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Masonic Encyclopedia

v

The Hebrew letter is vau. The twenty-second letter in the English alphabet, of the Hebrew, numerical value of six . Its definition, a nail, which in form it represents, and as a Divine name connecte...

v. d. s. a.

Initials of a phrase in French, Zeus Dieu Saint Amour, Which may be understood as God wills holy love. Four words supposed to be repeated by the Fratres of the Temple during certain pauses in the cere...

vacancies in office

Every Masonic officer is elected and installed to hold his office for the time for which he has been elected, and until his successor shall be installed This is in the nature of a contract between the...

vagao or bagaos

Found in the Fourth Degree of the French Rite of Adoption

vale or valley

The vale or valle or vally was introduced at an early period into the symbolism of Freemasonry. A catechism of the beginning of the eighteenth century says that "the Lodge stands upon holy ground...

valhalla

The worth German or Scandinavian hall of the gods.

valley

In the Capitular Degrees of the French Rite, this word is used instead of Orient, to designate the seat of the Chapter. Thus on such a Body a document would be dated from the Valley of Paris, instead ...

van rensselaer, killian henry

Born 1799, died Jamlary 28, 1881. A native of Albany, New York State, and descendant of the well-known old Knickerbocker family, whose name he bore. He had held various positions ire Craft Massonry, b...

vassal, pierre gerard

A French physician and Masonic writer, who was born at Manosques, in France, October 24, 1769. He was intended by his parents for the Church, and entered the Seminary of Marseilles for the purpose of ...

vaughan, thomas

Wrote Famine and Confession of the Fraternity of R. C., and other similar books. Pen name was Eugenius Philalethes.

vault of steel

The French title is Voute d'ancier. The French Freemasons so call the Arch of Steel, which see.

vault, secret

As a symbol, the Secret Vault does not present itself in the first Degrees of Freemasonry. It is found only in the advanced Degrees, Such as the Royal Arch of all the Rites, where it plays an importan...

veadar

The Hebrew word. That is, the second Adar. A month intercalated by the Jews every few years between Adar and Nisan, so as to reconcile the computation by solar and lunar time. It commences sometimes i...

vedanga

A Sanskrit word meaning Limb of the Veda. A collection of Sanskrit works on the grammar, lexicography, chronology, and ritual of the Vedic text. They are older than the Upanishads, and are placed amon...

vedas

The most ancient of the religious writings of the Indian Aryans, and now constituting the sacred canon of the Hindus, being to them what the Bible is to the Christians, or the Koran to the Mohammedans...

veils, grand masters of the

Three officers in a Royal Arch Chapter of the American Rite, Whose duty it is to protect and defend the Veils off the Tabernacle, for which purpose they are presented with a sword. The jewel of their ...

veils, passing the

A rite performed as part of the Ritual of the Royal Arch Degree. In England this particular portion of the ceremony has generally been discontinued although it is still used in other countries.

veils, symbolism of the

Neither the construction nor the symbolism of the veils in the Royal Arch Tabernacle is derived from that of the Sinaitic. In the Sinaitic Tabernacle there were no veils of separation between the diff...

venerable

The title of the Worshipful Master in a French Lodge

venerable grand master of all symbolic lodges

The Twentieth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (see Graced Master of all Symbolic Lodges). The Dictionnaire Masonnique says that this Degree was formerly conferred on those Brethren in...

venerable, perfect

The French title is Venerable Parfait. A Degree in the collection of Viany

venezuela

A republic of South America. Lodges are reported to have been instituted in Venezuela by the Grand Orient of Spain during the years prior to 1824. At that time, however, a Lodge, Logia de la Concordia...

vengeance

A word used in the advanced Degrees. Barruel, Robison, and the other detractors of Freemasonry, have sought to find in this word a proof of the vindictive character of the Institution. "In the de...

verein deutscher freimaurer

Established at Potsdam, Germany, on May 19, 1861, this Association of German Freemasons was organized to labor for the development and promotion of Masonic ideals, to further the demands of Masonic Kn...

verger

An officer ill a Council of Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, whose duties are similar to those of a Senior Deacon in a Symbolic Lodge.

veritas

The Latin for Truth, a significant word in Templar Freemasonry (see Truth).

vermont

A Charter was issued November 10, 1781, for a Lodge to be instituted at Springfield, Vermont, but as meetings were held instead at Charlestown, New Hampshire, a plan was evolved to divide into two Lod...

vernhes, j. f.

A French litterateur and Masonic writer, who was in 1821 the Venerable of the Lodge la Parfaite Humanit, or Perfect Humanity, at Montpellier. He wrote an Essai sur l'Histoire de la Franche-Maonne...

vertot d'auboeuf, rene-aubert de

The Abb Vertot was born at the Chateau de Bennelot, in Normandy, in 1665. In 1715 the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta appointed him the Historiographer of that Order, and provided him with the Co...

vesica piscis

The fish rvas among primitive Christians a symbol of Jesus (see Fish). the Vesica Piscis, signifying literally the airbladder of a fish, but, as some suppose being the rough outline of a fish, was ado...

vessels of gold and silver

These utensils for the service of the First Temple, were almost numberless, according to Josephus. He gives the accompanying list of them: .................................................... Gold.......

vessels of gold and silver for the first temple

The vessels and vestments were always protected by a Hierophylax or Guardian.

veterans

Associations of Freemasons "who, as such, have borne the burden and heat of the day" for at least twenty-one years' active service--in the State of Conneetieut, thirty years. A number o...

