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

COMMUNION
COMPAGNONAGE 171
But it is said that the Grand Master Inigo
Jones instituted quarterly communications
at the beginning of the seventeenth century
(Constitutions, 1738, p . 99), which were continued
by his successors, the Earl of Pembroke
and Sir Christopher Wren, until the infirmities
of the latter compelled him to neglect
them . On the revival in 1717, provision was
made for their resumption ; and in the twelfth
of the thirty-nine Regulations of 1721 it was
declared that the Grand Lodge must have
a quarterly communication about Michaelmas,
Christmas, and Lady-Day . (Constitutions,
1723, p . 61 .) These quarterly communications
are still retained by the Grand Lodge
of England, and in America by the Grand
Lodge of Massachusetts, but all other American
Grand Lodges have adopted the old system
of annual communications .
Communion of the Brethren . See
Bread, Consecrated .
Como. Capital of the Province of Como
in northern Italy, situated at S . end of W .
branch of Lake of Como, about thirty miles
from Milan, and to-day is an industrial city .
Its interest to Masons is on account of it
being the center from which radiated the Comacme
Masters, who descended from the
Roman Colleges of Artificers and who built
for the Lombards and others during their
reign and carried their Art and influence into
the Cathedral building of the Renaissance .
(See Comacine Masters .)
The archeologists have determined the form
of the older city of Roman times to have been
rectangular, enclosed by walls. Towers were
constructed on
walls in the
twelfth century
. Portions
of the walls are
now to be seen
in the garden
of Liceo Volta .
Baths common
in all Roman
cities have
been discov-
PARAPET OF THE OLD CHURCH
OF ST. ABBONDIO. MILAN,
NINTH CENTURY.
ered . Fortifications
erected
previous to
1127 were
largely constructed
with
Roman inscribed
sepulchral
urns and
other remains,
in which most
all Roman
cities were unusually
rich .
It is usual
to record that
Como was the
birthplace of
the elder and younger Pliny . The younger
Pliny had a villa here called Comedia and
was much interested in building the city,
having founded baths, a library, and aided in
charity for the support of orphan children .
Of the many letters of the younger Pliny
that remain, one is to his builder, Mustio, a
Comacine architect, commissioning him to
restore the temple of the Eleusinian Ceres, in
which, after explaining the form of design he
wished it to take, he concludes : " . . at least,
unless you think of something better, you,
whose Art can always overcome difficulties
of position."
There was an early church of SS . Peter and
Paul in the fifth century that stood outside
of the town, and the site is now occupied
by the Romanesque church of St . Abbondio,
founded 1013, and consecrated 1095 . There
are found many interesting intrecci remains
of early carvings of the Comacine or Solomon's
Knob . (See cut .)
On a site of an earlier church stands the
present Cathedral of Como, which is built
entirely of marble . It was begun in 1396, but
was altered in 1487-1526 into Renaissance .
Authors disagree as to whether the church was
restored or rebuilt. The facade, 1457-86, follows
in its lines the old Lombard form but
the dividing pilasters are lavishly enriched,
being perpendicular niches with a statue in
each.
Scott says that "During the years from
1468 to [492, the books of the Lodge, preserved
in the archives, abound in names of
Magistri from the neighborhood of Como,
both architects and sculptors, and among
them was Tommaso Rodari, who entered the
Lodge in 1490, with a letter of recommendation
from the Duke, advising that he be
specially trained in the Art of Sculpture .
He and four others were sent to Rome to remain
ten years, and perfect themselves in
sculpture, to study the antique, and to return
to the laborerium as fully qualified masters ."
Rodari returned and sculptured a most beautiful
North door of the Cathedral in rich ornate
Renaissance style, although the lions
are still under the columns, thus preserving a
Comacine symbol so universally common in
earlier times of pure Lombard style.
The history of Como as a city with her various
fortunes and defeats during the invasions
of barbarians and her long conflicts with her
old enemy, Milan, may be found elsewhere .
What interests us is the early colonization by
Rome and her subsequent relations to Architecture
at the Renaissance .
Soon after 89 B .c . Rome sent 3,000 colonists
to Como, and Artificers were certainly
among them, and in 59 B .C. Caesar sent 5,000
more, and the place received the name Novum
Comum and received Latin rights . (See
Comacine Masters .)
Compagnon . In French Masonry, a Fellow-Craft
is so called, and the grade du Compagnon
is the degree of Fellow-Craft .
Compagnonage. This is the name which
is given in France to certain mystical associations
formed between workmen of the same
or an analogous handicraft, whose object
is to afford mutual assistance to the mem-