We are delighted to welcome Michael J. Ramos as our new Local Secretary for the San Francisco Bay Area. Michael lives in the Bay Area and works at the Grand Lodge of California as its Lodge Development Manager and as a Leadership Development committeeman, and will be known to many California masons.
Michael holds membership under both California and English Constitutions in Craft, Chapter, and the Progressive Orders. He is a Past Master of Crow Canyon Lodge No. 551, Primus Master of Templum Rosae Lodge No. 863, a Founder Steward of Essex Cornerstone Lodge No. 9968, a joining member of Lodge of Merit No. 8523, and is a life member of the Northern California Lodge of Research. In Chapter, Michael is a Past First Principal of Siminoff-Daylight Chapter No. 163, a joining member of Shoeburyness Chapter No. 6665, a life member of the Golden State Chapter of Research, and serves as Inspector of the 15th District for the Most Excellent Grand Chapter of California.
Additionally, Michael has been a founding member, and holds current office, within various bodies of the Progressive Orders. His research interests primarily revolve around early 18th-century English Freemasonry and the development of various ‘high degrees’ and rites throughout the British Isles and Continental Europe.
Michael can be reached at MRamos.QCCCSec@gmail.com
Welcome to Wayne Frampton, our latest Local Secretary for Portsmouth and the surrounding area. Wayne has been a member of QCCC for some four years and is based in Portsmouth on the south coast of England. He is the current Worshipful Master of The Portsmouth Lodge, 487, where he was initiated in 1991; Wayne holds Provincial Grand Rank in Craft (PPDepGrReg), and in Royal Arch, (PPGrSwdBr).
Wayne can be reached at wayneframpton@ymail.com and at 07941 866518.
Welcome to Dr Charles L. Stuppard, our Local Secretary for the Hampton Roads region of Virginia.
Charles is a graduate of Cornell University with a Bachelor’s degree in engineering, which he followed with a Master’s in National Security and Strategy from the US Naval War College, and a PhD in Humanities from Salve Regina. He presently serves as an executive board member of Cornell Council, among other organisations.
Charles recently retired as a Navy Captain, having commanded the lead Aegis warship USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51), the first Joint US Army-Navy Base, and two special Task Groups overseas.
Charles was raised a Master Mason in Naval Lodge No. 4 in Washington DC in 2009. He is active in several Masonic organisations and enjoys Masonic research as a life member of the Washington DC Scottish Rite, a founding member of L’Haitienne Lodge No. 925 in Washington DC, and through QCCC. He can be reached at CLS4QC.VA@gmail.com.
Welcome to Pierre Martin, our new Local Secretary for New Brunswick. Pierre studied at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Social Sciences, where he graduated in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree. He subsequently earned an MBA at the University of Quebec, Montreal, and took a third cycle program in business administration at the University of Sherbrooke.
Between 2011 and 2014 Pierre was Regional General Manager for the North and Eastern regions of New Brunswick for Brunswick News. He is currently a Trade Commissioner for Atlantic Canada at the Government of Quebec.
Pierre has chaired boards for several regional and national organisations and bodies, including the board of governors of the University of Quebec. He has also served as chief executive officer and a senior executive for several SMEs with international operations.
Pierre was raised a Master Mason in Loge Keith No. 23 in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, in 2019, and is currently serving as an officer of the lodge.
Pierre can be reached at pierremartinmba@gmail.com
Open Lectures on Freemasonry (OpenLFM) has been developed as a series of monthly online lectures with the aim of increasing the visibility and accessibility of research into Freemasonry. The lectures are open to any one who is interested in the subject.
The first speaker was Andrew Prescott in a session chaired by Susan Mitchell Sommers. The next lecture is on 23 May and will be given by John Cooper, PGM of the Grand Lodge of California.
Forthcoming lecturers include John Belton (QC), Brendan Kyne, Adam Kendall (QC), Susan Sommers, Cécile Révauger and Fabio Venzi (QC).
Details can be found at www.openlfm.org. Past lectures will be available on SoundCloud & YouTube.
QC Lodge member Bro. Bob Cooper, PM, Curator of the Library & Museum at the Grand Lodge of Scotland and author of many articles and books on Scottish Freemasonry (https://www.robertldcooper.
