The Builder Magazine

October 1921 - Volume VII - Number 10

 

Memorials to Great Men Who Were Masons

STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAE 

BY BRO. GEO. W. BAIRD, P.G.M., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, "the first of the Patroons" in the State of New York, was born in the City of New York, and was Grand Master of Masons of that State for four years. We excerpt the following from the History of the Grand Lodge of New York:

 

"Stephen Van Rensselaer, known as the Patroon, an American statesman, and patron of learning, was born in New York, November 1, 1769, the fifth in descent from Killien Van Rensselaer, the original patroon or proprietor of the Dutch Colony of Rensselaerwick, who in 1630, and subsequently, purchased a tract of land near Albany, forty-eight miles long by twenty-four wide, extending over three counties. He was educated at Princeton and Harvard colleges, and married a daughter of General Philip Schuyler, a distinguished officer of the Revolution. Engaging early in politics, at a period when they were the pursuit of men of the highest social position, he was, in 1789, elected to the State Legislature; in 1795, to the State Senate, and became Lieutenant Governor, president of a State convention, and Canal Commissioner. Turning his attention to military affairs, he was, at the beginning of the war of 1812, in command of the State militia, and led the assault of Queenstown; but the refusal of a portion of his troops, from constitutional scruples, to cross the Niagara River, enabled the British to repulse the attack, and the General resigned in disgust. As president of the Board of Canal Commissioners for fifteen years, he promoted the New York system of internal improvements; as Chancellor of the State University, he presided over educational reforms; and as president of the Agricultural Board, aided to develop the resources of the State. At his own cost, he employed Professors Eaton and Hitchcock to make agricultural surveys, not only of his own vast estates, but of a large part of New York and New England, the results of which he published in 1824; he also paid Professor Eaton to give popular lectures on geology through the State. In 1824 he established at Troy an institution for the education of teachers, with free pupils from every county. Widening the sphere of his political interests, he went to Congress in 1823, and served several terms, exerting a powerful influence, and securing the election of John Quincy Adams as President of the United States. After an active, useful, and honorable career, worthy of his high position, he died at Albany, January 26, 1839."

 

While the foregoing shows a splendid record, one to make the fraternity feel proud, it omits so much that the fraternity ought to know. Van Rensselaer received the degree of LL. D. at Yale in 1825.

 

The writer has always believed that teaching, particularly teaching the laws of nature, is the grandest occupation of man; that the laws of nature are the laws of God; that nature never makes mistakes; that she will make intelligent answer to every question intelligently asked, and will repeat her replies indefinitely.

 

So when Grand Master Van Rensselaer established the great Polytechnic Institute at Troy, omitted Greek and Latin from the curriculum, and made a point of applied niechanics and mechanical engineering, he laid a foundation for the skill and science that made the Republic grow, more than any peaceful move that has ever been made. It was the origin of the degree of mechanical engineering, and though the Institute was not the first to establish that chair, per se, it produced the graduates who were the first professors of M.E. in the colleges when establishing that degree. Early in the time of the civil war many of the Troy men entered the engineer corps of the Navy, which was the beginning of turning the art of marine engineering from a trade to a profession. A number of these left the Navy to be professors in colleges, and today there are recognized more than twenty kinds of engineers.

 

Washington had advised discouraging all immigration, save such as could bring us some useful trade or art, which made it imperative to produce machines to do the work of men. The wisdom of Grand Master Van Rensselaer may be appreciated when we consider this. He builded wiser than was dreamed of in our philosophy. Machine design, construction and operation has developed the Nation. By it the air is navigated; the surface and the depth of the sea, as well as the land are traversed. A factory girl now spins as much as several hundred girls did, when the work was all done by hand. Transportation has been rushed over iron rails, while other nations were using pikes. Machine design is today an exact science, instead of a tentative art, and for blazing the way to make this possible we must hail Grand Master Van Rensselaer as the pioneer.

 

He was lenient to the poor among the tenants on his vast estates, whose arrears, for rent, had aggregated about $400,000 when he died, which resulted in the complete breaking up of the estate. (See E. P. Cheyney's "Anti Rent Agitation," 1887).

 

ROMAN CATHOLICISM AND FREEMASONRY

 

BY BRO.  DUDLEY WRIGHT, ENGLAND

 

PART VI

 

 

IN THE "GACETA" of the Spanish Government, dated 23rd February, 1826, the execution of a person accused of Freemasonry is thus referred to:

 

"Yesterday was hanged in this city Antonio Caso (alias Jaramalla).  He died impenitent and sent into consternation the numerous concourse present at the spectacle; a terrible whirlwind making it more horrible, this taking place while the criminal was expiring. He came forth from the prison blaspheming, speaking such words as may not be repeated without shame, and although gagged, he repeated as well as he could 'Viva mi secta! Viva la Institucion Masonica!' So he was dragged by the tail of a horse to the scaffold.  Notwithstanding the efforts which priests of all classes had made, they had not been able to induce him to pronounce the names of Jesus and Mary.  After he was dead, his right hand was cut off, and dragging his body, they took it to a dung-heap.  Thus do these proclaimers of liberty miserably end their lives; and this is the felicity which they promise to those who follow them - to go to abide where the beasts do."

 

In 1828 the French troops evacuated Spain, though without stamping out Freemasonry, for, in 1829, fresh signs of its existence in Barcelona being discovered, Lieut.-Col. Galvez was hanged and two other members of the Craft were condemned to the galleys for life.

 

In 1828, at Sligo, one Thomas Mulhern died.  He was a zealous Freemason and an equally zealous member of the Church of Rome, treasurer of his parish church as well as officiating in the same  capacity for certain Roman Catholic charities. In every respect he was regarded as one of the most attached and intelligent lay assistants in the Roman Catholic Church in his district.  When he was seized with the illness which culminated in his death, his wife sent immediately for the parish priest, the Rev. M. Dunleavy, to administer the Sacraments, but that privilege was refused on the ground that the dying man was a Freemason. He was permitted to pass from this world without the consolation of these Sacraments and no Roman Catholic priest would consent to read the burial service over his mortal remains.  His body, therefore, was committed to the earth without any religious ceremony, in the presence of several lodges in Sligo.

 

About the same time M. Motus, director of the Luxembourg Iron Works, died of a fever, the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church also being denied him on his deathbed, because he was a Freemason.  He died at Mersch, where Catholic burial was refused him, and the body was conveyed to Fischbach, where he had lived.  The priest there declared that he would not allow the corpse to be buried in any place other than that where unbaptized children were buried, to which the Burgomaster replied that he would cause the grave to be dug where he thought fit, and the deceased Brother was buried alongside the Burgomaster's daughter.

 

In 1828, the monk Fortunato de Saint Bonaventure wrote in his periodical "Contremine" -

 

"The remedy for Freemasons is altogether simple: every time they attempt to assemble, meet them with the bludgeon, the memory of which would be very lively on the backs of some and on the imagination of others, and it would come some time to bring peace to the kingdom."

 

G.B. Nicolini, in his History of the Pontificate of Pius the Ninth, is responsible for the statement that "The Centurioni were a gang of robbers and vagabonds enlisted in bands after the revolution of 1831.  They were headed by priests and monks, who preached to them that to kill a liberal was the surest passport to heaven.  They did not wear any uniform, but were a sort of secret society, protected and paid for by the government."

 

The case of the famous liberator, Daniel O'Connell, has frequently been mentioned in Masonic journals and newspapers, but the full circumstances have not, as yet, been given at one time.  O'Connell, the greatest orator, as well as the greatest lawyer and logician that Ireland ever produced, was initiated into Freemasonry in 1799 in Lodge 189, Dublin, of which he became Master in the following year.  It is said that no one ever carried out the duties of his office with more brilliant success than he, who himself acknowledged that he felt deeply interested in his Masonic work, which was proved plainly by his unceasing activity.  O'Connell was standing counsel to the Grand Lodge of Ireland in some tedious litigation caused by an unscrupulous Grand Secretary and the Irish Rolls bears his signature under date of 24th July, 1813, as Counsel representing the Grand Lodge of Ireland.  Bro. William White, who was Deputy Grand Master of Ireland from 1830 to 1840, used to declare with pride that he had received his degrees at the hand of the great liberator.  It is easy to conceive with what skill a man so highly gifted as he was would perform his work and how attentively the brethren would listen to that fascinating voice which bewitched the Courts of Justice and the Senate.  In addition to his membership of his Mother Lodge, he was founder of a lodge in Trales, of which he became the first Senior Warden and a joining member of Lodge No. 13, Limerick.  He afterwards withdrew from all his lodges because of the enforcement of the Papal Bull in Ireland and, on 19th April, 1837, the following letter from his pen appeared in the "Pilot" newspaper of London:

 

"To the Editor of the 'Pilot:'

 

"Sir, - A paragraph has been going the rounds of the Irish newspapers purporting to have my sanction, and stating that I had been at one time Master of a Masonic lodge in Dublin and still continue to belong to that society.

