Order of Mark Master Masons
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The Order of Mark Master Masons is an appendant order of Freemasonry that exists in some Masonic jurisdictions, and confers the degrees of Mark Man and Mark Master.[1]
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[edit] Administrative structure
The administration of this degree varies greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, though in all jurisdictions, the candidate is required to be a Master Mason to be eligible for this degree.
In England, Europe and Australasia, the Mark Degree is conferred in separately warranted Lodges under the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons. The candidate for advancement is required to be a Master Mason. In England and Wales, the governing body is The Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England and Wales and its Districts and Lodges Overseas, which also controls the Royal Ark Mariner degree; conferred in separately warranted Royal Ark Mariner Lodges.
In Scotland, the Mark Degree is conferred in a Craft lodge and is seen as completion of the Fellowcraft degree, although the candidate is required to be a Master Mason. The degree may alternatively, and exceptionally, be conferred in a Holy Royal Arch Chapter as a prerequisite for exaltation to the HRA. His entry into the Chapter is preceded by a short ceremony of Mark Lodge Affiliation, if the candidate has already been advanced into the Mark degree.
In the US, this degree forms part of the York Rite.
[edit] Allegorical legend
Similarly to Craft Freemasonry, the Mark Degree conveys moral and ethical lessons using a ritualised allegory based around the building of King Solomon's Temple. The events of the degree require the candidate to undertake the role of a Fellowcraft, thus the degree is seen as an extension of the Fellowcraft Degree and the philosophical lessons conveyed are appropriate to that stage in a candidate's Masonic development.
[edit] History
There are many old mason's marks on buildings, as well as references to formally making or registering marks in operative Scottish minute books and by-laws and in old statutes and rituals. This evidence indicates the working of some form of the Mark Degree as early as 1599[citation needed]. The earliest record of the degree being worked in a speculative body was in 1769 in Portsmouth, England, under the direction of Thomas Dunckerley.[citation needed]
Thereafter the degree, like many of the appendant degrees, was worked in Craft Lodges and Royal Arch Chapters, particularly under the Antients Grand Lodge of York. This Grand Lodge was of the opinion that any Masonic degree could be worked in a Craft lodge. The minutes of these Antients lodges record that on occasion, more than one degree was worked in a Craft lodge at a time.[citation needed]
Following the Union of the Antients and Moderns Grand Lodges and the formation of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1813, the articles of union stated that there would be three Craft degrees only, including the Royal Arch, excluding the Mark degree. Many lodges continued to work the degree with a number of London masons obtaining a warrant from the Bon Accord Chapter in Aberdeen.[citation needed] This resulted in some friction between England and Scotland, which led to the creation of a Mark Grand Lodge in 1856, reaching an agreement on common ceremonial by 1860. In March 1856 UGLE resolved that the degree should be "a graceful addition" to Craft Masonry under proper regulations; however the Grand Lodge minutes were not confirmed at the next meeting in June.[citation needed]
As Freemasonry spread around the globe in the 18th and 19th centuries, Mark Masonry became well established and now has a worldwide presence, with six daughter Grand Lodges and the degree being worked under alternative administrative structures elsewhere. In England, the current Mark Grand Master, HRH Prince Michael of Kent, is the younger brother of the Craft Grand Master, HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent.
[edit] References
- ^ Jackson, Keith B. Beyond the Craft. London: Lewis Masonic, 2005. ISBN 09780853182481
