Societas Rosicruciana
Encyclopedia
The Societas Rosicruciana (or Rosicrucian Society) is a Rosicrucian order which limits its membership to Christian
Master Masons
. The order was founded in Scotland
, but now exists in England
, Scotland, Canada
, France
, Portugal
, Romania
, Ireland
and the United States
. While a prospective member must be a Trinitarian Christian
Master Mason in good standing with a Grand Lodge
that is recognized by the Grand Lodge of the jurisdiction in which the Society meets, the various Societies have no other Masonic links, ties, or official recognition. Additionally, in a few jurisdictions membership is by invitation only. As the Society offers assistance to all its members in working out the great problems of nature and science, it functions in some respects as a research society.
Brotherhood and bases its teachings on those found in the Fama and Confessio Fraternitas texts published in Germany in the early 17th century, along with other similar publications from the same time.
There are a number of Societas Rosicrucianas throughout the world:
into that order. The two of them were advanced quickly in Scotland and granted a warrant to form a Society in England. The formation meeting took place on June 1, 1867 in Aldermanbury, London
, with Robert Wentworth Little
elected Supreme Magus.
Australian colleges belong to provinces within the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SRIA).
In 1878, a group of senior U.S. Masons (Daniel Sutter, and Charles W. Parker) led by Charles E. Meyer (1839–1908) of Pennsylvania traveled to England and on July 25, 1878 were initiated into the grade of Zelator at Yorkshire College at Sheffield. They applied for a charter, but getting no response, turned to Scotland and received a charter from the college in Edinburgh in 1879. Scotland’s Society is actually the oldest as Walter Spencer is recorded as having been initiated into the SRIS by Anthony Oneil Haye in 1857, and there are documents in the SRIA archives that show that both Robert Wentworth Little and William J. Hughan were initiated in 1866 and 1867 by Anthony O’Neal Haye, Magus Max, Ros. Soc. Scot. With H.H.M. Bairnfathur signing as Secretary. The Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia was formed in England in 1866 by Robert Wentworth Little. The SRIA later felt the need to charter the current SRIS on October 24, 1873.
A second charter was granted by the SRIS for a college in New York, and Fratres from Philadelphia and New York met in Philadelphia on April 21, 1880 and formed a High Council, then known as the SRRCA or the Societas Rosicrucianae Reipublica Confoedera America, was later changed to the Society of Rosicrucians in the USA by Most Worthy Frater Shryock in his capacity as Supreme Magus and then properly Latinized in 1934 by & at the suggestion of Dr. William Moseley Brown under the regime of Most Worthy Frater Hamilton. Brown composed the name (Societas Rosicruciana In Civitatibus Foederatis) himself and submitted it on January 17, 1934. The SRICF has operated continuously since its formation in the 19th Century, and is thriving today with an upsurge of young Masons being invited into its ranks with great enthusiasm and demonstrated scholarship.
Membership is by invitation only & predicated on regular mainstream Masonic affiliation as well as a profession of Christian faith. Membership was initially restricted to 36 members per College, but this was changed in 1908 by MW Thomas Shryock to 72 members per college. The See of the High Council is in Washington, D.C. The SRICF is in amity with the SRIS (Scotia) and the SRIA (Anglia) as well as the SRIC (Canada) and has helped the cause of Rosicruciana by empowering High Councils in their own sovereignty around the World. They are the SRIL in Lusitania (Portugal), SRIG in Gallia (France) and the SRIR (Romania).
The society issues an annual journal known as Ad Lucem composed of academic articles on things related to Rosicrucianism & esoteric streams of Christian Mysteries. There is also an annual report, The Rosicrucian Fama. Many of the Colleges have their own individual organs which are produced quarterly as well as annually. The governing body of the Society is known since 1911 (having dropped ‘Grand’ from its title) as The High Council which is composed of Fratres of the Third Order (IX and VIII), plus any College Celebrant not a member of the Third Order. The head of the Society is titled The Supreme Magus who was elected ad vitam up until circa 1991 when the constitution of the Society was changed to reflect that Supreme Magi are elected each triennium. Unlike the SRIA in England, a Chief Adept in the SRICF does not have regional powers, but rather is in charge of an individual College. Typically there is but one College per state, exceptions having been made for both New York and California due to their size and population.