The dates and times for each lecture are:
April 29, 5.00pm (British Summer Time)
– Rosslyn: the story debunked
May 2, 5.00 pm (BST)
– The Early Rituals
May 5, 5.00pm (BST)
– Freemasonry in Scotland and England, 1717-1813.
May 9, 5.00pm (BST)
– Scottish Freemasonry across the globe.
You can access the talks (on Zoom) by clicking here
The Meeting ID is 371 361 2444 and the Password is Adonai777
If you wish to participate, please login 15 minutes before the start time and please mute your microphone on entry. The number of participants is limited to 500. The talks will be recorded and made available online afterwards. The number able to view at any one time may be limited. Please note that we do not host these recordings.
Paul C. Smith is our new Local Secretary in New Hampshire, USA. Paul is the 56th Clerk of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, having served as a member of the House for two terms in the early 2000s.
He was raised in Rockingham Lodge No. 76 in 2004, serving as Master in 2008 and 2009, and is the founding Master of Phoenix Lodge No. 105, where he currently serves in office. Paul is active across several Masonic organisations and has served as the head of all three Grand York Rite bodies in NH. His primary Masonic research interests are craft symbolism and philosophy. Paul can be contacted at nhmasonpcs@gmail.com
Although we will not be holding a physical meeting of QC Lodge in London on 14 May, the lecture that we intended would be delivered that evening will instead be posted to QC’s YouTube Channel on 7 May, and discussed online by Dr Ola Wikander a week later. The discussion will be introduced and hosted by Andreas Önnerfors.
You can register for the Zoom discussion to be held at 4.00pm British Summer Time on 14 May by clicking here and completing the form. A web-link will be emailed out on 13 May to those who have registered.
If you experience any problems, please email 14MayZoom@quatuorcoronati.com.
A copy of the delivery paper can be downloaded here: Ola Wikander – Delivery Paper. Please note that this paper (and all other papers), are copyright QC/QCCC and should not be reproduced or circulated.
Questions and comments on the paper can be submitted in advance by email to editor@quatuorcoronati.com.
Our new Local Secretary for Florida, Francis Stokkel, holds a Master’s degree in architecture, construction, and structural engineering. He has worked for over 25 years as an executive engineer, designing and building custom roller-coasters.
In 1992, Francis was raised a Master Mason in Loge Alfred Zur Linde, Nr. 385, in Essen, Germany, and subsequently served as its Master. He is a member of several other Masonic bodies in Germany, as well as in the Netherlands. Now living in the United States, Francis is a member of Ashlar Lodge No. 98 in St. Augustine, Florida. He is the recipient of several Masonic awards and accolades for meritorious service, and is also a Masonic researcher, in 2017 co-founding the Renaissance Society Group for Masonic education. Francis can be reached at: tecnam2008@gmail.com.
We are living through extraordinary times at present and in many countries – perhaps most – day-to-day activities are restricted, and many lodges have closed for at least the next few months. England is no exception, and Quatuor Coronati Lodge has been obliged to cancel its forthcoming May and June meetings. But although we won’t be able to meet physically, we intend to make available online the lectures that would have been given in lodge. We will provide full details once these have been confirmed towards the latter part of April.
Our plans for our Conference in Boston at the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts have also been thrown into the air. Although the event is not scheduled to take place until mid-September, some six months away, and we are already a third full, we are mindful that anyone booking flights and hotels from this point on will not be covered by travel insurance if we are forced to cancel as a result of ongoing or renewed Covid-19 restrictions. And there are many other issues to consider, including the possible pace and extent of development of the coronavirus in the USA, and the likelihood of a second round of closures and lockdowns.
With this in mind, we feel that the most appropriate course is for us to refund those who have booked to attend and postpone the event until a later date. This is, of course, hugely disappointing both for our speakers and the several hundred attendees we expected to host in Boston. It is also disappointing for us, although we hope that the efforts invested in putting the event together won’t be wholly wasted. Nonetheless, these are unprecedented times and we would prefer to be cautious rather than run the risk of cancelling after the summer with the more negative consequences that that would incur.
Our hope is that we will be able to put together a book of the papers that would have been delivered in Boston and to make this available towards the end of this year. We will provide updates on this over the summer.
