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

188 CROSS
CROSS
Cross, St . Andrew's. A saltier or cross
whose decussation is in the form of the letter
X . Said to be the form of
cross on which St. Andrew
suffered martyrdom . As he is
the patron saint of Scotland,
the St. Andrew's cross forms a
part of the jewel of the Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge of
Scotland which is "a star set
with brilliants having in the
centre a field azure, charged
with St . Andrew on the cross, gold ; this is
pendant from the upper band of the collar,
while from the lower band is pendant the
jewel proper, the Compasses extended, with
the Square and Segment of a Circle of 90° ;
the points of the Compasses resting on the
Segment, and in the centre, the Sun between
the Square and Compasses." The St. Andrew's
cross is also the jewel of the Twentyninth
Degree of the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite, or Grand Scottish Knight of St .
Andrew.
Cross, Tau . The cross on which St . Anthony
is said to have suffered martyrdom . It
is in the form of the letter T .
(See Tau .)
Cross, Templar. Andr6
Favin, a French heraldic writer,
says that the original badge
of the Knights Templar was
a Patriarchal Cross, and
Clarke, in his History of
Knighthood, states the same
fact ; this but is an error .
At first, the Templars wore
a white mantle without any cross . But in
1146 Pope Eugenius III . prescribed for them
a red cross on the
breast, as a symbol
of the martyrdom to
which they were constantly
exposed . The
cross of the Hospitalers
was white on a
black mantle, and
that of the Templars
was different in color
but of the same form,
namely, a cross pattee . In this it differed
from the true Maltese Cross, worn by the
Knights of Malta, which was a cross pattt ;e,
the limbs deeply notched so as to make a
cross of eight points . Sir Walter Scott, with
his not unusual heraldic inaccuracy, and
Higgins, who is not often inaccurate, but only
fanciful at times, both describe the Templar
cross as having eight points, thus confounding
it with the cross of Malta . In the statutes of
the Order of the Temple, the cross prescribed
is that depicted in the Charter of Transmission,
and is a cross pattee.
Cross, Teutonic . The cross formerly
worn by the Teutonic Knights . It is described
in heraldry as "a cross potent, sable, (black,)
charged with another cross double potent or,
(gold,) and surcharged with an escutcheon
argent (silver,) bearing a double-headed eagle
(sable) ." It has been adopted as the jewel
of the Kadosh of the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite in the
United States but the
original jewe' of the
degree was a Latin or
Passion Cross.
Cross, Thrice Illustrious
Order of
the. Adegreeformerly
conferred in this country
on Knights Templar,
but now extinct. Its meetings were called
Councils, and under the authority of a body
which styled itself the Ancient Council of the
Trinity . The degree is no longer conferred .
Cross, Triple . See Cross of Salem .
Cross-Bearing Men . (Viri Crucigeri .)
A name sometimes assumed by the Rosicrucians
. Thus, in the Miracula Natures (Anno
1619), there is a letter addressed to the Fraternity
of the Rosy Cross. which begins :
"Philosophi Fratres, Vin Crucigeri "-
Brother Philosophers, CrossBearing Men .
Cross, Jeremy L . A teacher of the Masonic
ritual, who, during his lifetime, was extensively
known, and for some time very
popular . He was born June 27, 1783, at Haverhill,
New Hampshire, and died at the same
place in 1861 . Cross was admitted into the
Masonic Order in 1808, and soon afterward
became a pupil of Thomas Smith Webb, whose
modifications of the Preston lectures and of
the higher degrees were generally accepted by
the Masons of the United States . Cross, having
acquired a competent knowledge of
Webb's system, began to travel and disseminate
it throughout the country . In 1819 be
published The True Masonic Chart or Hieroglyphic
Monitor, in which he borrowed liberally
from the previous work of Webb . In fact,
the Chart of Cross is, in nearly all its parts, a
mere transcript of the Monitor of Webb, the
first edition of which was published in 1797 .
Webb, it is true, took the same liberty with
Preston, from whose Illustrations of Masonry
he borrowed largely . The engraving of the
emblems constituted, however, an entirely new
and original feature m the Hieroglyphic Chart,
and, as furnishing aids to the memory, rendered
the book of Cross at once very popular ;
so much so, indeed, that for a long time it almost
altogether superseded that of Webb . In
1820 Cross published The Templars' Chart,
which, as a monitor of the degrees of chivalry,
met with equal success . Both of these
works have passed through numerous editions .
Cross received the appointment of Grand
Lecturer from many Grand Lodges, and traveled
for many years very extensively through
the United States, teaching his system of lectures
to Lodges, Chapters, Councils, and Encampments
.
He possessed little or no scholarly attainments,
and his contributions to the literature
of Masonry are confined to the two compilations
already cited . In his latter years he became
involved in an effort to establish a Supreme
Council of the Ancient and Accepted