A question is recurrent in the minds of the neophyte more than any other :
Why , if Freemasonry is abound with secrets which are advantageous to mankind, are those secrets not freely divulged for the good of society in general ?
It is because if the mysteries and privileges of free and ancient Freemasonry were to be indiscriminately handed out , our institution might be undermined. Becoming familiar with those mysteries would soon make them appear to lose value and fall into disregard. After all , one of the weakness in the nature of man is that he is in general more captivated by novelty than by the intrinsic value of things.
Whatever is new it readily captivates his imagination and whatever is familiar – or easily obtainable ! – is instead disregarded.
Our ceremonies are not superficial , they have their use. They inculcate instructions to the well attentive mason and they teach him to view our secrets through a proper medium , even showing him the circumstances that gave rise to them. If the mason ponders on the tenets conveyed to him , he will inevitably find them greatly constructive and precious and will thereafter guard them as sacred.
Our practices may appear frivolous and our ceremonies may seem as if they can be adopted , changed or abandoned at pleasure but only so in the eyes of the misguided. Unfortunately on the basis of that false assumption we may sometimes see the “deluded” being hurried through all the degrees , ignoring the properties of what they pursue or even possessing a single requisite for advancement. Passing through the usual formalities he may accept offices and take on the government of the Lodge by potentially being neither fully knowledgeable of the rules of the institution he has joined nor understanding the trust that is placed in him. But fortunately this situation represents the exception and not the rule because the consequences of such practice may soon become apparent and Anarchy and Confusion would ensue in the Lodge.
To begin with every Art has its mystery and requires a gradual progression of knowledge to return any degree of perfection. Similarly in Freemasonry , no brother can become sufficiently knowledgeable in its true value without proper instruction and exercise. This does not imply at all that a person of limited education or whose field of work takes much of his time and application, should be discouraged in his effort to gain knowledge of Freemasonry.
To qualify for admission in our institution and to share its privileges and ancient mysteries it is not necessary for a man to know all of the parts of our science. In a Lodge the Freemasons meet as one family and all privileges on account of Religion , Country and social position are removed! And although some brothers are more capable than others in their different spheres of work and life, everyone can prove a good Freemason and thus become advantageous to both our institution and to the community.
The article by De La Riviere of February 2017 referred to the claim that the Chevalier Ramsay made in his speech of 1736 to the Grand Lodge of France in Paris, that the Freemasons descended from the Knights Templar. Many eminent Freemasons share such perception and historians concur that the roots of Freemasonry date back to the Crusades.
It is a myth to say that The Crusades were military expeditions aimed at defending the Catholic faith; greed was also a big incentive. The unwritten law of succession of the time seriously penalised the junior male offsprings from noble marriages; they could inherit neither the family title nor the family’s wealth. They needed to look outside their kingdom’s borders for richness , power and glory and saw the Crusades as a befitting façade to hide their desire for worldly gains.
The instigator of the first Crusade was Pope Urban II who had summoned the Council of Clermont, France, in 1095 and called for a war which had the intent of reclaiming the Holy Lands from the Muslims. Hundreds of minor princes, knights, vassals and tens of thousands of ordinary people took part in the Holy Wars, each with his own plan: the French knights wanted more land, the Italian merchants sought to add another good commercial opportunity to their portfolio, the common soldiers dreamed for glory and the peasants longed for freedom from the miserly life to which they had been doomed back home.
When after months of travel by sea, foot and horse, the Crusaders reached Jerusalem it was the year 1099. They put the city under siege and five weeks later entered it as the conquerors, plundering everything and massacring every one in their way. It is reported that in two days the Crusaders killed some 40,000 souls between Muslims and Jews. They then elected Jerusalem as their capital and founded a Kingdom that stretched from Palestine to Antioch.
The Crusaders then began to organise themselves in a way that would efficiently support the new States they had founded. They established military orders which have remained unique in history; among such Orders there was one that has fascinated people down the centuries: the Order of the Knights Templar.
THE WARRIOR MONKS
The full name of that Order was: “The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Jesus Christ and the Temple of Solomon” and it was founded by two French knights – Hugh de Payens and Godfrey de St Omer- some twenty years after Jerusalem had been ransacked.
Their connection with Solomon was the mount onto which the old King of Jerusalem’s temple once stood and which had became the Templars’s headquarters. King Baldwin I – a Frenchman from Boulogne and brother of Godfrey of Bouillon, the first Crusader ruler of Jerusalem – had bestowed the Knights a wing of his palace. And as such palace had been built right next to King Solomon Temple’s ruins, the Knights became known as the “Knights of the Temple” or Templars.
They Templars became bankers and lent money to merchants and Kings, exchanged currencies, bought land, built castles and churches and amassed a great deal of wealth. Having first established themselves as men of excellent military skill , they no longer needed to live on the rewards received for protecting the thousands of pilgrims and merchants who come to the Holy Lands from all parts of Europe. They therefore became the rightful and sole intermediaries in just about all things taking place between the West and the Orient.
