ROYAL AND SELECT MASTERS.
See Council of Royal and Select Masters.
ROYAL ARCH, ANCIENT.
See Knight of the Ninth Arch.
ROYAL ARCH APRON.
At the triennial meeting of the General Grand Chapter of the United States at Chicago, in 1859, a Royal Arch apron was prescribed, consisting of a lambskin, silk or satin being strictly prohibited, to be lined and bound with scarlet, on the flap of which should be placed a triple tau cross within a triangle, and all within a circle.
ROYAL ARCH BADGE.
The triple tau, consisting of three tau crosses conjoined at their feet, constitutes the Royal Arch badge. The English Freemasons call it the Emblem of all Emblems, and the Grand Emblems of Royal Arch Masonry. The English Royal Arch lecture thus defines it: "The triple tau forms two right angles on each of the exterior lines, and another at the centre, by their union; for the three angles of each triangle are equal to two right angles. This, being triplified, illustrates the jewel worn by the Companione of the Royal Arch, which, by its interseetlor. forms a given number of angles that may be taken in five several combinations." It is used in the Royal Arch Masonry of Scotland, and has, for years, been adopted officially in the United States.
ROYAL ARCH BANNERS.
See Banners Royal Arch.
ROYAL ARCH CAPTAIN.
The sixth officer in a Royal Arch Chapter according to the American system. He represents the Sar Hatabahim, or Captain of the King's Guards. He sits in front of the Council and at the entrance to the fourth veil, to guard the approaches as is his duty. He wears a white robe and cap, is armed with a sword, and bears a white banner on which is inscribed a lion, the emblem of the tribe of Judah. His jewel is a triangular plate of gold inscribed with a sword. In the preliminary Lodges of the Chapter he acts as Junior Deacon.
ROYAL ARCH CLOTHING.
The clothing or regalia of a Royal Arch Mason in the American system consists of an apron, already described, a searf of scarlet velvet or silk, on which is embroidered or painted, on a blue ground, the words, Holiness to the Lord, and if all officer, a scarlet collar, to which is attached the jewel of his office.. The scarf, once universally used, has been very much abandoned Every Royal Arch Mason should also wear at his buttonhole, attached by a scarlet ribbon, the jewel of the Order.
ROYAL ARCH COLORS.
The peculiar color of the Royal Arch Degree is red or Scarlet, which is symbolic of fervency and zeal, the characteristies of the Degree. The colors also used symbolically in the decorations of a Chapter are blue, purple, scarlet, and white, each of xvhiell has a Symbolic meaning (see Vezls, Symbolism of the).
ROYAL ARCH DEGREE.
The early history of this Degree is involved in obscurity, but in the opinion of the late Brother W. J. Hughan, its origin may be ascribed to the fourth decade of the eighteenth century.
The earliest known mention of it oeellrs in a eontemporary amount of the meeting of a Lodge, No. 21, at Youghal, in Ireland, in 1743, when the members walked in procession and the Master was preceded by "the Royal Arch carried by two Excellent Masons' (see Excellent Master). Brother W. J. Chetwode Crawley published in his Caementaria Hibernica (Fasciculus 1, 1895) the following reference: "The earliest known occurrence of the words Royal Arch is met with in the report of the procession of the Youghal Lodge on Saint Johns Day, December 27, 1743."
The next mention of it is in Doctor Dassigny's A Serious and Impartial Enquiry into the cause of the present Decay of Freemasonry in the Kingdom of Ireland, published in 1744, in which the writer says that he is informed that in York "is held an Assembly of Master Masons under the title of Royal Arch Masons, who, as their qualifications and excellencies are superior to others, receive a larger pay than working Masons."
He also speaks of: A certain propagator of a false system some few years ago, in this city (Dublin), who imposed upon several very worthy men, under a pretense of being Master of the Royal Arch, which he asserted he hail brought with him f.om the city of York, and that the beauties of the Craft did principally consist in the knowledge of this valuable piece of Masonry.
