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

CONSECRATION
CONSTITUTIONS 175
had entered into an association, probably
with the idea of establishing a Grand Chapter .
On January 24, 1798, a convention of delegates
from Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, and New York was held at
Hartford, when a conference was had on the
subject of the two conventions, the delegates
from Connecticut uniting with those from the
other States in forming the "Grand Royal
Arch Chapter of the Northern States of America."
By the Constitution then adopted, the
"Deputy Grand Chapter" of Connecticut was
established . The title was changed in the subsequent
year for that of "Grand Chapter ."
Webb gives the precise date of the organization
of the Grand Chapter as May 17, 1798 .
(See Royal Arch Grand Bodies in America.)
The Grand Council of Royal and Select
Masters was organized in 1819 .
The Grand Encampment of Knights Templar
was organized September 13, 1827, but is
now known as the Grand Commandery .
Consecration. The appropriating or dedicating,
with certain ceremonies, anything to
sacred purposes or offices by separating it
from common use . Hobbes, in his Leviathan
(p. iv ., c . 44), gives the best definition of this
ceremony . "To consecrate is, in Scripture, to
offer, give, or dedicate, in pious and decent
language and gesture, a man, or any other
thin, to God, by separating it from common
use .' Masonic Lodges, like ancient temples
and modern churches, have always been consecrated.
The rite of consecration is performed
by the Grand Master, when the Lodge is said
to be consecrated in ample form; by the Deputy
Grand Master, when it is said to be consecrated
in due form ; or by the proxy of the
Grand Master, when it is said to be consecrated
in form. The Grand Master, accompanied
by his officers, proceeds to the hall of
the new Lodge, where, after the performance
of those ceremonies which are described in all
manuals and monitors, he solemnly consecrates
the Lodge with the elements of corn,
wine, and oil, after which the Lodge is dedicated
and constituted, and the officers installed
.
Consecration, Elements of. Those
things, the use of which in the ceremony as
constituent and elementary parts of it, are
necessary to the perfecting and legalizing of
the act of consecration . In Freemasonry, these
elements are corn, wine, and oil, which see .
Conservators of Masonry. About the
year 1859, a Mason of some distinction in
Ame*ica professed to have discovered, by his
researches, what he called "the true Preston-
Webb Work," and attempted to introduce it
into various jurisdictions, sometimes in opposition
to the wishes of the Grand Lodge and
leading Masons of the State . To aid in the
propagation of this ritual, he communicated it
to several persons, who were bound to use all
efforts-to some, indeed, of questionable propriety-to
secure its adoption by their respective
Grand Lodges. These Masons were
called by him "Conservators," and the order
or society which they constituted was called
the "Conservators' Association ." This association,
and the efforts of its chief to extend
his ritual, met with the very general disapproval
of the Masons of the United States,
and in some jurisdictions led to considerable
disturbance and bad feeling .
Conservators, Grand . See Grand Conservators
.
Consistory.- The meetings of members of
the Thirty-second Degree, or Sublime Princes
of the Royal Secret in the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite, are called Consistories .
The elective officers are, according to the ritual
of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United
States, a Commander-in-Chief, Seneschal,
Preceptor, Chancellor, Minister of State,
Almoner, Registrar, and Treasurer. In the
Northern Jurisdiction it is sli*htly different,
the second and third officers being called Lieutenant-Commanders
. A Consistory confers
the Thirty-first and Thirty-second degrees of
the Rite.
Consistory, Grand . See Grand Consisto
Constable, Grand . The fourth officer in a
Grand Consistory . It is the title which was
formerly given to the leader of the land forces
of the Knights Templars .
Constantine. See Red Cross of Rome and
Constantine .
Constituted, Legally . The phrase, a
legally constituted Lodge, is of ten used Masonically
to designate any Lodge working
under proper authority, which necessarily
includes Lodges working under dispensation ;
although, strictly, a Lodge cannot be legally
constituted until it has received its warrant
or charter from the Grand Lodge . But so far
as respects the regularity of their work
Lodges under dispensation and warranted
Lodges have the same standing .
Constitution of a Lodge . Any number of
Master Masons, not less than seven, being desirous
of forming a new Lodge, having previously
obtained a dispensation from the
Grand Master, must apply by petition to the
Grand Lodge of the State in which they reside,
praying for a Charter, or Warrant of Constitution,
to enable them to assemble as a regular
Lodge . Their petition being favorably received,
a warrant is immediately granted, and
the Grand Master appoints a day for its consecration
and for the installation of its officers .
The Lodge having been consecrated, the
Grand Master, or person acting as such, declares
the brethren "to be constituted and
formed into a regular Lodge of Free and Accepted
Masons," after which the officers of
the Lodge are installed. In this declaration of
the Master, accompanied with the appropriate
ceremonies, consists the constitution of the
Lodge . Until a Lodge is thus legally constituted,
it forms no component of the constituency
of the Grand Lodge, can neither elect
officers nor members, and exists only as a
Lodge under dispensation at the will of the
Grand Master .
Constitutions of 1762 . This is the name
of one of that series of Constitutions, or Reg