THE BUILDER OCTOBER 1929

THE CITY OF PRAGUE AND BOHEMIAN FREEMASONRY

by Bro. Joseph S. Roucek, New Jersey

(Concluded from September)

In 1729, the activity of the lodge was stopped temporarily, because
Sporck, its founder and Master, was imprisoned. The Jesuits accused
him of treason against the state. The process against him lasted
seven years, and we must thank the influence of Frantisek, Duke of
Lorraine, who meanwhile had become the husband of Maria Theresa,
later Empress of Austria, and, himself a Freemason, intervened with
his imperial father-in-law.

The lodge continued its activity in 1735. In 1738 Count Sporck
died, exhausted spiritually and bodily. Count Ferdinand Paradis was
elected his successor as Master of the Lodge. Under his rule
political questions were introduced, which was hardly surprising in
those stormy days. The Austrian-Bavarian War gave the Count an
opportunity to support, with a part of the brethren, the Bavarian
Elector, Karel Albrecht. But some of the members of the lodge were
opposed to this, while yet others remained neutral. Hence the lodge
was divided into three parts. Perhaps as a result of this two new
lodges were founded in 1741, so that there were three lodges in
Prague at that time. It was only after 1743, following many
conferences and discussions, that these three lodges were united
into one Czech Lodge, of the Three Crowned Stars, which was headed
by Count Keunigl, a partizan of Austria. But not all the members of
the three lodges agreed to this union. A part of them, especially
those who belonged formerly to the Bavarian Lodge, nursed their
national hatred in their hearts and the old traditions in their
minds, and during the year 1743 formed a new lodge in the Old City,
entitled Of the Three Pillars, which in 1752 was headed by Captain
Schindler. According to the historian Svatek, the Lodge of the
Three Pillars was an offshoot of the Lodge Of the Three Stars with
an affiliated lodge in Litomerice, named Sincerite.

We shall turn our interest now to the Lodge of the Three Crowned
Stars, whose Master in 1758 was still Count Kuenigl. The lodge
worked according to the Ecossois, or Scottish [really the French]
ritual, and devoted itself entirely to philanthropic objects and
banned all political debate in its meetings.

Freemasonry at that time was persecuted in Austria, and hence in
Bohemia also, and even though Francis I gave it some protection, it
was not recognized as legal, and the meetings of the lodges in
Vienna and Prague had to be held in secret. The Jesuits, as ever,
were its worst enemies, and they attempted to brand the members of
the brotherhood as enemies of both the State and the Church. The
persecution went so far that a meeting of the Viennese Lodge was
dispersed by soldiers, and eighteen members thrown into prison.
This forced the lodge at Prague to be still more cautious. First of
all, they concealed their archives, which explains the fact that we
have so little definite knowledge of the activity of Bohemian
Masonry at this period. We know, however, that the lodge continued
to work in secret. A Papal Bull was published against the Craft on
May 18, 1751, while in 1762 Maria Theresa prohibited Freemasonry
altogether. This also accounts for the fact that Bohemian Lodges
were not recognized abroad. To remedy this the Lodge of the Three
Crowned Stars sent an application to the Lodge of the Three
Grenades at Dresden in Saxony, asking for recognition. The
application was signed by such outstanding representatives of the
Bohemian aristocracy as Counts Clary-Aldringen, Luetzow, Martinic
and Thun; Barons Skoelen, Goetz, Pracht, Furztenberg, Schmidburg,
and many others. The Dresden Lodge gave a patent to the Prague
Lodge as a "proper and perfect lodge," but a draft was demanded for
300 dukats. The new lodge worked only a short time, because in 1764
a secret society called the "Roses and Crosses, " with headquarters
at Prague, was suppressed and its outstanding members sentenced to
six years' imprisonment in Spilberk, Brno, Moravia. It appears that
some freemasons were also members of this Society, and thus discord
arose between the two lodges at Prague and Dresden, fomented by the
sinister role played by a certain Masonic adventurer who called
himself Johnson. He was subsequently expelled from the lodge. The
lodge at Prague interrupted relations with Dresden, and attached
itself by affiliation to a lodge founded in Northern Germany by
Count von Hund, famous as the head of the then new Order of the
Strict Observance, which claimed to be founded on the Templar Order
of the Middle Ages. Every member or Knight of the Order was bound
to the strictest subordination, hence the title "Strict
Observance". Under its jurisdiction was Silesia and a part of
Poland. At the request of the Lodge of the Three Crowned Stars
Prague was promoted to the rank of a prefecture under the name of
Radomskoy, and Baron Skoelen became the Master and named the other
Bohemian prefectures.