 

"I have since received letters addressed to me as a Freemason and feel it incumbent on me to state the real facts.

 

"It is true that I was a Freemason and a Master of a lodge.  It was at a very early period of my life and either before ecclesiastical censure had been published in the Catholic Church in Ireland prohibiting the taking of the Masonic oaths, or, at least, before I was aware of that censure.  I now wish to state that, having become acquainted with it, I submitted to its influence and many, very many, years ago unequivocally renounced Freemasonry. I offered the late Archbishop, Dr. Troy, to make that renunciation public, but he deemed it unnecessary.  I am not sorry to have this opportunity of doing so.

 

"Freemasonry in Ireland may be said to have (apart from its oaths) no evil tendency, save as far as it may counteract in some degree the exertions of those most laudable institutions - deserving of every encouragement - the temperance societies.

 

"But the great, the important objection is this - the profane taking in vain the awful name of the Deity - in the wanton and multiplied taking of oaths - of oaths administered on the Book of God, either in mockery or derision, or with a solemnity which renders the taking of them, without any adequate motive, only the more criminal.  This objection, which, perhaps, I do not state strongly enough, is alone abundantly sufficient to prevent any serious Christian from belonging to that body.

 

"My name having been dragged before the public on this subject it is, I think, my duty to prevent any person supposing that he was following my example in taking oaths which I now certainly would not take, and, consequently, being a Freemason, which I certainly would not now be.

 

"I have the honour to be,

"Your faithful servant,

"Daniel O'Connell."

 

At the next meeting of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, on the 4th May following, attention was drawn to the letter by Deputy Grand Master White, when two resolutions were proposed, the first that a committee be appointed to take into consideration the letter and to report on the same to a subsequent meeting of the Grand Lodge; the second, or, rather, the amendment, was that the Grand Secretary be instructed to write Mr. Daniel O'Connell to ascertain if he was the author of the letter in question, or, in other words, to make certain of the genuineness of the communication.  The amendment was passed by a large majority, and O'Connell's reply to the query of the Grand Secretary was short, but to the point.  He merely wrote in his own hand:

 

"I am the author of the letter above alluded to.

"Daniel O'Connell,

"28th May, 1837."

 

Thereupon it was proposed, seconded, and carried by the Grand Lodge of Ireland without a division:

 

"That Brother Daniel O'Connell formerly of Lodge 189 be excluded from all the rights and benefits of Freemasonry," the ground being the misleading character of the letter.

 

With regard to Dr. Troy, whose name was mentioned in Daniel O'Connell's letter, it has been frequently stated in the public press, particularly of the period at which O'Connell wrote, that Dr. Troy, the Archbishop, and Dr. Tuohy, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Limerick, were both respected members of the Order.  The Freemasons Quarterly Review of 1842 said that "it was at a levee at the Duke of Richmond's court, when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, that the secret was discovered. As Dr. Troy was standing near the vice-regal chair, he happened, by mere accident, to make one of the old-cherished signs which was caught up by another brother, who immediately responded.  An introduction took place immediately after and in the course of the conversation which followed, Dr. Troy said, 'You shall ever find me Brother Troy, but not as priest or bishop."' The Rev. John Thaer, a native of Boston, U. S. A., formerly a dissenting minister, but afterwards a Roman Catholic priest in Limerick, was also a Freemason.

 

The publicity given to O'Connell's letter seems to have instigated a series of petty persecutions, or, as they may be appropriately termed, "pin-pricks." On 27th March, 1842, to quote one illustration, the parishioners of St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church were, publicly cautioned not to attend the Masonic ball to be held in aid of the Masonic Orphan Charity on the following Thursday "under penalty of exposure and denunciation from the altar" on the following Sunday, when the names of those attending would be duly published.

 

It was about this time that the Archbishop of Tuam addressed the following letter to the Rev. J.U. McDonough, a Roman Catholic priest in Canada:

 

"Rev. dear sir: - Having been informed by you that there are in Canada some misguided Catholics who would strive to justify the practices of Freemasonry, scruple not to assert that it was sanctioned by priests and Bishops in Ireland, allow me to tell you that this was never the case; and that these men are only aggravating their disobedience to the Church by the additional guilt of calumny.  I have had extensive acquaintance, not only with the present race of ecclesiastics, but also with some of those venerable men of more ancient standing, some of whom are no more, and I can confidently state that neither in this city, nor in any other part of Ireland, was the bond of Masonry sanctioned by any portion of the clergy.  That Freemasons' lodges were then more numerous and frequent than now, may be true; but their existence, in contempt and defiance of the repeated denunciations of the clergy, cannot be brought as an argument of their sanction of the same, more than the prevalence of other evils against which they do not cease to raise their voices, could be adduced as a proof of similar connivance."

 

In 1843, Francis Xavier Carnana, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Rhodes and Bishop of Malta, issued a Pastoral Letter against Freemasonry, which he ordered to be posted on the doors of, and read in, every Roman Catholic Church in Malta.  The Letter, which is a vile document and speaks for itself, was as follows:

 

Nos Don Franciscus Xaverius Carnana, Venerabilibus Fratribus et Dilectis, Capitulo, Clero, Populoque Diocesis Melitensis, salutem in Domino Sempiternam.

 

"We feel it to be a duty of our pastoral ministry to conceal as much as possible such sins as may be committed by a few persons in secret, so that the bad example of these may not be known to, or followed by, other, to the scandal of the Church and corruption of good manners. Up to this period this policy has been followed by us, for our ecclesiastical doctrine teaches us through the Holy Spirit, to listen for a time silently, and meanwhile search diligently: audi tacens simul et quaerens.

 

We now draw your attention to that iniquitous congregation, that detestable lodge; for we are at a loss by what epithet to denounce a meeting held in a building in an obscure corner of the city of Senglea.  After long suffering, we are still grieved to see that the several means which, with evangelical prudence, we have hitherto adopted to overturn and eradicate this pernicious society have proved futile; so that at length we feel ourselves under the necessity of publicly, loudly, and energetically raising our voice to exhort, in the name of our Lord, all our beloved diocesans, to keep far away from this infernal meeting, whose object is nothing less than to loosen every divine and human tie, and to destroy, if possible, the very foundation of the Catholic Church.  We also threaten with the thunders of that Church any persons who, unhappily for them, may belong to any secret society, whether as a member, or in any way connected with, helping or favouring, directly or indirectly, such society or any of its acts.

 

"We, with anguish of heart, heard long ago, almost immediately on its first assemblage, of the creation of this diabolical lodge, and being very desirous that the land under our spiritual dominion (these islands of Malta and Gozo) should continue in ignorance of what was doing under the veil of darkness, in an obscure part of the city of Senglea, by a few ill-advised individuals, and that none of our flock should by chance, or from motives of interest, be tempted to join this pestilential pulpit of iniquity and error - we have as yet only adopted the evangelical advice of secretly warning and admonishing, leaping always that the attacks made on the human and divine laws established among us mislit be foiled, and become harmless; but seeing now, that, in spite of all our silent workings, the meetings of this lodge still continue, we openly, and with all that apostolic frankness, characteristic of the Catholic clergy, in the name of God Almighty, and of His only true Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, and authorized as we are expressly by the papal authority, denounce, proscribe, and condemn in the most public manner, the instalment, union, meetings, and all the proceedings of this lodge of abominations; as being diametrically opposed to our sacred Catholic religion, as destructive to every celestial law, every mundane authority, contradictory to every evangelical maxim, and as tending to disorganize, put to flight, and utterly destroy whatever of religion, of honesty, and all good there may be in the Holy Catholic Faith, or among our peaceful citizens, under the deceitful veil of novelty, of a badly understood philanthropy, and a specious freedom.

 

"We therefore believe it to be our duty, most beloved diocesans, to address you under these deplorable circumstances; to encite you to entertain the most profound horror and the deepest antagonism for this lodge, union, or society, which endeavours, although as yet in vain, to vomit hell against, to stigmatize the immaculate purity of our sacred Catholic religion. Its pernicious orgies anticipate the overthrow of that Order which reigns on earth, promote an unbridled freedom of action, unchecked by law, for the gratification of the most depraved and disorderly passions.  Do not allow yourselves to be deceived by their seducing language, which proffers humanity fraternal love, but, in reality, tends to discord, universal anarchy, and total ruin, the destruction of all religion, and the subversion of every philanthropic establishment.  Their agents industriously hide their malignant intentions by deceitful and never-to-be-redeemed promises.  The great solicitude evinced to conceal every action of this society under a mask will make you distrust its word, for honourable undertakings are always manifest and open, courting observation and inquiry; sins and iniquities alone bury themselves in secrecy and obscurity.

