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PICTURE ON THE COVER

"The Four Crowned Martyrs" as pictured on an early document of thechurch. This little illustration by an unknown artist of long agois now used as the insignia of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, ofLondon, England.

QUATUOR CORONATI, NO. 2076

"The supreme court of learning and authority in Masonic scholarshipthroughout the world."

Thus the noted Masonic historian, H. L. Haywood, denominatesQuatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, of London, the premier researchlodge of the Ancient Craft.

The Warrant for this lodge, November 28, 1884, was signed by AlbertEdward, Prince of Wales ( afterward Edward VII ), then Grand Masterin England.

The lodge is a literary, historical, archaeological society,meeting four times yearly as a Masonic lodge. While the Warrantempowers the lodge to receive and act upon petitions and to makeMasons, its primary purpose is, and has always been, research,study, investigation and the publication of its papers andaddresses in its proceedings--Ars Quatuor Coronatorum--familiarlyabbreviated and known to every Masonic student as "A.Q.C.".

While warranted in 1884, the lodge had to wait until January 12,1886, for consecration, because the Master-elect was absent on adiplomatic and military command for his government.

The name of the lodge comes from the legend in the Regius Poem;briefly, it is as follows: "In A.D. 287, when the EmperorDiocletian built his famous baths and the Temple of Aesculapius,the God of Health, four sculptors (Claudius, Castorius, Semphori-anus and Nicostratus ) together with an apprentice namedSimplicius, were found to be Christians when they refused to carvea statue of Aesculapius. They were executed on November 8th andtheir bodies placed in leaden coffins and cast into the Tiber.Later Diocletian discovered four Christian soldiers who refused tooffer incense with sacrifice at the statue of Aesculapius. Theywere scourged to death and their bodies cast upon the street. Theirnames were Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus and Victorinus. Theydied on November 8th, two years after the other five. The names ofthe first group were lost and they were consecrated as the CrownedMartyrs. November 8th has been set aside by the Roman CatholicChurch in commemoration of the Four Crowned Martyrs, because oftheir steadfast faith; the only known instance that this Churchplaced so signal an honor on operative Masons. The premier researchlodge, Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, London, England, is namedafter these martyrs."   h)        0*0*0*  ԌBy-laws of the lodge limit the membership to forty (the UnitedStates Philalethes Society limits its "fellows" to forty. TheFrench Academy has "forty immortals" as members). Forty is almostwithin the category of a "magic number" since it is so important inthe Scriptures. Moses was forty days on the mount; Elijah was fedforty days by ravens; the rain, which made the flood, fell forforty days; Christ fasted forty days; he was seen forty days afterresurrection, etc. Mosaic law provided "forty stripes less one" asa maximum punishment and the thirty-nine articles of the AnglicanChurch seem to have some relation to this, as do the thirty-nineGeneral Regulations of Anderson's Constitutions of 1723 have asimilar relation to those of the Church.

In 1887, the lodge authorized a Correspondence Circle, to whichthousands of Masons all over the world now subscribe.

Proceedings--"A.Q.C."--have been continuously published from thebeginning, and now number sixty-seven volumes. Bound, these aremore than twice the size of the twenty-four volumes of theBritannica. In addition to the Proceedings, the lodge has publishedten volumes of Antigrapha--reproductions of old manuscripts andother documents with commentaries thereon.

A.Q.C. ranges all over the world. It covers every Rite which isremotely connected with Freemasonry. It delves into records fromthe most ancient times to those of today. It comprises history,biography, archaeology, symbolism, jurisprudence, romance,religion, ritual, etc., etc. and again etc.

In this country, the Ancient Craft is important. Our Masonichistory, though less than two hundred and fifty years in extent, isromantic, interesting, vital to American Freemasons. It is,therefore, perhaps justified that American Masons are both sorryand somewhat critical that Quatuor Coronati Lodge has paid solittle attention to Masonic happenings on our side of the Atlantic.Of course, since American Lodge of Research ( New York) pointed theway, and some other States also warranted research lodges--(NorthCarolina, Connecticut, Washington, etc) we have benefitted by somescholarly research and many excellent studies and papers, but theProceedings of all American Research Lodges, if put together, wouldnot equal in size, content, coverage, variety or interest the pagesof A.Q.C.

The greatest and most learned of Masonic students have contributedresearch and papers to A.Q.C.; Calvert, Cockburn, Conder, Covey-Crump, Crawley, Crowe, Gould, Hawkins, Hughan, Jones, Knoop, Poole,Robbins, Rylands, Sadler, Songhurst, Speth--our own Jacob HugoTatsch--are all names to conjure with in the Masonic fields andgreat is the harvest these and many others have reaped for all whoread.

