Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia
Ritual for the Installation of a Chief
Adept
2012
The Consecration and Installation of a
Chief Adept & Appointment of a Suffragan
Preparation
The Supreme Magus may appoint either of his
Substitutes or a Commissioner for this ceremony, when they will be addressed as
such and saluted with eight, seven or six times 3 & 2, as appropriate.
Likewise he may appoint others as the team of Consecrating Officers.
The Meeting is opened by the Celebrant of a
College within the Province in the Grade of Zelator, after which the Fratres sit.
The Chief Adept - designate remains outside the Temple.
The Director-General of Ceremonies knocks on
the door and is admitted. He gives the Zelator sign towards the Celebrant.
Director-General of Ceremonies: Very/Right Worthy Celebrant, Most Worthy Frater … Supreme Magus (or
other Right Worthy Officer) is without and demands (requests) admission.
Upon the Celebrant making an appropriate
reply, the Director-General of Ceremonies leaves the Temple and opens the
door(s) wide. The Supreme Magus, and escort of Members of High Council (in
pairs), having been assembled outside in order of seniority, juniors leading,
the Director-General of Ceremonies leads the procession into the Temple.
Director-General of Ceremonies: Fratres, to order to receive the Most Worthy Frater …, Supreme Magus (or
other Officer) the Consecrating and Installing Officer.
The Supreme Magus passes through his escort
and sits at the North side of the Altar.
He appoints the Consecrating Officers, who
move to their places and remain standing
Director-General of Ceremonies: Fratres, we will salute the Most Worthy Supreme Magus with 9 times 3
& 2, taking the time from me.
Be seated Fratres
Supreme Magus: I
thank you for your fraternal salutation etc.
Celebrant offers his Sceptre to the Supreme
Magus who accepts it and takes the Chair .
The Director-General of Ceremonies conducts
the Celebrant to a seat at the South East of the Celebrant’s chair and resumes
his place.
Consecration and Installation of a Chief
Adept
Director-General of Ceremonies: To order Fratres
Supreme Magus: Fratres
in the Name of INRI, Lux Mundi, The Light of the World, The Risen Redeemer, I
declare this Special Convocation of the Province of … duly opened.
Knocks Five and Three.
Supreme Magus or Chaplain-General: Let us pray
Almighty and Eternal God, Architect and
Ruler of the Universe, at whose creative fiat all things first were made, we,
the frail creatures of Thy providence, humbly implore Thee to pour down upon
this Convocation assembled in Thy Holy Name, the continual dew of Thy blessing.
O Thou who knowest our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking,
pardon, we pray Thee, our sins and shortcomings; and hear our petitions, not
according to our right but according to Thine infinite loving kindness that we
may the better be enabled to fulfil our calling in all godliness and honesty;
and dedicate our lives to Thy honour and glory as followers of Him who went the
way before us and who died on the Cross that we might be given the chance to
gain eternal life. Look down upon us merciful Lord and with the Light of Thy
Holy Spirit illumine the Way of our advancement towards the everlasting realms
of Life and Truth.
All: Amen
Director-General of Ceremonies: Be seated Fratres.
Supreme Magus: The
Office of Chief Adept of this Province of ..., being at present vacant, I shall
now proceed with the ceremony of consecration for your new Chief Adept and I ask
all present to join me in heart and mind in our solemn proceedings.
Junior Substitute Magus: Fratres, it is ordained that our Society of the Rose and Cross is
governed by a Supreme Magus and his High Council. The Metropolitan College in
London is under the direct rule of the Supreme Magus. Colleges in the Provinces
and overseas, however, are ruled by a Chief Adept acting under special Letters
Patent granted by the Supreme Magus; such Chief Adept being assisted by a
Suffragan.
It is the duty of the Fratres of our
Society to render willing obedience to the governing powers, and by each
other’s skill and ability to advance the interests of our Society and (whilst
strictly adhering to the Rules and Ordinances of the Supreme Magus and his High
Council) to exercise the spirit of emulation and seek in the essence of daily
life the wisdom that will lead to advancement. By patient toil and eagerly
searching the mysteries that veil the past, we hope to penetrate those greater
mysteries which await us in the future.
Supreme Magus: I,
in my official capacity as Supreme Magus for the Society, accompanied by members
of High Council have come to the Rosicrucian Province of … for the special
purpose of consecrating and installing a Frater as Chief Adept for this Province.
I call, therefore, upon the Director-General of Ceremonies to present before me
Right Worthy Frater … a Magus Honoris Causa (or Magister) of our Society.
The Director-General of Ceremonies leads the
Chief Adept Designate to the kneeling stool before the Altar, where he remains
standing.
Supreme Magus: Benedictus
qui venit in Nomine Domini.
Right Worthy Frater … you have been
called to the High Office of Chief Adept for this Rosicrucian Province. Are you
willing to assume its duties and the responsibilities and to discharge them
faithfully and conscientiously.
Chief Adept Designate: I am.
Supreme Magus: May
the Sacred Office to which you are about to be appointed be directed zealously
by you to the Divine aim of our Society.
Director-General of Ceremonies: To order Fratres for prayer.
All rise and turn to the Altar in the East.
The Chief Adept Designate remains standing.
Supreme Magus or Chaplain-General: Let us pray.
O God Eternal, Everlasting and Everliving
Lord of Light, who by The Divine Laws has given us knowledge of Thy Divine Will,
grant that he who is now called upon to rule this Province may be endowed with
wisdom to govern, knowledge to perform, and power to direct the proceedings of
his Office so that perfect obedience to Thy Will may result. Grant him such
command over himself that he may enforce the Ordinances of the Society and the
Bylaws of the Colleges with consideration to the Fraters and may he govern with
equity, truth and justice.