Eventually in 1187 the Crusaders lost Jerusalem to the Muslims and were killed in reiteration for their earlier massacres; those who managed to escape death
Knights
fled to Europe where they continued silently to prosper financially and regain power. The majority settled in France and in particular in the southern region of Provence. But, decades later ,their activity of money lending to the Royal family led King Philip (le Bel) to become highly indebted. Fearful of losing control of his Kingdom, the monarch decided to arrest all the members of the Order with the aim of seizing their hidden fabulous treasure. But the raid of 1307 in Paris did not return the expected results : the underground city vaults in which the treasure was believed to have been stored were found almost empty!
It was now time for Pope Clement V to join in the arena and continue the purge King Philip had started. He accused the Knights of heretism and brought them in front of the Inquisition Tribunals.
The Grand Master of the Order – Jacques de Molay – was publicly burnt at the stake in Paris in 1314.
Jacques de Molay
Thereafter , the Templars dispersed throughout Europe – perhaps even sailed the Atlantic! – and went underground.
Having been labelled “heretics” by Rome, the survivors of the suppression could only find shelter in Kingdoms which did not recognise the authority of the Catholic Church and under the ruling of King Robert the Bruce, Scotland was indeed one of those anticlerical states. When the knights arrived in Alba[1] , they schemed a convenient way to disguise themselves: they infiltrated the operative Lodges of the bricklayers and passed themselves for operative masons. This dualism of “knight-builder” is exactly what the Chevalier Ramsay was referring to in his speech when he said:
“(…) The word FM must not be taken in a literal (…) and material sense as if our founders had been simple workers in stone or merely curious geniuses who wanted to perfect the Arts. They were not only skilful architects (…) but also religious and warrior Princes who designed, edified and protected the living Temples of the Most High. And (…) whilst they handled the trowel and mortar with one hand, in the other they held the sword and the buckler.
The Templars were thus able to survive, maintain alive their rituals and perpetrate their philosophy through the foundation of the Masonic Scottish Rite. It is interesting to note that the name of the leader of those Templars who had taken refuge in Scotland was Mabeignac and that his name was later changed to the more Scottish sounding “Mac Benach” , probably to more easily obtain access into the builders’ Craft. The speculative Freemasons are familiar with this name as it is mentioned in the Ritual.
WHY DID THE TEMPLARS ABANDONED CHRISTIANITY ?
During their time in Jerusalem the Templars are said to have adopted a number of strange and mystical doctrines. It would seem that the Order was influenced by some “secrets” it had discovered , resulting in the Knights abandoning Christianity.
What could those secrets be?
Were they the stolen ancient Egyptian teachings included in the Kabala, whose rituals are often associated with Magic? Was it the occult information that only Pharaohs possessed? It may be possible given that the Temple of King Solomon itself contains some of the mathematical secrets also known to the Ancient Egyptians!
The authors of the book “The Hiram Key” [2]state that there is definitely proof of a great deal of excavation been made under King Solomon’s Temple which predates any investigation undertaken in recent history. The “Hiram Key” authors put forward the theory that the Templars must have discovered something under the Temple that completely changed their view of the world and of history.
This theory appears to have been accepted even by the famous Italian novelist and past Worshipful Master of the Order Umberto Eco[3] , author of “The Name of the Rose” and other similar bestsellers. In his book “Foucault’s Pendulum”, he hints that some prominent Jews had learnt those secrets during their permanence in Egypt, had stolen them and included them in the Old Testament. He wrote: “(…) The secret (of the Temple) is known only by a small group of Rabbis who remained in Palestine (…) and from them the Templars learnt it”.
The authors of the “Hiram Key” explain that the Egyptians never believed in the miracle of the creation; they thought that the Universe had originated from Chaos which began to evolve only by accident. And that what we witness in our daily life is simply a war between the forces of Chaos and of Order.
By learning and adopting that Egyptian-Kabalist doctrine, shared by the Jews, the Templars clearly embarked on an irreversible conflict with the Catholic Church. They sealed their own fate!
THE BIRTH OF THE SCOTTISH RITE
The Scottish King who had welcome the Templars on his land allowed them to freely continue exercise their doctrine and to greatly influence the future Masonic Lodges of his Realm.
Many years later, some of the Scottish Templars and their brethren returned to France and established there “The Masonic Scottish Rite” , recognised by all as the oldest Rite in Freemasonry.
by Aldo Reno
The author forbids any reproduction or publication of this article, in full or in part, without his explicit authorisation.
The discourse the Chevalier Ramsay made in Paris in 1736 could have just been a speech of circumstance which, as it is the fate of many speeches of a circumstantial nature, would have then fallen into oblivion. Instead it has been held in high regard ever since, been translated and successfully published in many foreign languages. But more importantly, it still provides the fundaments on which French Freemasonry rests.
