CHAPTER III - The Ritual
Those who have moved from one jurisdiction to another and have faced the difficulty of un-learning and re-learning ritual, or have visited and observed the differences between our work and that in Great Britain or elsewhere in Canada, can only be amazed at the action of our founding Grand Council in dropping the English and Scottish rituals with which they must have been familiar, and adopting the one commonly used in New England. That this step was not taken lightly nor maintained easily is evident from the numerous letters and reviews written by our first Grand King, Joseph Conway Brown, who headed the Committee on Foreign Correspondence during his lifetime. Had we lacked the support of his ready wit and trenchant pen we should probably be labouring under a different ritual, and, in fact, it is doubtful if we should be marking our centennial in 1969. The decision on ritual, like the titles of officers, was no doubt taken with an eye to closer fraternal relations with our associates to the south.
Frequent references are found in Brown's writings to "that model of ritualists, M.E. John Sheville", and "the beautiful York rite as worked by all chapters in the United States", and the equally severe castigation of the rituals of the mother Grand Chapters of England and Scotland. A century later, those of us not charged with the need of decision and still happy with the choice, would scarcely go so far in condemnation of the sources from which we all derived our inspiration. In building his case, Brown sought to make it a strong one. It seems probable that he, like so many of us, had a natural bias in favour of the work he knew best, in his case, the "York" or American rite as practiced in the lodges and chapters of the United States.
Many of Brown's comments are very illuminating. In mentioning visits between Maine and St. Stephen, New Brunswick, where a Scottish chapter met, he says, "We hope that Maine will allow them to continue their visits, for nothing can sooner tend to the abolition of the Scottish ritual and its glowing inconsistencies than for intelligent companions made under it to see the magnificent Webb work". In reviewing Minnesota he says, "Our work is as was taught us by a disciple of John Sheville. We used the word York in contradistinction to the Modern or English work; our Grand Lodge set the example of assimilating with that practised in the United States, and the Chapter followed, the moment they had the opportunity to learn it". Concerning New York he wrote, "As far as English or Canadian ritual is concerned all he need ask is John Sheville, but as regards Scotch we can tell him something about it. It was until a year ago executed in St. Andrews Chapter here, and very nearly caused the extinction of that old established body. At our organization we adopted what we had learned from Companion Sheville and raised the Chapter to an enviable standard. Shortly afterwards the writer and his immediate superior, [Sircom, formerly of the Scottish Constitution ], made a careful examination of the Scotch Ritual with a nearnest attempt to find whether there was really any information to be gained. No light appeared to guide us and the document was unanimously voted to the nearest stove. Not even then could the slightest symbolism be extracted even in its death agonies."
That Brown had the full support of the first Grand Secretary, James Gossip, is clear from a letter by him on February 22nd, 1870, to Companion Josiah H. Drummond of Maine, when he says in part, "By our movement we have established on solid ground the beautiful ritual of the YORK degree, as practiced by our companions in the States: this is mainly owing to the persistence of Royal Union Chapter keeping it alive for years, but, had we not formed our Grand Chapter, it is difficult to say how the English the Scotch systems would have been propagated.
The need for some written aid to the memory was recognized as early as 1875 when Union Chapter of Yarmouth was considering its affiliation. To comprehend the serious communications gap, one has only to reflect on the great distances between many of the chapters,the difficulties of travel, and the impossibility of securing enough persons capable of imparting the continuing instruction that would have been necessary for purely oral transmission. A manuscript copy was therefore prepared and made available on loan to the High Priest of any chapter. But, as could have been expected, it was easier to send out than to get back. Its return from Shannon Chapter in 1888, in a tin box, under lock and key, was hailed by the Grand Secretary as a great Masonic discovery. Probably no one knew better than he the magnitude of the task of preparing a full long hand copy.
As time went on, Keith Chapter No. 4 of Truro, perhaps because of the happy accident of claiming several willing and able ritualists among its members, became the unofficial custodian of the work. The purity of their presentation was recognized by Grand Chapter in1906, and it was largely their work which appeared in the first published ritual in 1924. Five copies were distributed free to each Chapter and one to each Grand High Priest and Grand Superintendent.
In 1955 a new printing was made, with a few revisions and the rubrics in red. These have been available to members at a nominal price thus bringing the work within the reach of every student of the Royal Craft, and at the same time, we hope, retaining the interest of those who may move from one chapter to another. Instructions on the secret work are not included. It does contain a glossary of propernames, a list of questions for the candidate in each degree, and a suggested form of examination for a visitor.
The ceremonies of installation, following closely on the manual of Sheville and Gould, were adopted and printed in 1907. They remained in use until a revision in 1967.
The Board of Ritual, charged with the duty of reviewing and interpreting the ritual, came into being in 1927. It is composed of five members, including the Grand Secretary. Over the years there have been few points of order or presentation which have not come before the Board at some time or other, but questions still arise in the minds of new and less well informed Companions.
The last major challenge to the permanency of the ritual came in 1927 when the Grand Chapter of New Brunswick proposed that Nova Scotia go along with them in adopting a ritual recently revised and adopted in Ontario, thus establishing uniformity all over Canada. A member of the Board of Ritual inspected the work as exemplified in Montreal in 1929 by a chapter from Toronto, but a comparison of the two rituals failed to convince the Grand Chapter of Nova Scotia of the merit of making so drastic a change. As each year passes, the probability of doing so becomes more remote.
