By W Bro Ian Alexander Pace ADGM KwazuluNatal Lodge Mentor Inanda Lodge 1192EC
The research conducted for the detail in this chapter is by the Quatuor Coronati Lodge No 2076, based at Freemasons’ Hall in London and considered to be the premier Lodge of Research of the UGLE.
Whilst they have either four or five meetings per year, depending on the calendar, and one can become a member of the Correspondence Circle for a relatively low cost. Before I write the next Chapter I will enquire if a Lodge (as opposed to an individual Mason) can become a member of the Correspondence Circle (QCCC) and, if so, what the cost would be, the method of paying the subscription and how each Lodge would get a copy of the “transactions” of the Lodge i.e. the research paper delivered by one of the members or a guest of the Lodge.
On the back of each summons is a question or two sent in by Masons from around the world, and the answers to those questions provided by the Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2076. In other cases it is simply a short explanation of a point in Masonry from which we can all learn. By the way – “Quatuor Coronati” is Latin for “four crowns” and I will try and establish the origins of this Lodge’s name.
In the summons that I am looking at, dated May 2008, there are two questions with answers provided to each, as follows:
Item 1: A frequently held belief, albeit quite wrongly, is that if an officer of the Lodge should die or become unable to execute his office for the remainder of the year, the office cannot be filled until the next installation meeting.
This is quite wrong as reference to Rule 121 of the BOC will quickly show. (my note – I assume that at the time of typing this there has been no change to Rule 121 since May 2008).
It should be stated quite clearly that this applies to all Lodge officers with the single exception of the Master. Where an election is required to fill an office
such as Treasurer or Tyler, then such office shall not be filled until that election has taken place and a positive result has been obtained.
What then should be the procedure if one of the regular officers other than an elected officer, let’s say the Senior Deacon, should die and how is such a situation covered by the Book of Constitutions ? Rule 104 states quite clearly who the regular officers of the Lodge are. The Master should appoint without delay another Brother to this office and invest him at the next meeting of the Lodge, even if this should be for just one meeting prior to start of a new Masonic year with the subsequent installation of a new Master.
Item 2: Time Immemorial.
Question: A number of Lodges in the Masonic Year Book are shown as Time Immemorial where the date of the Lodge’s consecration is usually recorded. How can a Lodge be described as Time Immemorial when the Encyclopaedia Brittanica clearly states that to be designated as such, an entity must have existed before the year 1189 ?
Answer: The questioner is confusing two similar but quite different uses of the same phrase. The following is what is understood about this subject, the former being the generally understood explanation whilst the latter is that which is used in legal matters and has the backing of the English judicial system.
Time Immemorial explanation 1: also known as “Time out of Mind”. Time in the distant past beyond memory or record. E.g. those carvings have been there from time immemorial. Explanation 2: Law. Time beyond memory, fixed by statute in England as prior to the reign of King Richard I (1189 AD), also known as Richard the Lionheart (or Richard Coeur de Lion, as French was the spoken language of the nobility at that time).
The use of the phrase by the United Grand Lodge of England is therefore correct albeit not from the legal point of view. However, as this aspect of its use is very unlikely to be challenged the subject becomes one of semantics only.
SMIB
IAN