Fraternity-Testvériség, 1959 (37. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1959-09-01 / 9. szám

FRATERNITY

3

AEMIL FOULER:

FREEMASONRY IN HUNGARY*

In reviewing the formation and life of the Grand Lodge of Hungary, the introduction of Masonry into that country must also be made a part of the picture.

Masonry has had a sporadic existence in Hungary for over 200 years. It has flourished and died, been revived, prospered and been suppressed, many times during this period. As to when Masonry began in Hungary, the records are uncertain, but it was probabaly about the middle of the 18th century. After 1742, several Masonic Lodges were founded in Vienna and Transylvania where many persons of high rank in Hungarian society became members of the Craft.

EARLY HISTORY

The first Lodge in Hungary, “Taciturtitas”, at Pressburg, is known to have existed in 1766. In southern Hungary, under the influence of Count John Drascovich and Count Stephen Niczky, Lodges were established at Glina between 1764 and 1769 and at Agram in 1771. Between 1767 and 1782 other Lodges were established in different cities of the country, and in 1780 they adopted the Rite of Strict Observance. A group of Lodges were founded under Austrian dispensation in the Western part of the country, one of them being in Pest, which is the old part of the present city of Budapest. All these Lodges had a membership of the

* This article is reprinted from “The New Age” monthly magazine, which is the official organ of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Free Masonry, Southern Division, United States of America. The magazine has this declaration on its cover page: “283-A: This Supreme Council neither makes nor permits to be made in its publications any criticism of any religious faith or church. True freedom demands that each individual have the God-given right to practice without interference whatever religion his conscience may dictate. The Supreme Council recognizes, however, its right and duty to affirm its belief in the American Constitutional Bill of Rights and to safeguard by all legitimate means the fundamental freedoms guaranteed to the people of the United States by the Constitution.” — Knowing that many of our readers have some misconcept about Free Masonry at large and especially in Hungary, we found it worthwhile to republish this well written objective article.