 

"Fathers of families, and you, also, to whom is entrusted the education of youth, be diligent and be careful of your precious charge; see that they be not contaminated by this plague spot, which, although now confined to one domicile, yet threatens to spread the pestilence amongst us; scrutinize the books they read, examine the character of their associates.  It is a well-known practice of this secret society to seduce over youth, under the specious pretext of communicating to them, disinterestedly, scientific knowledge.  Flee, then, O beloved diocesans, as from the face of a venomous serpent, the society, the very neighbourhood of, and all connection with these tutors of impiety, who wish to confound light and darkness, trying, if possible, to obscure the former, and make you embrace and follow the latter.  You cannot possibly gain anything good from disturbers of rule and order, who show no veneration for God and His religion, no esteem for any authority, ecclesiastical or civil: - men, deceitful and fashioning, who, under a show of social honesty, and a warm love for their species, are stirring up an atrocious war with all that can render human society honourable, happy and tranquil.

 

"Consider them as so many pernicious individuals, to whom Pope Leo XII, in his often-repeated Bulls, ordered that none should give hospitality, not even a passing salute.

 

"Instead of such persons, bring around you honest and just men, who give 'unto God that which is God's and unto Caesar that which is Caesar's,' endeavouring to do their duty to God and to their neighbour.

 

"Finally, we absolutely prohibit persons of any grade or condition from having any connection with this lodge, from cooperating, even indirectly, in its establishment or extension.  We order them to prevent others from frequenting it, or giving to its members a place of meeting, under any pretext.  We place every one under an obligation to denounce to us all persons who may belong to this lodge in any capacity, either as members or agents of a secret union, founded by the devil himself.

 

"Datum Valettae, in Palatio nostro Archiepiscopali, die 14 Octobris, 1843."

 

It should be explained that the lodge referred to was the Union of Malta, No. 407, which was constituted in Bermola in 1832, although the first minute extant is dated 3rd November, 1840.  It was removed to Senglea in 1843, where, as evidenced in the foregoing remarkable epistle, it aroused the ire of the Roman Catholic Bishop.  On the publication of Bishop Carnana's Apostolic Letter, the secretary of the lodge wrote to the Chief Secretary of the Malta Government, lodging a formal complaint, in which communication he said:

 

"We make our proceedings in this matter officially known to you, not as a Fraternity of Freemasons, well knowing that as such we are not recognized by the government, but as British subjects entitled to be protected by the law from molestation."

 

The following communication was also sent to the Grand Secretary of England:

 

"Dear Sir and Brother:- The Right Reverend the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Rhodes and Bishop of Malta, Don Francis Scaverius Carnana, having recently issued a pastorale, the object of which was to prohibit and suppress the meetings of Freemasons and other secret societies, and which pastorale is more particularly directed against the Union Lodge, 588 established at Senoea, one of the suburbs of Valetta, Malta, holding their warrant from the United Grand Lodge of London:

 

"A meeting of the brothers was held at their lodge on Monday, the 13th instant, when the following resolutions were unanimously passed:

 

"1st.  That in consequence of the publication of a pastorale by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Malta on the 14th ultimo, tending to bring into disrespect the Masonic body and endeavour to suppress their meetings, it is imperiously necessary to appeal to the United Grand Lodge in London for such assistance and aid as the circumstances of the case may, in their opinion, call for.

 

"2nd.  That the original document, if procurable, together with a translation of the same, be forwarded to the Worshipful Pro Grand Master, for his perusal, with as little delay as possible.

 

"3rd.  That, knowing the feelings of her Majesty's Judges to be opposed to, the proceedings of Freemasons, no attempt at redress shall be sought in the Malta courts of law.

 

"In pursuance of the above resolutions, we beg to forward for the perusal of the Worshipful Pro Grand Master copy of the original document, and a translation of the same, praying that effectual assistance from him which the case so manifestly urges.

 

"By order of the W. M., at the united request of the officers and brethren of the Malta Union Lodge,

 

No. 588.

"E. Goodenough,

"Acting Secretary.

"To Brother Wm. White G.S.,

"United Grand Lodge of England, London. 

"Malta, 15th November, 1843,

 

The answers to those communications have hot, however, been placed on record.

 

Although in his Encyclical Letter, Qui pluribus, dated 9th November, 1846, Pope Pius IX did, not refer to the Freemasons by name; it is undoubtedly to that body that his fulminations are directed when he says:

 

"For you already know, Venerable Brethren, that there are other deceits and frightful errors with which the children of this age contend against the Catholic religion, and the divine authority and regulations of the Church, and endeavour to trample under foot all laws, as well of the Church as of the State.  Such is the tendency of those wicked enterprises which have been undertaken against this Roman See of Blessed Peter, in which Christ laid the impregnable foundation of His Church.  Such is the aim of those secret societies which have emerged from their obscurity to devastate and destroy all that is most venerable, both in the Church and in the State, and which have been repeatedly anathematized and condemned by the Roman Pontiffs, our predecessors, in Apostolic Letters, which anathemas, in the plentitude of our Apostolic authority, confirm and command to be diligently obeyed."

 

It is interesting to know that these "secret societies" are in this Encyclical Letter placed on the same level of iniquity as "those most crafty Bible Societies, which, reviving the old device of the heretics, do not cease to put forth an immense number of copies of the books of the Sacred Scriptures, printed in various vulgar tongues, and often filled with false and perverse interpretations, contrary to the rules of the Holy Church, which they continually circulate at an immense expense and force upon all sorts of persons."

 

It is interesting to note that, notwithstanding the many Papal Bulls and Encyclicals, the register of the Grand Orient of Lusitania has the names of the Archbishop of Evora and D. Januaire, Bishop-elect of Castello Branco, as being present on the occasion of the election of a successor to the Comte de Tomar, Grand Master.

 

The Popes, from the time of Leo XII have condemned all secret societies, but, apparently, despite the specific character of the condemnation, this prohibition did not extend to societies limited in membership to members of the Roman Catholic Church, or formed for the propagation of aims sanctioned directly or indirectly by the authorities of that Church.  'History records the formation of many such societies, originating after the date of the first sweeping condemnation. About 1850, or earlier, there was formed in Portugal a secret society which was called the Order of St. Michael of Ala.  This Order, according to the first article of its Statutes was essentially secret, militant, and political.  It had for its aim, according to its articles, the maintenance of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman faith, and the restoration of the Portuguese legitimacy.  One of its political means of action was recourse to arms when necessary. Its members took an oath or obligation to preserve inviolably the secrets of the members and the things done in and out of lodge.  The Order consisted of several degrees: Novices, Chevaliers, Commanders, Grand Crogs, Master, and Grand Master.  Each group of Novices, with its Chevalier, formed a College; a group of Chapters, with a Commander, formed a Chapter; a group of Chapters, with a Grand Cross, formed a Province, of which the Masters and Grand Master were the Superiors. This elaborate constitution notwithstanding the fact that the Popes and Catholics generally accuse Freemasonry of being secret and say to Freemasons, "If the acts which you practice in association are innocent, why do you stipulate for secrecy?" Or, as Dr. Cullen, in his Lenten Pastoral of 1859, said: "As secret societies are the cause of the greatest evils to religion, tending to promote impiety and incredulity, and are most hostile to the public good, the Catholic Church has solemnly excommunicated all her children who engage in them.  Hence, no Catholic can be absolved who is a Freemason, a Ribbonman, or enroled in any other secret society."

 

On the 11th February, 1857, at a meeting of the Grand Lodge of England, presided over by the Earl of Zetland, Grand Master, the Earl of Carnarvon moved: "That the Grand Lodge having seen with regret the antagonistic position assumed by the Roman Catholic Church towards Masonry, desires the Board of General Purposes to draw up a statement of the principles of the Order, that the same may be sent to the Masters of all lodges under the Grand Lodge of England in Roman Catholic countries, to be used by them as they shall think fit." After much discussion, however, the motion was negatived, and if comment may be made upon the outcome, may it not be said that the negative decision was a wise one.  The Earl of Carnarvon, however, speaking at Stonehouse the following month, said that at Malta, the Mauritius, Trinidad, and Hong Kong Freemasons had been deprived of their civil and religious privileges and had been interdicted from baptism, marriage, and burial by the Roman Catholic clergy.

 

In 1857, Freemasonry was introduced into the Republic of Ecuador by the Grand Orient of Peru, which organized lodges in Guayaquil and Quito.  Three years later, the Dictator, Garcia Moreno, sought admission into the Fraternity.  His application was refused on account of his notoriously immoral character; and, in revenge, he called in the Jesuits, who ruthlessly suppressed all the lodges.  Moreno was assassinated in 1875, but twelve months elapsed before the population were able to shake off the oppressive yoke of the priesthood.