vexillum belli

A war-flag. In classical Latin, Vezillum meant a Rag consisting of a piece of cloth fixed on a frame or cross-tree, as contradistinguished from a signum, or standard, which was simply a pole with the ...

viany, auguste de

A Masonic writer of Tuscany, and one of the founders there of the Philosphic Scottish Rite. He was the author of many discourses, dissertations, and didactic essays on Masonic subjects. He is, however...

viceroy eusebius

The name of the second officer in a Conclave of the Red Cross of Rome anal Constantine.

victoria

A state of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Grand Lodge of England established Australia Felix Lodge (helix being the Latin for fruitful and lucky) at Melbourne by Warrant dated April 2, 1841. The L...

victoria, alexandrina

For over sixty years reigned as Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India. Born 1819; the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent, who was Past Grand Master of Freemasons i...

vielle-bru, rite of

In 1748, the year after the alleged creation of the Chapter of Arras by the Young Pretender, Charles Edward, a new Rite, in favor of the cause of the Stuarts, was established at Toulouse by, as it is ...

villars, abbe montfaucon de

He was born in Languedoc in 1653, and was shot by one of his relatives, on the high road between Lyons and Paris, in l675. The Abb Villars is celebrated as the author of She Count de Gabalis, or Conve...

vincere aut mori

A Latin term that is in French, Vaincre ou Mourir, meaning Conquer or die. The motto of the Degree of Perfect Elect Freemason, the first of the Elus according to the Clermond or Templar system of Free...

vindications of masonry

Book by Brother Neil, 1810

vinton, david

A distinguished lecturer on Freemasonry, and teacher of the ritual in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. His field of labors was principally confined to the Southern States, and he taught hi...

violet

This is not a Masonic color, except in some of the advanced Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, where it is a symbol of mourning, and thus becomes one of the decorations of a Sorrow Lod...

virgin islands

A group of some hundred islands belonging to the Leewat Islands in the West Indies. In 1760 the "Ancient" Grand Lodge of England authorized a Lodge on Virgin Gorda Island known as Virgin Gor...

virginia

Mention of Freemasonry in Virginia occurs in the Freemason's Pocket Companion by Auld and Smellie, published in 1765. Two Lodges are mentioned therein; Royal Exchange, No. 172, at Norfolk, and No...

virtute et silentio

This Latin motto By Virtue and Silelwee, and Gloria in E:rcelsis Deo, meaning Glory to God in the Highest, are of the Royal Order of Scotland.

visible masonry

In a Circular published March 18, 1775, by the Grand Orient of France, reference is made to two divisions of the Order, namely, Visible and Invisible Masonry. Did we not know something of the Masonic ...

visit, right of

Every affiliated Freemason in good standing has a right to visit any other Lodge, wherever it may be, as often as it may suit his pleasure or convenience; and this is called, in Masonic law, the Right...

visitation, grand

The visit of a Grand Master, accompanied by his Grand Officers, to a subordinate Lodge, to inspect its condition, is called a Grand Visitation. There is no allusion to anything of the kind in the Old ...

visiting brethren

Every Brother from abroad, or from any other Lodge, when he visits a Lodge, must be received with welcome and treated witch hospitality. He must be clothed, that is to say, Furnished with an Apron, an...

vitra

The representative deity of darkness in Vedie mythology, and the antagonist of Indra, as the personified light. Vitra also represents ignorance, superstition, fanaticism, and intolerance, the opponent...

vivat

"Vivat! vivat! vivat!" is the acclamation which accompanies the honors in the French Rite. Bazot (Manuel, page 165) says it is "the Cry of joy of Freemasons of the French Rite." Vi...

vogel, paul joachini sigismund

A distinguished Masonic writer of Germany, who was born in 1753. He was at one time co- rector of the Sebastian School at Altdorf, and afterward First Professor of Theology and Ecclesiastical Counselo...

voigt, friederich

A Doctor of Medicine, and Professor and Senator at Dresden. He was a member of the advanced Degrees of the Rite of Strict Observance, where his Order name was Eques Falcone or Knight of the Falcon. I...

voishnuvus

Those who worship Vishnu, in white garments, and abstain from animal food. Believers in the third member of the Trimurti according to Hindu mythology, in him who was believed to be the preserver of th...

voltaire

His full name was Jean Frangois Marie A rouet de Voltaire. This French philosopher, historian, dramatist, and man of letters adopted the name of Franois Marie Arouet de Voltaire though only the first ...

von steuben, baron frederick willliam augustus

Born November 15, l730; died November 28, 1794. Famous General, who came to America from Prussia through the influence of Benjamin Franklin in 1777 to train and organize troops of the American Revolut...

voting

Voting in Lodges viva voce, or by "aye" and "nay," is a modern innovation in America. During the Grand Mastership of the Earl of Loudoun, on April 6, 1736, the Grand Lodge of Engla...

voting, right of

Formerly, all members of the Craft, even Entered Apprentices, were permitted to vote. This was distinctly prescribed in the last of the Thirty-nine General Regulations adopted in 1721 (Constitutions, ...

vouching

It is a rule in Freemasonry, that a Lodge may dispense with the examination of a visitor, if any Brother present will vouch that he possesses the necessary qualifications.. This is an important prerog...

voyages

The French Freemasons thus call some of the proofs and trials to which a candidate is subjected in the course of initiation into any of the degrees. In the French Rite, the voyages in the Symbolic Deg...
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