolution
of state and people. It was the conflict for religious rights and
freedom that aroused, influenced and determined the nation in its
remarkable medieval democracy; and it was the union of this
religious spirit with the distinctive Czech nationalism that was so
terribly humiliated and destroyed after the Battle of the White
Mountain in 1620. These religious wars of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries had weakened Bohemia to such an extent that she
was obliged to recognize the Hapsburgs as her rulers, who, with the
assistance of the Jesuits, took revenge on the "heretic" nation by
burning hundreds of thousands of Bibles and religious works written
in the vernacular.

The story of the oppression of Bohemia under the Austrian Hapsburgs
is too long to be told here. It is no exaggeration to say that on
the eve of the World War no one even dreamed of the resurrection of
old Bohemia, or of the creation of a new nation with a name as yet
unknown.

Bohemia's contribution to America is greater than is commonly
realized. The man who made the first maps of Maryland and Virginia,
and who introduced the cultivation of tobacco into the latter
state, and, for these and other services, became the lord of the
"Bohemian Manor" in Maryland, was the exiled Bohemian John Herman.
The parents of Phillip, lord of the Phillip's Manor on the Hudson,
one of whose female descendants came so near to becoming the bride
of Washington, were also Bohemian. Not a few of the Czechs came
into this country with the Moravian Brethren (the Unitas Fratrum).
One of the most honored names in the universal history of pedagogy
is that of the Czech patriot and exile, Jan Amos Komensky, or
Comenius ( 1592-1671 ), the last bishop of the Bohemian Brethren,
after whom the first Czechoslovak lodge was named. His pedagogical
writings constitute the foundations of modern education. Once he
was invited to become the President of Harvard University. To make
this story short, it might be mentioned that among others stand out
Prokop Divis, the discoverer of the lightning rod, and Joseph
Ressel, the inventor of the screw propeller. Antonin Dvorak was
admittedly the greatest composer of his time. His "Slavonic Dances"
and his symphonies are played everywhere. Invited to this country,
he was for several years director of the National Conservatory of
Music in New York City, during which time he made an effort to
develop a purely American music, based on native, and especially
Indian, melodies. The result is the "New World Symphony," the Largo
of which "Goin' Home"  was sung to Lindbergh when welcomed at
Washington by President Coolidge after his epochal flight to Paris.

FREEMASONRY IN THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN MONARCHY

Because of the fact that Bohemia was a part of Austria-Hungary up
to 1918, the history of Masonry is a part of the history of the
Empire. It should be kept in mind that in all countries wherein the
Roman Catholic clergy predominate, Masonry has always experienced
great difficulty in attaining a permanent foothold. Of this fact
Austria is a striking example. The Lodges constituted in the
Austrian states have never had but a brief term of existence, the
persecutions on the part of the clergy, and the prohibitions of the
sovereigns, having never given them any time to take root.

The history of Freemasonry in the Austro-Hungarian Empire may be
divided into two separate epochs. The earlier period comprises the
history of the Order in the eighteenth century; extending more
exactly from 1726 to 1795, in which year Masonry was altogether
suppressed by an Imperial and Royal Edict in both countries.
Thereafter Masonry slumbered more than half a century, and had to
be founded anew, its reintroduction being due to quite other
authorities, with entirely different elements and effected in other
ways, than those of the past. There is, therefore, no organic
connection between the earlier and the latter period, comprising
modern Masonic history and life in these countries.

One distinction more. At the earlier epoch Masonry flourished as
well in the Austrian dominions as in the lands of the Hungarian
Crown; in the nineteenth century Masonry revived simultaneously
with Hungarian Constitutional freedom; first, for a very short
period indeed, immediately previous to the outbreak of the
Hungarian War of Independence in 1848; and again to a more durable
existence after the restoration of the Hungarian Constitution in
1867, when it received governmental recognition in the countries of
the Hungarian Crown, while still remaining forbidden in Austria.


It follows from what has been said that in to recent period we can
only recognize a history of Hungarian Masonry because, although
there were individual Masons in Austria, yet their respective
Lodges were held under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of
Hungary, and for ritual work they assembled only on Hungarian soil.

These facts should be kept in mind, because they are intimately
connected with the history of Bohemian Masonry and with the
foundation of the first Czechoslovak Masonic Lodge.

PRECURSORS OF MASONRY IN BOHEMIA

The country of the actual Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in which
Freemasonry made its first appearance was Bohemia. It is strange
that even before real Masonry struck its roots into her soil there
are recorded a series of societies which, although in no direct
connection with Masonry, yet undoubtedly show features of striking
likeness to our institution. Only a few words about them.

The eldest of these societies, whose origin can be retraced as far
back as the fourteenth century, is the "Fraternity of the Hoop and
Mallet." Their emblem was a hoop with a mallet hanging within. They
seem to have been originally a simple guild of hoopers. The list of
its members, however, exhibits a great number of names belonging to
nobles, knights and clergymen. So it may be assumed that very early
other persons beyond operative hoopers had been "accepted" in the
gild (quite in the same way as happened in England with the
accepted Masons). These noble members became the ruling power
before long. At the head of the fraternity stood King Wenceslaus,
the governing power being vested in three captains, newly elected
each year. It appears that the fraternity was once of chivalric
character. Its members engaged in works of charity; they erected
and endowed a church at Prague in 1382, which was given by them,
with all its rights and revenues, to the "Magisters, Bachelors, and
Students of the Bohemian tongue at the University of Prague" in
1403. Not long afterwards the fraternity seems to have ceased to
exist. Possibly a part of the "operative" members joined the
Bohemian Masons, known under the name of "JungHerrn von Prag," who
took part in the building of Strassburg Cathedral [1365-1404], but
who are mentioned as late as 1486.

