Raimondo Di Sangro & The First Grand Lodge - Part 2
On October 24, 1750 the proposal and the unanimously vote in that Lodge at the Chiaia Bridge, all the Freemasons of Naples present including the Carafa, Zelaia and Larnage. We then have from October 24, 1750 under the Grand Masterhood of Raimondo De Sangro, in the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, the lodge Rosa d'Ordine Magno in Piazza San Domenico Maggiore with 280 Masons of its own including 29 of the three high degrees called at that time Adonhiramite Masonic degrees-from 1778 onward it was named Arcana Arcanorum or Scala di Napoli
Moncada Lodge in Naples under license of the Grand Master di Sangro, directed by the Sicilian prince Moncada di Calvaruso, with 30 brethren and 7 apprentices and first overseer the Larnage Lodge 'Virtù Trionfante' in Aversa province of Naples, in palazzo Pignatelli, directed by the Pignatelli di San Demetrio Lodge 'San Giovanni di Scozia' in Palermo and so the Sicilian lodges of Catania and Syracuse, the latter founded by the Grand Master di Sangro.
On Dec. 20, 1750, di Sangro respectfully informed Sovereign King Charles III of Naples that he was a Freemason and Grand Master of the national brotherhood of Naples and Sicily, which was not a dangerous association but one of philosophical studies, and di Sangro's letter to the Sovereign was sent through Abbot Latilla to combat the violent smear campaign in Naples against Freemasons and Prince Raimondo Di Sangro himself, following his publication of his literary and philosophical work “The Lettera Apologetica.”
On Jan. 12, 1751, Raimondo di Sangro founded the new lodge in Naples, led by the young baron and alchemist Henry Tschudy, with Masonic studies, philosophy and alchemy with 15 brethren and for overseers the priest Pattoni and the Venier aide-de-camp of the King of Naples, and a few days later Sangro's printer published in Naples the Masonic Statutes and Regulations of Naples for Blue Freemasonry and for the three high degrees or adonhiramites, the precise date was January 19, 1751.
Raimondo di Sangro, Grand Master of Freemasonry in the Kingdom, an increasingly erudite and mysterious man, founds and recognizes the Carafa Lodge at the Chiaia bridge with Venerable Master the same Gennaro Roccella and first overseer his brother Marquis Gazzola, with archives reserved at Palazzo Carafa di Roccella at Trinità dei Monti in Naples and with 7 initiated brethren, the Masonic Bull of foundation of that last Desangrian Lodge in Naples is dated April 12, 1751.
By Michele Di Iorio
Ordine Egizio Osirideo &
Sovereign Grand Sanctuary of Ionia.
End of part one, read part two dedicated to the genesis of the Arcana Arcanorum from Raimondo to Vincenzo di Sangro between 1751 and 1790.