) until September 19 of that year. Most of the membership came from the town of Maitland, Ontario. The society constituted a High Council exactly one year later, but the Society went into abeyance at some point after 1889.
In 1936, Ontario College was created via a charter from SRICF. Manly Palmer Hall
's father, E.H.D. Hall, a member of Canada's first Rosicrucian Society, was voted a charter member of the Ontario College. Due to possible jurisdictional issues, rather than procure a charter from SRIA or SRIS, a Canadian High Council was formed on June 29, 1997, and the SRIC is now an independent body.
A minimum of six months must elapse between the receipt of each grade. However, the emphasis on the work of the society is learning; therefore every member is encouraged to deliver a paper of their own work on some topic of interest in open college.
The Chief Adept is empowered to confer three further Grades at this level to deserving Fratres of Grade IV who have been members of the Society for a minimum of four years.
A minimum of one year must elapse between the receipt of grades at this level. A member can only serve as the Celebrant (Master) of a College of the First Order after receiving the Grade of Adeptus Exemptus.
, and is headed by a Supreme Magus, Senior Substitute Magus and Junior Substitute Magus.
Members of the second order who have given service to the society and been selected by the Supreme Magus for such advancement may be awarded a further two Grades.
, William Wynn Westcott
, and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers
) formed the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
, which removed the restriction on membership, allowing non-Christians, non-Freemasons, and women to join. A great deal of the SRIA structure survived in the new order, which went on to greatly influence the modern Western occult revival in the 20th century.
In 1879, a College was established in Philadelphia, Pa., under warrant from the High Council of Scotia (Scotland) by a number of Americans who visited England and received their degrees from York College of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. Colleges were established soon after 1879 in New York, Boston, and Burlington, Vt., and were recognized in full by the S.R.I. Anglia; they organized their own High Council, and the body thus constituted became known as the Societatis Rosicrucianae in the United States, admitting only 32nd degree Masons.
A member of Massachusetts College, in Boston, having received the VIII Degree constituting him a Provincial Magus, engaged in special research work. He later received his IX Degree direct from Apponyi, a leading Rosicrucian in Hungary, constituting him a Prince Chief Adept and Magus. The American organization being largely inoperative at the time, he undertook the formation and institution of a branch of the Fraternity in the Western Hemisphere that would devote itself exclusively and assiduously to the true Rosicrucian Art and Operation, open to both sexes on a basis of true equality. The transition of this member, Illustrious Frater Sylvester Clarke Gould, late of Manchester, N. H., on July 19, 1909, prevented the fulfillment of his personal ambition, and the actual work of organization and institution devolved upon the Imperator and Supreme Magus of the Society, George Winslow Plummer
, who had received full initiation
and authority to begin the work in New York from Frater Gould before his passing.
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Master Masons
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...
. The order was founded in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, but now exists in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Scotland, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. While a prospective member must be a Trinitarian Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Master Mason in good standing with a 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....
that is recognized by the Grand Lodge of the jurisdiction in which the Society meets, the various Societies have no other Masonic links, ties, or official recognition. Additionally, in a few jurisdictions membership is by invitation only. As the Society offers assistance to all its members in working out the great problems of nature and science, it functions in some respects as a research society.
History
The Societas Rosicruciana claims a link to the original RosicrucianRosicrucian
Rosicrucianism is a philosophical secret society, said to have been founded in late medieval Germany by Christian Rosenkreuz. It holds a doctrine or theology "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which, "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature, the physical universe...
Brotherhood and bases its teachings on those found in the Fama and Confessio Fraternitas texts published in Germany in the early 17th century, along with other similar publications from the same time.
