Emessay Notes April 2012

Rules Governing Masonic Calendar Dating

You hear it at Lodge: "A. L. 6012." What does that mean? Then you go to another Masonic organization and it is different.  Why? A.L. stands for Anno Lucis, or "In the Year of Light." Here is a summary of how and why the Masonic calendars work the way they do:

Ancient Craft/Symbolic "Master Mason" Lodges

Commence their era with the "traditional" creation of the world, calling it Anno Lucis (A.L.), "in the year of light." Add 4,000 years to the common era.  Thus 2012 becomes A.L. 6012.

Chapters of Royal Arch Masons of the York Rite

Date from the year the second temple was commenced by Zerubbabel, calling it Anno Beneficio (A.B.), "in the year of the discovery."Add 530 years to the common era. Thus 2012 becomes A.B. 2542.

Councils of Cryptic Masons of the York Rite

Date from the year in which the Temple of Solomon was completed, calling it Anno Depositionis (A.Dep.), "in the year of deposit."Add 1,000 to the common era. Thus 2012 becomes A. Dep. 3012.

Commanderies of Knights Templar of the York Rite

Commence their era with the organization of the ancient order, calling it Anno Ordinis (A.O.), "in the year of the Order." The Order was traditionally established in A.D. 1118. From the Christian Era, subtract 1118, thus 2012 becomes A.O. 894.

Scottish Rite

Similar to Ancient Craft except the Jewish chronology is used, Anno Mundi (A.M.), "in the year of the world." Add 3,750 to the common era.  Thus 2012 becomes A.M. 5772. After September, add another year.

(Source: Indiana Freemason)

Tribute To Brother Danny Thomas On A Stamp

     On February 16, 2012, the United States Postal Service issued a tribute to the 100th birthday of the late entertainer Danny Thomas and the 50th anniversary of the hospital he founded, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

     Brother Thomas was born in Deerfield, Michigan, and grew up in Toledo, Ohio. He received his three Masonic Degrees in Gothic Lodge in Hamilton Square, New Jersey, as a courtesy for his mother Lodge, Palisades Lodge, in Santa Monica, California.

     As an entertainer, he was perhaps most known for starring in Make Room for Daddy, a popular television comedy that aired from 1953 to 1964.

     Behind the jokes and anecdotes he told to sell-out crowds across the country, including many Masonic groups, he was a serious humanitarian. In 1962, he founded St. Jude's at the suggestion of his friend, Cardinal Samuel Stritch, of Chicago.

     Brother Thomas died in 1991 at the age of 79.

(Source: The Philatelic Freemason, March-April, 2012)

Wisconsin Masonic Center To Become Museum

The Dodgeville Masonic Center, the largest Masonic building in Southwest Wisconsin is being refurbished into a museum of Masonic history.

     The stately structure, constructed in 1928, proudly displays in large letters above its entrance, "Temple of Freemasonry."

     It is the intent of Dodgeville Lodge #119 to outfit the building with display cases, bookcases, lighting, tables, chairs, WiFi and computers available for research.

     The planners are making a plea for artifacts and documents of an historical nature that may now be stored away in closets and attics of homes and other Masonic buildings. A donation to the museum would provide a safe place for proper storage and display. Other items of Masonic value in Wisconsin may one day find a home there, as well.

     Dodgeville Lodge and the local Eastern Star Chapter will continue to meet in the building.

(Source: The Wisconsin Masonic Journal, January, 2012)

Quote From Brother Roosevelt Remembered

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is not effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

-- Brother Theodore Roosevelt, "Man in the Arena" Speech, April 23, 1910.