Encyclopedia Masonica

Torgau is a fortified town on the Elbe, in the Prussian Province of Saxony. It was there that Luther and his friends wrote the Book of Torgau, which was the foundation of the subsequent Augsburg Confession, and it was there that the Lutherans concluded a league with the Elector Frederick the Wise. The Stone-Masons, whose seat was there in the fifteenth century, had, with the other Masons of Saxony, accepted the Constitutions enacted in 1459 at Strasbourg. But finding it necessary to make some special regulations for their own internal government, they drew up, in 1462, Constitutions in one hundred and twelve articles, which are known as the Torgau Ordinances. A duplicate of these Constitutions was deposited, in 1486, in the StoneMason's hütte or Lodge at Rochlitz. An authenticated copy of this document was published by C. L. Stieglitz at Leipsic, in 1829, in a work entitled Ueber die Kirche der heiligen Kunigunde zu Rochlitz und die Steinmetzhütte daselbst, Concerning the Church of the Holy Kunigunde at Rochlilz and the Stone-Masons Lodge here An abstract of these Ordinances, with critical comparisons with other Constitutions, was published by Kloss in his Die Freimaurerei in ihrer wahren Bedeutung, Freemasons in their True Meaning. The Torgau Ordinances are important because with those of Strasbourg, they are the only authentic Constitutions of the German Stone-Masons extant except the Brother-Book of 1563.

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.