There are a number of Societas Rosicrucianas throughout the world:
- Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia (SRIS; ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
) - Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SRIA; EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) - Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis (SRICF; United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) - Societas Rosicruciana in Canada (SRIC; CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
) - Societas Rosicruciana in Gallia (SRIG; FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) - Societas Rosicruciana in Lusitania (SRIL; PortugalPortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
) - Societas Rosicruciana in Romania (SRIR; RomaniaRomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
)
Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia (SRIS)
The first Societas Rosicruciana was that of Scotland, known as the Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia (SRIS).Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SRIA)
The Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia was founded in 1867 and derived from the SRIS following the admission of William James Hughan and Robert Wentworth LittleRobert Wentworth Little
Robert Wentworth Little was a clerk and cashier of the secretary’s office at the United Grand Lodge of England and later secretary of the Royal Institution for Girls. He is credited with the structural design of the S.R.I.A. with the rituals acquired from the store room of Freemasons Hall...
into that order. The two of them were advanced quickly in Scotland and granted a warrant to form a Society in England. The formation meeting took place on June 1, 1867 in Aldermanbury, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, with Robert Wentworth Little
Robert Wentworth Little
Robert Wentworth Little was a clerk and cashier of the secretary’s office at the United Grand Lodge of England and later secretary of the Royal Institution for Girls. He is credited with the structural design of the S.R.I.A. with the rituals acquired from the store room of Freemasons Hall...
elected Supreme Magus.
Australian colleges belong to provinces within the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SRIA).
Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis (SRICF)
The Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis is a Rosicrucian Society based in the United States. Its history begins with the formation of a Grand High Council on April 21, 1880. Its official consecration occurred on September 21, 1880, by three Colleges chartered by the Societas Rosicruciana In Scotia. High Grade senior Christian Freemasons in the United States in search of the Classical Rosicrucian Society for Masons in the United Kingdom became interested in organizing a similar body in the United States. They did so under Scotland’s authority (Societas Rosicruciana In Scotia) with the help of Most Worthy Charles Matier of the SRIS, as early as 1873. This effort died out two years later under the care of R.W. Frater George S. Blackie VIII and was then re-chartered by the SRIS later again in 1878. Dr. Jonathon J. French was a IX grade head of the Rosicrucian Society of the United States and opened the Matier Royal Provincial College with a charter from Lord Inverurie, Earl of Kincore and Supreme Magus of the SRIS. The college was named after Charles Fitzgerald Matier, the first Supreme Magus of SRIS who served in 1876. Harold Van Buren Voorhis insists that the Illinois College under Dr. French was never truly active, and it certainly was short-lived as Dr. French died an untimely death in 1879. Harold Voorhis also insisted that Frater Stodart Blackie’s early charter in New York had been nothing more than an unsubstantiated rumor. It has since been established as historical fact.In 1878, a group of senior U.S. Masons (Daniel Sutter, and Charles W. Parker) led by Charles E. Meyer (1839–1908) of Pennsylvania traveled to England and on July 25, 1878 were initiated into the grade of Zelator at Yorkshire College at Sheffield. They applied for a charter, but getting no response, turned to Scotland and received a charter from the college in Edinburgh in 1879. Scotland’s Society is actually the oldest as Walter Spencer is recorded as having been initiated into the SRIS by Anthony Oneil Haye in 1857, and there are documents in the SRIA archives that show that both Robert Wentworth Little and William J. Hughan were initiated in 1866 and 1867 by Anthony O’Neal Haye, Magus Max, Ros. Soc. Scot. With H.H.M. Bairnfathur signing as Secretary. The Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia was formed in England in 1866 by Robert Wentworth Little. The SRIA later felt the need to charter the current SRIS on October 24, 1873.
A second charter was granted by the SRIS for a college in New York, and Fratres from Philadelphia and New York met in Philadelphia on April 21, 1880 and formed a High Council, then known as the SRRCA or the Societas Rosicrucianae Reipublica Confoedera America, was later changed to the Society of Rosicrucians in the USA by Most Worthy Frater Shryock in his capacity as Supreme Magus and then properly Latinized in 1934 by & at the suggestion of Dr. William Moseley Brown under the regime of Most Worthy Frater Hamilton. Brown composed the name (Societas Rosicruciana In Civitatibus Foederatis) himself and submitted it on January 17, 1934. The SRICF has operated continuously since its formation in the 19th Century, and is thriving today with an upsurge of young Masons being invited into its ranks with great enthusiasm and demonstrated scholarship.
