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BACK NEXT Summer 2004 Issue 29 Letter from the Editor News and Views On The Level International News Julian Rees John Pine: The Sociable Craftsman Masonic Traditions for the Twenty-First Century "We Should Square Corners, Not Cut Them" Minister, Militaryman and Mason Freemasonry and the Spanish Civil War Shaped by the American Frontier Holy Royal Arch Knight Templar Priest Preserving Our Heritage Brother Lightfoote's Journal Letters to the Editor Review: The Knights Templar Review: Within the Compass, a Collection of Masonic Writings Review: Count Michael Maier, Life and Writings Review: The Tip of the Iceberg: Masonic Music of Yesteryear Canon Richard Tydeman Copyright 1997-2008 Grand Lodge Publications Ltd Designed and Maintained by: Cyberpoint Limited

FREEMASONRY TODAY Summer 2004 - Issue 29 - Index Letter from the Editor Talk of freedom is much in the air these days but somehow it rings with a false tone. Rather than evoking something precious to be cherished it carries an odd note of desperation, a sense of thrusting words into deep fissures, raising for me, at least, an image of old rags being used to caulk the leaking timbers of a ship. I feel bound to ask: what indeed is this freedom? And does it serve us or should we serve it? Perhaps the symbolism of Freemasonry will clarify the matter: is it right that the foundation stone of a great temple should be free to crumble away, to abdicate its responsibility for sharing the common burden and thus cause the whole structure to fall? Clearly not ... News and Views Freemasons Benefit Leicester Royal Infirmary — Birmingham Delivery of Prestonian Lecture for 2004 — Antients and Moderns — New United States Initiative — Portland Pillars to Celebrate Queen's Jubilee — School Lodges Host Breton Visitors — Sporting Masons Help Local Disabled Children — Freemason in Round Britain Yacht Race — Monitors for Babies in Cornwall — Seeds Sown of Royal Arch in Yugoslavia — Freemasons in Classic Cars — Maltese Preceptory Consecrated — Wiltshire Masons Help Special Needs Children ... On the Level Bursary Presentation by South Wales — A Tale of a Chair — The Zip Club — Lodge Family Tree Database — Canonbury Masonic Research Centre — Centre for Research into Freemasonry, Sheffield University — The Cornerstone Society — Quatuor Coronati ... International News Italian Mason's Human Rights Violated — Anglican Ban on Freemasonry in Sydney — New Zealand Masons Bring Independence — New Jersey Trolley Raises Profile — Massachusetts Masons Honour Bunker Hill — Anglo-Austrian Masonic Partnership ... Julian Rees During a university lecture on the works of the novelist Gustav Flaubert, one of the students, not very fluent in French, was reading an English-language translation of Madame Bovary, half-concealed, under the table. The lecturer spotted it and said to him ‘Please put that book away. It has nothing whatever to do with the literature of Flaubert.’ Nothing whatever to do with it? The translator would not find that remark very complimentary! Yet the lecturer was right. There is something about a translation that removes the essential spark of the original. What we write, is conditioned by the language in which we write it. When we write, or speak for that matter, the message ... John Pine: The Sociable Craftsman In 1731, the only surviving copy of King John’s Magna Carta bearing the royal seal was damaged in a fire. To record its appearance before it further deteriorated, an engraving of the document was made. An alderman of the city of London was so delighted with the result that he gave the artist twenty guineas ... Masonic Traditions for the Twenty-First Century Reports and comments critical of mass initations in the United States have been regularly carried in the pages of Freemasonry Today. The large majority of the American Brethren who responded have given their wholehearted support to our stand. Partly as a result of the spread of mass initiations, but also as a result of other evidence of a decline in masonic practice in the United States, the Masonic Restoration Foundation has ... "We Should Square Corners, Not Cut Them" My father was raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason in 1950, two years before I was born. He also became a member of the Scottish Rite and the Shrine, and cherished his memberships. ‘When you turn 21, I hope you’ll become a