In China, about 300 B.C., Mencius wrote “A master Mason, in teaching his apprentices, makes use of the compasses and the square. Ye who are engaged in the pursuit of Wisdom, must also make use of the compasses and the square.” Additionally, in a book called Great Learning, 500 B.C., we find that “A man should abstain from doing unto others what he would not they should do unto him; and this is called the principle of acting on the square.”
Who is this musically minded Freemason born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria?
For the last seven years of his life Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a Mason. The Masonic order played an important role in his life and work.
Mozart was admitted as an apprentice to the Viennese Masonic lodge called “Zur Wohltätigkeit” (“Beneficence”) on 14 December 1784.[1] He was promoted to journeyman Mason on 7 January 1785, and became a master Mason “shortly thereafter”.[1] Mozart also attended the meetings of another lodge, called “Zur wahren Eintracht” (“True Concord”). According to Otto Erich Deutsch, this lodge was “the largest and most aristocratic in Vienna. … Mozart, as the best of the musical ‘Brothers,’ was welcome in all the lodges.” It was headed by the naturalist Ignaz von Born.[2]
Mozart’s own lodge “Zur Wohltätigkeit” was consolidated with two others in December of 1785, under the Imperial reform of Masonry (the Freimaurerpatent, “Masonic Decree”) of 11 December 1785, and thus Mozart came to belong to the lodge called “Zur Neugekrönten Hoffnung” (New Crowned Hope).[3]
At least as far as surviving Masonic documents can tell us, Mozart was well regarded by his fellow Masons. Many of his friends were Masons.
During his visit to Vienna in 1785, Mozart’s father Leopold also became a Mason.[4]
Medieval Masons
Masons in Medieval England were responsible for building some of England’s most famous buildings. Masons were highly skilled craftsmen and their trade was most frequently used in the building of castles, churches and cathedrals.
Masons were highly skilled craftsmen and they belonged to a guild. However, a mason’s guild was not linked to just one town as the members of the masons guild had to move to where building was required. The Mason’s Guild was an international one and even in Medieval England, the guild was sometimes referred to as the Free Masons as ‘free’ stone was the name of stone that was commonly used by masons because it was soft and allowed the masons to complete intricate carvings.
Masons tended to lead nomadic lives. They went where there was employment. Other tradesmen could effectively stay where they were as there was enough trade for their skill to allow them to settle. However, masons had to move on to their next source of employment once a building had been completed – and that could be many miles away.
A mason who was at the top of his trade was a master mason. However, a Master Mason, by title, was the man who had overall charge of a building site and master masons would work under this person. A Master Mason also had charge over carpenters, glaziers etc. In fact, everybody who worked on a building site was under the supervision of the Master Mason. He would work in what was known as the Mason’s Lodge. All important building sites would have such a building that served as a workshop and a drawing office from which all the work on the building site was organised. Anyone who arrived at the building site and claimed that they were a master mason would be tested by the Master Mason and by master masons already working on the site. By doing this they ensured that quality was maintained – and that they would have a good chance of future building work.
A mason would have an apprentice working for him. When the mason moved on to a new job, the apprentice would move with him. When a mason felt that his apprentice had learned enough about the trade, he would be examined at a Mason’s Lodge. If he passed this examination of his skill, he would be admitted to that lodge as a master mason and given a mason’s mark that would be unique to him. Once given this mark, the new master mason would put it on any work that he did so that it could be identified as his work.
There can be no doubt that masons in Medieval England were highly skilled craftsmen. The testimony to their work stands today in the numerous cathedrals and castles that still exist.
In this day almost 700 years ago Jacques de Molay was burned at cthe stake.
From Templarhistory.com
On March 18th, 1314 de Molay was led out before the people to publicly confess his and the order’s sins. He recanted his earlier confession…s and said the only crime he was guilty of was lying about his Brethren to relieve his own tortures. He was then taken to an island on the Siene and burned along with Geoffrey de Charney the Preceptor of Normandy.
There are many accounts of de Molay’s dying words, but the 19th century historian, Charles Addison; perhaps one of the foremost Templar scholars records them as follows:
“To say that which is untrue is a crime both in the sight of God and man. Not one of us has betrayed his God or his country. I do confess my guilt, which consists in having, to my shame and dishonor, suffered myself, through the pain of torture and the fear of death, to give utterance to falsehoods imputing scandalous sins and iniquities to an illustrious Order, which hath nobly served the cause of Christianity. I disdain to seek a wretched and disgraceful existence by engrafting another lie upon the original falsehood.”
– Charles Addison Knights Templars
Many latter day writers have claimed that de Molay in his dying breath summoned both the King of France and Pope Clement to meet him in a tribunal before God within the year. True to the claim both men did indeed die within that time.
Whether a statement made by the Last Grand Master or an apocryphal account of Divine justice served, it will forever remain part of the Mythos surrounding Grand Master Jacques de Molay.
