Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes 
Fourth Degree Ceremony - R.O.H.


This ritual is from 1958


S.P. opens the Lodge, First Degree and receives Regalia visits.
The Grand Primo takes over the Lodge from the Sitting Primo and asks all brethren taking part in the ceremony to retire.
The Knight Commander, Officers and Members of the Knights Chapter are then introduced by the Director of Ceremonies.
The Grand Primo transfers the Lodge to the Knight in Command.
D.C.: Worthy Knight Commander, have I your permission to introduce the Guard of Honour, members of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees and the Roll of Honour?
K.C.: Worthy Director of Ceremonies, you have our full permission.
D.C. retires and announces Guard of Honour to Tyler.
Guard is then brought in and placed in the spaces for 1st, 2nd and 3rd degrees and R.O.H.
D.C.: Worthy Knight Commander, have I your permission to introduce the Installing Officer?
K.C.: Worthy Director of Ceremonies, we do grant our permission that Bro. ... the Installing Officer, be introduced to the members assembled.
D.C. retires and brings in the Installing Officer and introduces him to the K.C. and brethren.
K.C. now transfers the Lodge to the Installing Officer.
D.C. asks permission to introduce the Knight of the Jewel and the Knight Insignia of Peace and the members of the R.O.H. placing the Knight of Jewel on his Right and Knight Insignia of Peace on his Left.
D.C., kneeling in centre of Lodge: Worthy Installing Officer, have I your permission to introduce a brother who has been deemed worthy to be raised to the Roll of Honour and receive the Dignity at your hands?
Inst. Officer: His name, worthy Director of Ceremonies?
D.C.: Bro. .... 
Inst. Officer: His rank?
D.C.: A Knight of Merit of our Ancient and Honourable Order.
Inst. Office.:  Worthy Director of Ceremonies, we do grant our permission that the Worthy Brother be admitted to a Lodge of the first degree.
D.C. retires and announces himself with the Candidate and sponsors.
Inst. Officer: Admit them. On admittance Candidate and sponsors remain at C.M.’s end of Lodge.
Inst. Officer:  Bro. ..., by what means do you gain admittance to a Lodge of the 1st degree.
Candidate: By signs and passwords
Inst. Officer: Worthy Vice Knight Commander, will you kindly test the Candidate as to his knowledge of the Signs, Passwords and Grip of the 1st degree.
V.KC. after testing: Worthy Installing Officer, Signs, Passwords and Grip quite correct.
Inst. Officer: Bro. ..., do you remember the declaration administered to you when initiated into the Mysteries of our Order?
Candidate: I do.
Inst. Officer: Will you please repeat that Declaration?
Candidate repeats.
Inst. Officer: Bro. ... do you in the presence of the Brethren in Lodge ratify and confirm the declaration you have just made?
Candidate: I do
The Proclamation of the First Degree is now read: Whereas we, the Kangaroos of the ... Lodge  No. ... do declare that one ... has been duly and legally proposed, seconded, and elected, to receive the Honour and Dignity of the Roll of Honour, and he has this day repeated the Obligation of the First Degree, and proved himself in full possession of the signs and passwords belonging to the said Degree.
As witness our hands this ... day of ....
Inst. Officer: Let the Brother be advanced in 2nd Degree.
Inst. Officer: Primo ..., do you remember the terms of the Oath of Fidelity, which was administered to you when you were raised to the degree of Primo ?
Candidate: I do.
Inst. Officer: Do you in the presence of the Primo’s in Lodge now ratify and confirm that oath of Fidelity.
Candidate: I do.
Inst. Officer: I will now listen to the Petition of the Second Degree: Know all Brethren that we, the undersigned duly and legally elected Primo’s of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, have tested one ..., a member of the Second Degree, and found him in possession of the Signs and Passwords appertaining to the aforesaid Degree, and now most humble ask that he, the said ..., may receive the Dignity of Roll of Honour at your hands.
As witness our hands this ... day of ....
Inst. Officer:  Let the Brother be further advanced.
Inst. Officer: I will now listen to the Decree of the Third Degree. Be it known to all Brethren here assembled, that we, the undersigned, Knights of the Order of Merit of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes, having met in secret conclave, have unanimously agreed that one ..., a Knight of the Order of Merit of this, our Honourable Order, shall have the Dignity of the Roll of Honour conferred upon him.
Given at ... under our hands and seals this ... day of ....
Inst. Officer: Do you remember the solemn Obligation you made when raised to the Dignity of Knighthood?
Candidate: I do.
Inst. Officer: Do you, in the presence of the Knights of the Order of Merit in Lodge, ratify and confirm that Obligation?
Candidate: I do.
Inst. Officer: Let the Brother he further advanced.
The Candidate is then introduced by the Sponsors to the Installing Knight.
Here is read the acceptance of the R.O.H.: We the undersigned, Members of the Roll of Honour of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes in Grand Chapter assembled, do hereby ordain that Bro. ..., Knight of the Order of Merit of our Ancient and Honourable Order in recognition of his honourable and diligent Work, has been deemed worthy of being exalted to, and enjoy all Rights and Privileges appertaining to the Roll of Honour.
We further enact that the said Bro. ..., shall be exalted in the ... Lodge No. ..., held at ... in the Province of ... at the hands of our well beloved Bro. The Right Honourable ....
In Witness whereof we, the undersigned have set our hands and seals this ... day of ....
N.B.: The Certificate must be signed by Grand President as well as Installing Officer.
 
