Most Illustrious and Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy, Brother Fabio Venzi, Most Potent Brethren who adorn the East, all Brethren who adorn the Valleys, each according to his own Dignity and Degree, this National Convocation will remain in the memory of our Rite for what the presence of Grand Master Fabio Venzi among us signifies. Welcome, Grand Master. Welcome to the Temple that the Scottish Masons of Italy have built with their own hands, with their Fidelity, and, in these difficult years, with their sacrifice.
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When Solomon resolved to build the Temple of Jerusalem, he did not work alone. He called upon Hiram, King of Tyre, and with him entered into a covenant of brotherhood. It was a meeting between equals, between sovereigns, between men who recognised in shared labour something greater than either of them alone.
This is what this moment represents to me. Two distinct Institutions, each sovereign within its own order, each of them faithful to its own history and to its own mission, meeting on the common ground of what truly matters: the search for Truth, fidelity to the Light, and service to Humanity.
The Regular Grand Lodge of Italy and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite are not the same institution, nor do they wish to be. And this is not distance, but richness. To support the architrave, two columns are needed; and their height, which metaphorically and, within a broader field of meaning, also allegorically evokes their dignity, must be the same if the edifice is to stand firm.
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I wish to be clear on one point, with the affectionate transparency and fraternal respect due to a guest of your rank. The autonomy of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is not intended as arrogance or mistrust. It is a doctrinal and historical necessity. Our Rite has its own liturgy, its own philosophy, its own chain of transmission, reaching back in time far beyond recent vicissitudes.
We owe it Fidelity, because preserving this autonomy is a duty towards those who preceded us, who transmitted that autonomy to us, and towards those who will come after us, to whom it is for us to transmit it.
We are convinced that this is a value, also because, at other times in the history of the Rite, that autonomy has been threatened, limited, compressed. And it is precisely because we are free and of good report that we are able to forge true alliances, to render true honour, to offer true Brotherhood. Only those who are free can give freedom. Only those who are sovereign can recognise the sovereignty of others. Our friendship with the GLRI is a friendship among equals. And this makes it precious.
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In these years there have been men who sat among us, who had pronounced our oaths, who had received our Light and who, thereafter, chose to serve interests and conveniences that had nothing whatsoever to do with that Light.
I do not pronounce their names. It is not necessary.
To such persons I leave the weight of their own conscience. And to our Institution I reserve the lesson that follows from it. Fidelity to oaths is not weakness. It is the backbone of every Man worthy of that name. It is the cornerstone without which no Temple can stand.
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And now, Grand Master, I address you directly, aloud and before the Scottish Brethren as witnesses. When the Italian Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was going through one of the darkest moments in its recent history, when participation in the AASR itself was defined as a “Masonic offence” (Decree No. 10/AS of the GOI, 13 June 2024), the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy extended its hand to us. It asked for nothing in return. It recognised our legitimacy, respected our history, and opened its doors to us.
This gesture of authentic brotherhood goes beyond institutional protocol and represents the putting into practice of the Five Points of Fellowship, which many have heard but few have interiorised to the point of making them a rule of conduct. It reminded us that Freemasonry, when it is true, recognises the Light wherever it manifests itself, even when that Light bears a different name, dwells in a different Temple, and follows a different path.
For this reason, in the name of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite and of all the Brethren gathered here, we can, we must and we wish to say to you: thank you, Grand Master. Thank you to the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy. This gratitude is engraved in the stone of our common history.
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We are already working together, to our mutual benefit. We are receiving with fraternal joy into the Scottish ranks those Brethren of the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy who request it. We are informed, moreover, of Scottish Brethren who are drawing closer to the Mark and the Royal Arch of the GLRI, also with a view to strengthening our relations through the formation of Masons who are truly participants in both Institutions.
Two different instruments playing the same music produce a richer sound than one instrument alone.
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I conclude.
Grand Master, in our Temple you are as a Brother among Brothers. This is the highest welcome we can offer you. And the most sincere.
Scottish Brethren, to your feet: a triple battery of rejoicing and greeting to the Grand Master of the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy!
Huzzai! Huzzai! Huzzai!
