Encyclopedia Masonica

A secret society of gangsters organized about 1820 at Naples. The name is a Spanish word meaning quarrel and similar societies are reported as active in Spain before they were heard of in Italy. From local organized criminals the society grew to revolutionary power in elections and from 1848 exercised a control only broken by the government in 1877. Still powerful in defeat, the municipality of Naples as recently as 1900 was set aside by a Royal Commission.

A double murder in 1911 resulted in the arrest and trial of forty conspirators, several condemned to long imprisonment. The initiation is said to have required the candidate to pick up a coin while the others present struck at it with daggers.

Later there was a fight or duel instead of this. Training of new members lasted three years and at reception the initiate was pledged to loyalty by an oath repeated while his uplifted hand was wet with his own blood. Today the Camorra is curbed, but mysterious crimes in other lands and at home are sometimes credited to its venom (see Carbonari, Mafia, and Secret Societies).

The Encyclopedia Masonica exists to preserve the wealth of information that has been generated over the centuries by numerous Masonic authors. As Freemasonry is now Speculative and not Operative, the work of a Mason is now conducted in the quarries of symbolism, literature, history and scholasticism. Freemasonry encourages intellectual exploration and academic achievement in its members and many Masons over the years have taken up this calling. The result has been that an incredible amount of philosophy, symbolic speculation and academic insights have been created. However, as Freemasonry teaches, human knowledge is frail and fragile. It is easily lost in the turnings of the ages and unforeseen catastrophes can result in great setbacks to human knowledge.

For too long these great works have sat on forgotten shelves, gathering dust and concealing the light that could be shed on the darkness of our ignorance. The Encyclopedia Masonica has been created to act as an ark, sailing through time, to ensure that future generations of Freemasons have access to the same knowledge that inspired the Brethren that came before them. It will contain the works of such Masonic Luminaries as Albert G. Mackey, Manly Palmer Hall, G.S.M. Ward, Albert Pike and many others. The Encyclopedia Masonica is a living work and the volunteers of Universal Co-Masonry will continue to labor until the most comprehensive Masonic reference work the world has ever seen has been created. The Encyclopedia Masonica is open to any who wish to use it and will remain open so that the treasures contained within may increase the wealth of all those who seek its wisdom.