The Order of the Silver Trowel is an honorary degree of Cryptic Masonry, the branch of Freemasonry worked by Councils of Royal and Select Masters. It is reserved for men who preside, or have presided, over a Council. Its formal name is the Degree of Thrice Illustrious Master. It takes its everyday name from its insignia, a small silver trowel, and its alternative title, the Order (or Council) of Anointed Kings, from its theme: the anointing of the young Solomon as King of Israel and the last advice his dying father David gave him.
Credit: https://www.crypticrite.org/order-of-the-silver-trowel.html
Origins and history
The degree grew up among the state Grand Councils of Royal and Select Masters in the United States. According to the Grand York Rite bodies of New Mexico, the proprietary right to it belongs to the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of North Carolina. North Carolina received authority to “use and extend” the degree from the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland in 1931. It then prepared an American ritual and has since issued Certificates of Authority allowing other Grand Councils to confer it. Each certificate restates North Carolina’s right to spread the degree.
From America the degree crossed to England, where the Order of Royal and Select Masters had been governed by its own Grand Council since 29 July 1873. That body was formed by four English Councils which had been chartered two years earlier from New York. The English ritual was put together by comparing the versions used in several American states. Today the Grand Council of England and Wales controls six degrees: the four Cryptic degrees worked by every Council (Select Master, Royal Master, Most Excellent Master and Super-Excellent Master), plus two given more sparingly, the Excellent Master and the Thrice Illustrious Master, or Silver Trowel.
The trowel was already a familiar Cryptic emblem. Writing in 1921, J. S. M. Ward described the jewel of the Select Master degree as a silver trowel inside a silver triangle, and noted that in Scotland the jewel of the Cryptic degrees combined the two. In operative masonry the trowel spreads the cement that binds stones into one structure. Mackey’s Encyclopedia explains that Freemasons see in it the spreading of the “cement” of affection and kindness that unites the brethren. That makes it a fitting badge for those entrusted with leading a Council.
Membership
The degree is a chair degree. Only the presiding officer of a Council, or someone who has held that office, can receive it, though the rules differ from one jurisdiction to another.
- United States: many Grand Councils confer it on installed or past Illustrious Masters. In New Mexico, for example, it is worked once a year on the morning of the Grand Council’s Annual Assembly. Any qualified Master of a Council in that state or a recognised jurisdiction may petition, paying a single life-membership fee.
- Canada: the Grand Council of the Eastern Jurisdiction of Canada confers it on present and past Illustrious Masters, usually during its Grand Council Assembly, and calls it the Thrice Illustrious Masters Order of the Silver Trowel.
- England and Wales: here the degree is an adjunct to the Order of Royal and Select Masters, not a separate order. It is a reward for merit, given to only a few. A candidate must be a Past Master of a Royal and Select Masters’ Council and be recommended by his District Grand Master, and the final decision rests with the Grand Master alone. The Grand Master also sets how many names each District may put forward in a year; in Cheshire, Shropshire and North Wales the figure is six. Once approval is given there is a single fee (£75 at the time of writing) and no annual subscription. The degree can be conferred only in a Past Masters’ Council licensed for the purpose. In Cheshire, most recipients take it at the November meeting of King David’s Council No. 307.
The New Mexico Grand Council explains its purpose plainly: it reminds a newly installed Master how important his office is, and it adds dignity and honour to that office. The English title of Thrice Illustrious Master should not be confused with “Illustrious Master”, the ordinary title of a Council’s presiding officer; apart from the similar name, the two are unconnected.
The ceremony
Unlike the four Cryptic degrees, which together form a continuous story about the building of King Solomon’s Temple, the Silver Trowel stands apart. It is set at the end of King David’s reign and the beginning of Solomon’s, and follows the events told in the first two chapters of the First Book of Kings. Throughout the ceremony the candidate takes the part of the young Solomon. The degree is known for its drama, and the English Order notes that the cast need real ritual, even acting, ability.
In the first part the candidate learns that his half-brother Adonijah is scheming to seize the throne. Solomon’s mother Bathsheba goes to the aged and failing King David and pleads for her son. With David’s approval, Benaiah escorts Solomon to the spring of Gihon, where Zadok the high priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him and the people acclaim him as king.
In the second part the new king is brought to his father’s deathbed. David gives him his final charge: to rule justly, to live wisely, and to serve God with all his strength. Solomon accepts, and the old king dies. The lesson for a Master of a Council is clear enough. Authority is a trust to be carried out with integrity and humility, in the service of something greater than oneself.
Regalia
The image at the top of this page shows the degree’s own insignia, the trowel alone, as illustrated by the Grand York Rite Bodies of New Mexico. The triangle, trowel and sword together are a general symbol of Cryptic Masonry, not of this degree. In England it is a hallmarked silver trowel, attached carefully to the flap of the member’s Royal and Select Masters apron with its point downwards. In America, too, the trowel is the insignia of the degree, and it is the reason for its everyday name.
The Order today
The Silver Trowel is worked wherever Cryptic Masonry is strong: by the Grand Councils of many American states, in Canada, and by the roughly 240 Councils of the Order of Royal and Select Masters of England and Wales and its overseas Districts. Many Grand Councils around the world belong to the General Grand Council of Cryptic Masons International, founded in 1880. Because the degree is limited to those who have led a Council, it remains small everywhere. Recipients value it as a sign that their service in the chair has been noticed.
For more information or if you would like to join, please visit the following URLs:
– https://www.crypticrite.org/order-of-the-silver-trowel.html
– https://rsmcheshireandnorthwales.co.uk/the-silver-trowel/
– https://nmyorkrite.org/grand-york-rite/other-bodies/order-of-the-silver-trowel/
Or ask the Recorder of your own Council of Royal and Select Masters how the degree is conferred in your jurisdiction.
Sources:
– Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters, Eastern Jurisdiction of Canada, “Thrice Illustrious Master’s Order of the Silver Trowel” (credited above)
– New Mexico Grand York Rite Bodies, “Order of the Silver Trowel” (link above)
– Royal and Select Masters of Cheshire and North Wales, “The Silver Trowel” (link above)
– J. S. M. Ward, The Higher Degrees Handbook (1921), chapter IV “The Cryptic Degrees”
– Albert G. Mackey, Encyclopedia of Freemasonry: entry “Trowel”
– The Bible, 1 Kings chapters 1 and 2
– Wikipedia: “Order of Royal and Select Masters” and “Cryptic Masonry”