WHO WAS THE CHEVALIER RAMSAY?
Destined to become one of the most romantic figures in the history of Freemasonry, Andrew Michael Ramsay was born in Ayr, Scotland, on June 9th 1686. He entered Edinburgh University at the age of 14 and studied classics, maths, theology and on finishing his studies he took up the position of tutor in the Earl of Wemyss’[1] household. In 1706 Ramsay left England for the Flanders where he joined the army of the Duke of Marlborough who was engaged in the war of the Spanish succession, essentially a war between France and Spain against England and Austria. In 1710 he met the Archbishop of Cambrai, Fenelon, and became his companion until Fenelon’s death in 1715. Born a Calvinist[2] Ramsay converted to the Roman Catholic faith under the teaching of his Church Official friend. Ramsay then moved to Paris where he worked for the Duc de Chateau-Tierry who introduced him to the Regent, Philippe d’Orleans, brother of King Louis XIV. The Prince was also the Grand Master of the Order of Lazarus[3] so that through that acquaintance Ramsay was able to be admitted in his Order which henceforth qualified him to be known as the Chevalier de Ramsay and to receive a pension from the Abbey of Signy.
In 1723 Ramsay became tutor in Rome to the two young sons of the Old Pretender, the catholic James Francis Edward Stuart (James III), who had fled England after losing the crown to the protestant Prince William of Orange. From 1725 to 1728, Ramsay stayed as an invited guest of the Duc de Sully and it was during this period he wrote the famous novel The Travels of Cyrus which was published in 1727. It was a best seller in its day and served to establish the Chevalier’s reputation in England as well as on the Continent.
In 1737[1] at the Grand Lodge of France in Paris its Grand Orator the Chevalier Ramsay , enunciated that the Masonic Order descended from the Knights Templar and was therefore of an exclusively aristocratic nature. Soon after that speech, numerous Masonic High Degrees were founded all over Europe, each one of them claiming to be the rightful guardians of some superior secrets that came in the form of privileged expression of Spiritualism or Esoterism.
The Egyptian Masonic Order was one of those Higher Degrees and it was founded in France by the self-styled Count Alessandro Cagliostro, akas Giuseppe Balsamo[2] from Palermo, who has remained one of the most enigmatic characters in history. Considered to be a great magician, alchemist and healer in some circles or a rogue and a charlatan in others, Cagliostro was accused to be part of the famous plot of “L’affaire du collier de la Reine “(Marie Antoinette)[3] in 1785 at the Court of King Louis XVI. After years of drifting in Europe, the Count ultimately died in 1795 in the gaols of the fortress of San Leo[4] having been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Church Inquisition. Yet with the foundation of the High Degree of The Egyptian Freemasonry, Cagliostro had created something in life that, at least for a while, gave him fame and respect although later it will also cause his downfall and imprisonment.
Cagliostro had joined the London Lodge “Esperance” on 12th April 1777. However the speed with which he reached the highest degree when he was in England suggests that he had already been initiated elsewhere, probably in Malta in 1776. In 1784 he travelled to Lyon and took lodgings at the Hotel de la Reine . There he registered himself under the assumed name of Count Fenice [5] and asked the most illustrious Freemason in town to come and meet him. That individual was Jean-Baptiste Willermoz , who later wrote: “I went to see him two days after his arrival and I went there suspiciously expecting to meet a person called Count Fenice but from his mannerism I soon realised I was in front of Cagliostro. He spontaneously admitted his real identity and told me that he had renounced the practice of medicine – which made enemies for him wherever he went – and now wanted to occupy himself exclusively into instructing selected Freemasons to the truest Freemasonry of all , that of the Egyptian Rite which teaches to work for the glory of God and the happiness of mankind “.
In Vienna’s graveyard, next to the funerary monuments of Schubert and Beethoven, there is also a Memorial dedicated to one of the most distinguished composers of classical music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The visitors keep coming regularly and in large numbers to pay their respect to the music genius, but they do not realize they are victims of a deception: nobody knows precisely where Mozart was actually buried , not even his next of kin.
Mozart was interred with so many others in a common grave with the result that q few days later his corpse ceased to be identifiable with some degree of certainty. His wife Constanze did everything to throw some light onto the enigma that enveloped the composer’s death, but finding herself hampered at every step, she eventually left both Vienna and Austria. When in later life she married Baron Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, she again set off on her fact finding quest and came to the conclusion that Mozart had been murdered.
Indeed, for an unusual long time the Italian composer Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) had been suspected of poisoning Mozart. But although Salieri in more than one occasion acted against the interest of our composer, he surely never killed him.
The evoking the spirit of the dead was an activity that attracted the interest of people from all social classes in the 18th century, including Freemasons. At that time many of the Masonic lodges in existence were filled with bored aristocrats with a good majority of them in search of distraction and gratification.