 

----o----

 

ALL'S WELL

 

God is;

God sees;

God loves;

God knows.

 

And Right is Right;

And Right is Might.

In the full ripeness of His Time,

All these His vast prepotenices

Shall round their grace-work to the prime

Of full accomplishment

And we shall see the plan sublime

Of HIs beneficient intent.

Live on in hope!

Press on in faith!

Love conquers all things,

Even Death.

 

- John Oxenham

 

----o----

 

Gratitude is expensive - Gibson

 

 

LITTLE WOLF JOINS THE MITAWIN

 

BY BRO. ALANSON B. SKINNER, WISCONSIN

 

Brother Alanson B. Skinner is one of the most widely known of the younger anthropologists and his numerous books and scientific articles have secured for him an international reputation. He has traveled extensively and made detailed studies of the Indian race from the Isthmus of Panama to Hudson Bay. With the natural instincts of a Mason seeking "more light" he has joined numerous Indian fraternities and participated in their rites. He is the recognized authority on the Menominee Indians of Wisconsin and has published three interesting works covering their material culture, social organization ceremonies and mythology. His book on the "medicine ceremonies" of the northern forest Indians has just been published by the Museum of the American Indian of New York City. His services have been given to the American Museum of Natural History, the Museum of the American Indian and to the Public Museum of Milwaukee. In the last named he is now Assistant Curator.

 

In the article that follows, Brother Skinner relates an account of one of the initiatory ceremonies that he has experienced. In explaining the article he states that his story is a combination of two or three experiences rather than of one, though for the convenience of the article he has written it as of one continuous episode.

 

I

 

IN THE LODGE OF THE MASTER

 

MATCIKINEU, the Terrible Eagle, sat dozing in the dusk in his round rush-mat wigwam. The fire smouldered, but random drafts slipping in through the swinging mat that covered the door encouraged little dancing flames to spring up, and these illuminated the far interior of the lodge, so that it was possible to observe its furnishings down to the mustiest cranny. Around the inner circumference of the wigwam ran a broad, rustic bench, supported by forked sticks and thickly strewn with balsam boughs on which lay bearskin robes. The inner wall of the home was hung with woven reed mats, bearing curious, antique designs in angular figures and conventional floral motifs. Over Terrible Eagle's head, on smoke-stained poles, swung several mat-covered oval bundles, festooned with age-blackened gourd rattles, war clubs, and utensils and weapons of unusual portent. These were his sacred war and hunting bundles, packets of charms whose use and accompanying formulae he had obtained personally from the gods, while fasting, or purchased at a great price from others more fortunate than he. For Terrible Eagle was a renowned partisan or war leader, a hunter, and the greatest of all Matc Mitawuk, or Masters of the Grand Medicine Society, a secret fraternal and medical organization, to which, in one form or another, nearly every Indian of influence in all the Great Lakes and Central Western region belongs.

 

The door covering was quietly thrust aside and Anam, a wolf-like dog, trotted in to curl up by the fire, while after him, first dropping a load of faggots from her shoulders, stumbled Wabano-mitamu, the Dawn Woman, wife of Terrible Eagle, who crouched down grumbling to enter the lodge and turned on her time-gnarled knees to drag kindlings in after her.

 

Roused by the noise, Terrible Eagle stretched and yawned, then reached over his head and took down a calabash shell rattle, and began to shake it gently, while Dawn Woman shoved aside the birch-bark boxes that cluttered the floor, stirred up the fire in the round, shallow pit where it was glowing, and set among the hot embers a large, round, deep, pointed-bottomed kettle of brown earthenware, the base of which she screwed into the ashes by a quick circular motion of the rim. Into this she poured some water from a birchbark pail; when it began to simmer she added a quantity of wild rice, smoked meat, and as dried berries, which she stirred with an elaborately carved wooden paddle. The random swish of Terrible Eagle's rattle now began to articulate itself in the form of a tune, the motif of which might have been borrowed from the night babblings and murmurings of a woodland trout brook. It rose in hissing cadences like the prattle of water racing down the stony riffles; it fell to the purring monotone of a little fall burbling into a deep pool. Then, suddenly, Terrible Eagle raised his voice in song - a song without meaning to the uninitiated - without merit to the ears of youths and lovers - yet a song potent with the powers of manitous and ancient as the pine forests.

 

"Ni manituk, hawatukuk, ke'neaminum" - "You, my gods, I am singing to you!"

 

"Ohwa, kina, ketcinau!" "Look you, old fellow," cried the Dawn Woman, squatting beside her cooking, "why do you sing that sacred song? There is no need to rehearse the chants of the manitous when ice binds the rivers and snow blankets the land! When new life dawns with the grass blades in the spring, then we will need to refresh our memories; not now, while the gods sleep like bears."

 

"Kistapimin - silence, - old partner! You do not know everything! Even now there comes one seeking the knowledge of the path our brethren and fellows have trod before us. Listen !"

 

The lodge was hushed; outside the heavy silence of the Wisconsin forest in midwinter oppressed the ears. Then came the crunch and squeak of approaching snowshoes slipping over the crusted drifts.

 

"N'hau, Dawn Woman! Prepare the guest place, spread robes behind the fire, dish out a bowl of soup ! Some one of our people desires to enter!"

 

The noise ceased before the doorway, and Terrible Eagle, now hunched before the fire, paused, before dropping a hot coal on the tobacco in his redstone pipe, to bid the guest to enter.

 

"Yoh!" came the hearty response, and a tall, dark warrior, bareheaded save for a fillet of otter fur around his brows, ducked under the doorway and silently passed around the fire, on the left, to the guest place, where he seated himself, tailorwise, on a pile of robes. He was clad in a plain shirt of blue-dyed deerskin, deepIy fringed along the seams; in flapping leather leggings; high, soft-soled moccasins; and a leather apron handsomely embroidered with colored porcupine quills, wrought in delicate, flowered figures. He bore no weapon, and on his swarthy cheeks two round spots of red paint were seen in the firelight.

 

After the newcomer had devoured a bowlful of steaming stew with the aid of a huge wooden ladle, he lay back among the robes, puffing comfortably on a long-stemmed pipe with bowl of redstone, filled and lighted for him by the old man. As the cheerful odor of tobacco and kinnikinick permeated the lodge, the stranger began to speak. He informed the old people that his name was Muhwase, the Little Wolf, of the Wave clan of the Menominee; that he had come all the way from Matc Suamako, the Great Sand Bar village on the Green Bay of Lake Michigan; that the young men had opened their war bundles and danced preparatory to going to war against the Sauk, but that the latter had heard the news and fled southward; and ended with all the gossip and tittle-tattle of his band.

 

It was not until Dawn Woman slept and the stars were visible in the winter sky through the smoke hole of the lodge, that Little Wolf went out abruptly; he returned bearing a huge bundle which he dumped on the floor at the feet of Matcikineu and silently took his place on the lounge once more.

 

With trembling hands the old man undid the leathern thongs, unwrapped the bearskin with which the bundle was enclosed, and spread before him an array of articles that brought an avaricious sparkle to his red-rimmed eyes.

 

"Nima, nekan! Well done, my colleague!" he exclaimed. "These are valuable gifts, and in the proper number. Four hatchets; four spears; and four knives of the sacred yellow rock (native copper); four belts of white wampum; and four garments of tanned deerskin, embroidered with quillwork; and much tobacco. Surely this gift has a meaning?"

 

"Grandfather! You to whom nothing is hard," replied the visitor, "It is true that I am nobody. I am poor - the enemy scarcely know my name. Yet I am desirous of eating the food of the Medicine Lodge, as all the brethren have done who have passed this way before me!"

 

"N'hau, my grandson! I shall call together the three other Pushwawuk, or Masters, for their consent. What you have asked for may seem as nothing to you - yet it is life. These songs may appear to partake of the ways of children - yet they are powerful. I understand you well - you desire to imitate the ways of our own ancient Grand Master, Ma'nabus, who was slain and brought to life that we might gain immortality! Good ! You have done well; in the morning I shall send invitation sticks and tobacco to summon the leaders here, that your instruction may begin at once!"

