Royal and Select Masters
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The degrees of the Order of Royal and Select Masters cover the historical period between the Third Degree of the Craft and the Order of the Holy Royal Arch, completing the Solomonic degrees and the history of Solomon’s Temple. Even having joined the Mark and Royal Arch, many questions remain unanswered. The four degrees of a Council of Royal and Select Masters supply many of those answers.
In chronological sequence, the degrees of the Order are Select Master, Royal Master, Most Excellent Master and Super Excellent Master. The first two degrees include descriptions of the construction and symbolism of the Ark of the Covenant and of the underground vault or crypt, which is discovered in the Royal Arch. The Order is sometimes referred to as Cryptic Masonry because of this. The soliloquy on the nature of death delivered to the candidate in the Royal Master degree by Hiram Abiff is generally considered to be the finest piece of Masonic ritual ever written.
The third degree in the sequence, that of Most Excellent Master takes place at the completion and dedication of Solomon’s Temple. The fourth, that of Super Excellent Master takes place nearly 500 years later and chronicles the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar which led to the Jews being taken into captivity in Babylon. It was from this captivity that the Jews eventually returned to begin the construction of the second Temple as described in the ceremony of the Holy Royal Arch.
The principal officers of a Council of Royal and Select Masters represent Solomon, King of Israel, Hiram, King of Tyre and Hiram Abif. Members are known as Companions and wear a triangular breast jewel and a unique triangular apron.
Companions who have passed the Chair of the Order may be invited to receive the degree of Thrice Illustrious Master (also known as the Silver Trowel). This deals with the succession of the Kingship from the dying King David to his son Solomon and is conferred only within a specifically authorised Past Masters Council. A further and final degree, similarly offered only by invitation of the Grand Master, is that of Excellent Master. This is the ceremony of Passing the Veils, restored at last to the English Constitution. At the time of writing, the Grafton Council of Exalted Kings in London is the only Council authorised to work the degree.
Candidates for Royal and Select Masters must first be Master Masons and members of the Mark and of the Royal Arch.