Initially the lodges had only apprentices and companions. It was only in 1724 that a higher degree was introduced and it was one that was inspired by the legend of Hiram Habif, which in turn was based on the even older Egyptian myth of Iris and Osiris. Alchemy scholars of the time could not be anything other than enthusiastic that Hiram’s legend had been introduced in the Masonic ritual; death and resurrection related well to the processes of death, decomposition and sublimation which are considered essential passages for the base metal’s transmutation journey into (philosophical) gold.
Twenty years after the foundation of the Grand Lodge of England (24.6.1717) the Chevalier Andre’ Michel Ramsay (1686-1743) , an expatriate Scotsman who lived in Paris and was the Orator of the Lodge “Le Louis d’Argent” , made a famous speech whereby he affirmed that the origin of the Masonic Order and of its secret doctrine were aristocratic. He stated that it were the Knights Templar– religious soldiers drawn from the noblest families in Europe – who had rediscovered the secret elements of the Masonic teaching during their stay in the Holy Land (the Orient) and had brought them back to France and Scotland.
In the minutes of the London Lodge “The Nine Muses” is recorded that on 13th February 1783 the “Marquis Paul de Arconati, Viscount of Milano” was admitted as a member.
Since it was founded on 14thJanuary 1977 at the Thatched House Tavern in James’s Street, “The Nine Muses” Lodge has had a large number of Italians in its lists , so it comes as no surprise that Paul de Arconati fancied it over all the others. The esteemed Chevalier Bartolomeo Ruspini[1] – jointly with few other respectful characters – had established “The Nine Muses” and had been its Grand Master in 1976. His name still appears on a Lodge Certificate dated 1801 as a testimony not only of his longevity but also that he may have been occupying the Chair for period much longer than it is custom nowadays.
But exactly which noble title did Arconati hold, Marquis or Viscount ?
He was a Marquis with the double barrelled family name of Arconati-Visconti/ Perhaps the casual omission of the hyphen in his name might have confounded the Lodge’s secretary and the “Marquis Arconati-Visconti” became the “Marquis Arconati, Viscount of Milano”. It is not uncommon to find in old Masonic lodge minutes, members’ names which have been recorded with an unintelligible handwriting, are mis-spelt or even incomplete, particularly if those names were foreign.
Paolo Arconati-Visconti was born in 1754 and was the third son of Giangaleazzo Arconati-Visconti, third Marquis of Busto Garolfo[2]and most importantly : Chamberlain of the Austrian Empress Marie Therese ! The Arconati-Visconti was a family from Milano that even to these days is highly regarded for having been patrons of the arts in its generations. One of Paolo’s ancestors – Galeazzo Arconati – possessed for a while the collection of Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches known as “The Atlanticus Codex”, which contains some of his futuristic visions on subjects like the flight, new weaponry, mathematics and so forth. In 1747 Giangaleazzo had married the youngest daughter of the last Baron Scockaert [3]Count of Tirimont , one of the richest and most influential Flemish aristocrats of the time. The couple moved to Milano in 1750.
In the circle of aristocracy only the first born male child has the right to inherit the title, but Paolo received that privilege following the unexpected death of both his two older siblings. When the Marquis inherited a large estate in the Flanders he took off there and made the Castle of Gaasbeek his summer residence whilst holding lodgings at the Hotel De Croy in the Place Royale, Bruxelles , for when he travelled there on business. It is claimed that he joined the Lodge “Les Vrais Amis de l’Union” in Bruxelles and that he was involved , whilst there, in many charitable and philanthropic projects.
The Marquis had began his adult life as a captain in the light cavalry regiment of the Hussars, fighting for Austria in the seven years war; a conflict in which all the European nations were involved from 1756 to 1763 and that saw Great Britain and France fighting as usual on opposite sides, each one forging rather fluid alliances with other smaller Countries which often swapped sides during the conflict.
The Marquis travelled far and wide and everywhere he went he studied and immersed himself in the culture of that Country. It was during that time of his life that he visited England and was initiated into Freemasonry. He was a liberal man but his eccentricity was not seen in the right light and people often assumed that he was a revolutionary.
Italian by birth, raised in Austria and French by circumstances, he was only able to occupy official government positions after the French revolution of 1795 , when he was elected to represent the department of Dyle.[4]
Paolo greatly admired Napoleon Bonaparte for having successfully brought order where,after the revolution, there had been chaos. So when Napoleon visited Liege, the Marquis made sure he attended the presentation and gave the First Consul his personal welcome.
Napoleon was swayed by him. Perhaps the fact they shared a common Italian-French heritage played a good part into that. Certainly the First Consul’s opinion of the natives was quite shocking for he is reported as having said : “You Belgian are quite different from the French, Austrian, Dutch or English. You like yourselves too much and your main characteristics are apathy and selfishness”. No wonder even to these days the dislike between the two nations is still latent !
