X
The twenty-fourth letter of
the English alphabet and the last letter of the proper Latin alphabet. As a
numeral it stands for ten.
*
XAINTRAILLES, MADAME DE
A lady who was initiated into
Freemasonry by a French Lodge that did not have the excuse for this violation
of law that we must accord to the Irish one in the case of Miss Saint Leger.
Clavel (Histoire Pittoresque, page 34) tells the story, but does not give the
date, though it must have been about the close of the eighteenth century. The
law of the Grand Orient of France required each Lodge of Adoption to be
connected with and placed under the immediate guardianship of a regular Lodge
of Freemasons. It was in one of these guardian Lodges that the female
initiation which we are about to describe took place.
The Lodge of Freres-Artistes,
Brother-Artists, at Paris, over which Brother Cuvelier de Trie presided as
Master, was about to give what is called a Fete of Adoption, that is, to open
a Lodge for female Freemasonry, and initiate candidates into that Rite.
Previous, however, to the
introduction of the female members, the Brethren opened a regular Lodge of
Ancient Freemasonry in the First Degree. Among the visitors who waited in the
antechamber for admission was a youthful officer in the uniform of a captain
of cavalry. His Diploma or Certificate was requested of him by the member
deputed for the examination of the visitors, for the purpose of having it
inspected by the Lodge. After some little hesitation, he handed the party
asking for it a folded paper, which was immediately carried to the Orator of
the Lodge, who, on opening it, discovered that it was the Commission of an
Aide-de-Camp, which had been granted by the Directory to the wife of General
de Xaintrailles, a lady who, like several others of her sex in those troublous
times, had donned the masculine attire and gained a military rank at the point
of the sword.
When the nature of the
supposed Diploma was made known to the Lodge, it may readily be supposed that
the surprise was general. But the members were Frenchmen, they were excitable
and they were gallant; and consequently, in a sudden and exalted fit of
enthusiasm, which as Freemasons we cannot excuse, they unanimously determined
to confer the First Degree, not of Adoption, but so far as they could do so,
of regular and legitimate Freemasonry, on the brave woman who had so often
exhibited every manly virtue, and to whom her country had on more than one
occasion committed trusts requiring the greatest discretion and prudence as
well as courage.
Madame de Xaintrailles was
made acquainted with the resolution of the Lodge, and her acquiescence in its
wishes requested. To the offer, she replied, "I have been a man for my
country, and I will again be a man for my Brethren." According to the report,
she was forthwith introduced and initiated as an Entered Apprentice, and
repeatedly afterward assisted the Lodge in its labors in the First Degree.
Doubtless the Irish Lodge was, under all the circumstances, excused, if not
justified, in the initiation of Miss Saint Leger. But for the reception of
Madame de Xaintrailles we look in vain for the slightest shadow of an apology.
The outrage on their obligations as Freemasons, by the members of the Parisian
Lodge, richly merited the severest punishment, which ought not to have been
averted by the plea that the offense was committed in a sudden spirit of
enthusiasm and gallantry.
*
XAVIER MIERE CAMPELLO,
FRANCISCO
He was Bishop of Almeria, and
Inquisitor-General of Spain, and an ardent persecutor of the Freemasons. In
1815, Ferdinand VII having re-established the Inquisition in Spain and
suppressed the Masonic Lodges, Xavier published the Bull of Pius VII against
the Order, in an ordinance of his own, in which he denounced the Lodges as
"Societies which lead to sedition, to independence, and to all errors and
crimes." He threatened the utmost rights of the civil and canon laws against
all who did not, within the space of fifteen days, renounce them; and then
instituted a series of persecutions of the most atrocious character. Many of
the most distinguished persons of Spain were arrested, and imprisoned in the
dungeons of the Inquisition, on the charge of being "suspected of
Freemasonry."
*
XICROPHAGISTS
On the 24th of April, 1738,
Pope Clement XII issued his Bull forbidding the practice of Freemasonry by the
members of the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the Freemasons of Italy
continued, however, to meet; but, for the purpose of escaping the temporal
penalties of the Bull, which extended, in some cases, to the infliction of
capital punishment, they changed their esoteric name, and called themselves
Xerophagists. This is a compound of two Greek words signifying Eaters of dry
food, and by it they alluded to an engagement into which they entered to
abstain from the drinking of wine. They were, in fact, about the first
temperance society on record. Thory says (Acta Latomorum I, page 346) that a
manuscript concerning them was contained in the collection of the Mother Lodge
of the Philosophic Scottish Rite,
*
XERXES
A significant word in the
Degree of Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret, the Thirty-second of the Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite. He is referred to in the old instructions of that
Degree as represented by Frederick the Great, the supposed founder of the
Rite. Probably this is on account of the great military genius of both.
*
XINXE
A significant word in the
higher Degrees. Delaunay (Tuileur, page 40) presents it as Xincheu, and says
that it has been translated as the Seat of there Soul. But in either form it
has evidently undergone such corruption as to be no longer comprehensible.
*
XYSTUS
In ancient architecture a long
and open, but sometimes covered, court with porticoes, for athletic exercises.
*
XYSUTHRUS
The name of the Babylonish
King at the time of the Deluge. According to Berossus, ninth of a race who
reigned 432,000 years. Also, Adrahasis of Slarippak, son of Uhara-Tutu, the
Patriarch, to whom, according to the Deluge Tablet, the gods revealed the
secret of the itllpencling Deluge and who erected an Ark accordingly, whereby
he and his family and sevens of all clean beasts were saved. Xysuthrus means
"shut up in a box or Ark," from the two characters signifying enclosed, and
boz, respectively. In Accadian he is called Tamzi, Tammuz, the Sun of Life.
