Scientia Coronati Research Lodge #4 F. & a. m.

Newsletter

jul – sep 2010 A.L. 6010

The Arizona Keystone

Volume 3, Issue 3

2

The Arizona Keystone

Volume 3, Number 3

Jul - Sep 2010

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

George Weil, Master

MANAGING EDITOR

Keith Rosewitz, Secretary

The Arizona Keystone is an official

publication of Scientia Coronati Research

Lodge #4 F. & A. M. and printed quar-

terly. Unless otherwise noted, articles

appearing in this publication express only

the private opinion or assertions of the

writer, and do not necessarily reflect the

official opinion of Scientia Coronati Re-

search Lodge #4 F. & A. M. or the Grand

Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of

Arizona.

Articles are subject to editing and be-

comes the property of Scientia Coronati

Research Lodge #4 F. & A. M. No com-

pensation is allowed for any article, pho-

tographs, or other materials submitted for

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granted upon written request to the Edi-

tor. When reprinted, articles should note

“Reprinted with permission of

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Please direct all correspondence to:

Editor: The Arizona Keystone

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CONTENTS

FEATURES

3. MASTER’S NOTES

4. PEN AND PAPER

3

Master ’s Notes

My Brothers,

The year 2010 s beginning to wane. We must be-

gin to plan for the dawn of the new year. I have delib-

erately chosen articles from the magazine “Freemasonry

Today” because of the value of information that it con-

tains. I hope you found those articles as informative as I

have.

Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth are the three most

important tenants of Freemasonry and the one that this

newsletter will focus on is Relief or Charity.

There are many ways to understand charity as, like prayer it means something different

from person to person — and even for the same person, it might be different at different

times. Maybe the act of charity defines each of us, makes us more aware of our Masonic

identity. Charity reflects our inner character that speaks volumes when it comes to the re-

lief and suffering of worthy brother masons their widows and orphans.

4

PEN AND PAPER Yasha Beresiner Looks at Some Unusual Artifacts in the Library

and Museum of Freemasonry, London

Charity is one of the three great princi-

ples on which Freemasonry rests and it is rich

in history and tradition. Masonic charity has an

impressive past expressed in artifacts both of

antiquity and more recent times. This was well

demonstrated in the exhibition in London’s

Freemasons’ Hall.

The four major charities we have today

were established in 1974 when a report by Sir

Arthur Bagnall recommended that the Masonic

charities should be brought together into four

organizations, central of which would be the

Grand Charity. The same report also recom-

mended that Masonic charity should extend

beyond Freemasonry itself in order to aid other

worthy causes.

Keyser’s Jewel

Martin Cherry and Mark Dennis, librarian and curator respectively, at the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

in London – in fact, the fifth Masonic charity - showed us a few more curious items that are such a perfect example of

the extent to which charity has always played a part in every Freemason’s heart.

The most overt symbol of every brother’s charitable stance is the charity breast jewel. One in particular is out-

standing: the ‘Sussex Jewel’. It invariably bears the date 1830 when it was instituted by the then Grand Master, the

Duke of Sussex.

A named and dated bar attached to the collar of the jewel indicated that a brother had served more than once as

Steward to a festival and had personally made a donation. Today, although rule 253 in our Book of Constitutions is still

in effect, the amalgamation of the first two of the charities named there makes new presentations of the jewel obsolete.

Between his initiation into Isaac Newton University Lodge, No. 859, in 1867 and his last Stewardship of the

Royal Masonic Institution for Girls in 1928, Charles Edward Keyser (1847 – 1929) served almost annually on all of the

three charities concerned during the course of his sixty-one year Masonic career.

His ‘Sussex jewel’ and collar is a colorful and extraordinary object with 118 bars evenly distributed showing his

stewardship of all three main charities. It is in many ways symbolic of Keyser’s whole-hearted dedication to Freema-

sonry. He was exceedingly wealthy and successful in his private life, a member of thirty-six lodges and a Past Master of

twenty-four of them. He always assured the qualification of his lodges to charitable causes, often by contributing per-

sonally.