During a visit to Turkey, the Marquis had developed a great taste for the oriental fashion. He loved the satin tunics, the turbans and yellow slippers and on his return home he regularly dressed as an Ottoman nobleman ,with turban and sabre. It is reported that after Napoleon had appointed him Mayor of Bruxelles, the Marquis attended meetings and received the local officials dressed as a Turk ! He also travelled in a carriage pulled by six horses and driven by coachmen with blackened faces. His jaunts were such a great spectacle to watch that the desperate local impresarios had to beg the Marquis to reschedule his pleasure outings so that there would be no clash with the theatre performances, many of which were being cancelled because of him.
Paolo Arconati’s admiration for Napoleon was such that he even attempted to erect a 100 meter tall pyramid on the road to Bruxelles-Mons, with the bust of his hero displayed at the top. The material for the construction would have had to come from the demolition of the Amiens Cathedral. It was a foolish idea and was rejected, of course. In the end, he had to settle for an arch of triumph erected in the middle of the park of his residence in Gaasbeek.
A physical description of the Marquis is provided in a report that an English officer wrote during the battle of Waterloo. The 23rd Battalion of the King’s Light Dragoons had been posted in Gaasbeek and its commander had decided to turn the Marquis’s Castle into the sleeping quarters for the British officers. But when he arrived outside the Castle he was met by a bunch of reservists and farmers whom the Marquis had assembled to protect his property. In perfect English, the Marquis asked the captain why he wished to invade his home. The captain, being aware of the eccentricity of the Marquis’ character, removed his hat in sign of respect and explained that he was simply following the rules of war but that no harm would be brought to anyone there. The gentlemanly manner with which the officer had spoken, greatly impressed the Marquis who then relented.
The British captain ‘s name was Mercer and he described the Marquis as a person with a tanned look and of above average height although , because of his age, his spine was a little curved. He was otherwise quite active and of a very alert mind and dressed like a Turk, with a dirty turban enriched by many precious stones. In his right hand he held a “lance” and in his left a horn. The old man was not only flamboyant but probably a little deaf too !
The Marquis’ other residence in the centre of Bruxelles had been occupied by the Allied Forces Commission whose members committed a considerable amount of damage, estimated in the region of 11,500 francs. The Marquis attempted to recover the sum from the Duke of Wellington but his claim was rejected and he sold off the property in disgust. After the Treaty of Vienna, William I (King of Holland) became the ruler of the Low Countries. Paolo Arconati-Visconti had to lay low for a while as all privileges and noble titles from the old regime were abolished. He became known simply as “citizen Arconati” until in 1816 King William restored the Marquis tile to him. From then on he called himself Paul Marie Remy Arconati-Visconti, Marquis of Busto. It was however dutifully pointed out to him that a carriage pulled by 6 horses was a privilege reserved only to Kings. “No matter” he replied and he then ordered that his coach be pulled by only five horses plus a mule !
The Marquis had a daughter , Sophie, in 1789 but their relationship was rather strange right to the very end. She addressed him as “tutor” or “guardian” but never as her father and he never recognised her as his child. Sophie went on to marry a Frenchman who fought with General Lafayette. The couple did not inherit any part of the Marquis’ fortune which went instead to Paolo’s nephew: Giuseppe Arconati-Visconti.
In his final days, the old eccentric Freemason slept in a coffin lined with wool and red brocade to become accustomed to the place where he would rest when his time came. But when in 1821 he suffered a heart attack, he was unable to reach for the sarcophagus; having climbed onto the nearest table , he laid himself there and died. The Marquis Paul Arconati-Visconti was buried at Gaarsbeek and the epitaph on his tomb reads:
“Man is born to enlighten his soul for only a very short time”.
— *** —
I based most of the material of this paper on an article written by P.J.Dawson, Past Grand Master of the Lodge of the Nine Muses in London. It had been translated into Italian and published in a Masonic magazine that I had seen displayed in a newspaper kiosk in Bologna over fifty years ago. My curiosity drove me to buy it, and I never anticipated I’d become a member of the Craft decades later. I hid it in a safe but forgotten part of my house, and it was only recently found by chance.
[1] Born in Romacoto near Bergamo , Italy, in around 1727 or 1728 , Ruspini came to England in 1750 and died here in December 1813. He was the founder in 1788 of a Charity now known as the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls.
[2] This is a village 30 miles north east of Milano
In the year 1748 the powerful King of Prussia Frederick II sent a letter of commendation[1] to a little known Italian nobleman who had written an essay called “Best practices of military operations for the foot soldiers”. The author was Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of San Severo born on 30th January 1710 in Torre Maggiore near the major town of Foggia, in the southern Italian Region of Apulia.
