Encyclopedia Masonica

The desire to select some suitable spot wherein to deposit the remains of our departed kindred and friends seems almost innate in the human breast.

The stranger's field was bought with the accursed bribe of betrayal and treason, and there is an abhorrence to depositing our loved ones in places whose archetype was so desecrated by its purchase-money.

The churchyard, to the man of sentiment, is as sacred as the church itself.

The cemetery bears a hallowed character, and we adorn its graves with vernal flowers or with evergreens to show that the dead, though away from our presence visibly, still live and bloom in our memories.

The oldest of all the histories that time has saved to us contains an affecting story of this reverence of the living for the dead, when it tells us how Abraham, when Sarah, his beloved wife, had died in a strange land, reluctant to bury her among strangers, purchased from the sons of Heth the cave of Machpelah for a burial-place for his people.

It is not, then, surprising that Freemasons, actuated by this spirit, should have been desirous to consecrate certain spots as resting-places for themselves and for the strange Brethren who should die among them

A writer in the London Freemason's Magazine for 1858 complained that there was not then in England a Masonic cemetery, nor portion of an established cemetery especially dedicated to the interment of the Brethren of the Craft. This neglect cannot be charged against the Freemasons of America, for there is scarcely a city or town of considerable size in which the Freemasons have not purchased and appropriated a suitable spot as a cemetery to be exclusively devoted to the use of the Fraternity.

These cemeteries are often, and should always be, dedicated with impressive ceremonies; and it was long to be regretted that our rituals provided no sanctioned form of service for these occasions.

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.