Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No.
2076
(United Grand Lodge of
England)
The Lodge was founded in 1884 by
nine Brethren* who were intent on using an evidence-based approach to the study
of Masonic history and research into Freemasonry. This innovative approach was
intended to replace the imaginative writings of earlier authors on the history
of Freemasonry. This new style and approach was later to be referred to as the ‘authentic
school’ of Masonic research.
The Founders planned to develop an
interest in research among Brethren everywhere, to have papers read and
discussed in Lodge and published in its transactions: Ars Quatuor
Coronatorum (AQC). The Lodge thus hoped to attract the attention and enlist
the cooperation of Masonic scholars in all parts of the world.
Quatuor Coronati Lodge, the
Premier Lodge of Masonic Research, continues today to work to the standards laid
down in 1884 and we strive to maintain the high quality of research and
discussion established at our foundation.
On this site you will find a
selection of the papers from our transactions, AQC, which are published
on behalf of the Lodge by Q.C. Correspondence Circle Ltd. If, as we hope, you
would like to become a subscriber to AQC and thus to receive them
regularly, all you have to do is click on this link Join
QCCC or that on the right and follow the instructions on the screen.
Welcome, again, and enjoy the
website of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076 at
http://quatuorcoronati.com/
* The founding members were
Brothers Sir Charles Warren, W. Harry Rylands, Robert Freke Gould, The Revd
Adolphus F. A. Woodford, Sir Walter Besant, John P. Rylands, Major Sisson C.
Pratt, Wilson James Hughan and George W. Speth.
The Legend of the
Quatuor Coronati
The Legend of the Quatuor Coronati
is very interesting to Freemasons because in the legend, as in the Arundel MS.—a
transcript of the more important portions of which follows—the Quatuor were
originally four Craftsmen by name Claudius, Castorius, Simphorianus, and
Nicostratus, “mirificos in arte quadrataria,” which though it is
translated the “art of carving,” is literally “the stone-squarer’s art,” or the
art of stone-squaring. They are distinctly called “artifices,”
artificers, although as the legend shows us, to the four artificers are joined
four milites; whilst one Simplicius, converted to Christianity by the
four during the progress of events narrated by the legend, is added to the
stone-squarers, making nine in all. They are declared to be Christians, “occulte,”
secretly. Diocletian ordered an image of Æsculapius to be made, and after a
contest and dialogue with “quinque Philosophi” Simphorianus, who
appears to be the leader and spokesman, adds Simplicius to the number—now
five—and refuses, on their behalf and with their consent, to make the image.
They are brought before Lampadius the Tribune, who after reference to Diocletian
orders them to be stripped and beaten with scorpions, “scorpionibus mactari,”
and then, by Diocletian’s order; they were place in “loculi plumbei,”
leaden coffins, and cast into the Tiber.
A certain Nicodemus is said to
have raised the coffins and taken them to his own house; levavit says
the legend. Two years afterwards Diocletian ordered the soldiers to pay homage
to a Statue of Æsculapius, but four “Cornicularii,” or wing-leaders of
the city militia, refused. They were ordered to be put to death in front of the
image of Æsculapius by strokes of the Plumbata, “ictu plumbatarum.” and
their bodies cast into the streets to the dogs, where they lay five days.
The Arundel Legend is taken from a
fine MS. of the 12th century, in the British Museum. Its proper reference is Ar:
MSS., 91, f. 2186. There is another copy of the legend in the British Museum,
Harleian MSS., No. 2802, f 99. There is also a short notice of the Quatuor
Coronati in
Regius MS., 8, c, 7 f 165, of the 14th century. [p. 78-9.]
Source: A.F.A. Woodford. AQC
Vol 1, p. 59. Arundel MSS. reprinted pp. 60-65
A variation on the
legend:
When in 298 A.D. the Emperor
Diocletian was building his baths on the necks of the Quirinal and Virminal
hills he included within its vast circuit a temple to Æsculapius, the god of
health. He ordered the five sculptors, Claudius, Nicostratus, Sinforianus,
Castorinus, and Simplicius to execute the decorative work and make the statue of
Æsculapius. Being Christians they refused to fashion the statue of a pagan god,
and in consequence they were put to death on the 8th November, 298. Three were
beheaded and two were scourged to death. Other artists were found who executed
the work for the Emperor. On the return of Diocletian to Rome in 300, finding
the works completed, he issued an order for their dedication, and commanded that
all the soldiers in Rome should be present, who, as they marched past, were to
throw incense over the altar of Æsculapius. As soon as this command was
propagated, four brothers, who were master masons, and held the position of
Corniculari, or wing-leaders of the city militia, met to decide what they
should do under the circumstances. These brothers were named Severus, Severianus,
Carporferus, and Victorianus, who, besides being Masons, had embraced the
Christian faith. They all agreed to abstain from throwing the incense over the
altar, it being against their principles to assist in any way at pagan
ceremonies of a religious nature. This determination they made known to their
centurion, who communicated it to the tribune, Lampadius, who reported the
matter to Diocletian. The emperor ordered them either to sacrifice or suffer
death. They, steadfast to their faith, suffered death by being scourged with
leaden thongs. Their bodies were then enclosed in leaden cases and thrown into
the river Tiber. A brother, Nicodemus, recovered their bodies from the river,
and they were interred by the side of the five sculptors previously martyred,
and other saints, in the catacombs on the Via Labricana, which from the four
Master Masons are to this day known as the Catacombs of the Quattro Coronati.
Source: S. Russell Forbes,
Rambles in Rome, 1882 p196
