Holy Royal Arch - History

History

While tantalising glimpses of Royal Arch vocabulary appear in Masonic literature from the 1720s, the first verifiable appearance of Royal Arch Masonry is in Ireland in the 1740s. The Arch is held aloft by two "Excellent Masons" in a Dublin Procession, and the degree is mentioned disapprovingly in Dr. Dassigny's "Serious and Impartial Inquiry" of 1744. Separate notes in this work indicate that the rite was practised in Dublin, London and York, and described it as an "organis'd body of men who have passed the chair" (i.e. served as the Master of a lodge).

Laurence Dermott, the Ancient's Grand Secretary, was exalted (admitted to a Royal Arch Chapter) in Dublin in 1746. Until much later, the degree was restricted to masons who had served as Master of a lodge. Dermott regarded it as the fourth degree. However, the degree was met with hostility in the original, Moderns Grand Lodge. In 1764, a lodge of Scottish masons attached to the Ancients switched to become Caledonian Lodge under the Moderns. The next year, they assisted in setting up a chapter admitting masons from the Moderns constitution, and in 1766, with the exaltation of the Grand Master, Lord Blayney, it became the "Excellent Grand and Royal Arch Chapter", taking on administrative responsibilities and becoming the first Grand Chapter. James Heseltine, the Grand Secretary of the Moderns appeared to be hostile to Royal Arch Masonry, writing to a senior German mason that "It is part of Masonry but has no connection with Grand Lodge". He was also a participant, and one of the signatories on the charter establishing Grand Chapter. The minutes of Grand Chapter show that it met in the Turks Head, in Soho, the same tavern that had recently hosted the birth of the Ancients Grand Lodge. Unusually, a mason was elected to hold the office of Z (head officer of the Chapter) in the absence of the Grand Master and Deputy Grand Master. That man was Thomas Dunckerley, later appointed Grand Superintendent, who promoted Royal Arch masonry in the Modern's provincial lodges with considerable energy and success.

At Dermott's instigation, the Ancients formed their own Grand Chapter, which met for the first time in 1774. Its members were Grand Lodge officers who happened to hold that degree, its meetings were ordained by Grand Lodge, and its proceedings approved by that same body. While the Moderns' Grand Chapter was independent out of necessity, the Ancients' was tied to Grand Lodge. For these masons, the Royal Arch became recognised as the fourth degree, open to those who had served as a master of a lodge. The Grand Chapter was little more than a cipher, registering names and processing fees (for submission to Grand Lodge). Effective governance of the Royal Arch rested with Grand Lodge and the individual lodges that worked the degree.

As the two Grand Lodges moved towards union, Royal Arch masonry became a sticking point. The "word" of the Royal Arch was still embedded in the Moderns third degree, and even appeared on some of their floorcloths and tracing boards. The Act of Union started with the compromise, that "Pure and Antient" masonry had only three degrees, the Entered Apprentice, the Fellowcraft, and "the Master Mason, including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch". Although the Antient and Modern Grand Lodges united in 1813, it was another four years before the formation of the "Supreme Grand Chapter" in 1817. The Antient's Grand Chapter had, however, ceased meeting after 1813, and their remaining members were simply absorbed into what had been the Moderns Grand Chapter. The last significant constitutional development in English Royal Arch Masonry occurred in 1823, when Master Masons were allowed to join chapter without passing through the chair of a Craft Lodge. Much of the ritual was reformed in 1835, when part of the ceremony known as "Passing the Veils" was dropped. It was re-adopted by Bristol Chapters at the turn of the next century.