MASONIC SAINTS JOHN

                        MASONIC SAINTS JOHN

St. John has always been a popular and much used name among

Freemasons.  An Entered Apprentice is asked from where he came 

and the answer-from a lodge of the Holy Saints John at Jerusalem. 

The name St. John came to be used for what is called Ancient,

Pure or Craft Masonry, meaning that it has not been despoiled by

innovations, particularly in the so-called higher degrees as the

Scottish and York Rites.  In that way, some lodges were called

St. John to indicate that they were of the Craft type, working

the three degrees of St. John Masonry.  This usage appears in the

constitution of the Grand Lodge of Scotland as late as 1845 where

it declares that body practices and recognizes no degrees of

Masonry but those of Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason.  

The workings in the Grand Lodge of the Philippines resemble that

of Scotland, when the Bible and Altar were instituted in the 

lodges, the point within a circle and the parallel lines repre-

senting the Holy Saints John, occupy a regular place in the

Preston and Webb lectures.

The Gothic Legends related back to the building of King 

Solomon's Temple approximately 1,000 years before there was a St.

John but, nevertheless, the first legendary lodge was said to be

that of St. John, presumably meaning a lodge at Jerusalem dedi-

cated to St. John the Baptist.  In some places, St. John the 

Evangelist, also called the Mystic, was deemed more to be revered

and was substituted.  In other places, it was not known why there

should be any necessity for choice, so that both were adopted as

Patron Saints and lodges came to be dedicated to the Holy Saints

John and were supposed to be replicas of some Lodge of the Holy 

Saints John at Jerusalem.

June 24 is the date designated to celebrate the feast of St. 

John, the Baptist, and December 27 is the date designated to 

celebrate the feast of St. John, the Evangelist.

Until 1904, lodges of the Grand Lodge of Virginia held the 

election of officers in June and installed them on June 24th.  

Many held both the election and installation on the same date, 

June 24th.  Fraternal Lodge, No. 53, on occasion held the elec

tion and installation in the early morning, celebrating the feast

with breakfast.

     Today, some lodges hold their election and installation of

officers on the Feast date of St. John, the Evangelist, December

the 27th.

     It is a pity that we do not celebrate these two festivals of

the Holy Saints John with feasting or Table Lodges on their 

designated days.