Saints on jewels

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Lodges are frequently named after saints, perhaps because of a church or cathedral nearby, or because the saint is patron of something dear to the Lodge Founders. An enamel of the saint is then often found as the ribbon emblem, some of them having very extravagant detail and being miniature works of art in their own right.

Here's one for St Margaret Westminster Lodge (no. 4518) from London

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Another for St John's Lodge (no. 3972) from Northampton

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And a last one for this evening from St Michael's Lodge (no. 4353) of Leeds

Good night all!

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[Bob Hunter]

Beautiful examples! Exceptional craftsmanship.

[coastie]

Excellant examples. I don't think I've seen many American ones that are that good.

[Guest WAR LORD]

St Andrewa

[wm5806]

Very nice one Warlord, from the Province of Cambridgeshire.

Great to see that it has been 'recycled', too, by re-presenting it to another Past Master some 50 years after the original presentation.

The only sad thing is that sometimes when these are re-presented, the original presentation engraving is removed to make way for the later presentee's details. Two of the more innovative ideas I have seen have been the addition of a brass plaque on the reverse of the ribbon, so that subsequent presentee's names may be recorded, OR the addition of a further square that hangs behind (or is hinged to) the original, which can then be engraved.

By grinding off the original recipient's name we are ERASING our history! It's bad enough with the legacy of perceived secrecy that we have to suffer, without trying to hide our history from subsequent generations of masons. I may have said in a previous post that a friend and Brother has a list of about six names written under the flap of his apron - all the former owners - to which he will add his name when he passes it on to his first Initiate (soon). Just how proud would that make you?

Sorry, rant over, scanner now warmed up and I shall posta few more....

WM5806

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St Barnabas

From two different Lodges named after St Barnabas, No. 3771 from London, and No.5050 from Birmingham (Warks), in 1916 and 1928, respectively. A recent yearbook shows two other Lodges with St Barnabas connections, one in Buckinghamshire, the other in West Kent.

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St George - again!

A 1935 Past Master's jewel from the Lodge of St George in the East (No. 1526), meeting in Bengal.

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St Barbara

Although nicely detailed, this enamel isn't in the same league as that of say the St Michael ribbon emblem (post no. 3), which dated from 1937, only 7 years before this one.

It may have been due to the exigencies of wartime Britain, I believe that the enameller's finest work is (usually) from before the 1939-45 war and cite these example in support of that.

Perhaps of more interest to viewers from other boards on this site, St Barbara became the patron of artillery and mining. In the Spanish language, the word "santabarbara" means the magazine of a ship or fortress. It was customary to have the statue of Saint Barbara at the magazine to protect the ship or fortress from suddenly exploding. Incidentally, the Order of Saint Barbara is a military honor society of the US for both the US Army and the US Marine Corps field artillery. (Source: Wikipedia)

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