Encyclopedia Masonica

An unfriendly fate dogs the steps of women who write about Freemasonry, and pro or con; if one of them makes up a book about it by rewriting some old volume too obscure for anybody ever to have heard of, a Masonic book-worm (and there are many of them) ungallantly turns up that obscure volume and gives her away; if she writes an attack on the Fraternity from "original documents loaned by one of the chancelleries" some unexpected expert spoils everything by proving it to be a forgery. This fate shadowed the unfortunate Miss Elizabeth Durham, an English lady, who set out to prove that Masons had both planned and carried out the assassination of the Austrian Arch Duke and his wife at Sarajevo in 1914.

She had for authority a document which she had been told was the official minutes of the trial, and this document proved that the accused men had been Masons, and had received their instructions from a Grand Lodge. But when the actual and official records were finally made public they contained nothing in common with Miss Durham's document; she had been "had." Her document purported to have been written by "Professor Pharos"; it was discovered that "Professor Pharos" was Father Puntigam, leader of the Jesuits in Sarajevo. Even the Rev. Father Hermann Gruber, S. J., who was an Anti-Mason by profession, protested against this dreadful hoax; he pointed out among other things that whereas the assassins were under twenty years of age, it was the common rule in Danubian Masonry to accept no candidate under twenty-five. Miss Durham also relied on a Mr. H. C. Norman, another English Anti-Mason, and on Horatio Bottomley, later to be proved a swindler. Her book was entitled The Sarajevo Crime.

NOTE.—The continent-wide Anti-Masonic campaign which was carried on between the two World Wars shows nowhere any evidence of spontaneity, and still less of sincerity; both the external and internal evidences prove it to have been planned; character assassination, the outright forging of documents, newspaper campaigns of innuendo, open attacks known to be false but made to start talk, these same techniques appear and re-appear from Czecho-Slovakia to Spain, and including both Ireland and France—there was much more open and dangerous Anti-Masonry in England than American Masons heard about because of the lack of any press of their own.

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.