Motto's of the Craft.
Like a lot of other fraternal organizations the Scottish Rite and the Blue or Symbolic Lodges have their share of Latin motto's. Here is a list of what they are and what they mean. They are listed in the order of the degree they pertain to. If they do not pertain to a specific degree they are listed last and in alphabetical order.
FIAT LUX ET LUX FIT
This Latin motto is frequently written Sit Lux et Lux Fuit, referring to Genesis(I, 3), "Let there be light, and there was light" (see True Light). The degrees this motto pertains to is the 1st through the 3rd degree when the brother is brought from darkness to like. In the Grand Lodge of Iowa it is spoken in English, not Latin. It may be spoken in Latin in other Grand Lodge jursdictions.
SPES MEA IN DEO EST
English meaning: My hope is in God. The motto of the Thirty-second Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
DEUS MEUMQUE JUS
English meaning: God and my right. The motto of the Thirty-third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and hence adopted as that also of the Supreme Council of the Rite. It is a Latin translation of the motto of the royal arms of England, which is the French expression Dieu et mon droit, and concerning which we have the following tradition: Richard Coeur de Leon, besieging Gisors, in Normandy, in 1198, gave, as a parole or watchword, Dieu et man droit, because Philip Augustus, King of France, had, without right, taken that city, which then belonged to England. Richard, having been victorious with that righteous parole, hence adopted it as his motto; and it was afterward marshaled in the arms of England.
ORDO AB CHAO
English meaning: Order out of Chaos. A motto of the Thirty-third Degree, and having the same allusion as lug e tenebris, which see in this work. The invention of this motto is to be attributed to the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish petite at Charleston, and it is first met with in the Patent of Count de Grasse, dated February 1, 1802. When De Grasse afterward carried the polite over to France and established a Supreme Council there, he changed the motto, and, according to Lenning, Ordo ab hoc, Order out of This, was used by him and his Council in all their documents. If so, it was simply a blunder.
IN DEO FIDUCIA NOSTRA
English meaning: Our trust is in GOD.
IN HOC SIGNO VINCES
On the Grand Standard of a Commandery of Knights Templar these words are inscribed over "a blood-red Passion Cross," and they constitute in part the motto of the American branch of the Order. Their meaning, By this sign thou shalt conquer, is a substantial, but not literal, translation of the original Greek, Av vour¢ó. For the origin of the motto, we must go back to a well known legend of the Church, which has, however, found more doubters than believers among the learned. Eusebius, who wrote a life of Constantine says that while the emperor was in Gaul, in the year 312, preparing for war with his rival, Maxentius, about the middle hours of the day, as the sun began to verge toward its setting, he saw in the heavens with his own eyes, the sun surmounted with the trophy of the cross, which was composed of light, and a legend annexed, which said "by this conquer." This account Eusebius affirms to be in the words of Constantine. Lactantius, who places the occurrence at a later date and on the eve of a battle with Maxentius, in which the latter was defeated, relates it not as an actual occurrence, but as a dream or vision; and this is now the generally received opinion of those who do not deem the whole legend a fabrication. On the next day Constantine had an image of this cross made into a banner, called the labarum, which he ever afterward used as the imperial standard. Eusebius describes it very fully. It was not a Passion Cross, such as is now used on the modern Templar standard, but the monogram of Christ. The shaft was a very long spear.
On the toll was a crown composed of Kold and precious stones, and containing the sacred symbol, namely, the Greek letter rho or P. intersected by the chi or X, which two letters are the first and second of the name XPI2TOX`, or Christ. If, then, the Templars retain the motto on their banner, they should, for the sake of historical accuracy, discard the Passion Cross, and replace it with the Constantinian Chronogram, or Cross of the Labarum. But the truth is, that the ancient Templars used neither the Passion Cross, nor that of Constantine, norWyet the motto in hoc silo Winces on their standard. Their only banner was the black and white Beauseant, and at the bottom of it was inscribed their motto, also in Latin, Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed noxnini too da gloriam, meaning Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thee give the glory. This was the song-or shout of victory sung by the Templars when triumphant in battle.
LABORARE EST MORI
English Meaning: To Labor is to Pray.
LUX E TENEBRIS
English meaning: Light out of darkness. A motto very commonly used in the caption of Masonic documents as expressive of the object of Freemasonry, and what the true Freemason supposes himself to have attained. It has a recondite meaning. In the primeval ages and in the early mythology, darkness preceded light. "In the thought," says Cox, "of these early ages, the sun was the child of night or darkness" (Aryan Mythology I, page 43).
So lux being Truth or Freemasonry, and tenebrae, or darkness, the symbol of initiation, luxe tenebris is Masonic truth proceeding from initiation. A Lodge at London comprising Brethren devoted especially to the welfare of blind persons has been given this appropriate name.
NE VARIETUR
English meaning: Lest it should be changed. These words refer to the Masonic usage of requiring a Brother, when he receives a Certificate from a Lodge, to affix his name, in his own handwriting, in the margin, as a precautionary measure, which enables distant Brethren, by a comparison of the handwriting, to recognize the true and original owner of the Certificate, and to detect any impostor who may surreptitiously have obtained one.
