Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

BRIDGE
BRIGHT 119
the Rhone, and, being inspired by God, he
undertook to build a bridge over that rapid
river at Avignon . He obtained the approbation
of the Bishop, proved his mission by
miracles, and began the work in 1177, which
he directed during seven years . He died when
the difficulty of the undertaking was over, in
1184 . His body was buried upon the bridge
itself, which was not completely finished till
four years after his decease= the structure
whereof was attended with miracles from the
first laying of the foundations till it was completed,
in 1188 ."
Divesting this account, which Butler has
drawn from the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists,
of the miraculous, the improbable,
and the legendary, the naked fact remains
that Benezet was engaged, as the principal
conductor of the work, in the construction of
the magnificent bridge at Avignon, with its
eighteen arches . As this is the most ancient
of the bridges of Europe built after the commencement
of the restoration of learning, it is
most probable that he was, as he is claimed
to have been, the founder of that Masonic
corporation of builders who, under the name
of Brethren of the Bridge, assisted him in the
undertaking, and who, on the completion of
their task, were engaged in other parts of
France, of Italy, and of Germany, in similar
labors .
After the death of Saint Benezet, he was
succeeded by Johannes Benedictus, to whom,
as "Prior of the Bridge," and to his brethren, a
charter was granted in 1187, by which they
obtained a chapel and cemetery, with a chaplain.
In 1185, one year after the death of Saint
Benezet, the Brethren of the Bridge commenced
the construction of the Bridge of
Saint Esprit, over the Rhone at Lyons. The
completion of this work greatly extended the
reputation of the Bridge Builders, and in 1189
they received a charter from Pope Clement
III . The city of Avignon continued to be
their headquarters, but they gradually entered
into Italy, Spain, Germany, Sweden,
and Denmark. The Swedish chronicles mention
one Benedict, between the years 1178
and 1191, who was a Bishop and bridge
builder at Skara, in that kingdom . Could he
have been the successor, already mentioned,
of Benezet, who had removed from Avignon
to Sweden? As late as 1590 we find the Order
existing at Lucca, in Italy where, in 1562,
John de Medicis exercised t&e functions of its
chief under the title of Magister, or Master .
How the Order became finally extinct is not
known ; but after its dissolution much of the
property which it had accumulated passed
into the hands of the Knights Hospitalers or
Knights of Malta.
The guild or corporation of Bridge Builders,
like the corporation of Traveling Freemasons,
from which it was an offshoot, was a religious
institution, but admitted laymen into the society
. In other words, the workmen, or the
eat body of the guild, were of course secular,
but the patrons were dignitaries of the Church .
t
When by the multiplication of bridges the
necessity of their employment became less
urgent, and when the numbers of the workmen
were greatly increased, the patronage of
the Church was withdrawn, and the association
was dissolved, or soon after fell into decay ;
its members, probably, for the most part, reuniting
with the corporations of Masons from
whom they had originally been derived . Nothing
has remained in modern Masonry to preserve
the memory of the former connection of
the Order with the bridge builders of the Middle
Ages, except the ceremony of opening a
bridge, which is to be found in the rituals of
the last century ; but even this has now become
almost obsolete .
Lenning, who has appropriated a brief article
in his Encyclopddie der Freimaurerei to the
Bruckenbriider, or Brethren of the Bridge, incorrectly
calls them an Order of Knights .
They took, he says, vows of celibacy and poverty,
and also to protect travelers, to attend
upon the sick, and to build bridges, roads,
and hospitals . Several of the inventors of
high degrees have, he thinks, sought to revive
the Order in some of the degrees which they
have established, and especially in the Knights
of the Sword, which appears in the Ancient
and Accepted Rite as the Fifteenth Degree, or
Knights of the East ; but I can find no resemblance
except that in the Knights of the
Sword there is in the ritual a reference to a
river and a bridge . I am more inclined to believe
that the Nineteenth Degree of the same
Rite, or Grand Pontiff, was once connected
with the Order we have been considering ; and
that, while the primitive ritual has been lost
or changed so as to leave no vestige of a relationship
between the two, the name which is
still retained may have been derived from the
FrPres Pontifes of the twelfth century .
This, however, is mere conjecture, without
any means of proof . All that we do positively
know is, that the bridge builders of the Middle
Ages were a Masonic association, and as such
axe entitled to a place in all Masonic histories .
Brief. The diploma or certificate in some
of the high degrees is so called .
Bright. A Mason is said to be "bright "
who is well acquainted with the ritual, the
forms of opening and closing, and the ceremonies
of initiation . This expression does
not, however, in its technical sense, appear to
include the superior knowledge of the history
and science of the Institution, and many
bright Masons axe, therefore, not necessarily
learned Masons ; and, on the contrary, some
learned Masons are not well versed in the exact
phraseology of the ritual. The one knowledge
depends on a retentive memory, the other
is derived from deep research . It is scarcely
necessary to say which of the two kinds of
knowledge is the more valuable . The Mason
whose acquaintance with the Institution is
confined to what he learns from its esoteric
ritual will have but a limited idea of its science
and philosophy . And yet a knowledge
of the ritual as the foundation of higher
knowledge is essential.