In 1766, upon the festival of St. John, Prague was disturbed by
wild rumors that the Freemasons were planning an uprising of the
people, with the object of proclaiming Bohemia an independent
kingdom. The rumor was quite unfounded, but the Lodge of the Three
Pillars was surrounded by soldiers and proved, they were released.
The renewed prohibition of Freemasonry in Austria, however,
crippled the activity of the lodge for two years. Count Martinie, 
the Master, gave up his office, which was in 1769 by Count Kuenigl.
Difficult times followed everywhere for Freemasonry. The lodges in
Prague and in other Bohemian cities only barely managed to subsist.
At that time most of the European governments were negotiating
about the abolition of the Jesuit order, and having to fight for
their own existence the Jesuits had no time to persecute the
Freemasons, and the brethren could breathe more freely. After the
abolition of the Jesuit order in 1773 we find there were four
lodges in Prague. A famous and learned man, Count Ignae Born,
Councillor of the Mint Office, resuscitated the Lodge of the Three
Pillars, which was called from that time on the Lodge of the Three
Crowned Pillars. This met in the Kutnohorsky Dum (the House of
Kutna Hora), situated in the still existing chief square of the
City of Prague, the Vaclavske Namesti [Wenceslas Square]. Besides
this Count Born founded the Lodges of the Nine Stars and Honesty.
The members of these lodges and some others founded, in 1773, the
Orphanage of St. John the Baptist. The first director of this
institution was a Professor of the University of Prague, Karel
Seibt, a member of the mother lodge of the Three Crowned Stars. In
this orphanage a very interesting character was employed, the
quondam Jesuit, Ignac Cornova, who was the author of a prayer book
for the Freemasons published in Prague in 1784, and translated into
Czech in 1914, and still more recently edited by the Quotuor
Coronati Coetus Pragenses (a society founded by Grand Secretary,
Dr. Oskar Posner, of the Grand Lodge Lessing zu den Drei Ringen).

In 1780 Empress Alaria Theresa gave to the orphanage the Bredovsky
Palace in Bredovska Street, where the of the Three Crowned Stars
continued to meet until its dissolution.

The year of 1780 was a landmark in the history of the Prague
Lodges. Maria Theresa died and Joseph II ascended the throne. All
Masons in the Austrian dominions had great hopes in him, and for a
while it seemed that he would fulfill these desires and wishes. In
1781 the freedom of the press was proclaimed, and later the Emperor
announced that though he was not initiated into the secrets of
Freemasonry, he recognized its humanitarian activity, and was
willing to permit the formation of lodges. In consequence of this,
lodges sprang up everywhere and soon, according to the historian
Svatek, there was not a city in Austria where there was not a
lodge.

In Prague there was formed the lodges Union and Truth and Unity.
But this area of prosperity was short. The Emperor became
reactionary and disappointed the hopes of a liberal regime. Under
the influence of his advisers a centralizing policy was adopted,
and the Emperor began to restrict Masonic activities. By a decree
of December 16, 1785, he limited the number of lodges in individual
cities and districts, and ordered the publication of the names of
jerking programs of the lodges. For non-obedience to this edict
very severe penalties were imposed.

These measures, which deprived Freemasonry in Austria of all
rights, and put it under state Surveillance, caused bitter
disappointment and was the occasion of internal dispute. The Grand
Master-provincial Count Stampach- gave up his office, and the
Lodges of Prague were disturbed by excited scenes, when different
viewpoints clashed, chiefly on the question whether the order
should be obeyed or not. However, after a stormy meeting in the
palace of Count Canal it was decided to submit to the decree.

After the first of January, 1786, in consequence of the royal
decree, only three lodges remained: Truth and Unity of the Three
Crowned Pillars, the Lodge of the Nine Pillars, and the Mother
Lodge of the Three Crowned Stars. The newly elected Grand Master,
Count Lazansky, announced the change to the Highest Burgrave of
Prague and gave him the list of the members. On March 12, 1786, the
Imperial Decree gave legal recognition to the "reformed"
Freemasonry.

In the years of 1787 till 1791 Brother Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
visited Prague several times and on those occasions visited the
Masonic Lodges. That beautiful work of Mozart, "The Magic Flute,"
originated partly in Prague, and, as it is known, Mozart took the
ideal elements of Freemasonry into the fairy story of his opera.

This work of musical genius, however, proved also to be the swan
song of Freemasonry in Austria, for the last year of Mozart's life
was also the last year of any freedom for Masonry. With the death
of Joseph II on February 20, 1790, began the period of rigid
suppression of Austrian Freemasonry, and with it of Bohemian
Freemasonry also.

Emperor Leopold II rescinded all the decrees of Joseph II in regard
to the Fraternity as soon as he ascended the throne, and the
members of the lodges, who were known to the authorities through
the lists that had been furnished by the lodges, were all put under
strict police surveillance.

His son and successor, Francis I, took even stronger measures, in
which he was abetted by the Catholic clergy. As is well known, the
clergy promulgated the reports that the French Revolution was the
work of Freemasonry. In 1793 the number of the members was so
reduced that it was almost impossible to continue the work of the
lodges. In the first days of the year of 1794 the remaining members
of the Prague Lodges decided to voluntarily cease their labors and
to await the return of more propitious times. The Viennese Lodges
followed suit, and thus the Craft itself forestalled the effect of
a decree published in that year which absolutely prohibited Masonry
in the Austrian Empire.

The Emperor let the three Prague Lodges know of his "highest
satisfaction" with their decision, and "graciously" permitted them
to continue the administration of their humanitarian institutions,
not as Masons, but as private individuals.