Like a lot of other fraternal organizations the Scottish Rite and the Blue or Symbolic Lodges have their share of Latin motto's. Here is a list of what they are and what they mean. They are listed in the order of the degree they pertain to. If they do not pertain to a specific degree they are listed last and in alphabetical order.
FIAT LUX ET LUX FIT
This Latin motto is frequently written Sit Lux et Lux Fuit, referring to Genesis(I, 3), "Let there be light, and there was light" (see True Light). The degrees this motto pertains to is the 1st through the 3rd degree when the brother is brought from darkness to like. In the Grand Lodge of Iowa it is spoken in English, not Latin. It may be spoken in Latin in other Grand Lodge jursdictions.
SPES MEA IN DEO EST
English meaning: My hope is in God. The motto of the Thirty-second Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
DEUS MEUMQUE JUS
English meaning: God and my right. The motto of the Thirty-third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and hence adopted as that also of the Supreme Council of the Rite. It is a Latin translation of the motto of the royal arms of England, which is the French expression Dieu et mon droit, and concerning which we have the following tradition: Richard Coeur de Leon, besieging Gisors, in Normandy, in 1198, gave, as a parole or watchword, Dieu et man droit, because Philip Augustus, King of France, had, without right, taken that city, which then belonged to England. Richard, having been victorious with that righteous parole, hence adopted it as his motto; and it was afterward marshaled in the arms of England.
ORDO AB CHAO
English meaning: Order out of Chaos. A motto of the Thirty-third Degree, and having the same allusion as lug e tenebris, which see in this work. The invention of this motto is to be attributed to the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish petite at Charleston, and it is first met with in the Patent of Count de Grasse, dated February 1, 1802. When De Grasse afterward carried the polite over to France and established a Supreme Council there, he changed the motto, and, according to Lenning, Ordo ab hoc, Order out of This, was used by him and his Council in all their documents. If so, it was simply a blunder.
IN DEO FIDUCIA NOSTRA
English meaning: Our trust is in GOD.
IN HOC SIGNO VINCES
On the Grand Standard of a Commandery of Knights Templar these words are inscribed over "a blood-red Passion Cross," and they constitute in part the motto of the American branch of the Order. Their meaning, By this sign thou shalt conquer, is a substantial, but not literal, translation of the original Greek, Av vour¢ó. For the origin of the motto, we must go back to a well known legend of the Church, which has, however, found more doubters than believers among the learned. Eusebius, who wrote a life of Constantine says that while the emperor was in Gaul, in the year 312, preparing for war with his rival, Maxentius, about the middle hours of the day, as the sun began to verge toward its setting, he saw in the heavens with his own eyes, the sun surmounted with the trophy of the cross, which was composed of light, and a legend annexed, which said "by this conquer." This account Eusebius affirms to be in the words of Constantine. Lactantius, who places the occurrence at a later date and on the eve of a battle with Maxentius, in which the latter was defeated, relates it not as an actual occurrence, but as a dream or vision; and this is now the generally received opinion of those who do not deem the whole legend a fabrication. On the next day Constantine had an image of this cross made into a banner, called the labarum, which he ever afterward used as the imperial standard. Eusebius describes it very fully. It was not a Passion Cross, such as is now used on the modern Templar standard, but the monogram of Christ. The shaft was a very long spear.
On the toll was a crown composed of Kold and precious stones, and containing the sacred symbol, namely, the Greek letter rho or P. intersected by the chi or X, which two letters are the first and second of the name XPI2TOX`, or Christ. If, then, the Templars retain the motto on their banner, they should, for the sake of historical accuracy, discard the Passion Cross, and replace it with the Constantinian Chronogram, or Cross of the Labarum. But the truth is, that the ancient Templars used neither the Passion Cross, nor that of Constantine, norWyet the motto in hoc silo Winces on their standard. Their only banner was the black and white Beauseant, and at the bottom of it was inscribed their motto, also in Latin, Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed noxnini too da gloriam, meaning Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thee give the glory. This was the song-or shout of victory sung by the Templars when triumphant in battle.
LABORARE EST MORI
English Meaning: To Labor is to Pray.
LUX E TENEBRIS
English meaning: Light out of darkness. A motto very commonly used in the caption of Masonic documents as expressive of the object of Freemasonry, and what the true Freemason supposes himself to have attained. It has a recondite meaning. In the primeval ages and in the early mythology, darkness preceded light. "In the thought," says Cox, "of these early ages, the sun was the child of night or darkness" (Aryan Mythology I, page 43).
So lux being Truth or Freemasonry, and tenebrae, or darkness, the symbol of initiation, luxe tenebris is Masonic truth proceeding from initiation. A Lodge at London comprising Brethren devoted especially to the welfare of blind persons has been given this appropriate name.
NE VARIETUR
English meaning: Lest it should be changed. These words refer to the Masonic usage of requiring a Brother, when he receives a Certificate from a Lodge, to affix his name, in his own handwriting, in the margin, as a precautionary measure, which enables distant Brethren, by a comparison of the handwriting, to recognize the true and original owner of the Certificate, and to detect any impostor who may surreptitiously have obtained one.