Last night at Biltmore Lodge began at 6:15 with a BBQ supper.  Our Master, WB Hazelrigg, provided the Lil Pigs BBQ pork and chicken with all the fixings along with dessert.  The evening continued with Brother Michael Ogus serving as Master.  He presented a ‘Masonic Minute’ by offering several sports quotes from notable Freemasons.  This was followed by the final installment of the story of the murder of NC State Highway Patrol Officer George Penn in 1937.  WB Norman Goering highlighted the efforts to honor Officer Penn over the years culminating in the naming of an I-40 bridge in Buncombe County after Penn.

Our calendar has next Tuesday as a Brews Brothers gathering at Hillman Brewing after close of lodge.  The following Tuesday, October 7, will have Brother David Anderson presenting a talk on Count Saint Germain. 

You can’t get this kind of fraternal gathering and interesting topics by sitting at home.  Please join us.

Oh, lest I forget!  We have new projector provided by an anonymous brother.  He knows who he is and I, on behalf of the lodge, would like to thank him.

Masonic Funerals

In the second section of the Master Mason’s degree we discover that the Master Architect at the building of Solomon’s Temple was murdered and his body hastily buried in the ground by the perpetrators.  Later it is found and transported to the temple where we are informed that it was buried in due form.  Here we run into a bit of confusion about how it was prepared for burial.  One would assume from the line found in the Bahnson Manual “where the body was buried in due form” referred to a traditional burial of the whole body in the ground.   Further on in the text we read that on the marble monument erected to his memory is found a female figure is holding an urn in her left hand.  The account continues and informs us that within the urn are the ashes of the slain architect.  So what was it, burial of the body or cremation?  The ritual text is not wholly clear on the answer.

Before we delve further into Freemasonry’s view on the subject let us step back in time and learn a bit of history related to cremation.

Burning a corpse as a final rite of passage has been in practice since prehistoric times. There is evidence that people cremated bodies in China as early as 8000 B.C. Cremation was commonly adopted in some parts of Greece but never became widespread, disappearing by 480 B.C. In Sweden, the majority of funerals were cremations throughout the Iron Age and Viking Age, but stopped once Christianity was introduced (A.D. 1050). In the Western Roman Empire, cremation was the standard until the first century A.D., often associated with military honors. With the spread of Christianity, cremation was frowned upon and disappeared for the most part in Europe by the fifth century A.D., except in unusual cases such as epidemics or war.

During the French Revolution, groups such as the (French) Freemasons, revolutionaries and anarchists promoted cremation as a way of reducing the church's role in the funeral process. Partly because of this association, the Roman Catholic Church opposed the use of cremation until the 20th century.

In Asia, cremation became popular in areas of Buddhist influence under certain dynasties in China and Korea until about A.D. 1300. The advent of Neo-Confucianism in the 14th century brought burials back to the forefront in parts of Asia.

Modern cremation began in the late 1800s with the invention of a practical cremation chamber by Professor Brunetti, who presented it at the 1873 Vienna Exposition. Championed by Queen Victoria's surgeon, Sir Henry Thompson, and driven by public concern for hygiene and health and clerical desires to reform burial practices, crematories slowly began opening in Europe and abroad. The first modern crematory in America was established in Pennsylvania in 1876.

Today, cremation is practiced in at least 31 countries around the world.

What does modern Freemasonry have to say about cremation?  That depends on what era and in what country.  During research for this article a piece from the New York Times of 1895 entitled “CREMATION NOT CHRISTIAN BURIAL; The Masons of Pennsylvania Refuse to Recognize It”.

In the article a prominent restaurateur died and the family stated that the deceased had requested a Masonic service and that the body was to be cremated.  The article continued by saying that the Masonic organizations the man belonged to were invited to take part.  It was learned by the Masonic bodies that the services would be conducted after the body had been cremated.  Under Masonic law at that time this type of burial would have been considered un-Christian.  The matter was referred to the Grand Master of Pennsylvania who promptly rendered a decision that the Masons would not assist in the burial since it was not a Christian burial.

It is odd that the Masonic Fraternity who accepts men of “every country, sect and opinion” should have sided with the current attitude of the Christian church at that time over cremation.  It is without a doubt that the Roman Catholics forbade cremation but many protestant denominations were beginning to accept the practice.  The Catholic Church, via Vatican II, finally lifted its restriction in 1965.  One must realize that the practice of waiting three days before burial and the internment of the whole body came from the Christian belief that Jesus was buried for three days before his resurrection.  Also, the vast majority of Masons were Christian.

In the archives of our lodge is a 1948 copy of “THE CODE CONSTITUTIONS AND REGULATIONS” of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina (GLoNC).  In chapter 90-18 we find the following: “A lodge may hold a Masonic burial service over a brother who was insane, or who has committed suicide, or over the ashes of a brother who has been cremated if they are to be buried.”

From an even older Constitution of the GLoNC, estimated to have been published at least twenty years earlier than my 1948 CODE, there is found no reference to cremation.  This lack of a reference to cremation prompted an Internet only to discover that the disposal of the body via fire was not an accepted custom in the Southern United States until recent years and therefore Masonry, not wanting to step on toes or raise an undue discussion, simply chose not to address the subject.

From the web site ‘National Library of Medicine’ we fin the following paragraph:

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the newly formed Kingdom of Italy was in open conflict with the Catholic Church. It is easy to understand how some political and social currents related to Freemasonry could approve the spread of the idea of cremation as a new civil religion. Equally understandable is the valiant opposition to cremation of the Catholic hierarchy, especially in Italy. The Vatican decree of May 19, 1886, officially condemned the practice of cremation, associating it to Freemasonry and launching an excommunication against their members. There was very little, if any, religious opposition to cremation to be found in the rest of Europe and the world at large.

Whether this is true or some hype picked up by the web site from Catholic sources is unknown.

The CODE was amended and in chapter 82-2 lodges were allowed to conduct services over ashes.  Another change to The CODE was the allowance of A Lodge of Sorrow (see chapter 82-4 of The Code).  Lodges previously had to open a Lodge on the Master Mason’s Degree in order to conduct a funeral.  Once the proceedings in the lodge were concluded the Craft would then travel to the church or place of internment to conduct the Masonic Rites.  Many Lodges were unable to gather the number of men necessary to open a Lodge for such work and were having to basically skirt the rules in order to conduct a service.  The Lodge of Sorrow removed the need to open a Lodge at each event.  Biltmore Lodge fought the need for the Lodge of Sorrow for many years but in 2019 we relented and are now doing so. 

Several years ago Biltmore Lodge established through our Bylaws that the Initiation Fee for the degrees will be $200.00.  Recently the Grand Lodge has added to the cost by implementing a $100.00 ‘New Member Packet’ fee.  This then brings the Total Fee to $300.00.  In addition to this there is a $33.50 Investigation Fee.

If someone wishes to petition Biltmore Lodge for The Degrees of Masonry please provide them a copy of the Form 17 Petition.  I have included a downloadable Form 17 (please print on front and back of page and not 2 sheets).  On the reverse side is the schedule of fees.  Please note that the Investigation Fee is to be paid separately and is not refundable in the event that the petitioner is rejected. 

Also, instruct the petitioner to answer all questions and provide all needed information and to sign it.