However, he carried on his scheme for several months, and many of the learned and wise were his followers, till, at length, his fallacious art was discovered by a Brother of probity and wisdom, who had some small space before attained that excellent part of Masonry in London, and plainly proved that his doctrine was false: whereupon the Brethren justly despised him, and ordered him to be excluded from all benefits of the Craft, and although some of the Fraternity have expressed an uneasiness at this matter being kept a secret from them, since they had already passed through the usual Degrees of probation, I cannot help being of opinion that they have no right to any such benefit until they m eke a proper application, and are received with due formality, and as it is an organis'd body of men who have passed the chair, and given undeniable proofs of their skill in architecture, it cannot be treated with too much reverence, and more especially since the character of the present members of that particular Lodge are untainted, and their behaviour judicious and unexceptionable, so that there cannot be the least hinge to hang a doubt on, but that they are most excellent Masons.
This passage makes it plain that the Royal Arch Degree ovals conferred in London before 1744, say about 1740, and would suggest that York was considered to be its place of origin. Also as Laurence Dermott became a Royal Arch Mason in 174X it is clear that he could not have been, as is sometimes asserted, the inventor of the Rite.
Our old friend, Brother William Tait of Belfast, Ireland, promptly advised us when he made the happy discovery of what to this time is the earliest reference to the Royal Arch in a Lodge Minute Book, but the earliest Minute Book of the Degree actually being conferred is that of the Fredericksburg Lodge in Virginia on December 22, 1753. Vernon Lodge No. 123, Coleraine, County Derry, was warranted by the Grand dodge of Ireland May 8, 1741. Two of the old Minute Books of this Lodge, running from 1749-83, have been preserved. In the first of these under date of April 16, 1752, we find: "At this Lodge Bror.
Thos. Blair propos'd Samson Moore a Master & Royal Arch Mason to be admitted a member of our Lodge." Hitherto the earliest reference to the Decree in a Minute Book was the Grand Committee of the Antients, September 2, 1752; while the earliest Minute of the Degree actually being conferred is still that of the Fredericksburg Lodge, December 22, 1753. The second book of Vernon Lodge contains a record dating the Degree to an even earlier period than 1752. This occurs in a list of the members of a Lodge drawn up in 1767, where after each name is put the date at which he was made Royal Arch. The earliest date given of a Royal Arch reception is March 11, 1745, and the latest June 25, 1765.
Brother John Heron Lepper, contributing this information to Miscellanea Latomorum (1925, volume ix, pages 138-9) says: "A glance at the map will show how far Coleraine lies from Dublin, and to find the Royal Arch degree known in the former place within a year of Dassigny's famous reference in 1744, makes one wonder whether it could have been such a recent introduction into Ireland as his text claims."
(See also pages 99-100, volume 1, History, Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Ireland, by Brothers J. H. Lepper and Philip Crossle, and Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge, 1923, volume xxxvi, pages 1934, where Brother Tait, among other items of interest relating to these records, points out with good reason that "even at this early date the Royal Arch must have been widely spread when we find it practised in places so far apart as York and Virginia—Lonclon and Stirling—Youghall in the South and Coleraine in the North of Ireland.")
A mention of the Degree oecurs in the Minutes of the Antients Grand Lodge for March 4, 1752, when
A formal complaint was made by several Brethren against Thos.
Phealon and John Macky, better known as " leg of mutton Masons " for clandestinely making Masons for the mean consideration of a leg of mutton for dinner or supper. Upon examining some Brothers whom they pretended to have made Royal Arch men the parties had not the least idea of that secret. The Grand Secretary had examined Macky, and stated that he had not the least idea or knowledge of Royal Arch Masonry but instead thereof he had told the people he had deceived a long story about twelve white marble stones, &c., &e., and that the rainbow was the Royal arch, with many other absurdities equally foreign and ridiculous.