The Antigrapha in ten volumes contains priceless contributions tothe world's Masonic knowledge. In no other way and in no other formcould Masons generally have been enabled to see and study the old,   h)        0*0*0*  old manuscripts in England on which so much of our history and ourknowledge is based.

The Masonic Poem--Regius Manuscript-- Halliwell Document, by whatever name known, is reproduced in facsimile in Vol. I ofAntigrapha, with Urbanitatis and Instructions for a Parish Priest.Many pages of critical examination of these documents follow. InVol. II are facsimiles of the Cooke, the Lansdowne and the HarleianMss. Vol. III has five facsimiles; the second Harelian, Sloane (two mss. ) Watson Manuscript Roll, and Cama. Vol. IV givesfacsimiles of Grand Lodge Manuscript Rolls No. 1 and No. 2; theBuchanan, the 1739 "Beginning and First Foundation of the MostWorthy Craft of Masonry, with the Charges, thereunto belonging,printed for Mr. Dodd", and the Harris No. 2 ms.; the Freemasons'Calendar for 1781, and "Laws to be rehearsed at Opening of Lodge"and "The Ceremony observed at Funerals" (which many if not all ourown funeral regulations follow). Vol. V is devoted to facsimiles ofthe Scarborough Ms. Roll and the extremely beautiful Phillips Mss.Numbers 1, 2, and 3, of course with commentary and transcripts;Vol. VI contains a facsimile of the Inigo Jones Ms. with its quaintand curious picture; the Wood Ms. and the Dechemere. Vol. VII isdevoted entirely to a reprint and commentary on Anderson'sConstitutions of 1723--important to the Craft, but less needed inthis country than the other facsimiles, since there are a number ofcopies (The Association has one) of the book itself as well as thecomplete facsimile in the Little Masonic Library. Vol. VIII isconcerned with Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter certificates; Vol. IXwith Philo Musicae et Architecurae Societas, 1725-27 and Vol. Xwith the facsimiles of the Minutes of the Grand Lodge of Englandfrom 1723 to 1739 inclusive.

How invent a scale by which the value of such a collection ofreprints and commentaries may be determined? To all intents andpurposes it would be an impossibility, even for a man withunlimited time on his hands, just to see these ancient documents,still less have time and opportunity to study, compare and learnfrom them. Over a period of years, by these publications, QuatuorCoronati Lodge has put the world of Masonic study and research soheavily into its debt that it (like the national debt, alas! ) inall probability can never be paid!

Indeed, it is difficult to write of these reproductions withoutemotion, and to confine emotion to reasonable words. That Freemasonis dead of soul and sodden of mind, indeed, who can in Antigraphalook at all he will ever see of the Regius and the Cooke mss. andnot feel a thrill, have stirred within him wonder, and perhaps awish to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for the devoted English
brethren who made such sights possible.

If a critical statement may be as kindly written as it is meant,let charity extend to the statement here made that our Englishbrethren have not provided as yet an adequate index. All inclusiveand cross-indexing would be a great help to many in makingavailable the works of those really eminent and scholarly Masons   h)        0*0*0*  who have so superb an accomplishment as the A.Q.C. An AmericanLodge of Research ( State of Washington ) indexed A.Q.C. Volumes Ito L inclusive. in 1941; but it is only of subjects and authors, bytitles and names, and is not crossed. The index published byQuatuor Coronati is long out of date and actually only an enlargedtable of contents.

Hence, there is buried in this magnificent collection ofinformation a great mass of facts, discussion and learning which isnot always easy to find. The Association paid gladly for thelengthy process of producing a card system of some eighty thousandentries which are an open sesame to many of otherwise closedMasonic vault. But how many brethren or institutions can afford thetime or money to produce such an index? A printed cross-index ofthe sixty-seven volumes would fill a large book, be invaluable. HadA.Q.C. been indexed as were the fifteen volumes of The Builder (thegreat Masonic magazine of the years 1915 to 1929), A.Q.C. would befar more readily consultable than is now possible,

A.Q.C. is well illustrated, and the pictures deserve a whole volumeof praise for themselves alone. For herein are cuts showing jewels,documents, certificates, old minutes, Masonic craftsmanship,glasses, china, portraits, jewelry, seals, carvings--practicallyeverything that has any Masonic significance has been not only toldin article and story but in picture form. With these, the Masonicworld has a much greater perspective on the roots of Freemasonry inthe mother country than would otherwise be possible; without suchillustrations we would be poor indeed.

