I had the honor yesterday of joining 70 brethren from Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio in being admitted into the Royal Order of Scotland.Through the kind invitation of MWBro. Doug Fegenbush, PGM, I was asked to speak at the banquet that followed. I'm not certain Provincial Grand Master Ed Fowler had any idea what my presentations are usually like...
Many thanks to the grand officers who presented the beautiful degree work.
Check out Brother John Karnes' article about the Royal Order of Scotland from the July/August 2005 Scottish Rite Journal.
Congrats.
ReplyDeleteNever seen any degree work like that before, have ya?
The Order claims its ritual is the oldest in Masonry, apart from the EA and FC degrees, and records do show it was being worked in England at least as early as 1741.
ReplyDelete"Beyond the Craft" by Keith B. Jackson says that in the degrees worked in Britain, the characteristic assigned to each aspiring candidate is spelled without vowels. I'm not comfortable blurting out what mine was, but I was hoping for "dummy."
As an interesting sidebar is the the lineage of the Grand Master, currently the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine. The 7th Earl of Elgin was most famous for grabbing the marble caryatids from the porch of the Parthenon, which became known as the Elgin Marbles. Leading Alice to crack that when the English were compelled to give them back to Greece, Elgin lost his marbles.
Congratulations to you, Chris, for your initiation into the Royal Order of Scotland. (Not an invitation I've ever been extended, but I've been impressed with the brethren I know who are in that order.) And congratulations to Lady Alice for one of the best highbrow jokes I've heard all year.
ReplyDeleteGlad to meet you and divest you of the notion that we're all impressive, Mark. ;-)
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