The earliest known record of the Degree being actually conferred is a Minute of the Fredericksburg Lodge, Virginia, United States of America, stating that on December 22, 1753, three Brethren were raised to the Degree of Royal Arch Mason (a faesimile of this entry is in the Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge, volume iv, page 222, also in Brother Hughan's Origin of the English Rite of Freemasonry), while the earliest records traced in England are of the year 1758, during which year several Brethren were "raised to the degree of Royal Arch" in a Lodge meeting at the Crown at Bristol
This Lodge was a Modern one and its records therefore make it abundantly clear that the Royal Arch Degree was not by any means confined to the .Antients, though it was not officially recognized by the Grand Lodge of the Moderns, whose Secretary wrote in 1759, "Our Society is neither Arch, Royal Arch or Antient." However, at the Union of Antients and Moderns, in 1813, it was declared that "pure Ancient Masonry consists of three degrees, and no more, namely, those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason, including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch."
This lends color to the idea that at some time or other the Royal Arch had formed part of the Master Mason's Degree, though when and by whom it was separated from it no one has yet discovered, for we may dismiss as utterly uncorroborated by any proof the assertion that Ramsay was the fabricator of the Royal Arch Degree, and equally unsupported is the often made assertion that Dunckerley invented it, though he undoubtedly played a very active part in extending it.
The late Brother W. J. Hughan, in his Origin of the English Rite of Freemasonry (1909, page 90), favors "the theory that a word was placed in the Royal Arch prominently which was previously given in the sections of the Third Degree and known 'as the ancient word of a Master Mason," and considers that "according to this idea, that which was once lost, and then found, in the Third Degree, in one of the sections, was subsequently under the new regime discovered in the 'Royal Arch,' only much extended, and under most exalted and dignified surroundings."
In England, Scotland, and the United States, the legend of the Degree is the same, though varying in some of the details, but the ceremony in Ireland differs much, for it has nothing to do with the rebuilding of the Temple as narrated by Ezra, but with the repairing of the Temple by Josiah, the three chief Officers, or Principals, being the King, Josiah, the Priest, Hilkiah, and the Scribe, Shaphan, not as in England, Zerubbabel, Haggai, and Jeshua, or as in America, High Priest, King, and Scribe.
At one time in England only Past, Masters were eligible for the degree, and this led to a system called Passing the Chair, by which a sort of Degree of Past Master was conferred upon Brethren who had never really served in the chair of a Lodge; now a Master Mason who has been so for four weeks is eligible for Exaltation.
In Scotland, Royal Arch Masonry is not officially recognized by the Grand Lodge, though the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons for Scotland was formed in 1817.
Dr. W. J. Chetwode Crawley, in his Caementaria Hibernica, Fasciculus I, says of the Royal Arch Degree, "It is not is. separate entity, but the completing part of a Masonic legend, a constituent ever present in the compound body, even before it developed into a Degree . . . if the Royal Areh fell into desuetude, the cope-stone would be removed, and the building left obviously incomplete."
ROYAL ARCH, GRAND.
The Thirty-first Degree of the Rite of Mizraim. It is nearly the same as the Thirteenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
ROYAL ARCH GRAND BODIES IN AMERICA.
The first meeting of delegates out of which arose the General Grand Chapter was at Boston, October 24, 1797. The Convention adjourned to assemble at Hartford, in January, 1798, and it was there the Grand Chapter of the Northern States of Ameriea was organized. Again, on the 9th of January, 1799, an adjourned meeting was held, whereat it was resolved to change its name to that of General Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the Northern States of America. On January 9, 1806, the present designation was adopted, to wit: "The General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masonry for the United States of America." New York was determined upon as the place for the first Convocation, September, 1812, and the sessions to be made septennial, every seventh year. It failed to meet at the appointed time, but an important Convocation was held in New York City, on June 6, 1816.
Joseph K. Wheeler, Grand Secretary, in his introduction to the Records of Capitular Masonry in the State of Connecticut, says, after mentioning the names of the Chapters represented at the organization of the Grand Chapter in 1798: "In tracing their history it will be observed that all of these Chapters obtained their authority from a Washington Chapter in the city of New York, with the exception of Vanderbroeck, No. 5," chartered at an early date, by the Grand Chapter of New York, after which no more Chapters were established by any authority outside the Jurisdiction of Connectieut except Lyneh Chapter, No. 8, located at Reading and Weston, which was chartered by the Grand Chapter of New York, August 23, 1801, which charter was signed by Francis Lynch, High Priest, Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons; James Woods, King; and Samuel Clark, Scribe; which was admitted to membership in Grand Chapter of Connecticut, May 19, 1808.