What Frederick did, however, was both astonishing and baffling. Did he not realise that by writing such letter he was on the one side disquietly exposing the incompetence of his generals and on the other praising the excellence of mind of a mere minor foreign aristocrat ?
Raimondo was admired in life not only for his knowledge of the military arts and for inventing a new type of archibugio[2] ; he was also an accomplished alchemist, a genius of technology, a philanthropist and amongst many other things also a high ranking Freemason. In our times the Prince’s family name is known in Naples for its association with the Chapel of Sansevero, a shrine that had been built by the Prince’s ancestors in 1590 and magnificently refurbished by him between 1749 and 1771.
Museum of the Cappella_Sansevero, Naples
This wide angle picture shows that the inside of the Chapel in question contains several monuments, many of them beautiful and some also famous all over the world, like the “Veiled Christ” by the sculptor Giuseppe Sammartino. According to legend, that masterpiece was created in 1753 by the artist working in a hypnotic state induced by the Prince who, after completion, blinded the Sammartino to prevent him from replicating the secret technique applied to achieve such a stunning result. That exceptional sculpture represents Jesus Christ in death covered by a transparent looking marble shroud.
Some experts assert that the shroud and the subject were carved from one block of stone whilst legend states that Sammartino supplied the Prince with a suitable piece of cloth and the nobleman and alchemist , through a secret chemical process, transmuted it into that marble-like creation that covers the face and torso of the Christ. Displayed in the Chapel is the “Disinganno” – or “Disillusionment” – which is another excellent artwork that Raimondo commissioned to Francesco Queirolo[3].
He dedicated it to his father Antonio di Sangro whom, after years of turmoil following the early death of his wife, returned to Naples in old age and committed the rest of his days to religious life. The human figure is shown in the act of disentangling itself from a net representing the many human sins, whilst the globe symbolises the earthly passions and the little winged Genie embodies the human intellect whose help is offered to assists man in his quest. At the base of the monument there can also be seen an open Bible and a square with compass which, together with the terrestrial globe, are all allegories used in freemasonry.
The other pieces of art put on show in the Chapel are some beautiful sculptured tributes to human virtues like modesty, decorum, truthfulness and sobriety, to mention but a few. To enlarge on what was the inspiration behind them would however be outside the scope of this paper.
Raimondo was the son of Antonio di Sangro, a noble Neapolitan and VII Prince of Sansevero and Cecilia Gaetani dell’Aquila di Aragona Sanseverino who also descended from an old patrician family. Her ancestor Benedetto Gaetani [4] , to mention one, had become Pope Bonifacio VIII in 1294. In fact Raimondo’s whole family genealogy is excellent; it stems from the Duke of Burgundy and has a connection with none other than the great Charlemagne! Such an illustrious ancestry guaranteed the Prince a rightful presence at the Court of the King of Naples with whom he had become a close friend in youth.
At the age of ten Raimondo had been sent to Rome by his father to study mathematics, pyrotechnic, hydrostatics, philosophy, canon and civil laws, at the Jesuit convent “Clementino”. It was in that city that with the official consent of Pope Benedict XIV, Raimondo dedicated his time to the reading of the “forbidden books” kept in the Vatican vaults whence he derived that knowledge that he later applied in his secret experiments.
In 1730 the Prince returned to Naples and made that city his permanent home.
In 1734 Charles Bourbon, Duke of Parma[5] , took Naples and the following year at the age of 18 was crowned its King as Charles VII. His installation on the throne marked the beginning of a long period of revival for the capital of southern Italy and flagged the start of the Prince of San Severo’s scientific activity to which the King was personally interested and had approved of. It is said that Raimondo had gifted Charles with another of his inventions: a rainproof hat.
Prince of San Severo
As the Colonel of his Regiment “Capitanata”, Raimondo di Sangro fought valiantly in 1744 at the battle of Velletri and with the defeat inflicted on the Habsburgs troops he played a big part in saving the Kingdom for Charles VII and the Bourbons. It was during that time of war that Raimondo had written the essay that brought him the recognition from Frederick of Prussia.
The Prince was a modest man who had no vices, did not like excesses and was also of a liberal mind. An affable person, he was nonetheless at times unable to keep his impulsive temperament under control. He spoke several languages, including Arabic and Hebrew and printed books from the basement of his Palace in Naples which he had equipped with his own presses. Amongst those publications was “The Travel of Cyrus” by the famous Freemason Michael Ranmsay [6] which the Prince had translated into Italian. After the war against the Austrians, Raimondo returned to spend his days in his secret laboratory that he kept in the vaults of the Chapel, where he made discoveries which could have made him one of the most famous scientists of his time.
