From the booklet – “PENETRATING THE VEIL”
– by David C. Bradley–Grand Master–1989-1990
This month’s issue is titled –
PENETRATING THE VEIL:
THE BACKGROUND
and
THE GOTHIC CATHEDRAL.”
(As the presentations in this website are available to all readers,
items involving the Second and Third Degrees will be excluded.)
THE BACKGROUND
Masonry is as broad as human nature. Its special spirit radiates in the life of every true Mason. Initiation is the entry into this world. The new member, having completed his journey through the three ceremonies is probably perplexed by the manner of entry into this different world. It is hoped that what follows will be a strong bridge to knowledge and an even greater stimulus to pursue personal research. Let us for a moment, however, go back in time.
THE GOTHIC CATHEDRAL
The imminent arrival of the year A.D.1000 caused a feeling of doom to prevail in Western Europe.
(A.D. 2000 caused a feeling of doom to prevail, world wide. Remember the concern about that computers would possible fail due to the clocks in them being set up for the years having only two digits. R.S.)
Many imagined that it would herald the end of the world. As that year passed, however, without any upheaval, the people, in their relief, began to build cathedrals to the glory of THE God to whom they attributed their survival. As timed progressed the buildings became more open, larger and more ornate and are referred to today as Gothic Cathedrals. These towering buildings were reaching to the sky to lead man to his Saviour and to glorify a beneficent God by the exquisite sculpture and the wondrous tracery of the windows an ceilings. The Gothic cathedral became a centre of community activity as well as a house of worship. In fact, these cathedrals are still being used for the same purposes for which were built so many centuries ago. This is not the occasion to narrate the story of architecture from solid Norman to the Decorative Gothic or so to recount the subsequent decadence of the style after A.D. 1350. The concern at this time lies more with the operative mason who constructed these wonderful edifices and with the conduct of his trade.
R.W. Bro. Robert South