Encyclopedia Masonica

A title commonly used in addressing Brethren of the Thirty-Third Degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Formerly the word had a more extended usefulness among the Craft. For example, there is a Minute Book preserved in the Museum of the Grand Lodge Zur Sonne at Bayreuth, Germany. This record is written in French as a report of the inauguration of the Lodge Eleusis at Bayreuth on December 4, 1741. A translation of the memorandum is as follows: The fourth of the month of December our Very Worshipful Lodge hats installed the new Lodge in the City at the Golden Eagle. The procession was arranged with beautiful ceremonies.

1. Two Bearers carrying gloves.
2. Two Stewards or Marshals with their insignia and white batons or staffs in hand.
3. The Grand Sword Bearers of the Grand Lodge.
4. The Secretary of the Grand Lodge.
5. Our Very Illustrious Master?Margrave Friedrich von Brandenburg?Bayreuth?as Grand Master of the Order, between the Wardens.
6. The new Master of the new Lodge, between laid Wardens.
7. All the Brethren, fifty in number.

Before the entrance to the Golden Eagle was posted a Sentinel, on the staircase was another. Music of very agreeable kind woes heard. We made some Brethren anti Masters. After supper the Procession returned in the same manner that it had arrived. The student of Freemasonry will not only note the early use of the word Illustrious but also the prominence given to the gloves on this occasion (see Gloves).

The Encyclopedia Masonica exists to preserve the wealth of information that has been generated over the centuries by numerous Masonic authors. As Freemasonry is now Speculative and not Operative, the work of a Mason is now conducted in the quarries of symbolism, literature, history and scholasticism. Freemasonry encourages intellectual exploration and academic achievement in its members and many Masons over the years have taken up this calling. The result has been that an incredible amount of philosophy, symbolic speculation and academic insights have been created. However, as Freemasonry teaches, human knowledge is frail and fragile. It is easily lost in the turnings of the ages and unforeseen catastrophes can result in great setbacks to human knowledge.

For too long these great works have sat on forgotten shelves, gathering dust and concealing the light that could be shed on the darkness of our ignorance. The Encyclopedia Masonica has been created to act as an ark, sailing through time, to ensure that future generations of Freemasons have access to the same knowledge that inspired the Brethren that came before them. It will contain the works of such Masonic Luminaries as Albert G. Mackey, Manly Palmer Hall, G.S.M. Ward, Albert Pike and many others. The Encyclopedia Masonica is a living work and the volunteers of Universal Co-Masonry will continue to labor until the most comprehensive Masonic reference work the world has ever seen has been created. The Encyclopedia Masonica is open to any who wish to use it and will remain open so that the treasures contained within may increase the wealth of all those who seek its wisdom.