A Service of Re-dedication to the principles of Royal Arch Masonry, re-introduced in 1949, expressing thankfulness to God for the return of peace, has been continued in somewhat modified form annually in local Chapters. A fresh service has been prepared for Centennial year, to be distributed as a leaflet.
Frequent references are found in Brown's writings to "that model of ritualists, M.E. John Sheville", and "the beautiful York rite as worked by all chapters in the United States", and the equally severe castigation of the rituals of the mother Grand Chapters of England and Scotland. A century later, those of us not charged with the need of decision and still happy with the choice, would scarcely go so far in condemnation of the sources from which we all derived our inspiration. In building his case, Brown sought to make it a strong one. It seems probable that he, like so many of us, had a natural bias in favour of the work he knew best, in his case, the "York" or American rite as practiced in the lodges and chapters of the United States.
Many of Brown's comments are very illuminating. In mentioning visits between Maine and St. Stephen, New Brunswick, where a Scottish chapter met, he says, "We hope that Maine will allow them to continue their visits, for nothing can sooner tend to the abolition of the Scottish ritual and its glowing inconsistencies than for intelligent companions made under it to see the magnificent Webb work". In reviewing Minnesota he says, "Our work is as was taught us by a disciple of John Sheville. We used the word York in contradistinction to the Modern or English work; our Grand Lodge set the example of assimilating with that practised in the United States, and the Chapter followed, the moment they had the opportunity to learn it". Concerning New York he wrote, "As far as English or Canadian ritual is concerned all he need ask is John Sheville, but as regards Scotch we can tell him something about it. It was until a year ago executed in St. Andrews Chapter here, and very nearly caused the extinction of that old established body. At our organization we adopted what we had learned from Companion Sheville and raised the Chapter to an enviable standard. Shortly afterwards the writer and his immediate superior, [Sircom, formerly of the Scottish Constitution ], made a careful examination of the Scotch Ritual with a nearnest attempt to find whether there was really any information to be gained. No light appeared to guide us and the document was unanimously voted to the nearest stove. Not even then could the slightest symbolism be extracted even in its death agonies."
That Brown had the full support of the first Grand Secretary, James Gossip, is clear from a letter by him on February 22nd, 1870, to Companion Josiah H. Drummond of Maine, when he says in part, "By our movement we have established on solid ground the beautiful ritual of the YORK degree, as practiced by our companions in the States: this is mainly owing to the persistence of Royal Union Chapter keeping it alive for years, but, had we not formed our Grand Chapter, it is difficult to say how the English the Scotch systems would have been propagated.
The need for some written aid to the memory was recognized as early as 1875 when Union Chapter of Yarmouth was considering its affiliation. To comprehend the serious communications gap, one has only to reflect on the great distances between many of the chapters,the difficulties of travel, and the impossibility of securing enough persons capable of imparting the continuing instruction that would have been necessary for purely oral transmission. A manuscript copy was therefore prepared and made available on loan to the High Priest of any chapter. But, as could have been expected, it was easier to send out than to get back. Its return from Shannon Chapter in 1888, in a tin box, under lock and key, was hailed by the Grand Secretary as a great Masonic discovery. Probably no one knew better than he the magnitude of the task of preparing a full long hand copy.
As time went on, Keith Chapter No. 4 of Truro, perhaps because of the happy accident of claiming several willing and able ritualists among its members, became the unofficial custodian of the work. The purity of their presentation was recognized by Grand Chapter in1906, and it was largely their work which appeared in the first published ritual in 1924. Five copies were distributed free to each Chapter and one to each Grand High Priest and Grand Superintendent.
In 1955 a new printing was made, with a few revisions and the rubrics in red. These have been available to members at a nominal price thus bringing the work within the reach of every student of the Royal Craft, and at the same time, we hope, retaining the interest of those who may move from one chapter to another. Instructions on the secret work are not included. It does contain a glossary of propernames, a list of questions for the candidate in each degree, and a suggested form of examination for a visitor.
The ceremonies of installation, following closely on the manual of Sheville and Gould, were adopted and printed in 1907. They remained in use until a revision in 1967.
The Board of Ritual, charged with the duty of reviewing and interpreting the ritual, came into being in 1927. It is composed of five members, including the Grand Secretary. Over the years there have been few points of order or presentation which have not come before the Board at some time or other, but questions still arise in the minds of new and less well informed Companions.
The last major challenge to the permanency of the ritual came in 1927 when the Grand Chapter of New Brunswick proposed that Nova Scotia go along with them in adopting a ritual recently revised and adopted in Ontario, thus establishing uniformity all over Canada. A member of the Board of Ritual inspected the work as exemplified in Montreal in 1929 by a chapter from Toronto, but a comparison of the two rituals failed to convince the Grand Chapter of Nova Scotia of the merit of making so drastic a change. As each year passes, the probability of doing so becomes more remote.
A Service of Re-dedication to the principles of Royal Arch Masonry, re-introduced in 1949, expressing thankfulness to God for the return of peace, has been continued in somewhat modified form annually in local Chapters. A fresh service has been prepared for Centennial year, to be distributed as a leaflet.