Membership is by invitation only & predicated on regular mainstream Masonic affiliation as well as a profession of Christian faith. Membership was initially restricted to 36 members per College, but this was changed in 1908 by MW Thomas Shryock to 72 members per college. The See of the High Council is in Washington, D.C. The SRICF is in amity with the SRIS (Scotia) and the SRIA (Anglia) as well as the SRIC (Canada) and has helped the cause of Rosicruciana by empowering High Councils in their own sovereignty around the World. They are the SRIL in Lusitania (Portugal), SRIG in Gallia (France) and the SRIR (Romania).
The society issues an annual journal known as Ad Lucem composed of academic articles on things related to Rosicrucianism & esoteric streams of Christian Mysteries. There is also an annual report, The Rosicrucian Fama. Many of the Colleges have their own individual organs which are produced quarterly as well as annually. The governing body of the Society is known since 1911 (having dropped ‘Grand’ from its title) as The High Council which is composed of Fratres of the Third Order (IX and VIII), plus any College Celebrant not a member of the Third Order. The head of the Society is titled The Supreme Magus who was elected ad vitam up until circa 1991 when the constitution of the Society was changed to reflect that Supreme Magi are elected each triennium. Unlike the SRIA in England, a Chief Adept in the SRICF does not have regional powers, but rather is in charge of an individual College. Typically there is but one College per state, exceptions having been made for both New York and California due to their size and population.
List of Supreme Magi of the SRICF
- Charles E. Meyer, 1880–1908
- Thomas J. Shryock, 1908–1918
- Eugene A. Holton, 1918–1927
- Frederick W. Hamilton, 1927–1940
- Arthur D. Prince, 1940–1950
- Harold V.B. Voorhis, 1950–1979
- Laurence E. Eaton, 1979–1984
- Henry Emerson, 1984–1986
- William G. Peacher 1986-1992
- Joseph S. Lewis 1992-1995
- James M. Willson, Jr. 1995-1998
- Thurman C. Pace, Jr. 1998-2007
- William H. Koon,II 2007–present
First Order
- Grade I – Zelator
- Grade II – Theoricus
- Grade III – Practicus
- Grade IV – Philosophus
Second Order
- Grade V – Adeptus Minor
- Grade VI – Adeptus Major
- Grade VII – Adeptus Exemptus
Societas Rosicruciana in Canada (SRIC)
The Societas Rosicruciana in Canadiensis was first mentioned in a declaration dated May 31, 1876, but it was not formally constituted (by a Col. McLeod Moore, through his acquaintance with John YarkerJohn Yarker
thumb|upright|John Yarker John Yarker was an English Freemason, author, and occultist. He was born in Swindale, Shap, Westmorland in the north of England. He moved with his parents to Lancashire and on to Manchester in 1849...
) until September 19 of that year. Most of the membership came from the town of Maitland, Ontario. The society constituted a High Council exactly one year later, but the Society went into abeyance at some point after 1889.
In 1936, Ontario College was created via a charter from SRICF. Manly Palmer Hall
Manly Palmer Hall
Manly Palmer Hall was a Canadian-born author and mystic. He is perhaps most famous for his 1928 work The Secret Teachings of All Ages.-Early years:...
's father, E.H.D. Hall, a member of Canada's first Rosicrucian Society, was voted a charter member of the Ontario College. Due to possible jurisdictional issues, rather than procure a charter from SRIA or SRIS, a Canadian High Council was formed on June 29, 1997, and the SRIC is now an independent body.
Structure and governance
The Order is subdivided into three smaller orders, each with its own governance. The various orders confer a total of nine degrees, here called grades.First Order
Members of the 1st Order (Frater (singular) Fratres (plural)) meet in a College, which is equivalent to a Lodge. A College is empowered to confer the first four degrees of the Society, also called the Learning Grades.- Grade I - Zelator
- Grade II - Theoricus
- Grade III - Practicus
- Grade IV - Philosophus
A minimum of six months must elapse between the receipt of each grade. However, the emphasis on the work of the society is learning; therefore every member is encouraged to deliver a paper of their own work on some topic of interest in open college.
