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.
But who where the two Saints John?
St John the Baptist was a cousin of Jesus Christ and became known as the “Baptist” because, as he preached, he also baptised the believers in the River Jordan. He taught that man must live a “holy” life, one which must be both simple and pious. For refusing to abandon his teaching and for his devotion to Jesus Christ, the Baptist was later imprisoned and beheaded by King Herod.
St John the Evangelist’s identity on the other hand is not fully ascertained and it is believed to be a virtual figure consisting of an amalgamation of the several Johns present in the New Testament[2]. His Gospel begins with the famous enunciation: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God (…). In him was life and the life was the light of men”. In his Epistles the Evangelist works from the theme that the Word of God and the Light of Life are inevitably linked and that Truth and Love are part of the same chain. This John, if he were a real person, was undoubtedly an intellectual and the writings attributed to him read almost like a Masonic ritual.
Whilst June 24th celebrates St John the Baptist, marks the Summer Solstice and represents the day of every Beginning, December 27th is instead the day of the Evangelist and of the Winter Solstice which symbolises the day of all the Endings.
It is well known that that group of former priest-soldiers called Templars, before their day of reckoning arrived in 1307, were very powerful in Europe and in particular in Paris, where they owned whole districts of the city over which they exercised their rule independently from the King.
Theirs had become a State within the State.
The benefits of the right to asylum and the freedom to chose one’s craft in life, were both available in the Templars’ territories and greatly appealed to the subjects of the King of France , who were constantly being burdened by taxes. The latter privilege, in particular, did not just allow men to choose for themselves which craft they wanted to learn and practice later in life, it also exempted them from taxation. What better than that!
In Paris, the Book of the Crafts or “Livre des Metiers” written by Eitenne Boileau in 1258 decreed that an employer must demand evidence from the person applying for work that he had finished his apprenticeship and was also free from all other engagements . Thereafter the craftsman had to swear on the Gospel that he would do his work faithfully and to the best of his skills.
The operative masons’ call for St John’s blessing is contained in the oath that they swore when admitted into their crafts first as apprentices and later as masters.
In England the Ordinances of the masons of York dated 1352 state that a mason must “give his oath on the Bible[3] that he will truthfully and actively work to his best, without deception or simulation and scrupulously observe the laws”. In the “Constitutions” or “Old Charges” as reported in the manuscript of Halliwell[4] of about 1400, there is no description of the oath, but the Article that concerns the pray for the commitment being taken, leaves no doubts of interpretation: “Let’s pray the Almighty God and his Holy Mother that they may help us to comply with these conditions …like once upon a time did the four Martyr Saints….”
The Article 7 of the Statutes of the Masonic Assembly of 1663 reads: “Nobody can be admitted in the Society and be communicated its secrets if he has not yet given an oath of discretion in accordance to the following formula: “I swear and declare in the presence of God Almighty and of my Companions and Brethren , that in no circumstance will I ever disclose or expose, directly or indirectly, any secret, privilege or deliberation taken by the Confraternity of the Society of the Masons, which will become known to me. Let God and the holy words in this book help me”. The same directive appears in the Statute of 1693 of the York Lodge: “He or she [5] who is to be made a mason, lay the hand on the book….”
These examples demonstrate that the Freemasons were asked to give oath on the Bible and in particular on the most important of its Gospels, that of St John the Evangelist. After all we must not forget that Freemasonry was born Catholic and that this catholic character is demonstrated by the importance that, particularly the French masons, attributed to the Celebrations organised in St John’s honour.
The following extracts from some French Lodges‘s minutes are also of interest.
“On 27th June 1774, the Brethren on their return from mass… have elected the officers of the Lodge and then have feasted and celebrated our Patron” (from the minutes of the Lodges of Annecy). Also, in the minutes of the meeting of June 22 1788 of the Lodge “La Vertu” of the city of Nancy, France is written: “The Venerable Master prayed and supplicated in the name of the Fraternity that binds us, to meet again next Tuesday 24th of this month, to celebrate our glorious St John the Baptist, our illustrious Patron, on the 10th hour in the morning, at the Church of the Padri Minimi…to celebrate the mass…”
The days that celebrated the Solstices therefore were filled with these activities:
1. The celebration of a mass at the local Church
2. A meeting to elect the lodge officers;
3. The common rejoicing at a festive board.
Not too dissimilarly therefore from what Freemasons do even at this day and age.
When the Freemasons turned “speculative” they retained the tradition of St John and even to these days the initiate has to give oath on the Bible that is kept open at the page of the Gospel of the Saint. Only at the beginning of the XIX century, after the French Revolution, the Catholics began to drift away from Freemasonry as that was considered to have instigated the upheaval and have established the social changes that ensued. The worse exodus however occurred mostly after the Concordat of 1801 between Napoleon and the Vatican whereby the Roman Catholic Church was confirmed to be the principal Church in France.
Excommunications, thereafter, started to come thick and fast !
Rather than to the anticlericalism like that which is seen in Europe, the de-Christianisation of Freemasonry may be attributed to a desire “to oblige members to that religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves”[6]. As this process continues to our days , particularly in large and multi cultural Cities all over the world, we witness more and more Lodges with a mixed membership of Hindus, Muslim , Jews and other religions as well as we see the presence of Lodges whose nature is entirely non catholic.
Although this may look to some as an abomination of the “operative” Freemasonry’s nature and origin, it constitutes the reason for there being different volumes of “sacred law” open at Lodge meetings.
By Aldo Reno
The author forbids any reproduction or publication of this article, in full or in part, without his explicit authorisation.
[1] Paul Naudon (1915-2001) was the author of several books about the French Freemasonry. He was an old member of the Grand Lodge de France and co-founded the Masonic Suprême Conseil of France.
[2] Like John the disciple of Christ, John the Epistle writer, John the Divine of Patmos who was the author of the Book of Revelation.
[3] “Bible” for the English as well as the French masons actually refers to the Book of “Gospels”.
[4] The Halliwell Manuscript, also known as the Regius Poem, is the earliest of the Old Charges. It consists of 64 vellum pages of Middle English written in rhyming couplets (Wikipedia 2016)
[5] This would indicate that women could also become Freemasons , perhaps in the event of the death on site of their husbands or fathers; in which case the women had to start themselves working onsite albeit in less demanding and specialised activities, until the project was terminated,
[6] Volume 105, page 107 of the Transaction of the Manchester Association for Masonic Research
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