In the crypt of the Sansevero Chapel in Naples are kept the bodies of a man and a woman which the Prince called “anatomical machines”. They are actually skeletons wrapped by the ensemble of veins that are present in a human body. Chronicles report that the person, who injected the mysterious substance which forever preserved the vascular system of those corpses in a metallic-like state, might have been the anatomist Giuseppe Salerno from Palermo. But according to legend it was the Prince himself who experimented on his servants whilst they were still alive; hence the appellation of “sorcerer Prince” and “Devil’s apprentice” that stuck on him.
Although the Prince’s interests were mainly of a scientific and esoteric nature, he also had a good sense of humour and did not shy away from playing a few pranks , one of which is the following. The “Naples Gazette” dated 24 July 1770, reported that Raimondo di Sangro had built a splendid “Carrozza Marittima”, an amphibious carriage pulled by horses and capable of carrying up to twelve people and that such a marvel was seen defying the sea waves in Capo di Posillipo one sunny morning in July 1750. In truth, as the Prince revealed, that splendid machine was nothing more than a raft on which had been attached a painted wooden façade cut out in the shape of a carriage. The horses that appeared to be pulling the carriage were made of cork and the wheels were spun by men hidden behind the disguise. It was a practical joke that not everyone accepted in the right spirit. A year later, dueto the prolonged and regular contact with the intoxicating chemicals that he used in his experiments, the Prince passed away. This practical joke of the amphibious carriage might have been his amusing way of saying adieu to the world and to the people of Naples.
Chronicles report that amongst the many skills that Raimondo possessed, was also the ability of healing the sick with the use of remedies of his own preparation. He successfully applied that dexterity on Luigi Sanseverino, Prince of Bisignano, by saving him from near death after the most talented doctors of Naples had given up any hope. Even Tanucci, the Chief Minister at the Court of Charles VII, notwithstanding his dislike for Raimondo – mostly for being a freemason and therefore an enlightened mind – summoned him when he fell ill.
Count Cagliostro
Twenty or so years later, that famous celebrated charlatan, swindler and Freemason who called himself Count Cagliostro – aka Giuseppe Balsamo from Palermo, Sicily – would have become famous all over Europe for doing exactly as the Prince of San Severo: cure the sick with his own secret magic potions. Except that Cagliostro committed the error of applying his prowess of traumaturgo on the rich as well as the poor people, thus attracting on himself the scorn of the aristocracy who later embroiled him in various plots, the most famous of all being the affair of the missing necklace at the Court of King Louis XVI of France in 1781.
When the Prince became the Grand Master of the Order of the Freemasons for the Kingdom of Naples in 1750 he risked being excommunicated by Pope Benedict XIV. In his defence he asserted that he had only gone into Freemasonry for he believed he was joining an operative order dedicated to the research and practice of Alchemy which was a subject that greatly interested him. The reality was of course quite different because many Masonic lodges of the time also included in their list of members, some progressive, enlightened and revolutionary minds[7]. Instead of making a full mea culpa, Raimondo even dared reprehend the Church in a letter by accusing it of approving idolatry – that pagan tradition of image worshipping – amongst the underprivileged population of the Kingdom and most particularly of the people of Naples.
Perhaps the legacy and influence of the di Sangros inside the Vatican and their noble lineage were stronger than one imagined for on that occasion the Prince, notwithstanding his blunders, was spared imprisonment and damnation.
Nonetheless, accusations of witchcraft and black magic continued to press against him ; the more so after he had claimed to have discovered a flame that could remain alive for an extensive period of time, even months, ”with the minimal lessening of the substance that fed it”.
The Prince wrote to the Florentine scientist Giovanni Giraldi that he had made the discovery by chance during one of his experiments , when a certain substance extracted from “… the bone of the most noble creature on earth; the best one being that from the head…” had caught fire. As the noblest creature on earth was interpreted to be man, we realise why there was never any truce in the war that his enemies engaged again the Prince! The only records that the Prince left us of that imperishable light are some sketches preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale. The issue has left perplexed scholars in every age .
The Prince’s laboratory was locked up just before his death and never re-open ; the Chapel and his Palace have since remained in the hands of the Sansevero family which has never allowed for any investigations to take place there. According to another legend, when the Raimondo di Sangro felt that his days were coming to an end he gave instructions that after death his body should be cut in seven pieces by his servant and laid into a coffin whence he would resurrect nine months later. However his family , either fearful that the exercise could have come good and thereafter labelled all the Sanseveros as followers of the Devil or simply anxious to check on the progress of things , put an early end to the experiment by opening the tomb before time.
The Prince’s death has remained very much a mystery even to these days. His mortal remains and his actual place of rest – other than the official tomb seen in the Chapel – have not yet been discovered.
The author forbids any reproduction or publication of this article, in full or in part, without his explicit authorisation.