In 1795 came a renewed prohibition of all Freemasonry in Austria,
which prohibition, with a short intermission in 1848, lasted until
the Revolution of 1918.

But even the most drastic prohibition cannot suppress the Masonic
idea and thought. The faith and ideals remained hidden in hearts of
a few brothers who notwithstanding all the persecution kept them
alive secretly as a most precious legacy and bequest. A little
spark of living fire persisted under the seemingly cold dead ashes,
until the breath of a strong and mighty wind of renewed freedom
blew the ashes away and fanned the spark into a new blaze, which
now sheds its light in the liberated countries.

Returning to the past, a new lodge was created in Prague in 1811.
During the occupation of Vienna by Napoleon I in 1809, a lodge was
founded in that city under the jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of
France, which survived until the Congress of Vienna in 1813. In
1811 Count Auersperg dared to found a lodge in Prague. Its
existence was kept secret until 1814, when it was discovered and
suppressed. At that time Pope Pius VII published a new Bull against
Freemasonry, and, concurrently with this, re-established the Order
of the Jesuits, while the well-known Chancellor Metternich of
Austria introduced his famous police system, which suppressed even
the least and most innocent expression of free thought. Bernard
Bolzano, professor of the philosophical faculty of the Prague
University, after whom one of the Czech Lodges is named, was a
victim of the Metternich's reactionary system. It was only due to
the intervention of Joseph Dobrovsky, also, a Freemason, that
Bolzano was rehabilitated in 1826, and allowed his liberty under
police surveillance. Various attempts of foremost Czech politicians
and scholars to found associations and societies were ruthlessly
suppressed. One of them, Amerling, succeeded later in getting
official permission to found an educational Institute, Budec. His
adherents played an important role at the Slav Congress, and during
the Prague Revolution in 1848.

In February, 1849, Prof. Ludvik Lewis of Vienna revived, in Hotel
Modra Hvezdu. (Blue Star), the Lodge Truth and Unity of the Three
Crowned Pillars. But Prince Windisehratz brought it to a speedy end
during the so-called "May Uprising." There followed a period of
unreasoning persecution. In 1865 Lewis again attempted to obtain
permission to found a lodge, and in 1868 a member of the Imperial
Council, Dr. Foregger, supported the move. But it was all in vain.

That in the history of European Freemasonry Prague has had an
important part, is evident from this brief account. The year 1918
brought a new area. As Schiller said:

Das Alte sturxt, es andert sich die Zeit under neues Leben bluht
ads den Ruinen! (What is old dies, the time changes and new Life
blooms from the ruins! )

In the days of October in 1918, old masks fell off, the society
Charitas, which had been formed in 1909, was transformed into the
Lodge Hiranz Den Drei Sternen, which later became the mother lodge
of Czechoslovakia. Freemasonry was freed from its shackles, and
breathed freely in the new state. It no longer had to fear its most
dangerous and strongest antagonist the despotic power of the
State and the Church.

What has since transpired has been described in a preceding
article. It would not be amiss, however, to turn to the future and
see what it seems to promise.

After the war the whole world was in a psychological state which
can be described as highly nervous and antagonistic. It is the duty
of us all to work sincerely for the ultimate brotherhood of
humanity, after so many years of misery and oppression. Is there
not for all of us Masons, without distinction, in every country, a
glad prospect of a broad and limitless field of humanitarian
endeavor? In the case of the brethren in Czechoslovakia they must
expend more energy, because there are so few of them to labor.

It is the time to end this discussion. At the beginning we used a
simile that we are on a journey, and, resting, we are looking back
on the road that we have covered. We may say that we have
succeeded. If throughout our road has not been and will not be the
same, yet the aim remains the same, and we know that at the end of
the road we shall meet and tell each other our experiences. But
now--forward, brothers, only forward; we must remember the
tradition, we must remember all that has been done by our brothers
before us. A great task is awaiting us; we must fulfill it with
courage and good will. Let us hope that at some time our universal
history will conclude with the statement that the main merit for
the bringing together of all nations inhabiting this earth, for its
cultural and economic development, belongs to Freemasonry which
sowed the seed of universal love in the hearts of the peoples, and
during that time realized the idea of reconciliation, harmony,
concord, brotherhood and humanity in the sense of Jan Amos
Komensky:

We are all citizens of one world, we are all of one blood. To hate
a man because he has been born in another country, because he
speaks a different language or because he takes a different view on
this subject or that, is indeed a great folly. Desist, I implore
you, for we all are equally human. Let us unite all our thoughts,
so that all that separates us from God, or from one another, may
disappear. Let us have but one aim in view namely, the welfare of
humanity, and let us put aside all selfishness or considerations of
language, nationality or religion.

NOTE.

Jan Malypetr, who appears in the group with President Masaryk in
the illustration on a previous page, is one of the leading
statesmen of the Czechoslovakian Republic. He is an exceedingly
able man, and has had a most remarkable career. He began life as a
farmer, from which he has risen to his present eminent position in
the councils of the state. His private estate lies near Klobuky, a
little village not far from the author's own birthplace, Slany, and
they have been close friends for many years.

