The next Stated Assembly of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, December 9, 2024.
Several resolutions regarding the pending sale of the Masonic Hall and the relocation of the Council will be presented for discussion. Members of the Council are encouraged to attend. All Select Masters are welcome.
Proper attire is recommended.
The next Stated Convocation of Washington Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, November 11, 2024. Right Worshipful Companion J. Don Little, District Deputy Grand High Priest of Capitular District 6, will be making his second official visit to the Chapter, so the Officers should plan on being present and prepared to properly receive him. Members of the Chapter are encouraged to attend. All Royal Arch Masons are welcome.
Proper attire is recommended.
The next Stated Assembly of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, October 14, 2024. Members of the Council are encouraged to attend. All Select Masters are welcome.
Proper attire is recommended.
By EDWARD R. CUSICK
In the famous Geneva Bible published in 1560 there is an editorial comment which is of peculiar significance to all Past Masters and Royal Arch Masons. It is a footnote in reference to the word "stonesquarers" used in Chapter five, verse eighteen of the First Book of Kings which tells the story of the building of the Temple. This footnote reads:
The Ebrew worde is -------- which some say, were excellent masons.
It must be remembered that from 1560 until 1750 this edition of the Bible was the one most widely used and read by the people of England and America. After 1750 the King James version rapidly replaces it. However, its influence was wide and deep. How many Free Masons must have paused and read with keen interest the foregoing quoted footnote? Does it connote that the editor was a Free Mason? But the word "excellent" with "masons" at such an early date is most intriguing.
Let us move rapidly on to the year 1767 when we find a group of Royal Arch Masons of London, England, proclaiming a Charter or Compact of a Grand Chapter for the government of the Royal Arch. Incidentally, this was the Mother Grand Chapter of the world and still exists as the Supreme Grand Chapter of England. In this Charter or Compact we find the expression:
We, the rest of the Excellent Companions of this Most Excellent Grand and Royal Chapter.
In the Laws of this Grand Chapter, adopted in 1778, it is established that:
To this exalted degree, none are to be admitted but men of the best character and repute; -- must have passed through the three probationary degrees of Craft Masonry; been regularly appointed and presided as Masters (to be justly entitled to, and have received the Past-master’s token and password); ….
The next Stated Convocation of Washington Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, September 9, 2024. Members of the Chapter are encouraged to attend. All Royal Arch Masons are welcome.
Proper attire is recommended.
The next Stated Assembly of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, August 12, 2024. Members of the Council are encouraged to attend. All Select Masters are welcome.
Proper attire is recommended.
The next Stated Convocation of Washington Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, July 8, 2024. Following the meeting, the installation of the officers for the Chapter and Council for the ensuing masonic year will be held. Members of the Chapter are encouraged to attend. All Royal Arch Masons are welcome.
Proper attire is recommended.
Houston York Rite Masonry would like to
wish all Brothers and Companions a safe and happy day.
By FRANKLIN J. ANDERSON
Assistant Editor, Royal Arch Mason Magazine
A study of the Masonic ritual, participating
in the conferral of the degrees, or merely witnessing the ceremonies during the
opening and closing of a lodge brings to our consciousness the frequency with
which reference is made to the number three, or the numerous occasions when
principles, tenets and phrases occur in groups of three. Such a grouping is denoted as a triad.
Anyone familiar with the ritualistic ceremonies of their jurisdictions
can readily identify at least 80 instances of triads in the Entered Apprentice
Degree, 70 in the Fellowcraft Degree and more than 100 in the Master Mason
Degree. Certainly many of these triads
are familiar to everyone who has entered the fraternity: (help, aid and assist;
cheat, wrong or defraud; hele, conceal and reveal).
The next Stated Assembly of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, June 10, 2024. In addition to the regular order of business, the election of officers for the 2024 - 2025 Cryptic year will be held. Members of the Council are encouraged to attend. All Select Masters are welcome.
Proper attire is recommended.
The next Stated Convocation of Washington Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, May 13, 2024. In addition to the regular order of business, the election of officers for the 2024 - 2025 Capitular year will be held. Members of the Chapter are encouraged to attend. All Royal Arch Masons are welcome.
Proper attire is recommended.
The next Stated Assembly of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, April 8, 2024. Members of the Council are encouraged to attend. All Select Masters are welcome.
Proper attire is recommended.
Hugh McCurdy
(1829 - 1908)
Grand Master of Masons of Michigan – 1873
Grand High Priest
of Royal Arch Masons of Michigan – 1871
Grand Master of
Royal and Select Masters of Michigan - 1879
To Royal and Select Masters are given the keystone in Masonry, more precious than is known by the vast workers of the quarries; and it has been truthfully proclaimed that to preserve and transmit our principles to those who succeed us, in the hour of low twelve, is a sacred, bounden duty we owe to Cryptic Masonry. Thus believing, we should often revert to the origin of our Institution, for as has been said, it is only by digging to the foundation and examining each stone minutely that we can rightfully estimate what has been erected thereon. It is so with Freemasonry.
The first Grand Council which assembled in Jerusalem was composed of Solomon, King of Israel; Hiram, King of Tyre; and Hiram Abiff - the three Grand Masters, who, unobserved by "prying eyes," devised the entire plan by which the Temple should be erected, how the workmen should be divided into various degrees, each class consisting of an independent body, whereby it might be recognized by the peculiar sign of that degree. Most happily, too, they combine within the power of the council the alpha and omega of Freemasonry, thereby denominating Cryptic Masonry, by way of pre-eminence, the summit and perfection of Ancient Craft Masonry. Thus, in fact, the duties, the powers, the responsibilities of a council embrace the whole range of Ancient Craft Masonry, from the conception of the idea in the heart until the candidate is in the full possession of our mysteries, or in our own peculiar language, until he has passed the circle of perfection. It is in the secret vault, securely guarded, that the illustrious companions are required not only to search out the truth but to determine the plans and design objects for the private as well as the general good of the Craft.
If, therefore, companions who constitute this class and who have passed the circle of perfection - who have witnessed the wisdom, strength and beauty of our principles - would be but true to their obligations and faithful to their requirements, what immense good could be accomplished. No bickerings, no strife and no conflicts could ever exist in the Masonic institution, but peace, concord and tranquility would prevail, and the only contention in the whole Masonic family on earth would be who can best work and who could best agree. Brotherly love and charity would be happily blended together, and the life and character of a gentleman, of a faithful brother and devoted companion would be merged in the life and purity of a consistent Mason. With you and all illustrious companions who have entered the secret vault rests the responsibility of confusion ever prevailing in the lodge, chapter or council. Hence you perceive that the charge of a Select Master is literally true when it says to each of you "that your obligations are increased in proportion to your privileges; and also let it be your constant care to prove yourself worthy of the confidence reposed in you and of the high honor conferred on you in admitting you among Select Masters."
The next Stated Convocation of Washington Chapter No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, March 11, 2024. Members of the Chapter are encouraged to attend. All Royal Arch Masons are welcome.
Proper attire is recommended.
The next Stated Assembly of Houston Council No. 1, Royal and Select Masters, will be held at the Masonic Hall at 4911 Montrose Boulevard at 7:00 PM on Monday, February 12, 2024. Members of the Council are encouraged to attend. All Select Masters are welcome.
A Most Excellent Master's Degree will be conferred after the meeting.
Proper attire is recommended.
Proper attire is recommended.