 

II

THE INSTRUCTION

 

It was an hour after sunset. In the rear of Terrible Eagle's lodge sat Matcikineu and three other old men, with Little Wolf at their left. Before them lay the pile of valuable gifts, and on the white tanned skin of an unborn fawn stood the sacred towaka, or deep drum, hollowed by infinite labor from a short section of a basswood log, holding two fingers' depth of water, to make its voice resonant, and covered with a dampened membrane of tanned buck hide. Across its head was balanced a crooked drumstick, its striking end carved to represent a loon's beak. Before the drum was placed a wooden bowl-in the shape of a miniature log canoe, heaped with tobacco, and four shishikwunun, or gourd rattles with wooden handles, which shone from age and usage. A youth tended the fire and kept the air redolent with incense of burning sweet grass and cedar. Dawn Woman and Anam, the dog, guarded the door.

 

Extending his hands over the sacred articles before them, Terrible Eagle began a prayer of invocation, calling on the mythical hero and founder of the Medicine Lodge, Ma'nabus, on the Great Spirit, the Sun, and the Thunderbirds, the good God Powers or manitous of air and earth, and also upon the Evil Powers who dwell in and under the earth and waiter hidden in the dismal places of the world, to appear in spirit and accept the tobacco offered them and dedicate the fees presented to the instructors.

 

When the prayer was ended, all those gathered in the wigwam ejaculated "Hau," and the other three elders commenced to smoke and listen, while Terrible Eagle began the instruction by relating the history of the origin of the Medicine Lodge. Taking the drumstick in his hand, Matcikineu gave four distinct strokes on the drum and recited in a rhythmic, but solemn tone, hushing his voice to a whisper when it became necessary to mention any great Power by name.

 

He told how Mate Hawatuk, the Great Spirit, sat alone in the Heavenly Void above the ever extending sea and willed that an island (the world) should appear there; how he further willed that there should spring up upon this island an old woman, who was known as "Our Grandmother, the Earth," who was the earth personified. He recited how the Earth Grandmother, through a divine mystery gave birth to a daughter; how the Four Winds, desiring to be born as men, entered this daughter's body and how, when the hour of their birth came, so great was their power, the mother was torn to death and they were not born. This made women forever after liable to death in travail.

 

Then, related Terrible Eagle, our Earth Grandmother gathered up the shattered pieces of her daughter, and placed them under an inverted wooden bowl, and prayed, and on the fourth day, through the pity of the Great Spirit, the fragments were changed into a little rabbit, who was named Mate Wabus, or the Great Hare, since corrupted into "Ma'nabus," who was to prepare the world for human habitation.

 

The Rabbit grew in human form to man's estate, when he was given as a companion and younger brother a little wolf, but the Powers Below, being jealous, slew the wolf brother. Then, Ma'nabus in his wrath attacked them, and, being the child of the Great Spirit, they could not resist him. In fear the Evil Powers restored his younger brother to life, but, since he had been dead four days, the flesh clave from his bones and he stank, and Ma'nabus, in sorrow, refused to receive him and sent him to rule the souls of the dead in the After World at the end of the Milky Way in the Western Heavens. Hence, human beings may not come back to life on the fourth day.

 

At their wits' end to appease Ma'nabus, the Evil Ones called on the Powers Above who are of good portent. They erected a Medicine Lodge on the high hilltops, oblong, rectangular, facing east and west. The Power of the Winds roofed it with blue sky and white clouds. The pole framework was bound with living, hissing serpents instead of basswood strings; the food for feasting was seasoned with a pinch of the blue sky itself. Then the Powers entered. The gods of Evil took the north side where darkness and cold abide; the good Powers Above sat on the south. Then they all stripped off the animal natures with which they were disguised and hung them on the wall of the lodge, and all appeared in their true forms, as aged persons.

 

In council, guided by the admonitions of the Great Spirit, they decided to give to Ma'nabus tho ritual of the lodge, with its secret - long life and immortality for mankind - as a bribe to cease his molestation. But Ma'nabus refused to receive their message, until the otter volunteered to go and bring him, when he came, and was duly instructed and raised, by being slain and brought to life again, thus showing the great potency of the Powers who opened the lodge.

 

"This very ceremony, just as it was given Ma'nabus and later transferred to his uncles and aunts, the Indians, with its rites, rituals, formulae, medicines, and secrets, is the same," concluded Terrible Eagle, "as we perform today, as all the brethren and fellows have done who passed this way before us, since the Menominee came out of the ground in the dim mystical past."

 

As he ended the old man struck the drum four times, crying, "My colleagues, my colleagues, my colleagues, my colleagues!"

 

When Terrible Eagle had concluded his part, there was a recess for refreshment and relaxation, which lasted until each had smoked. Then another old pushwao or master, took up the work. He related to the candidate the identity of the Powers Above and Below who had given the Medicine Lodge to mankind through Ma'nabus. There were, he said, four groups of Evil Powers, who sat on the north side of the lodge. First were the Otter, Mink, Marten, and Weasel; second the Bear, Panther, Wolf, and Horned Owl; third the Banded Rattlesnake, the little Prairie Rattlesnake, the Pine Snake, and the Hognosed Snake. The fourth group was composed of lesser birds and beasts. The Upper World, which had not offended Ma'nabus, was not so well represented, and was composed of various predatory birds, such as the Red Shouldered and Sparrow Hawks. These sat on the south side, and in ancient days human lodge members had been seated according to the nature of their medicine bags.

 

The skins of any of these animals might be used as containers or sacks for the secret nostrums of the craft, but the Dog and Fox, which were formerly associated with the Wolf, had by their cunning and their custom of eating filth and carrion, become too closely associated with witchcraft and were now taboo.

 

The old master then told the candidate that each of these animals had severally donated some special power to aid mankind. Thus the weasel gave cunning and ferocity in war and the chase; the snapping turtle, probably one of the vague fourth group of Evil Powers, had given his heart which beats long after it is torn from his bosom to grant long life. Each animal had four songs sung in his honor during the session of the lodge, said the elder, and the third instructor would teach these to the candidate.

 

The old master informed his pupil that in his opinion the Medicine Lodge and its rites were found far to the east, in the country by the Great Sea where the dawn rises, for he had once met a party of warriors from the far-off Nottowhy or Iroquois, who spoke of a society and its ritual given them by the animals, which had for its object long life and immortality for men.

 

Dawn Woman now fetched steaming rice and fat venison, marrow bones, and dried berries, and the little party feasted. The hour was very late; yet none thought of sleep. After the feast the third elder did his part.

 

He selected a calabash rattle, and, sometimes rattling, sometimes drumming an accompaniment, taught the songs of the lodge to Little Wolf. There were songs of opening and songs of closing, as well as the animal songs, each repeated four times - the sacred number - and each in groups of four. Each was made obscure and unintelligible to eavesdroppers by the addition of nonsense syllables. Some, indeed, were so ancient and so clouded by vocables that nothing but their general meaning was remembered even by the brethren. These passed for songs in a secret magic language. Some chants were in other languages, particularly Ojibway, and all ended with the mystic phrase, "We-ho-ho-ho-ho," which meant, "So mote it be." The songs had titles, but these names, too, were magic, and often gave no inkling of the meaning or wording of the song, and most of them avoided naming the animals or gods to which they referred, except by circumlocution or by merely mentioning some prominent characteristic or attribute of the creature.

 

There were songs for the "shooting of the medicine" - an act which was so secret and mysterious that the candidate was as yet kept in the dark as to its meaning, - and others for dancing, for thanksgiving, and for dedication.

 

When the third elder had ended his synopsis of the songs, which the candidate had later to purchase and learn at leisure, the fourth and last past master took him in hand. His part, he said, was short, yet important. He showed the neophyte certain paraphernalia which the candidate would be ceremonially given when the proper time and place were at hand. The articles the eider had provided were the tanned skin of an otter, the nostrils of which were stuffed with tufts of red-dyed hawk down; the under surfaces of the four feet and tail were adorned with fringed rectangles of blue-dyed doe leather, embroidered with conventional flower designs in colored porcupine hair and quills. This was to be the medicine bag of the new member. Through an opening - a slit in the chest of the otter - one could thrust one's hand and find in the little pouch made by the skin of the left forefoot of the animal a small sea shell, called the Konapamik, or medicine arrow, by which the essence of all the sacred objects contained in the bag was ceremonially "shot" or transferred to the bodies of a members' lodge brethren during the performance of the ritual.

 

The otter skin contained three other medicines. These were sacred, blue face paint, the color of the sky; a mysterious brown powder holding a seed, wrapped in a packet with a fresh water clamshell; and another mixture of pounded roots called "the reviver," or "apisetchikun."

 

The clamshell was a sacred ancient cup, in which the accompanying powder and seed were placed with a little water and given to all candidates to drink. The mystic seed was supposed to be the badge of the Medicine Lodge and was to remain in the candidate's breast, forever, even until he had followed the pathway of the dead along the Milky Way to that bourne from which no traveler returns, eternal in the heavens.

 

The apisetchikun, or reviver, was a powerful drug for use at all times when life ebbed low, through sickness or magic.

