Norwegian Order of Freemasons
Encyclopedia
The Norwegian Order of Freemasons (Norwegian: Den Norske Frimurerorden) is the Masonic
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
Grand Lodge
Grand Lodge
A Grand Lodge, or "Grand Orient", is the usual governing body of "Craft", or "Blue Lodge", Freemasonry in a particular jurisdiction. The first Masonic Grand Lodge was established in England in 1717 as the Premier Grand Lodge of England....
in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. The first lodge (St. Olai Lodge - Later changed to Lodge St. Olaus to the white Leopard) was opened in 1749 and is still working. The Grand Lodge has followed the Swedish Rite
Swedish Rite
The Swedish Rite is a variation of Freemasonry that is worked in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. A slight variation is common in parts of Germany under the Große Landesloge der Freimaurer von Deutschland. Also other craft masonic bodies are working in the nordic countries...
since 1818, which requires its members to adhere to Christianity. During the union of Sweden-Norway, the Swedish-Norwegian king was Grand Master of the Order. The sovereign Grand Lodge of Norway was consecrated in 1891. As of 2009, the Order has ca 20,000 members.
The Order consists of 63 lodges of St. John (Iº – IIIº), 19 lodges of St. Andrew (IVº – VIº), three Steward lodges of 2. order (VII º), four Steward lodges of 1. order (VIIº – VIIIº), three Provincial lodges (VIIº – Xº), the Grand lodge (VIIº – XIIº) and one research lodge.
The order is headquartered in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, with a large building next to the Norwegian Parliament.
Lodge St. Olaus to the white leopard
Lodge St. Olaus to the white leopard (DanishDanish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
: St. Olaus til den hvide leopard) was established on June 24, 1749 on the island of Ladegaard, in the building of Bygdøy Kongsgaard in Christiania
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
. The original name of the lodge was St. Olai, and it was named after the Norwegian king Olaf the Holy one
Olaf II of Norway
Olaf II Haraldsson was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. He was posthumously given the title Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae and canonised in Nidaros by Bishop Grimkell, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030. Enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral...
(Olai is a Latin genitive form of Olav). In 1780 the lodge changed its name to Saint Olaus to the white leopard.
In 1785, the second City Hall of Christiana
Oslo City Hall
Oslo City Hall houses the city council, city administration, and art studios and galleries. The construction started in 1931, but was paused by the outbreak of World War II, before the official inauguration in 1950. Its characteristic architecture, artworks and the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, held...
(built 1733) was bought by St. Olai Lodge. The inauguration of the lodge rooms was carried out by Bernt Anker, and the lodge had its residence in the ground floor and the first floor until 1811. Today, the lodge resides inside the headquarter of the Norwegian Order of Freemasons in Nedre Vollgt. 19, Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, as a neighbour building of the Norwegian Storting.
The coat of arms of the Lodge carries the Latin inscription ARTIS OPE FEROCIAM EXUIT: "With the help of the Art, it (the leopard) shall get rid of its wildness (or rage)".
St. Olai Lodge was the first Masonic lodge in Norway, and the mother lodge of many lodges in the Norwegian Order of Freemasons. It was founded by Count Christian Conrad Danneskiold-Laurvig, probably with the Danish king Frederick V of Denmark
Frederick V of Denmark
Frederick V was king of Denmark and Norway from 1746, son of Christian VI of Denmark and Sophia Magdalen of Brandenburg-Kulmbach.-Early life:...
present at the initiation ceremony. The lodge is an offshoot of the Danish lodge St. Martin which existed in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
from 1743 to 1767.
Nationality
The lodge received its directives from Danish Freemasonic lodges from 1749 to 1818. Its first mother lodge was «St. Martin», founded in CopenhagenCopenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
in 1743. In 1745, the lodge «Zorobabel», also in Copenhagen, was founded as an offshot of «St. Martin», with a Patent from the Premier Grand Lodge of England
Premier Grand Lodge of England
The Premier Grand Lodge of England was founded on 24 June 1717 as the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster and it existed until 1813 when it united with the Ancient Grand Lodge of England to create the United Grand Lodge of England. It was the first Masonic Grand Lodge to be created...
dated 25 October 1745. The two lodges «St. Martin» and «Zorobabel» was unified into the new lodge «Zorobabel to the Northern Star» on 9 January 1767, upon which the new lodge became the new directing lodge of St. Olaus.
In 1818, due to the union between Norway and Sweden, the lodge St. Olaus to the white leopard became member of The Swedish Order of Freemasons. The lodge was one of the six founding members of the Norwegian Order of Freemasons («Province X») on 24 June 1891.
Rites
On its foundations in 1749, St Olaus was a pure lodge of St. John, a «blue lodge» practising the Craft degrees. In 1752 the lodge also gradually began to practise the high degrees of Rite of Strict ObservanceRite of Strict Observance
The Rite of Strict Observance was a Rite of Freemasonry, a series of progressive degrees that were conferred by the Order of Strict Observance, a Masonic body of the 18th century....
. The establishment of the rites was finished in 1762 and was practised in cooperation with the Copenhagen-lodges until 1782.
The rectified rite was introduced in Denmark and Norway in 1782. It was influenced by French Freemasonry and was less concerned with Christian institutions. Among other things, it removed the legend about the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
s from the teachings.
In 1818, St. Olaus became directed from the Swedish Grand lodge, and in 1819 it was transformed into a «blue lodge» of St. John practising the three Craft degrees since then.
The St. Andrew lodge Oscar to the burning star
The St. Andrew lodge Oscar to the burning star (NorwegianNorwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
: Oscar til den flammende Stjerne) sometimes known as Lodge of St. Andrew no. 1, was originally founded in Drammen
Drammen
Drammen is a city in Buskerud County, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the eastern and most populated part of Norway.-Location:...
in 1826 as a Craft lodge, practising the three degrees of St. John. After having delivered an application to the Swedish Grand Lodge, it was moved to Christiana
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
and elevated into a St. Andrew lodge practising the Scottish degrees of St. Andrew (IV°-VI°) of the Swedish Rite
Swedish Rite
The Swedish Rite is a variation of Freemasonry that is worked in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. A slight variation is common in parts of Germany under the Große Landesloge der Freimaurer von Deutschland. Also other craft masonic bodies are working in the nordic countries...
. The Act of capitulation as a lodge of St. John was formulated on 10 April 1836. Its constituting patent as a lodge of St. Andrew was then worked out on 10 April 1841.
Literature
- Karl Ludvig Tørrisen Bugge: St. Johs. Logen St. Olaus Til Den Hvide Leopard i Kristiania 1749-1757-1907, Jubileumsskrift 1907.
- Kr. Thorbjørnsen: St. Olai Brødre. Blad av St. Johs. Logen. St. Olaus til den hvide Leopards historie gjennom 200 år, 1947, printed as a manuscript for brothers (Masons).
- Matrikkel over Den Norske Frimurerorden for arbeidsåret 1996/97, Aktietrykkeriet i Trondhjem
- Matrikkel over Den Norske Frimurerorden for arbeidsåret 2007, Aktietrykkeriet i Trondhjem