5

Grand Charity Boxes

The most senior of today’s charities is The Freemasons’ Grand Charity established in January 1981 but able to trace its

roots back to 1720s, just a few years after the estab-

lishment of the first Grand Lodge in June 1717. Its

annual donations - exceeding £ 6.8 million in 2008 -

are dispensed equally within and beyond Freema-

sonry. The Charity relies on income from Festivals

and, of course, from individual donations by lodge

members. Every lodge is equipped with a charity

box and some took the initiative to create unusual

artifacts for the collection of funds.

The now erased Arts Lodge No. 2751, com-

memorated two of its famous Past Masters, Henry

Ashley and F Winton Newman, Grand Superinten-

dents of Works, architects of Freemasons’ Hall, by

re-fashioning into a charity box an original stonema-

son’s maul used in the building of the Peace Memo-

rial. Silver plaques on the base and along the rim

below the handle of the 250mm high maul are en-

graved with a special dedication to the two Brethren

and dated 1934, the year of the consecration of the

new Freemasons’ Hall.

Another curious charity container of porce-

lain by the Derby manufacturers Stevenson & Han-

cock has modeled emblems of all the Orders of the

Craft, and beyond, embedded on the rim of a plate

which is covered with a beehive-shaped dome in

which a slit allows the deposit of coins. The Latin

text along the edge translates: He gives twice he who

gives readily.

Antients’ Medal

The charitable side of Freemasonry has been

manifested throughout Freemasonry’s history.

When, in 1751, the Antients Grand Lodge was formed in London, in direct competition to the Premier Grand Lodge of

1717, it immediately established itself as a charitable body intent upon the welfare of its members. A splendid oval

jewel 58mm by 75mm refers to the Charity Committee of Ancient Masons Instituted AD 1800 AM 1560.

The beautifully hand-engraved gilded jewel, dated 28 June 1811, depicts on one side, charity standing suckling a

baby held with her right hand while she holds a young girl with her left. To her right a young boy clings to her flowing

robe while holding a flaming heart.

After the union in 1813, the general funds of both grand lodges were combined into a Board of Benevolence and

charity continued as the predominant priority of the United Grand Lodge of England.

6

Piggy Bank

The body first founded by Chevalier Bartholomew Ruspini in 1788 for the schooling of girls became, in 1986,

the Masonic Trust for Boys & Girls; it was granted the title ‘Royal’ in May 2003.

Today only the independent Royal Masonic School for Girls still survives, and highly successfully. The charity

is intent on providing funds for the education up to University level of all children and grandchildren of needy Free-

masons. It may have been the grand-children that the West Lancashire Province had in mind when they produced a

quaint and amusing piggy bank for the 1966 Festival. It is decorated with the colorful girl’s face with blonde hair and

big blue eyes topped by golden eyelashes and heart shaped red lips!

Certificates

One of the long-standing features of the Masonic year have been the Charity Festivals held by a different Prov-

ince each year. They raise huge sums of money now distributed to the present day Masonic charitable Trusts. In the

past, the relatively large amounts raised were recorded on large and beautifully ornate certificates presented to the pre-

siding Freemason on each occasion.

An attractive sepia toned certificate of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls lists the Prince of Wales as the

Patron of the Institution. It was presented by the committee to W H Rylands in grateful recognition of valuable ser-

vices rendered on the 103rd Anniversary Festival 12 May 1891. The sum raised by 266 Stewards totaled £ 8,617.2.6, a

very considerable sum at the time.

Another brightly colored certificate is that of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution, set up by the eccentric

Dr Robert Crucifix in 1842. It was originally, rather unattractively, named the Institution for Aged and Decrepit Free-

masons and the first home founded in 1850 had the tasteless title of the Asylum for Worthy, Aged and Decayed Free-

masons.

Fortunately the heading on the 1892 certificates reads Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution for Aged Freema-

sons and Widows of Freemasons.

The sum here collected by some 1500 Stewards is a staggering £ 67,422. Both certificates measure 634mm by

500mm.

Time and space have never favored us with these series of articles. Once more we touched only the surface of

available material, especially in a collection as large and substantive as in our Library and Museum of Freemasonry.

We looked at a small selection of artifacts that reminded us of the essence of our Craft: that charity is the true corner-

stone of the Masonic edifice.

(Reprinted by permission of Freemasonry Today. Autumn 2009—Issue 50.)