It is of interest here to note that the oldest Chapter in New York State is Ancient, No. 1, whose date of origin is lost, its records up to 1804 having been destroyed by fire, but tradition fixes the year 1763. For years it wielded the powers of a Grand Chapter, and until 1799 was known as the Old Grand Chapter. It granted Charters for Chapters in New York, New Jersey, and Conneeticut. In this last named State it issued a Charter to Lynch Chapter See above) which was received into full fellowship by the Grand Chapter of Conneetieutj although the Grand Chapter of New York had been in existence some time before the Charter was issued.
On the formation of the Grand Chapter of the State of New York, the numbers 1 and 2 were left vacant for the aeeeptanee of Old and Washington Chapters, which latter was an offspring of the former, who at that time refused to place themselves under its Jurisdiction. In 180tS, Old Chapter enrolled itself as Ancient under the State Grand Body, accepted the number one, and was further honored by having its High Priest, tames Woods, elected Deputy Grand High Priest. The organization of the General Grand Chapter is explained at length in Doctor Mackey's revised History of Freemasonry.
ROYAL ARCH JEWEL.
The jewel which every Royal Arch Mason is permitted to wear as a token of his connection with the Order. In America it is usually suspended by a scarlet ribbon to the button. In England it is to be worn pendant from a narrow ribbon on the left breast, the color of the ribbon varying with the rank of the wearer. It is of gold, and consists of a triple tau cross within a triangle, the whole eireumseribeel by a circle.
This jewel is eminently symbolic, the tau being the mark mentioned by Ezekiel (ix, 4), by which those were distinguished who were to be saved from the wicked who were to be slain; the triple tan is symbolic of the peculiar and more eminent separation of Royal Arch Masons from the profane; the triangle, or delta, is a symbol of the sacred name of God, known only to those who are thus separated; and the circle is a symbol of the eternal life, which is the great dogma taught by Royal Arch Masonry. Hence, by this jewel, the Royal Arch Mason makes the profession of his separation from the unholy and profane, his reverence for God, and his belief in the future and eternal life. In the United States of Ameriea, the emblem worn by Royal Arch Masons without the Chapter is a Keystone, on which are the letters H. T. W. S. S. T. K. S. arranged in a cirele and within the circle may or should be his mark.
ROYAL ARCH MASONRY.
That division of Speculative Freemasonry which is engaged in the investigation of the mysteries connected with the Royal Areh, no matter under what name or in what Rite. Thus the mysteries of the Knight of the Ninth Arch constitute the Royal Areh Masonry of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite just as much as those of the Royal Arch of Zerubbabel do the Royal Arch of the American Rite.
ROYAL ARCH MASONRY, MASSACHUSETTS.
A statement of the origin and record of Saint Andrew's Chapter in Boston is to trace early Royal Arch Masonry in Massachusetts. The following is extracted from Companion Thomas Waterman's admirable history of Saint Andrew's Royal Areh Chapter, the result of much earnest research:
"The first meeting recorded of this Chapter was held on the 28th of August, 1769, and was then styled the Royal Arch Lodge, of which R. W. James Brown was Master." Presumably this Lodge derived its authority from the Grand Lodge, Antients of England, as did that of the same name in Philadelphia, whereby it was authorized to confer the Holy Royal Arch Degree, as also did Independent Royal Areh, No. 2, of New York, but surrendered the right to confer the Royal Arch Degree when it joined the Grand Lodge of New York.
Companion Waterman adds: "It appears by the record that the Degrees of 'Excellent, Super-Excellent, and Royal Arch' were conferred in the Royal Arch Lodge." Winthrop Gray, on April 17, 1770, was elected Master.
On the succeeding May 14th, "Most Worshipful Joseph Warren, Esq.," was made a Royal Arch Mason. No record appears between March 26, 1773, and March 20, 1789. In an old register-book, dated April 1, 1789, is found "Original members, April 1, 1789, M. E. William McKeen, H. P." The next recorded election, October 21, 1790, gives William McKeen, R. A. Master. "On November 28, 1793, the Degree of Mark Master was connected with the other Degrees conferred in the Chapter."