 

"These then," said the last instructor, "are the ways and sacred things of Ma'nabus, given us Indians to have and to use, as long as the world shall stand!"

 

So saying, he in turn retired, and the party rolled in their blankets to sleep before the sun could look in through the smoke hole of the wigwam.

 

III

INITIATION

 

It was the season when buds burst and the young owls, hatched while the snow was yet on the ground, were already taking their prey. The discordant croaking of the frogs came as a roar from the marshlands. The arbutus was blooming.

 

Perched on the top of a warm, sunny knoll was an oblong, dome-roofed structure of poles, covered with bark and rush mats. It was oriented east and west, and its length, a full hundred feet, contrasted oddly with its breadth of twenty.

 

It was the evening of the fourth day of the Mitawiwin, or Medicine ceremony. The preceding three days and nights had been spent by the four masters, led by Terrible Eagle, in preparing Little Wolf within a room formed by curtaining off one end of the lodge proper; in giving him his ceremonial sweat bath of purification; and in hanging the initiation fees - four sets of valuable goods: clothing, robes, weapons, copper utensils -on the ridgepole at the eastern end of the lodge, and in dedicating them.

 

As the sun set the four old men and the candidate entered the lodge, followed by the men and women of the tribe who were already members of the society. Going in at the eastern door the procession filed along the north side, and passing once regularly around, the people seated themselves on the right of the door, with the candidate on the west side of them, next to Terrible Eagle.

 

The night having largely passed in quiescence and instruction, towards dawn an officer of the lodge approached Little Wolf and stood before him, facing the east. Thrusting his hand into his medicine bag he drew forth his sacred clamshell cup and the powder containing the seed, which he compounded into a drink, while he sang a song called "What Otter Keeps."

 

"I am preparing the thing that was hung (the little seed), and that which was hung shall fall!"

 

When he had finished and Little Wolf had swallowed the draft, this officer retired, and another came forward and took his place, singing. As he ended, he stooped over, coughed, and retched violently until he cast forth a sea shell; this he held in the palm of his hand, and, chanting, displayed it to the east, west, south, and north, and then caused Little Wolf to swallow it that it might remain in his body forever, the Symbol of immortality, and the badge of a lodge member. When this had been accomplished the assistant gave place to a third, who sang his four songs and painted the candidate's face with the sacred, blue paint. Then a fourth and last assistant came before the candidate and the masters, bearing an otter skin medicine bag, which he laid at Little Wolf's feet, while he sang four songs concerning Ottel, the most famous of which was entitled Yom Mitawakeu, or "This Medicine Land," but which held no reference to otters whatever!

 

Now the old men conducted the candidate four times regularly around the lodge, while they related to him somewhat of the story of the ancient Master Ma'nabus, whom he now represented. On the last circuit Terrible Eagle led him to a seat near the western end of the lodge and there placed him with face toward the east, remaining with the candidate, standing behind, and holding his shoulders.

 

The men and women seated around the walls of the lodge sat tense. The silence was unbroken, save for the woods' noises outside; the great dramatic moment had arrived.

 

The four assistant masters, who had just performed before Little Wolf, now assembled in the east, facing him, and the first, taking his medicine bag in his two hands and holding it breast high before his body, sang to the rapid beat of the drum a song entitled "Shooting the New Member." At its end he gave the usual sacred cry of "We-ho-ho-ho-ho," blew on the head of the otter skin, and rushed forward as though to attack the candidate.

 

In front of the neophyte impersonator of the ancient hero the attacker paused and jerked the head of his otter upward, crying savagely, "Ya ha ha ha ha!" The magical essence of the bag supposedly striking the candidate, he staggered slightly, but was steadied by his faithful friend, only to meet the feigned attacks of the second and third assistants, at each of which he reeled once more. But the charge of the fourth fellow was so violent that the candidate fell flat on the ground. Stooping, the last man laid the medicine bag across the back of the apparently unconscious brother, to be his thereafter. At a sign from Terrible Eagle the four assistants approached the prostrate candidate, and, raising him to his feet, shook him gently to remove their shots and restore him to life.

 

And now all was rejoicing. Steaming earthen kettles, filled with delicious stews and soups of bear and turtle flesh, partridges, and young ducks, were carried in. Laughing, jesting, and good-natured banter filled the lodge until the last wooden bowl was scraped clean, when the utensils and scraps were carried out and the drummer struck up a lively dancing tune. After the men and women had had each four sets of songs, a general dance took place, wherein the members circled the lodge, the new brother among them, shooting each other promiscuously with jollity, vying with each other to rise and point their bags or fall prone on the earth. All the time a loud and lively chant was sung:

 

I

"I pass through them! I pass through them! I pass through even the chief!"

 

II

 

"Ye Gods take part, invisible though ye be beneath us!"

 

When all was over, and Keso, the sun, was almost noon high, the four assistants took down the initiation fees from the ridgepole and distributed them to the four old masters and the others who had taken prominent part in the ceremonial, and all the Indians filed out of the western door, singing:

 

"You, my brethren, I pass my hand over you! I thank you!"

 

Muhwase, the Little Wolf, watched the last of his erstwhile companions strike their camps; saw the coverings stripped from the lodge structure; saw the last party vanish in the brush.

 

He was a Mitao! A member of a great fraternal organization, who might travel westward to the foothills of the Rockies, north to the barren lands, south to the countries of the Iowa and Oto, east to the land of the Iroquois, and find brethren who had traveled the same road, or at least one fundamentally similar. He had shown his fortitude and fidelity, those two great cardinal virtues of the Medicine Lodge, and he had come through the sacred mysteries alive and in possession of the secret rites that had been handed down by word of mouth since the days when the Menominee first came out of the ground !

 

----o----

 

LEARNING BY DOING

 

The best way to learn how to do a thing is to do it.

 

If you would learn, to run an automobile, get behind a steering wheel and put your foot on the brake.

 

If you would learn how to play baseball, put on a mit and take your turn at bat.

 

Thomas Edison says we learn how to do more things in the first six years of life than in all remaining years.

 

The reason for this is that as children we aren't afraid to tackle anything.

 

If we would apply the same will power to our tasks in later life that we applied in learning to walk we could make a success of everything.

 

In tackling a new job the only way to proceed is to roll up your sleeves, and do the job itself. It will do you little good to discuss the job abstractedly. In three hours of actual conflict with the problems you will learn more than in three weeks of conversation with your predecessor.

 

Military men recognize this principle. Officers spend the best part of a life-time studying the art of war as an abstract proposition. One year of actual warfare teaches them more than a life-time of study. In the roar of the battle the "peacetime" general is retired.

 

We are beginning to recognize this principle in our educational system. Purely academic studies are being supplemented by practical work in elementary, high school and college curriculums.

 

- The Advance.

 

----o----

 

"The inner side of every cloud

Is bright and shining;

And so I turn my clouds about

And always wear them inside out

To show the lining."

 

- Babcock

 

THE COMACINES --- THEIR PREDECESSORS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS

 

BY BRO. W. RAVENSCROFT, ENGLAND

 

PART II

 

ISOLA COMACINA

 

IN PASSING from these four worthies, it may with safety be said they were undoubtedly the patron saints of the most important section of the building communities during the splendour of medieval operatve masonry, and until the period of its decay. We come now to what may be considered the central and most important part of our study, and shifting the scene from Rome - that city of splendour, with its teeming population, many times larger than in the present day, its pomp, luxury, and pride - we find ourselves on a little lonely, but very lovely island, in what is perhaps the most lovely lake in all Europe, the Island of Comacina in the Lake of Como.  It is, I believe, the only island the lake possesses, and rising abruptly from its blue-green waters, covered with foliage, all but uninhabited, it rests on the bosom of the lake in spring like an emerald gem.

 

On every side the shores of the lake slope sharply up and up, rich in foliage of varied tints and plentifully dotted with villages, all picturesque and all teeming with associations of the past in architecture, legend, and old customs, which survive to the present day; while away to the north-east over Bellagio and beyond lie the snow-topped mountains which link on the scene to the great Alpine ranges.  To stand on an elevated part of this little island, so near the mainland, yet so far removed from the sound of human voice or industry (its silence, indeed, broken only by the song of birds, a not too common thing in Italy at the present day, however plentiful such may have been in the days of St. Francis) and to look east west north south - whether bathed in glorious sunshine with every detail reflected in the water of the lake as in a mirror, or when the black clouds roll up from the mountains and sweep down upon the lake, the thunder breaking on the stillness and echoing from hill to hill - is a thing not to be forgotten; and then to think of its story, of the past, equally characterized with sunshine and tempest, and the great influence the men of this tiny island exercised on Western Europe, is to realize that here is one of the rare spots where Nature and man have combined to put their indelible mark.