A.Q.C. is finely printed upon good and enduring paper. The pages ofVolume I are as fresh and sturdy as when published seventy yearsago--a matter of real importance, since the publications of todaybecome the priceless records of tomorrow.

The Correspondence Circle is the means by which Quatuor CoronatiLodge makes its labors known to the Masonic world. Members of thatCircle receive--and doubtless preserve--the Proceedings. Theexpense is small, considering the value received; the most recentremittance by the Association was $3.59 which included airmail!

Prices of paper and printing have sky-rocketed in England just asin the United States. A.Q.C. has had to respond with shorter papersand less expense. The more Correspondence Circle members this lodgehas, the more it can publish. Few financial contributions to thegood of Masonic study and information can go further or do agreater good than this individually modest contribution.

The most recent volume of A.Q.C. lists J. R. Rylands as Master andJ. R. Dashwood as Secretary of the Lodge; the address of the Lodgeis Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street, London, W.C. 2, England.

The Masonic Service Association regards as its premier source ofMasonic information, a complete set of A.Q.C. from the beginning;sixty-seven bound volumes, besides the ten bound volumes of   h)        0*0*0*  Antigrapha. Such sets are, to all intents and purposes, priceless;but let no one refrain from subscriptions to the CorrespondenceCircle on that account. There is no continuity from volume tovolume which can be broken by a missing set of pages; stories andarticles are not continued from one issue to the next. Each issueis complete in itself.

What article, or what class of articles, in A.Q.C. are the mostvaluable? Such a question, though natural, is unanswerable, becausevalues, in such an inquiry, are so different for differentbrethren. In general, the painstaking, meticulous, detailedhistories are probably as great a contribution as any, although thenumerous discussions upon Masonic riddles, the resolving of Masonictales into facts on one side and myths on the other, have animportance which cannot be minimized.

Our English brethren have set a pattern of scholarship andscientific evaluation of Masonic evidence which has been a modelfor all the Masonic world.

With such studies as these, Freemasonry can face its just criticsof its, at times, too broad claims, with confidence. If Masonry cansay "here are the facts", it is because a dedicated and devotedband of men and brethren in the Mother Grand Lodge and nation haveselfsacrificingly devoted themselves for so many years to thelabors incident to clearing away the mists of legend, story, mythand wishful thinking, offering instead the romantic, whilecompletely factual story of Freemasonry, as it really is.


QUESTION BOX

this column will attempt to answer questions about Freemasonry

Why is an Apprentice "Entered "?

The word goes back to operative days. The Freemasons of the middleages were a select group; they were the highest class artisans oftheir time. It required sound health, moral character highintelligence, to be a good operative Freemason, permitted to workon the great Houses of God which were the Freemasons' work. Theywere proud of their abilities and of their reputation and strict intheir rules.

To become a Freemason a young lad was required to serve aseven-year apprenticeship, before he might ask to be permitted tomake and submit to his superiors his "Master's Piece," and beadmitted as a "Fellow of the Craft." Before he could serve his timehe had to prove himself; therefore he served a period of time as anApprentice. If at the end of that period he had shown himselfpossessed of the necessary qualifications of industry, character,decency and probity, he was "entered" on the books of the Craft andbecame an
"Entered Apprentice."   h)         0*0*0*  Ԍ Originally an Apprentice was not a member of the Masonic Craft,even after being entered on the books of the lodge; not until hehad passed his apprenticeship and been accepted as a Fellow was hea Craftsman. This practice gradually gave way to the modern ideaand after 1717, Apprentices initiated in lodge formed the bulk ofthe Craft.

Ritual teaches that the Apprentice is a symbol of youth, theFellowcraft of manhood, and the Master of old age; probably thisconception is derived from the fact that learners, beginners, areyoung, experts are men, and the wise and learned the elder group.

Explain the letters GAOTU.

Grand Architect, Great Architect, Grand or Great Artificer of theUniverse are titles under which Freemasonry refers to Deity. Afundamental of Freemasonry is its nonsectarian character any man ofany religion may offer his devotions to the Deity he reveres, nomatter what name he may use in his mind, under the Masonic title.Great Architect of the Universe (or any of its variations ) is asymbol of Deity as named and worshipped in all religions.

The Masonic Service Association
  (This issue was reprinted in May 1980)