"January 30, 1794, the words 'Royal Arch Chapter' are used for the first time in recording the proceedings of tile Chapter." "The Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Massachusetts was organized by delegates from Saint Andresv's Chapter, Boston, and King Cyrus' Chapter, Newburyport, who assembled at Masons Hall, in the Green Dragon Tavern, Boston, on Tuesday, the 13th of March, 1798 A.D.22
ROYAL ARCH OF ENOCH.
The Royal Arch system which is founded upon the legend of Enoch (see Enoch).
ROYAL ARCH OF SOLOMON.
One of the names of the Degree of Knight of the Ninth Arch, or Thirteenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
ROYAL ARCH OF ZERUBBABEL.
The Royal Arch Degree of the American Rite is so called to distinguish it from the Royal Arch of Solomon in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
ROYAL ARCH ROBES.
In the working of a Royal Arch Chapter in the United States, great attention is paid to the robes of the several officers.. The High Priest wears, in imitation of the High Priest of the Jews, a robe of blue, purple, scarlet, and white linen, and is decorated with the breastplate and miter. The King wears a scarlet robe, and has a crown and scepter. The Seribe wears a purple robe and turban. The Captain of the Host wears a white robe and cap, and is armed with a sword. The Principal Sojourner wears a dark robe, with tessellated border, a slouehed hat, and pilgrim's staff. The Royal Arch Captain wears a white robe and cap, and is armed with a sword. The three Grand Masters of the Veils wear, respectively, the Grand Master of the third veil a scarlet robe and cap, of the second veil a purple robe and cap, of the first veil a blue robe and cap. Each is armed with a sword. The Treasurer, Secretary, and Sentinel wear no robes nor peculiar dress. All of these robes have either a historical or symbolical allusion.
ROYAL ARCH TRACING-BOARD.
The oldest Royal Arch Tracing-Board extant is one which was formerly the property of a Chapter in the City of Chester, and which Doetor Oliver thinks was "used only a very few years after the degree was admitted into the system of constitutional Masonry. " He has given a copy of it in his work on the Origin of the English Royal Arch. The symbols which it displays are, in the center of the top an arch scroll, with the words in Greek, EN APXH HN O AOrO2, that is, In the beginning was the Fork; beneath, the word Jehovah written in Cabalistic letters; on the right side an areh and keystone, a rope falling in it, and a sun darting its rays obliquely;
on the left a pot of incense beneath a rainbow; in the center of the tracing-board, two interlaced triangles and a sun in the center, all surounded by a circle; on the right and left of this the seven-branched candlestick and the table of shewbread. Beneath all, on three scrolls, are the words,
Solomon, Ring of Israel; Hiram, King of Tyre; Hiram, the Widow's Son, in Hcbrew and Latin. Doctor Oliver finds in these emblems a proof that the Royal Arch was originally taken from the Master's Degree, because they properly belong to that Degree, according to the English lecture, and lvere afterward restored to it. But the American Freemason will find in this board how little his system has varied from the primitive one practiced at Chester, since all the emblems, with the exception of the last three, are still recognized as Royal Arch sywnhols aceording to the American system.
ROYAL ARCH WORD.
See Tetragrammaton.
ROYAL ARCH WORKING-TOOLS.
See Working-Tools.
ROYAL ARK MARINERS.
A Degree in England conferred on Mark Master Masons, and worked under the authority of the Grand Master of Mark Masons, assisted by a Royal Ark Council. The language of the Order is peculiar. The Supreme Body is called a Grand Ark; subordinate Lodges are vessels; organizing a Lodge is launching a vessel; to open a Lodge is to f oat an ark; to close the Lodge is to moor. All its references are nautical, and allude to the Deluge and the Ark of Noah. The Degree seems to have been invented in England about the end of the eighteenth century. A correspondent of the London Monthly Magazine for December, 1798 (volume vi, page 424), calls it "one of the new degrees in Freemasonry," and thus describes the organization:
They profess to be followers of Noah, and therefore call themselves Noachidae, or Sons of Noah. Hence their President, who at present is Thomas Boothby Parking Lord Rancliffe, is dignified with the venerable title of Grand Noah, and the Lodge where they assemble is called the Royal Ark Vessel.