One reason for the dissolution of the "Hoopers" may be found in the
internal troubles and civil war which succeeded the execution of
John Hus. The result of the Hussite Wars is well known to those
acquainted with European history. Part of the Hussites later joined
the Protestant Churches, but a small number maintained the doctrine
of Hus in all its purity.

The true heirs of Hus were the Bohemian Brethren, the Unitas
Fratrum, also known as the Church of the Moravian Brethren, or the
Moravian Church, though the distinction is purely geographical.
This was a religious community, the story of which offers one of
the most interesting chapters in the religious history of Europe,
and whose influence has done great service both to Bohemia and to
the world. Their principles were grounded on pure and primitive
Christianity, and emphasized the doctrine of the original equality
of men, and as a consequence, the precept of a universal fraternal
love, not a little reminding us of Masonry.

A few of their principles will be mentioned. The reader will
immediately see their connection with the Masonic doctrines and
practices.

Adults seeking admission from other evangelical bodies, which in
later years meant the Lutherans chiefly, were generally received
upon promise of obedience to the pastors, and of willingness to be
subject to all the rules regulating the life and conduct of members
of the Unity. They were exhorted to renew their vows to lead a holy
life, and upon receiving the right hand of fellowship were admitted
to all the privileges of the church. Those coming from the Papal
Church were first admonished to consider well the step they were
about to take. If the applicant professed to have carefully
considered the question, he was asked to give his reasons for
wishing to leave his church and seeking to join another. In case
these were found satisfactory, he was admitted to the class of
beginners, or catechumens, where he might become the better
acquainted with the life and doctrines of the church; and the
church in turn could test his sincerity and piety. Before full
admission was granted, the applicant was again questioned
concerning his motives in seeking admission to the Unity. Was it
because he found the truth of God, good government, and wholesome
discipline among the Brethren ? Has he confidence in their
teachings, their discipline, their pastoral oversight and guidance?
Does he accept the full right of the pastor and the lay officers of
the local church to teach, warn, admonish, reprove, and in case of
need to discipline him? If his answers were found satisfactory,
this private examination before the pastor and the church officers
was followed by public reception to membership at the next
communion. The candidate was again exhorted to steadfastness in
following the truth of God to the end, and the pastor, giving the
new member the right hand of fellowship in token of obedience to
Christ, announced his reception into the church, and admission to
all its privileges.

In putting their principles into practice, the Brethren very
properly began with a gradation of their membership into four
classes: that of beginners, those growing in grace, the perfect,
and the fallen. The perfect were those who had attained to so full
a knowledge of the things of God, and were so rooted and grounded
in Christian faith, love and hope, that they were capable of
enlightening others in them, and could be intrusted with oversight
over the weaker members. From this class the lay officers of the
local church were elected. These included the judges, the almoners,
the custodians, and the sister elders. Their duties were carefully
defined and strictly performed. Space does not permit their
detailed enumeration; their names indicate their nature and scope.
But to give an idea of the thoroughness and comprehensiveness of
the ecclesiastical fabric of the Unitas Fratrum, and of the
seriousness and purity of spirit which characterized it, we shall
indicate some of the duties of the lay elders. They had liberty to
visit the home of any member of the church, to note the conduct of
husband and wife, children and domestics, to correct offenses, and
to enjoin family worship both morning and evening. They were
expected to prevent all possible offenses and scandals in the
church. If the head of a household lay sick, it was their duty to
visit and comfort him, and in case of emergency to secure provision
for the proper support of his widow and orphaned children. In case
any orphans or wards were left, the judges had oversight over their
interests, that no injustice might be done them.

In consequence of the severe persecutions they had to endure, a
part of the Bohemian Brethren emigrated at the beginning of the
seventeenth century to Hungary, Poland, and the Netherlands. In the
latter century they established a society of similar tendencies,
which was called the "Friends of the Cross." Their main task was to
spread true brotherly love, which should unite, not only the
members of the society, but all mankind. Beyond that they tried to
increase enlightenment by the publication of good books for the
people. The last Bishop of the Bohemian Brethren, Jan Amos
Komensky, better known as Comenius, is world-famous. Komensky's
manifold activities as educator, novelist, philosopher, theologian,
historian, and philologist, which he embodied in some one hundred
and fifty works, and his importance for world education and the
progress of science in general, are of such magnitude that it is
impossible to deal with them here. He is one of the spiritual
fathers of Masonry, and is often called "A Mason without the
Apron." An eminent authority on Komensky, Dr. R. J. Vonka, a
prominent Czechoslovak Mason, has written a thesis proving that all
the Masonic symbols can be traced to this eminent man

THE FRATERNITY OF THE HATCHET

At the end of the seventeenth century, and even in the first half
of the eighteenth century, there existed in Bohemia another society
of a similar kind, named "The Fraternity of the Hatchet
(Hackebruderschaft)." It is possible they were a branch of the
Bohemian Brethren, like "The Friends of the Cross" in Holland. The
emblem of the fraternity was a small hatchet, which was always
carried by the members. Their motto and form of oath was, "by the
old hatchet," and one of their rules provided that, "no one should
be admitted a member whose helve did not fit the old hatchet." The
chief object aimed at by the "Brethren of the Hatchet" was the
exercise of a true, faithful, and sincere friendship.

Now going back to the "Friends of the Cross" in the Netherlands,
there existed about the same time Lodges of Operative Masons,
which, at the end of the seventeenth century or beginning of the
eighteenth century, must have united with the Friends of the Cross,
the members of the latter society most probably becoming Accepted
Masons much in the same as happened in England.