Second Order
This is equivalent to a Masonic Provincial Grand Lodge, and is headed by a Chief Adept and his deputy (Suffragan) who have jurisdiction over all of the first order Colleges within the Province.The Chief Adept is empowered to confer three further Grades at this level to deserving Fratres of Grade IV who have been members of the Society for a minimum of four years.
- Grade V - Adeptus Minor
- Grade VI - Adeptus Major
- Grade VII - Adeptus Exemptus
A minimum of one year must elapse between the receipt of grades at this level. A member can only serve as the Celebrant (Master) of a College of the First Order after receiving the Grade of Adeptus Exemptus.
Third Order
This is equivalent to a Grand LodgeGrand 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....
, and is headed by a Supreme Magus, Senior Substitute Magus and Junior Substitute Magus.
Members of the second order who have given service to the society and been selected by the Supreme Magus for such advancement may be awarded a further two Grades.
- Grade VIII - Magister
- Grade IX - Magus
Influences
In 1888, three members of SRIA (William Robert WoodmanWilliam Robert Woodman
Dr. William Robert Woodman , one of three co-founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.-Early years:Woodman was born in England in 1828. He studied medicine and was licensed in...
, William Wynn Westcott
William Wynn Westcott
William Wynn Westcott was a coroner, ceremonial magician, and Freemason born in Leamington, Warwickshire, England...
, and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers
Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers
Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers , born Samuel Liddell Mathers, was one of the most influential figures in modern Occultism...
) formed the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a magical order active in Great Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which practiced theurgy and spiritual development...
, which removed the restriction on membership, allowing non-Christians, non-Freemasons, and women to join. A great deal of the SRIA structure survived in the new order, which went on to greatly influence the modern Western occult revival in the 20th century.
Societas Rosicruciana in America (SRIAm)
Due to the fragmentary nature of Rosicrucian orders, there are a number of historical Rosicrucian societies with similar names that either no longer have a Masonic connection, or have gone dormant: The SRIA (A for "America") was chartered by the SRIA (in England) in Philadelphia in 1878. It reformed in 1889 as Societas Rosicruciana in the United States (SRIUS), and reformed again as SRIA in 1912. In 1916 the order began admitting women, and its charter was revoked. It is in existence today, but has no Masonic connections whatsoever.In 1879, a College was established in Philadelphia, Pa., under warrant from the High Council of Scotia (Scotland) by a number of Americans who visited England and received their degrees from York College of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. Colleges were established soon after 1879 in New York, Boston, and Burlington, Vt., and were recognized in full by the S.R.I. Anglia; they organized their own High Council, and the body thus constituted became known as the Societatis Rosicrucianae in the United States, admitting only 32nd degree Masons.
A member of Massachusetts College, in Boston, having received the VIII Degree constituting him a Provincial Magus, engaged in special research work. He later received his IX Degree direct from Apponyi, a leading Rosicrucian in Hungary, constituting him a Prince Chief Adept and Magus. The American organization being largely inoperative at the time, he undertook the formation and institution of a branch of the Fraternity in the Western Hemisphere that would devote itself exclusively and assiduously to the true Rosicrucian Art and Operation, open to both sexes on a basis of true equality. The transition of this member, Illustrious Frater Sylvester Clarke Gould, late of Manchester, N. H., on July 19, 1909, prevented the fulfillment of his personal ambition, and the actual work of organization and institution devolved upon the Imperator and Supreme Magus of the Society, George Winslow Plummer
George Winslow Plummer
George Winslow Plummer was Imperator and Supreme Magus of the Societas Rosicruciana in America from 1909 to 1944. Under his auspices the organization was given its contemporary structure. The title was passed on to him by Frater Sylvester Clarke Gould in New York of whom he received full initiation...
, who had received full initiation
and authority to begin the work in New York from Frater Gould before his passing.