By Ward
K. St. Clair
Past
Master, Lodge of United Services No. 1118, New York, and a Past High Priest of
his Chapter.
Major,
United States Signal Corps
In
the United States and parts of Canada there are two types of Past Masters. They are the actual and virtual Past
Masters.
An actual Past Master is one who
has been elected and installed as Master of a symbolic lodge. Most grand lodges define a Past Master
according to these terms. Since this
article is intended to deal with the degree of “Past Master” as controlled by
chapters of Royal Arch Masons, we will not discuss further the Past Masters of
the lodge except to state that the two are separate and distinct.
A virtual Past Master is one who has received the degree of “Past
Master” in a chapter of Royal Arch Masons as a preliminary or qualifying step
to the Royal Arch Degree. It entitles
the recipient to no distinctive rights outside a Royal Arch Chapter.
We are told that the Past Master
degree has no historical connection with the other capitular degrees, and that
it sheds no light upon itself, but is used only to satisfy an ancient
requirement that none but Past Masters could be exalted to the degree of Royal
Arch Mason. How true is this? Also, how binding is it?
In answer to the second question, it would seem that since the
requirement was man-made it could
also be man-repealed without serious
difficult or harm. What, then, is the
reason for its continued use? The best
and most logical reason is based on custom and precedent. Let us investigate the early history of the
degree to see if we can determine its origin.
Robert F. Gould, in his Concise
History of Freemasonry, states that Dr. Dassigny, in 1744, referred to the
Royal Arch as a “body of men who have passed the chair.” Gould further states that the degree of Installed or Past Master was unknown at that date, nor was there any evidence
that it existed until some years after the formation of the Schismatic Grand
Lodge of England in 1751.
Brother J. Stokes in his book entitled The Royal Arch, makes the
following statement regarding the “Past Master” degree:
The early
Atholl Regulations required that only Masters and Past Masters had the right to
be selected for exaltation, but in process of time this rule was evaded. Hence arose two classes of actual and virtual Past Masters. This
led to the degree of Past Master or “Chair Degree,” which was invented to
service as a constructive passing of the chair, thereby to qualify Brethren for
the Royal Arch Degree.
“Past Master’s Degree” probably means
“Installed Master.” The Book of Constitutions, 1723, states: “The Grand Master shall, by
certain significant ceremonies and ancient usages, install him, and present him
with . . . etc.” If this indicates the
usual practice at the time, the ceremony must have been dropped and readopted
(in deference to the Ancients) before the Union.
“Past Master” of Masters who have passed
the chair without occupying it as a Ruler of a Lodge, is another reading.
Brother William Hughan, in a letter to the Grand High Priest of the
Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Pennsylvania dated October 1, 1872, had the
following comments to make on the “Past Master” degree:
It seems to
have been the custom (in fact was) of the “Grand Lodge of the old
Constitutions”(called the Ancients) to confer the Past Master’s Degree in a
Craft Lodge on Candidates for Royal Arch Masonry. No separate Chapters or
warrants were required to work the Royal Arch Degree under the “Ancients,” and
it seems to me most probably that the “Installation Ceremony” originated with
that body, at least became prominent, and a separate degree under their
management. If so, it is not older than,
say about 120 years. The Grand Lodge of
the “Ancients” was not actually formed, and no regular records kept until A.D.
1750. The Grand Lodge of England is the
custodian thereof.
Whether the regular Grand Lodge, or in
other words, the Grand Lodge which was formed in A.D. 1717, had a knowledge of
the Degree so early as 1750, I cannot say positively, although there does
appear evidence that a ceremony of some sort was observed at the installation
of a Worshipful Master of a Lodge. In
the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England published A.D. 1738, there is an
engraving of the 47th Problem of Euclid, which is the Jewel of the
Past Master’s Degree.
In the United States, prior to the formation of the General Grand Lodge,
the degree of “Past Master” was worked in various chapters under the name Excellent Master. This degree of old must not be confused with
the current degree of “Excellent Master” conferred in Scotland by the Grand
Chapter of Royal Arch Masons.
The minutes of the old Washington Chapter No. 6, R. A. M., working in
Middletown, Connecticut, dated September 19, 1783, read in part:
Where upon he
was raised an excellent Mason, passing
the Chair in due form.
There are other references to the degree of
Excellent Mason, followed by the
statement of “passing the chair,” but the above is the earliest so far found. The minute book of Jerusalem Chapter (New
York) for March 20, 1799, refers to the degree in question as the “degree of Chair Master.”
The constitution adopted by the General Grand Chapter in 1798 listed the
degree of “Past Master” as one controlled by that body. In the revision of that
document a year later, a provision was added which prohibited the institution
of separate lodges of Past Masters independent of a chapter of Royal Arch
Masons.
Until 1853 peace and quiet reigned in the General Grand Chapter as to
the status of the degree. In that year,
a representative of the Grand Chapter of New York introduced a resolution to
the effect that a chapter did not have exclusive jurisdiction over the degree
of “Past Master,” and that “when it was conferred on Masters-elect by a Past
Master, according to ancient usage, it was not unmasonic or clandestine.”
The resolution was referred to the General Grand Chapter’s Jurisprudence
Committee which ruled that it was legal and Masonic for the requisite number of
Past Masters, who had been duly qualified, to preside over a lodge and confer
the degree of “Past Master” according to ancient usage on the Master-elect of a
lodge. This ruling did not claim or
indicate that the degrees were the same or similar. Later, a resolution was passed stating the
chapter did not claim jurisdiction over the degree of “Past Master” when about
to be conferred on a Master-elect of a symbolic lodge.
In 1856 a resolution was introduced in the General Grand Chapter to
abolish the “Past Master” degree from those controlled by that body. This resolution was referred to the committee
, which, after due consideration, gave a report that resulted in the adoption
of a resolution to the effect that the General Grand Chapter recommended to the
various grand chapters that the ceremonies of the “Past Master” degree be
abridged to the narrowest constitutional limits, and that only the induction of
the candidate into the oriental chair and communication of the means of
recognition, be retained. This action
apparently satisfied the opponents of the degree for nothing further was
reported until 1868, when an effort was again made to eliminate the degree. Action was held over until the 1871 triennial
when the plea was rejected.
In 1877 a new approach was made to the subject. It was proposed that the various chapters be
authorized to confer the degree of “Past Master” upon Masters-elect of symbolic
lodges on application. Also, that the
“Mark” and “Past Master” degrees be reversed, in order that the “Past Master”
degree would become the first of the chapter series. This proposal resulted in the introduction of
an amendment to the constitution which was voted down at the 1880 convocation.
Since that time, the degree has been accepted and given a place in
capitular Masonry without question. The
distinction between the degree as conferred and controlled by the chapters, and
the degree or ceremony used by lodges, has been well established and there is
now no conflict between them.
The degree, as one of the chapter series, is unknown in England,
Ireland, Scotland and other grand chapters, except in parts of Canada. At one time the degree was controlled by the
Supreme Grand Chapter of Scotland as a qualification for the Royal Arch. In 1872, the Grand Chapter of Scotland
relinquished control to the Grand Lodge where it became a qualifying degree for
the Master-elect of a lodge. In England
and Ireland the degree is not, nor never has been, a part of the chapter
series.
(Adapted from an article from The Royal Arch Mason, Volume II, Number 7,
September 1947, pages 219 - 222)
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