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BACK NEXT Summer 2008 Issue 45 Letter from the Editor Grand Lodge News News and Views On The Level International News Beyond the Craft Perambulating the Lodge Masonic Dining and Celebration Interview: The Grand Chancellor The Orator Walking the Way of Saint James Abd el-Kader: Algerian Nationalist and Freemason Province of Cambridgeshire Library & Museum Brother Lightfoote's Journal Review: Committed to the Flames Review: The Mythology of Secret Societies Review: The Dawn of Astrology Letters to the Editor Internet Library & Museum of Freemasonry Grand Lodge Quarterly Communication Convocation of Supreme Grand Chapter RMBI Masonic Samaritan Fund Grand Charity RMTGB Canon Richard Tydeman: Looking unto the Rock Copyright 1997-2008 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY The Caribbean and South and Central America Built by Freemasons There are few towns which can boast of being planned by a resident masonic lodge but Paraty, on the Brazilian coast south of Rio de Janiero, is one. This profound philosophical and spiritual heritage is publicly proclaimed at the road junction leading to the main access route: in the roundabout stands a large masonic Square and Compasses. Paraty (pronounced Para-chi) is one of the oldest towns in Brazil. It was an important harbour at the end of the stonepaved ‘Caminho do Ouro’, the ‘Gold Road’ which reached over 1,200 kilometers into the interior of Brazil ... The Craft in Jamaica Freemasonry is deeply entrenched in Jamaican society, enjoying support and patronage at every level. A spry 85 year old Jamaican Grand Officer sees his role in life as one of awe; to “advise, warn, encourage.” The ‘ancient’ is Jamaica’s Governor General, His Excellency Sir Howard Cooke. Prominent too among Jamaican Freemasons are members of the government and the opposition, the executive, the judiciary, the civil service, the ... A Virgin Islands Lodge St Ursula Lodge No 8952 EC in the British Virgin Islands is probably the only lodge in the English Constitution to be named after a Mother Superior! In 1493, Christopher Columbus was on his way to Puerto Rico in the New World, when he was blown northwards off his course into a large group of small islands. Columbus was so impressed by the number of small islands – over thirty of them – that he named them ‘Las Once-Mil Virgines’, the 11,000 Virgins. This event took place on October 22nd, the day on which the Church commemorated ’11,000 Virgins Day’ ... Prince Hall Grand Lodges In my last article on Freemasonry in Trinidad and Tobago (FMT Summer 1998) I made reference to the four Prince Hall lodges here in Trinidad. These lodges come under the Free and Accepted Masons, Jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and they are collectively known as the Eighth Masonic District, Trinidad and Tobago. The Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts was the first of the Prince Hall Grand Lodges to be recognised by the United Grand Lodge of England (December 1994). The history of Prince Hall Masonry is most interesting to students of masonic affairs ... Freemasonry in Trinidad & Tobago Trinidad and Tobago is a twin-island state located at the southern end of the string of Caribbean Islands. Christopher Columbus visited Trinidad in 1498, but found that others were there before him - namely, the Arawaks and the Caribs from the other Caribbean Islands and from the South American mainland. His reports back to the King of Spain make no reference to Lodges, Chapters or Priories, so we can safely assume that there was no masonic activity on the islands. What he did find was a society of people whose morality was rather peculiar ...   The Caribbean and South and Central America © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2008