It has been a custom among the Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, from time immemorial, for a lodge to honor members of the Craft, and in particular its own members, who have passed into the Celestial Lodge. In maritime lodges, held aboard ships in port or at sea, the ceremonies were ad hoc affairs based on funerals at sea and presided over by the ship’s captain. In land‐based lodges they were, until 1875, pretty much unique to each lodge. These inferences are derived from the fact that, aside from naval traditions and brief mentions that memorials were held, there is no known documentation of the procedures used.
Stories of funeral observances by military lodges in the American Civil War led to compilations of specific Masonically‐significant rituals for the commemoration of the dead. One of these amalgamations, mixed with maritime influences, was used in a lodge at New Brunswick, Canada in 1875. Variously referred to as “The Empty Chair”, “The Missing Man”, and “The Fallen Brother” ceremony, it appears to have borne a resemblance to the U.S. Air Force “Missing Man Formation” used in modern observances. Different forms of this ceremony are said to have been used to honor Masonic Brothers who did not return from World Wars I and II.
In 1868, the Dominion of Canada approved a ritual for use by its Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Although the occasion was named a Lodge of Sorrow at the time, it was renamed a Lodge of Remembrance in 1888 as its stated purpose was “…to celebrate the memory of our departed brethren….” The ritual for a Lodge of Remembrance has since been replicated or adapted for use in lodges around the world.
Lodge le Progres de l’Oceanie, at the instigation of its Senior Warden in late 2021, undertook to hold a Lodge of Remembrance coincident with the U.S. Memorial Day observance in 2022. Brother Dino Montalbo, the Senior Warden, selected the Philippine ritual as a basis for our ceremony and, together
with Worshipful Brother Jeffrey Low, the Secretary, adapted it for our use.
To relate the occasion more specifically to Lodge le Progres, Worshipful Low compiled a brief history of the Lodge and its impact on the Hawaii jurisdiction. The Lodge intends to make this observance an annual tradition. A photograph of the participants in the Lodge of Remembrance ceremony is shown at right. The following Historical Lecture was delivered as part of the ceremony.