[1] Legler, Rolf (1990). Der Golf von Neapel (in German). Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag. p. 135
[2] Italian word for the predecessor of the musket though it was easier and lighter than that to carry
[3] He was an Italian sculptor born in Genoa in 1704. He was active in Rome and Naples
[4] Born in Anagni in 1235 and died in Rome in 1303
[5] He was the fifth son of Philip V King of Spain but eldest by his second wife Elisabetta Farnese
[6] G.D. Henderson: “Chevalier Ramsay” Thomas Nelson and Sons London, 1952. Michael Ramsay
(9 July 1686 – 6 May 1743) was born in Scotland but spent most of his life in France
[7] To read more about Freemasonry in the Kingdom of Naples in the XVIII century, read my paper entitled “Freemasonry under the shadow of the Vesuvius” of future release.
For the ancient Romans a new day would begin at midnight, for the Greeks it would start at sunset and for the Egyptians at dawn.
The hours are an ancient invention and were codified by the Greeks in the 5th century B.C. by measuring the distance that the sun covers in the sky.
But it took the Romans around two hundred more years to eventually feel the need to count the number of hours present in the day and another century after that, to finally define them with some precision.
Until the end of 400 B.C. the Romans were still dividing the day in two parts rather than into hours; one part was that period of light that came before midday, the other part was filled with the hours of darkness.
In ancient Rome “Herald” was the title given to an official messenger of the Consuls. The one, who was posted high up on a hill, would monitor the passage of the sun at its meridian point and then instantly notify the population by blowing his trumpet. That signal indicated that labour – which had begun at dawn – could now be stopped.
The Spanish born Roman lawyer and politician Seneca, better known for his philosophical discourses and letters, stated that at the time of the Roman Empire no one knew the exact time. The lack of precision of the mechanical gadgets that were in use – like the Greek sun-dialler and the water clock or “clepsydra” [1] – made such a thing impossible. But so too did the following idiosyncrasies.
The Masonic ritual makes references to both St Johns the Baptist and St John the Evangelist and it also contains the principle that the Bible must be kept open on the Gospel in an open Lodge.
According to Paul Naudon [1], author of the book “Les Loges de Saint-Jean”, the origin of this tradition is in great part influenced by the Knights Templar and more particularly so by the Knights Hospitalier who assimilated the former when they were officially suppressed in March 1312 by King Philip IV of France.
The Knights Templar, whose motto was “obedience, poverty and chastity”, were established as an Order in Jerusalem around the year 1118 for the purpose of safeguarding the Christian civilization in the Orient and protecting the life of the pilgrims who visited the Holy Land. The Order comprised of the most formidable fighting Crusaders as well as non fighting members who were skilled in economic and religious matters. The fathers of the Order had received their Chart from Teocleto, Patriarch of Jerusalem, who was also the 67th successor of St John in that role.
Saint John became the Patron of the Templars and on 24th June of each year the whole population of masons, carpenters and various other craftsmen clebrated him with the lighting of bonfires by the Grand Master of the Order. This custom was retained even after the dissolution of the Order and St John effectively became the Patron of both the Order and of the masons.
who had summoned the Council of Clermont, France, in 1095 and called for a war which had the intent of reclaiming the Holy Lands from the Muslims. Hundreds of minor princes, knights, vassals and tens of thousands of ordinary people took part in the Holy Wars, each with his own plan: the French knights wanted more land, the Italian merchants sought to add another good commercial opportunity to their portfolio, the common soldiers dreamed for glory and the peasants longed for freedom from the miserly life to which they had been doomed back home.
The full name of that Order was: “The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Jesus Christ and the Temple of Solomon” and it was founded by two French knights – Hugh de Payens and Godfrey de St Omer- some twenty years after Jerusalem had been ransacked.
state that there is definitely proof of a great deal of excavation been made under King Solomon’s Temple which predates any investigation undertaken in recent history. The “Hiram Key” authors put forward the theory that the Templars must have discovered something under the Temple that completely changed their view of the world and of history.
never believed in the miracle of the creation; they thought that the Universe had originated from Chaos which began to evolve only by accident. And that what we witness in our daily life is simply a war between the forces of Chaos and of Order.
Destined to become one of the most romantic figures in the history of Freemasonry, Andrew Michael Ramsay was born in Ayr, Scotland, on June 9th 1686. He entered Edinburgh University at the age of 14 and studied classics, maths, theology and on finishing his studies he took up the position of tutor in the Earl of Wemyss’
England after losing the crown to the protestant Prince William of Orange. From 1725 to 1728, Ramsay stayed as an invited guest of the Duc de Sully and it was during this period he wrote the famous novel The Travels of Cyrus which was published in 1727. It was a best seller in its day and served to establish the Chevalier’s reputation in England as well as on the Continent.
origin of the Masonic Order and of its secret doctrine were aristocratic. He stated that it were the Knights Templar– religious soldiers drawn from the noblest families in Europe – who had rediscovered the secret elements of the Masonic teaching during their stay in the Holy Land (the Orient) and had brought them back to France and Scotland.
In the crypt of the Sansevero Chapel in 