 

I am indebted to Dr. Santo Monti of Como for some interesting notes he kindly lent me, relating to the island, from which, by his permission, I extract the following: "The isle itself, called Cristopoli by the Longobards, measures about a mile in circumference, 'and has a long, glorious, and sad history. . . . There were monuments which dated as far back as to the fifth century of our era.  Now the island is nearly abandoned, uncultivated, and contains a few vestiges of the old fortifications and the churches.  The population of the island must have been extremely numerous then, according to the chronicles; the churches thereon were not less than nine (chapels and oratories included).  One of them was dedicated to S. Euphemia with a chapter of twelve canons, including Bishop Litigerio, in 1031.  Of all these churches only the remnants of three are left.  One of them is at the east end of the isle, it has been heightened a story and actually serves as a barn or shed for the cattle; the ancient part of it inside as well as outside is of well-wrought stone, so closely combined (especially inside) that it seems of a single piece. The portion of the outside wall is decorated with semicireular arches alternately supported by 'Mensolac' and vertical cords, with capitals of cubicular form and square bases.  Under the last of these arches there is a window.  The church with the north facade finished in two equal absides, with a window towards east in each; outside the choir presents a sole semicircle (which contains the two absides).

 

"The second remnant, little rising above the earth, is that of a very spacious edifice called the Dome, and the spot where it stood still conserves the name, but no other traces remain of it.  Judging by the foundation it must have been solidly constructed.  A little farther toward the north are the vestiges of the third, consisting of the choir, which, semicircular in shape, is decorated with the cord design (vertically) composed alternately of stone and 'terra cuite.' The bases of these cords is simple flat stone.  The inside of the edifice is filled with debris.  In one of these nine churches, probably in the one dedicated to S. Euphemia, there was a marble slab 1.84 x 0.70 metres, in round characters comparatively well executed considering the period. It was in praise of Bishop Agrippino, of the first half of the seventh century.  When the island was devastated and the church and other buildings destroyed in 1169, the above named slab was transferred to the opposite shore, where it found a place in the parochial church on the main altar, where it served as a desk thereupon.  A few years ago it was taken away and moved into the basis of the said altar, where the inscription can be read without any difficulty."

 

This Agrippino was consecrated in 606.  He prepared for himself a tomb in the church of St. Euphemia on the island, and was buried in it in 620.

 

Dr. Monti concludes from the foregoing and other evidence in his possession that the remains of the churches in the island are previous to the seventh century.  It has been my good fortune to pay two visits to this island, the second of which was on Saturday, June 1, 1907, and one was gratified subsequently to learn what Dr. Monti had to say respecting the little sanctuary, the discovery of which occasioned my second visit and subsequent correspondence with him.

 

ISOLA COMACINA AND THE COMACINES

 

The history of the islani is very little known to English-speaking people, albeit a tragic one, and it may be of interest here to give a few details, without pretending to do more than that.  We are first introduced to the Island of Comacina as a very strongly fortified place, built by the Gauls, and afterwards rebuilt by the Romans, as a defence against the people of Grisons, one of the Swiss cantons lying north of the Lake of Como, and at no great distance therefrom.

 

About the year A.D. 480, when the Emperor Zeno sat upon the throne of the East Theodoric the Ostrogoth, practically master of Italy, took a good deal of interest in the island on account of its beauty and habitableness, and, as we are told, extended it.

 

Probably this extension meant further fortification, since it would have required a considerable amount of strength to render it the desirable spot for habitation which Theodoric would require it to be.  Not only so, but being in a convenient situation some twenty miles from Como, and surrounded by water, it had from time to time become a storehouse of treasure, so that we read it had within its walls a vast accumulation of wealth.

 

The next association is with the great General Narses, through whose action or inaction, as the case may be, the island fell to the Lombards.

 

It came about in this way:

 

 

Narses, an eunuch, short of stature, bent and ugly, was at the age of sixty selected by Justinian, the Emperor of the East, and placed in command of the army in Italy as a General, although he had never seen service before.  And, notwithstanding this, he showed such marvellous skill and discernment as to skill and discernment as to thoroughly justify the extraordinary step the Emperor had taken. Indeed, after having been once recalled to Constantinople, he was found to be the only man capable of carrying on the wars in Italy against the barbarians, and in a second campaign he practically mastered the kingdom. Goths, Huns, and Vandals had successively been beaten back or amalgamated; and when Narses was a second time recalled, the only hostile nation on the horizon was the Lombard. Narses was apparently recalled because, through the failure of means of support for his army from the capital, his taxes on the people bore so heavily that they petitioned the Emperor to remove him from the command.

 

Narses refused to obey the order of the Emperor (then Justin II) to return, and hence the story that the Empress Sophia cried: "I know what to do with the old eunuch: he shall be confined to his proper place in the women's quarters, and forced to spin wool with the maids."

 

On receiving this insulting message, Narses is said to have replied: "Then I shall spin such a coil for the Empress as she will never unravel so long as she lives."

 

Whether or not Narses took his revenge by inviting the Lombards to come into Italy is uncertain, but doubtless, if their coming was not due to his action, it was more or less encouraged by his inaction.

 

This was in the year 568, when Narses was ninety years of ago The Imperial Captain Francilio held the city of Como, together with the Island of Comacine and the surrounding country, for the Empire, and one of the fast results of the attitude taken by Narses was a Lombard attack upon Como under Alboin, which for some time it sustained; but when, after a time, it fell, Francilio retired to Comacine, where, with considerable bravery, he entrenched himself.  This also was in the year 568.

 

Francilio appears to have kept his hold on the island until the year 584, when, being again attacked by the Lombards, under Antaris, who naturally found in this little fortress holding by the Empire, when all around was slipping away, a menace to the security of his kingdom.  After a six months' siege, the island fell into their hands, and Francilio, having secured honourable terms, retired to Ravenna.

 

The fall was accomplished by a fleet of boats, which surrounded the island and starved out the garrison.

 

The Lombards had called the island Christopolis, because, like Christ, it had become the refuge of the hopeless, a very sanctuary of the destitute and fugitive, gentle and simple.  The vast treasure stored in it by many cities fell into the hands of the Lombards.

 

About the close of the sixth century we find Comacina again undergoing a siege.  This time it is held by an insubordinate chieftain, one Gardulf, Duke of Bergamo, who, having been already subdued once, rose in arms against his King, Agilulf, who was in some sense the founder of the Lombard Kingdom.  Agilulf besieged and captured the island, took the Duke prisoner, and, contrary to all expectation, spared his life, partly from chivalrous, and partly from diplomatic considerations.

 

In the year 686 a conspiracy was made against King Guiniperto, the sixteenth King of Lombardy, by one Alahis, to drive him from the throne.  While the King was gone to the chase, Alahis stirred up sedition in the royal city of Pavia, whence the King was obliged to withdraw to the Island of Comacine, where be fortified himself strongly.  But the partners to the conspiracy made a voyage to the island unknown to Alahis, and besought the King to pardon them for the wrong they had committed; and Alahis being at that time absent from the city, the conspirators restored Guiniperto to his former position.

 

Guiniperto reigned over Lombardy until the year 700, when at his death the succession of his son Liutperto was disputed by Regimperto, Duke of Turin and cousin of Guiniperto.  Liutperto was a minor in the care of Arisprando, a faithful warrior.  With a large body of troops Regimperto defeated Arisprando at the Battle of Novara, and usurped the throne, which soon passed to his son, Aribert II (701-712). (One authority says this man was the son of Alahis, who had recently died.) He took Liutperto prisoneer and put him to death, and Arisoprando fled to Comacina.

 

Here he was pursued by Aribert, and, dismisting his own forces, fled into Bavaria, whereupon the island was levelled by the soldiers of Aribert.  The latter took vengeance on Arisprando by blinding his wife and children, and depriving them of their ears and tongues, but allowed one infant, Liutprando, to escape with his father, thinking him to be too young to be dangerous.  Little did he imagine what the sequel would be, for Arisprando, collecting forces in Bavaria, descended into Italy like a bolt from the blue, and defeated Aribert at the moment when his power seemed to be at its zenith.

 

The latter hurried to Pavia, seized as much gold as he could carry, and in his flight was drowned by the weight of his treasure in attempting to cross the River Ticino.  Arisprando then ascended the Lombard throne, and, dying shortly after (712), bequeathed it to his son Liutprando, who became the most illustrious of the Lombard Kings, and about the year 718 rebuilt Comacina.

 

An interval of peace for the island may then have set in, for the star of Charlemagne was in the ascendant, and the time for the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire was drawing near.