 
Address
 
Inst. Officer: Worthy Knights, Primo’s and Brethren. The Presentation of the Roll of Honour Jewel is of so exceptional an occurence that it requires and deserves something more than the giving of the Jewel with a few congratulatory remarks. I will ask you, therefore, to give me your earnest attention whilst I address a few words to the Worthy Knight upon whom yonr favour has happily fallen.
Bring him to the Royal Chair.
Sir ..., it affords me a great amount of pleasure and gratification to see you in the position you now occupy, and I earnestly direct your attention to the fact that this is the fourth time you have been brought to the Royal Chair to receive such honours and dignities as the Lodge can bestow on you.
In the first instance, you will remember you were an unenlightened individual. Blindfolded. you stood upon the threshold of Buffaloism, humbly soliciting to be admitted into our Order. That request was granted; and upon laking your first obligation, the secrets and signs of the First Degree were communicated to you.
After your admittance to the First Degree, the Brethren of your Lodge noticed with pleasure your demeanour as a Buffalo, and were gratified to see you were always to the front in the noble cause of Philanthropy, and, further you, to the best of your ability, were always ready to contribute to the harmony of our gatherings. Your respectful obedience to the Chair, and your general good-fellowship, caused the Lodge to look upon you as one worthy of receiving further Degrees. You were therefore called to the Royal Chair a second time, and the mysteries and signs of a Primo Buffalo were communicated and entrusted to you.
Now, in the second Degree, you had a much better opportunity of studying our Order, and of developing those nobler attributes of man. Thereby you exercised the powers and prerogatives entrusted to you with Charity, Temperance and Affability, in circumstances that must have been both painful and pleasing, and showed that you had received, imbibed and inculcated those principles which are required of him who would become a good and worthy Buffalo.
You never deviated from the landmarks of our Order: Justice, Truth and Philanthropy; and by the exercise of those gentle virtues you administered the laws of our Order impartially, and so secured the good order, well-being, and prosperity of your Lodge and obtained (because you deserved) the esteem of all true and worthy buffaloes. This being so, the Brethren of your Lodge determined to make known to you their great satisfaction at the progress you made in the Order, and you were called for the third time to the Royal Chair to be presented with the Jewel which new shines so brightly upon your breast, and were deservedly created a Knight of the Order of Merit, appertaining to the Order of Buffaloes.
Your onward progress continued. You were still to be found in the foremost ranks, fighting the great battle that is ever raging around us of Good-Fellowship, Harmony, Peace, and Philanthropy. At all times upholding our ancient rights and privileges, your Talent, Valour, Wisdom, and Worth were seen and admired by all true and worthy Buffaloes; nor can one be found who can truthfully say, “Sir ... is a coward craven, or recreant Knight.” On the contrary you have been respected by all as an upright and honest man, and a good and true-hearted Buffalo.
Your career in buffaloism can be summed up in one brief sentence: Most Honourable, and for that reason your Lodge has determined that your name shall be inscribed upon our Honourable Scroll of Illustrious Knights and Primos.
As the representative of this Lodge, I have called you to the Royal Chair for the fourth time to induct you to that honourable position in this Lodge and Order.
Four knocks. All Brethren to be upstanding. Right Honourables to stand around the Installing Officer. The R.O.H.-Elect to kneel upon right knee, and place right hand upon left breast.
Sir .... You have taken the obligations required of you in the respective Degrees through which you have passed, and having kept the same faithfully will you in the presence of the Brethren of all Degrees assembled here to do honour to you, further promise to keep inviolate those several declarations upon your Word as a Man, and your Honour as a Buffalo?
R.O.H.-Elect: I do faithfully promise to keep the several Obligations which I have made, upon my Word as a Man, and my Honour as a Buffalo.
Inst. Officer: Do you further promise to uphold and maintain the rights and privileges of our Order, and to further the respect and progress of the same upon your Word as a Man, and your Honour as a Buffalo?
R.O.H.-Elect: I do also promise to uphold and maintain and further the respect and progress of our Order, upon my Word as a Man, and my Honour as a Buffalo.
Inst. Officer: Sir ..., in your present position; which is that you are placed upon your honour as a Buffalo; you have ratified your previous Obligations in the presence of the Brethren of this Lodge and Order here assembled. I now, at the command of the ... Lodge, award you the Title and Dignity known in our Order as the Roll of Honour.
Arise, the Right Honourable Sir ....
Inst. Officer asks the Knt. of the Jewel to convey the Jewel, Apron, etc., to the V.K.C. with the request that he consecrate the same.
V.K.C.: By virtue of mine office and the power vested in me I do hereby consecrate this Jewel and Apron, and do declare them fit to be worn in all duly and legally constituted Buffalo Lodges throughout the World. In the name of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, and the Executive of this our Ancient and Most Honourable Order.
V.K.C., after Consecration: Worthy Installing Officer, I return Jewel, Apron, etc., duly and legally Consecrated.
Inst. Officer: Worthy Vice Knight Commander, you have our thanks.
Inst. Officer then decorates the R.O.H. with Jewel, Apron, etc.: In the name of the ... Lodge, I place this Gold Jewel upon your breast, certain that it will be illustrative of your future career in Buffaloism, which, like gold, will not tarnish by wear or time; and when you are called away to the Great Grand Lodge (which I fervently hope may not be for many years to come), I trust that your past example will be a guiding star to the younger members of our Order, and will reflect lasting honour and credit upon the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes.
Four knocks.: The Presiding Officer proposes the health of the Recipient.

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