The Degree Rituals The Supreme Council, 33 ... - Scottish Rite, NMJ

The Degree Rituals
The Twenty-sixth “Gettysburg” Degree
The development of the ritual of the 26° has been a drama in itself and at
times along the way has been a center of intense controversy. The earliest
surviving ritual for the degree dates only from the mid-1850’s. More recently,
there have been four different rituals for the 26° within the space of 65 years.
The 26° was not part of the Rite of Perfection. Thus, no mention of it appeared
in the Francken Manuscript. In fact, it was not mentioned in any of
the early ritual sources until 1805 (Doszedardski’s manuscript), and then only
by name, without more. According to the Masonic scholar Albert Mackey,
the original title of the degree, (translated from the French) “Prince of Mercy
or Scottish Trinitarian,” referred to the “Triple Covenant” made by God with
humanity through Abraham, Moses, and Jesus Christ.
We have no written ritual for the 26° before Albert Pike’s 1855 opus of 53
pages. The setting of Pike’s ritual was the catacombs of ancient Rome. Pike’s
inevitable series of long lectures described the tribulations of early Christians
during the Persecution of Emperor Domitian. At the Union of 1867 the Pike
ritual for the 26° (there was no other) was adopted by the Northern Jurisdiction
and, except for an abridgement of (only) 31 pages in 1911, remained in
use for 75 years.
In 1938, the Committee on Rituals reported bluntly that the ritual of the
26° “failed utterly to teach the quality of mercy as it should be taught in the
Scottish Rite.” Soon thereafter, the committee settled on what appeared to be
a more satisfactory theme, the Old Testament story of Joseph and his brethren.
A tentative ritual was approved for trial exemplification in 1940. It was based
on a play, Joseph and His Brethren, written for public presentation by Ill.
Ernest W. Hotchkiss, 33°, a member of the Valley of Detroit.
Although other compositions on the subject were considered, the substance
of the tentative ritual was approved as the 26° Ritual of 1942. Preceded
by the customary ceremonial opening, reception, and prologue, the allegory
of “Joseph and His Brethren” was dramatized in five scenes, exemplifying the
lesson of the degree, mercy.
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