Grand Masters of Scotland - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic ...

Michelangelo Merisi, known as Caravaggio for his birthplace in Lombardy in northern Italy, became one of the most influential artists
in Rome around the turn of the 17 th century. His art shocked many patrons and critics of the day, because he peopled his religious
compositions with realistic images
of the down and out of Rome, with their ragged clothing, dirty hands and feet, and all the physical signs of their dissolute life. But
Caravaggio was inspired by the Franciscans and the Oratorians of St. Philip Neri, who ministered to the poor and outcast whose
numbers swelled Rome in the early 1600s. Many peasants were thrown off the land by wars and upheavals, and came into the cities
as beggars and petty criminals.
Cardinal Girolamo Mattei, at whose Roman palace Caravaggio resided for two years, was a pious and reserved prelate who sat on
the papal commission overseeing morals and was the protector of the Observant Franciscans, the strictest of the Franciscan orders,
and of the Catholics of Ireland. He was
noted for his dedication to spreading the decrees of the Council of Trent. The typical elements of the Franciscan ethic -- abnegation,
obedience, and sacrifice -- seem to be expressed in Caravaggio's picture by the prominent gesture of Jesus' clasped hands.
Even though Caravaggio was not close to the Jesuits during his lifetime, Father Noel Barber, the Irish Jesuit Provincial Delegate,
observed that this picture which ended up in the hands of the Irish Jesuits is attuned to the method of the Spiritual Exercises of St.
Ignatius of Loyola, the Jesuit founder.
St. Ignatius urged the Christian to engage all five senses in the active contemplation of the Passion of Christ. The Catholic Church,
which was at that time defending the use of images for religious contemplation against the criticisms of the Protestants, understood
that visual images were more powerful than words and leave a direct and indelible imprint of the reality of the Incarnation.
The picture's history is as intriguing as its content. By the 1790s the old Roman noble families, including the Mattei, were in serious
decline. After the invasion of the French army under Napoleon in 1798, their predicament worsened by the imposition of heavy
taxes. Many aristocrats tried to salvage
their fortunes by selling the family's art collections. Thus in 1802, the Scottish aristocrat William Hamilton Nisbet purchased six
paintings from the Mattei family, including the "Taking of Christ" which slipped out of Italy under the mistaken name of "Gherardo
Della Notte," an Italian nickname for the Dutch follower of Caravaggio, Gerard Honthorst.
In 1921 it was purchased from the heirs of Nisbet by Dr. Marie Lea-Wilson.
12. The Hon. Francis Charteris of Amisfield, afterwards 7th Earl of Wemyss 1747-48
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wemyss%2C_5th_Earl_of_Wemyss [see above, 8th Grand Master of Scotland]
James Wemyss, 5th Earl of Wemyss (30 August 1699–21 March 1756) was the son of David Wemyss, 4th Earl of Wemyss.
On 17 September 1720, he married Janet Charteris and they had four children:
David Wemyss, 6th Earl of Wemyss (1721–1787)
Francis Charteris, 7th Earl of Wemyss (1723–1808) [below]
James Wemyss (1726–1786)
Frances Wemyss (d. 1789)
Francis Wemyss Charteris, 7th Earl of Wemyss (21 October 1723 – 24 August 1808) was the son of James Wemyss, 5th Earl of
Wemyss.
He was born with the name Francis Wemyss and on 24 February 1732, he legally changed it to Francis Wemyss Charteris
(adopting his mother's maiden name on the inheritance of the estates of his maternal grandfather, Colonel Francis Charteris). On 12
September 1745, he married Lady Katherine Gordon, daughter of the 2nd Duke of Gordon. They had two children:
Frances Charteris (d. 1848)
Francis Wemyss Charteris, Lord Elcho (1749–1808)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosford_House
Gosford House is the family seat of the Charteris family and is situated near
Longniddry in East Lothian, Scotland.
The chief of the name and arms of Charteris is (Francis) David Charteris, The
Rt. Hon. 12th Earl of Wemyss and 8th Earl of March. Lord Wemyss is the
present occupier of Gosford. Before Lord Wemyss' grandfather died he was
known as Lord Elcho.
Gosford was built by the 7th Earl of Wemyss between 1790 and 1800. It was
built to plans by Robert Adam, the great Scottish architect. Adam never got to
see Gosford completed. The 8th Earl knocked down the wings, his grandson
the 10th Earl of Wemyss and 6th Earl of March rebuilt the wings in 1890.
William Young was the architect for the new wings of 1890. The south wing contains the marble hall. Gosford is built in the classical
style, and the width of the front is twice the width of that of Buckingham Palace.
During World War II the army occupied the house and burnt out the main rooms of the central block. It was reroofed in 1987 and
restoration of the central block is an ongoing process which has seen serious progress in the last ten years, in a large part thanks to
Shelagh, The Countess of Wemyss and March. The ponds in the policies were recently restored by James Donald Charteris, Lord
Douglas of Neidpath who is heir apparent to the Earldom of Wemyss and March and is married to Amanda Feilding, Lady Neidpath.
Gosford is a beautiful place and can be seen from Edinburgh on a clear day. It is open to the public in the summer. The estate's vast
number of trees are tended to by the two Jimmys.
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