The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 9 - Masonic and Anti-Masonic Literature 717
the brethren pay the rent of her room and supply her with food, asking her in turn
to educate and care for their half-orphan and neglected children. This play does
not reveal any lodge setting or action, but with unhidden self-praise demonstrates
the support given by the lodge to women who are entitled to receive it - here we
have again the reason for creating women's orders like the Eastern Star -
confining the ladies to their proper task: charity. Claudy admits his uneasiness
when creating this story for profane theater:
Well does the author realize that in departing from the particular form of
vehicle which has demonstrated both its need and its success, he has
crawled out on a limb which even gentle criticism may easily saw off
behind him! The field of Lodge room plays is small and particularly (if
not exclusively) his own; the field of the stage play is as wide as the
world and in it the greatest of playwrights have labored. 1759
We consider it a rather ineffective play, which, nevertheless, describes the
Masonic reality of supporting widows and orphans of Craft members, and also
the realistic behavior of the widow who does not believe that these "boys who
never grow up" could ever support her. In the following, three dramas for
Masonic audience will be briefly analyzed, which have been selected either for
being based upon special technical terminology, or because of their content
bearing relevance to history of the country and customs of the fraternity. Thus,
we have chosen the drama "Greater Love Hath No Man" for the purpose of
demonstrating the trespasses of Doric Lodge concerning initiation rules
prescribed by the Grand Lodge. "The Hearts of the Fathers" evolves around
special Masonic phraseology, the ceremony of "healing," while "A Gift in
Secret" fits in this row because it describes the Masonic treatment of Jews in
WW II America.
9.1.1.2 Masonic "Healing" in "Greater Love
Hath No Man..."
This particular drama has been chosen here because it illustrates the
"technical Masonic term which signifies to make valid or legal" 1760 , namely
"healing." The play is the second of the Doric Lodge series and originates from a
short story. It consists of three acts and was copyrighted in September 1936.
According to CME, to heal Masonically means "to cure the illegality of a body or
individual unlawfully created or made." 1761 Who can be healed, and why is it that
healing may be necessary in certain circumstances? The answer is given by the
1759 Claudy, "Apologia," p. 253.
1760 EFKS, p. 320.
1761 CME, p. 311.