 

Indeed, intervals of quiet must have been periodically enjoyed, or the devastation with which the island was overthrown time after time could not have been effaced so thoroughly as it evidently was.  Moreover, it is stated that Charlemagne restored it, and probably from that time onward for a considerable period the Comacine Guild would be able to mature and develop and exercise its ever-widening influence in both East and West.  Final peace for Comacina, however, was not to be, and its downfall was brought about in a quiet incidental way.

 

Milan had grown in pride and splendour, and in her imperial haughtiness she was pressing hard upon the smaller cities of the neighbourhood, particularly Lodi and Como

 

Secretly two of the men of Lodi laid their case before the Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, who swore to avenge their wrongs.  On their return these ambassadors were treated as fools, for no one believed in the promise of the Emperor, and all judged that, in consequence of what they had done, the yoke of Milan would be heavier than before.  But, although delayed, the Emperor's threat was ultimately carried out with a vengeance on Milan, which awed and terrified the whole of the district, and Lodi and Como, for the time at least, were relieved of the oppressor.

 

Comacina took side with the Milanese, and hence incurred the bitterest hatred from the men of Como; thus, when the opportunity came, they took their revenge. They had already sacked the island in 1124, had seen their own city destroyed in 1127, and rebuilt in 1152; and now, about the year 1160, or shortly after, they attacked Comacina again, setting fire to it after a desperate struggle.  Still the islanders would not come to terms, and so the neighbouring country was put to fire and sword, as also Borgo di Menagio.

 

For this and other things the Milanese besieged Como, when the latter was succoured with provisions by the confederate lands of the Lario, to the great detriment of the islanders, who forbade them the passage.  Moreover, the siege of Como was shortly raised, and then they reassembled their forces and took their revenge on the islanders severely, capturing also the fortress of Nesso.  The hour had come for vengeance, and Como took care it should not pass unheeded, while at the same time the blow should be dealt so effectively as to remove all possibility of recovery.  A decree was obtained from the Emperor that it should never be rebuilt, and practically that decree has held good to this very day.

 

Dr. Monti says it was in 1169 the final blow was given.  And so its tragedy closes, and, indeed, except for the one church now standing on the island, it has remained desolate, probably much in the condition in which it is found today - destitute of inhabitants, save the one cowherd who looks after his few head of cattle, and shorn of all dwellings except the one ruined chapel now used to house both cattle and cowherd.

 

What a thrilling story could be told if only details of the history of this stubborn little island were available! And how strangely it reflects in miniature the way in which throughout the Middle Ages, especially in Italy, the arts of peace and the horrors of strife flourished side by side.

 

Frederick II or his successor, Rudolf I, gave the island to Leo, Bishop of Como, in the year 1253, with conditions restricting him not to fortify it; and in 1467 the people of Como restored the ancient church on the island in honour of St. John the Baptist, and placed in it a marble having a badly-constructed inscription, which, translated, runs as follows:

 

 

"It is in the year 1160.

 

"When the island was destroyed there was a great pestilence.  The ancient church being restored saved the lives of those bringing sacred gifts when overwhelmed by a hailstorm.  The first day of May saw the commencement of the work, and the last day put the finishing touch to it, in the year 1400 - add 67 and all will be understood."

 

This garbled sentence probably refers to two, if not more, different periods, and it is translated from Ballarini's Compendio delle croniche dena Citta di Como, published in Como 1619.

 

How far the present church on the island can be identified with this restored building it is difficult to say, but the present building dedicated to St. John the Baptist is, according to Dr. Monti, of the sixteenth century.

 

Paulus Jovius, in 1559, wrote conceming the Island of Comacina, and the following is a translation of what he says: "Over against this portion of the Salarian shore there stretches an island facing it lengthwise, displaying as one sails by the ruins of an ancient city, [destroyed] by order of the people of Como, that the Larian people, warned by this punishment, might be admonished to preserve their fidelity to their parent city of Como.  This city was famous in the time of the Goths, who had such confidence in its fortifications that they stored in it the treasures of all their nation."

 

Paulus Longobardus writes in his History "that the Isle of Comacina, in the Larian Lake, was captured and overthrown by Aripertus, King of Lombardy, when Arisprandus, who had brought up and trained Liutperties, the boy-king, had by chance fled thither after his defeat in the battle by Novaria.  However, after the arrival of Charlemagne, who overthrew the kingdom of Lombardy, I found the island restored.  From this island our family of the Jovii derives its origin, and there are extant evidences of the wealth of our ancestors - to-wit, the Church of Mary Magdalene in the town of Stabium, distant over against the island across the Eudipus by the very short passage of two stadia.  These ancestors of the Jovii contributed fields from their estates with pious liberality for the succour of the needy and of travellers, and for 600 years there had remained in our family the uninterrupted privilege of nominating the prefect and priest.

 

Moreover, we bear today also on our coat of arms, as proof of our descent, the castle of the island, superimposed an the Larian waters, with the addition of the Roman Eagle, with which Fredericus Ahenobarbus honoured our family, just as lately we have added the Columns of Hercules, by the gift of the Emperor Charles I, who looked with extremely favouring eyes on our zealous efforts.

 

"After the destruction of Milan, however, the people of Como, aided by the resources of Ahenobarbus, in revenge for the recent treachery of the islanders, completely devastated the island, ordering the inhabitants to remove to Varena, adding the decree, for a severe public example, that no one should ever build again on the island.  And so it has remained for 400 years, hideous with its enormous ruins; and today, with merely the church remaining, which was spared through superstitious awe, it remains a habitation for the rabbits."

 

And who were the masters who lived at Comacine? Mention has already been made of the survival of the Architectural College in Rome after the other guilds had been suppressed, and to this college probably belonged some at least of the nine martyrs to whom we have been alluding.  But when Rome fell under Goth and Vandal, and reached a condition such as is pictured by Gregory the Great, there was no further call for the fraternity in Rome, and, accordingly, about A.D. 460 they, being now entirely Christian, fled, and travelling northwards, settled themselves in the district of Como, choosing for their headquarters the Island of Comacina, where they fortified their position, and in the sixth century held their own against the Lombards for twenty years before being subjugated; while in the twelfth century again they held their independence until overthrown by Como, and condemned to desolation by Frederick Barbarossa.

 

It is, of course, impossible to fix the exact date of their coming to Comacina, but it is noteworthy that it was in 480 that Theodoric interested himself in the island, and caused building work to be done upon it. This is the more suggestive, since it points to the probability, not only of a connection between Theodoric and the Comacine masters, but also suggests their association with Ravenna.  Further, it is clear that when Belisarius entered Rome, after it was besieged by Totila in A.D. 547, he found people willing to help with the rebuilding, but none skilled to guide them.

 

Documentary evidence, dating back to A.D. 643, refers to them as the Majestri Comacine, and although it is not certain whether this appellation located them on the island or is intended to apply to the district around Como, it is clear that by this time they were a compact and powerful guild, capable of asserting their rights, and that the guild was properly organized, having degrees of different ranks and Magistri at their head.  Now, when we consider that during what historians have generally regarded as the Dark Ages, between A.D. 500 and 1200, there was a perfect and consistent link between the old and the new, and a perfect and consistent development of architecture - be it Lombard Byzantine, as at Ravenna and Venice; Romanesque, as at Pisa; Lombard Gothic, as at Milan; Norman Saracen, as in Sicily and the South, each style having its individuality, and yet at the same time its relation to the other - we can form no other conclusion than that to a well-organized body of men such order must be attributed.

 

Moreover, when we further consider that in the twelfth century the round arch prevailed in Italy, Germany, France, and England, with details having wonderful similarity and practically Lombard in character; that in the thirteenth century, when pointed arches mingled with the round ones in Italy they did so in all the other countries mentioned; and that the art of church building was in full power when other arts and commerce were but just beginning, we are forced to the conclusion that nothing short of a sound organization can have brought about such a result.  And our conclusion that to the Comacine Masters are mainly due the mighty achievements spread throughout Western Europe is borne out by fact. To them can be traced the churches of S. Ambrose at Milan, the cathedral at Monza, S. Fidele and S. Abbondio at Como, S. Michele at Pavia, S. Vitale at Ravenna, S. Agnese, S. Lorenzo, S. Clemente and others at Rome, as well as the more ornate cathedrals of Pisa, Lucca, Milan, Arezzo, Brescia, etc., and the cloisters and aisles of Monreale and Palermo. Through the Comacines architecture and sculpture spread to France and Spain, Germany and England, and there developed into new amd varied styles, according to the exigencies of climate, material, etc.  It was from these brethren at Como that Gregory sent artificers to England to accompany St. Augustine, and Gregory II sent such to Germany with Boniface, while Charlemagne fetched them into France to build his church of Aix le Chapelle, the prototype of French Gothic, and, as some say, modelled on S. Vitale, Ravenna.

 

It is really wonder