Rectified Rite: Beneficent Knights of the Holy City, Ritual for the Novitiate

and direct him toward their true goal, if he had strayed from them. It is in this especially that his admission into the interior order can be advantageous to him.

First Part of the work

Opening of the Chap.Chapter

Everything being ready in the 2 apartments for the ceremony, which the Commander and the Prefect are required to oversee each in the section where they reside, all the brethren proceed to the Chapter room. The Master of Ceremonies places them there according to their rank, then he goes, followed by the two oldest squires, to inform the Prefect that everything is arranged for the work.

The Prefect, preceded by the Master of Ceremonies and the squires who announce him to the Chapter, and then by the 2 squires and the 2 dignitaries of the order or superior chapters who happen to be at the assembly, enters the Chapter. Having arrived at his station, he draws his sword, the point of which he holds high; all the brethren do the same.

The Prefect: Worshipful Brother Commander, do you judge it fitting that I open this chapter for the admission to the novitiate of the Brother Squire whom you have proposed?

The Preceptor? very Worshipful R. I believe it fitting since everything is prepared.

The Prefect strikes 9 blows with the pommel of his sword, 2 of which are rapid and the others at equal intervals, and says: To the glory of the Almighty God and the Lord? of the Universe, and by the authority of our legitimate superiors, in virtue of the power that I have received from them, I open this chapter in the prefecture of... for the reception of a novice of the order of the Beneficent Knights of the Holy City.

My brethren, the chapter of novices is opened according to the rite of the order.

The Prefect places his sword on the table, gives the sign, has the brethren sit, who then return their swords to the scabbard, and says: Brother Instructor of the Novices, go to the aspirant to ensure his disposition, and you will come to render an account to the chapter.

After a moment of silence, he adds: My brethren, Brother N... Mason, Scottish Master, aged..., native of..., residing at..., member of the United Lodge of... in which he has distinguished himself by his regularity and his zeal for Masonic work, desires to be received into the interior order. He has shown himself worthy of it; you have judged him so; he is provided with all the certificates of inquiry and the necessary permissions to be received. If they are verified, the Brother Chancellor will read them to us.

The Chancellor reads the certificates and permissions; the Prefect continues. These brothers sectors?

presents himself today under the special recommendation of the Worshipful Brother Commander of... (the one upon whom the candidate depends) to be a novice of the said order. You have already consented; however, if any grounds for opposition have occurred to any of you, I invite you to declare them now.

After a short interval, the Prefect says:

My brethren, your silence proves to me that you all persist in the consent that has been given to the reception of Brother... I will therefore have it begin as soon as the Instructor of the Novices, whom I have sent to examine him, has rendered an account of his disposition.

The Brother Instructor of the Novices having returned and having made his report, if it is favorable, the Prefect says to the Preceptor? or Commander?: Worshipful Brother Preceptor?, it is time for us to go in Masonic attire to the Scottish Lodge to prepare the aspirant appropriately to receive the revelation of the secret of the interior order and to ensure ourselves of his discretion. Resume the functions of your office there; it is you who vouch for this aspirant; it is up to you to test him and to instruct him as he must be for entry into a holy order, vowed to religion, to beneficence, and to virtue. This chapter remains suspended until the moment we return to it to terminate the ceremony.

All the brethren, except the Knights designated by the Prefect to stand around the mausoleum, leave their interior order garments, which they leave at their places, to put on the attire of the Scottish class. One of the brethren takes charge of carrying the order garments of the candidate and those who are to perform the functions of Wardens into the Scottish Lodge, which he deposits at their places, and everyone proceeds to the Scottish Lodge in silence. The 3 Knights guarding the mausoleum return to their places.

Work of the Scottish Lodge

The Master Instructor the Commander resumes the title of Deputy Master.

All the brethren having placed themselves according to the order prescribed in the Scottish Lodge, the Brother Master who takes the square, the sign of the dignity of Deputy Master, and those who perform the functions of Wardens, put on the jewels attached to the functions they then fulfill.

The Deputy Master strikes one blow, which is repeated by the Wardens, and says:
To order, my brethren.

All the brethren draw their swords and take the order according to the rite of the Scottish class.