These Brother mariners wear in Lodge time a broad sash ribbon, representing a rainbow, with an apron fancifully embellished with an ark, dove, etc.
Among other rules of this society is one that no Brother shall be permitted to enter as a mariner on board a Royal Ark vessel for any less sum than ten shillings and sixpenee, of which sum sixpence shall be paid to the Grand and Royal Ark vessel for his registry, and the residue be disposed of at the discretion of the officers of the vessel.
Their principal place of meeting in London was at the Surry Tavern, Surry Street, in the Strand. The writer gives the following verse from one of their songs written by Dr. Ebenezer Sibley.
They entered safe—and lo! the Deluge came
And none were protected but Masons and wives;
The crafty and knavish came floating along,
The rich and the beggar of profligate lives:
It was now in woe
For mercy they call
To old Father Noah
And loudly did bawl
But Heaven shut the door and the ark was afloat
To perish they must, for they were found out.
Now the Degree is in England conferred under the Grand Mark Lodge and also has considerable popularity under the control of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland. In the United States the Decree has not prospered in numbers. The College of Rites in its series of ceremonies included the Royal Ark Mariners and a few Bodies were set at work but the only one that seems to have continued activities was the Lodge at Masonic Hall, New York City. The Degree is, as has been intimated, based on the Bible account of the Ark of Noah, the Deluge, and the Dove, and has much interest and significance for thoughtful Brethren.
ROYAL PRIEST.
The Fifth Degree of the Initiated Brothers of Asia, also called the True Rose Croiz.
ROYAL SECRET, SUBLIME PRINCE OF THE.
See Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret.
ROYAL SOMERSET HOUSE AND INVERNESS LODGE.
One of the four old Lodges establishing the Grand Lodge of England in 1717. Doctor Anderson states that this Lodge met at the "Rummer and Grapes Tavern, in Channel Row, Westminster." The date of its origin is unknown but in 1723 a List of Lodges appeared which gave the name of this Lodge as "Horn Tavern," Westminster. At that time, according to the Grand Lodge records, it was probably the largest and most aristocratic of all English Masonic Lodges. It became designated as No. 3 in 1729 and in 1740 it was known as No. 2. It was erased from the Grand Lodge List on April 3, 1747, the reason being given as "not attending according to the order of the last Quarterly co unication.
' It was restored, however, in 1751 and in 1767 it officially took the name of "Old Horn Lodge." It united with and took the name of the Somerset House Lodge" in 1774 which was then known as No. 279, becoming then No. 4. This Lodge had been established in 1762 by Dunckerley on board the English ship P7once, being removed from there to the ship known as Guadaloupe and from there to Somerset House. The new combination known as the Somerset House Lodge absorbed the Royal Inverness Lodge November 25, 1828, which had been known as No. 648 and which had been the first Lodge warranted by the United Grand Lodge of England and named after the then Grand Master, the Dul;e of Sussex, who had officiated at the consecration February 2, 1815, when the Lodge was first instituted at the Freemasons Tavern. After November 25, 1828, the united Lodges were styled the "Royal Somerset House and Inverness Lodge No. 4, of Time Immemorial Constitution."
This Lodge is the holder of the Freemasons Hall Medal as well as a speeial Medal granted in 1858 bearing the arms of Seotland with a reference to the King's son. This is surmounted by the Coronet of a Prinee of the Blood Royal borne by the Duke of Sussex. On the reverse side the inscription appears, "Immemorial Constitution. United with the Old Horn Lodge, No. 2, January 10, 1774." On the rim the following is engraved: "Royal Inverness Lodge, No. 648. The First Lodge consecrated under the United Grand Lodge by Right Worshipful His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, 1814" (see also An Introduction to the History of the Royal Somerset House and Inverness Lodge; Rev. Arnold Whitaker Oxford, published at London in 1928).
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