mason’, said he to me one day when I was about nine, and these words, coming from this very laconic gentleman made a lasting impression on me. They were steeped in time and forged in a sense of loyalty. They were part of a masonic process. As a result of this exchange, and watching my father proceed through life as a man who ... Minister, Militaryman and Mason Trinities, holy or otherwise, are complex entities. It was therefore with great enthusiasm, albeit intertwined with equal apprehension, that I travelled to the Plains of Salisbury, a centre of Army activity, to interview a man who was, in one person, Chaplain, Army General and Grand Officer. ‘We Three do meet and agree’ came to mind and Holy Royal Arch allusions developed throughout our meeting. I have heard him preach on two occasions and on each perceived a penetrative presence. He connected with each soul ... Freemasonry and the Spanish Civil War Throughout its long and eventful history Freemasonry has often been attacked and its members persecuted. Yet today many people are unaware that the movement’s darkest hour occurred little over half a century ago, in Spain. Freemasonry first arrived in Spain in 1728, when the English Duke of Wharton established a lodge in Madrid. Although frequently persecuted, Spanish Freemasonry thrived in the nineteenth century ... Shaped by the American Frontier What gives American Masonry a different flavour from the Craft in the British Isles and Europe? It’s not so much the differences in ritual, but the emphasis on the individual Freemason rather than the lodge, an emphasis which was forced upon it by the environment. The last major U.S. frontier was the central northern plains. Although the frontier experience there was little different from that of eastern America, it remains new and real ... Holy Royal Arch Knight Templar Priest The Order of Holy Royal Arch Knight Templar Priest - also called the Order of Holy Wisdom - is a Sovereign body, being independently governed by the Grand College from its headquarters at Castlegate House, in Castlegate, York. While it exercises sole authority over thirty-one dependent degrees, it has become particularly renowned from the degree of that name, today universally recognised as an important facet ... Preserving Our Heritage Following on so many visits to the Museums and Libraries in our Provinces whilst writing these articles for Freemasonry Today, I felt on friendly and familiar ground when I joined twenty-four librarians and curators at the Masonic Library & Museum Group’s bi-annual meeting in Leicester. As I entered Freemasons’ Hall on the main London Road, at about 11.00 am, I could sense a buzz of excitement and anticipation ... Brother Lightfoote's Journal Upon this day in 1187, a Crusader force, commanded (badly) by King Guy of Jerusalem, was utterly destroyed by a Saracen army, led (brilliantly) by Saladin, at the Horns of Hattin. This decisive battle led, ultimately, to the return of the Holy Land to the people who lived there. The Fourth of July is also, as every schoolboy knows, the date upon which the rebellious American colonists declared themselves independent of the British Motherland. One must be careful saying it these days, but I rather admire Brother Washington’s initiative in securing the government ... Letters to the Editor Enthusiasm for the Craft — Royal Arch Ritual Changes — Changes in Craft Ritual — Brass Bands in Lodge — Brothers All? — Magic Circle Lodge ... Review: The Knights Templar Review: Within the Compass, a Collection of Masonic Writings Review: Count Michael Maier, Life and Writings Review: The Tip of the Iceberg: Masonic Music of Yesteryear Canon Richard Tydeman Are you one of those people who never come out well in photographs? When you look through the prints, do you find yourself saying, ‘This is quite good of Uncle, and the photographer has caught Auntie’s expression exactly – but that one isn’t a bit like me!’ How do you know? They say that the camera cannot lie so who are we to believe? The trouble is that you have never actually seen yourself. ‘Rubbish’, I hear you say, ‘I see myself every time I look in a mirror.’ But you don’t see yourself as the camera sees you; in the mirror you only see yourself back to front: you may part your hair on the right and wear a button-hole in the left lapel of your jacket, but the mirror ...   Issue 29, Summer 2004 © Grand Lodge Publications Ltd 1997-2008