All: Amen
An Assistant Director-General of Ceremonies
brings up the lighted Thurible (with Incense) and raises it in front of the
Chaplain-General who proceeds to bless the Incense.
Supreme Magus or Chaplain-General: Master of all our hearts, which burn for Thee, vouchsafe to bless and
sanctify this creature of sweet incense which I now consecrate in Thy Name (Makes sign of the Cross) that it may be
a sign of aspiration and ascent of the mind to Thee, and that we may call the
place Holy wherein its smoke ascends.
All: Amen
The Asst. Director-General of Ceremonies
hands the Thurible to the Chaplain-General who censes the Altar and then censes
the Supreme Magus.
The Chaplain-General passes the Thurible to
the Supreme Magus who then censes the Chaplain-General.
The Supreme-Magus moves to the centre of the
Altar and, facing West, censes the Chief Adept Designate saying:-
Supreme Magus: The
Lord cense thee with the fire of His Holy Spirit.
The Supreme Magus hands the Thurible to the
DGofC who then stands between the Chief Adept Designate and the First Ancient,
facing East, and swings the Thurible until the end of the consecration and
ordination.
Supreme Magus: Right
Worthy Frater…, I now bid you kneel down and recite your obligation.
The Chief Adept Designate kneels and says:-
Chief Adept Designate: In the Name of the Eternal and Unchangeable Unity which I seek in common
with my Fratres, I do solemnly promise that I will discharge with zeal and
fidelity the High Office which has been imposed upon me and by me freely
accepted for the good of the whole Society. I will maintain the ceremonies of
the Society of the Rose and Cross and observe the duties of my position of Chief
Adept with conscientious and loving care and I pray that the Divine Grace may be
with me now and henceforward in the prosecution of the Divine Ends. All this I
so solemnly promise.
Supreme Magus: By
the laying on of hands I consecrate you (The
Supreme Magus breathes upon the Chief Adept) and
I ordain you to the High Office of Chief Adept. May the Light and Grace of the
Holy Spirit descend upon you to enlighten you in your High Office and in the
guidance that you exemplify to the Fratres of your Province.
The Lord bless thee and keep thee.
The Lord make His face to shine upon thee
and be gracious unto thee.
The Lord lift up the Light of His
Countenance upon thee and give thee peace, now and for ever more.
The Chief Adept remains kneeling during the
Motet
Precentor-General (or Installing Officer): God be in your head and in my understanding;
God be in your eyes and in my looking;
God be in your mouth and in my speaking;
God be in your heart and in my thinking;
God be at your end and at my departing.
The Supreme Magus raises the Chief Adept who
then stands before him.
Director-General of Ceremonies: Be seated Fratres.
The Director-General of Ceremonies places the
Thurible at the foot of the Altar.
Supreme Magus: Well-beloved
Frater, the solemn promise you have just given imposes upon you a great
responsibility. In the measure of your fidelity to that promise you will realise
the privilege of service to our Master I.N.R.I. in the working out of His Will
and the purpose of our Society. In the same measure you will experience His
blessing on your work. Remember the words of the wise teacher of old “Trust in
the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding. In all
thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.”
The Secretary-General will now read the
Letters Patent of your appointment.
The Secretary-General comes to the right of
the Supreme Magus and reads the Letters Patent; he hands them to the
Director-General of Ceremonies and returns to his place.
The Director-General of Ceremonies brings up
the Robe, the Jewel and the Letters Patent.
Supreme Magus: I
now clothe you with the Robe of a Chief Adept, may INRI clothe you with His
Light as with a garment. I invest you with the Jewel of authority and place in
your hands these letters Patent appointing you as Chief Adept for this Province
of …, during my will and pleasure and until I or my successor shall appoint
otherwise.
Director-General of Ceremonies: To order Fratres.
Supreme Magus: In
the Name of INRI and by the power and authority in me vested as Supreme Magus of
the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia I now install you as Chief Adept for the
Province of ….
During the above, the Chief Adept is placed
in the Chair of the Temple by the Supreme Magus.
Supreme Magus: Behold,
my Fratres, him who is clothed with the outward attributes of authority and I
call upon all below the rank of a High Council Officer to salute him as Chief
Adept with five times 3 and 2, taking the time from the Director-General of
Ceremonies.
The salute is given.
Supreme Magus or Chaplain-General: Let us all now join in a common act of prayer.
Keep we beseech Thee O Lord this man our
Frater in the justice of Thy ways, in the spirit of Thy great counsel, that he
may well and worthily direct those who have been called from the tribulation of
the darkness without into the light of this little kingdom of Thy Love.
Vouchsafe also, that going forward in love for Thee, through Him and with Him,
they may pass from the desire of Thy House into the Light of Thy Presence.
All: Amen
Supreme Magus or Chaplain-General: Finally at the closing of this solemn ceremony of consecration and
installation let us pray for our Society and all its members and for all in
authority in our Society.
Raise up we beseech Thee O Master of all
our ways, the eternal spiritual life of our Society, lift it into the life which
is eternal. May the power, and the grace and the glory of Thy Most Holy Spirit
remain in this House of the Spirit. May all profanations of evil and the hands
of the unconsecrated keep far from the Society, its Temples and its precincts.
May those who are admitted to the Society be those who are born for the Light
and may the High Light abide within them, a witness in the soul and in the heart.
So shall we dwell in Thy presence, in the
sanctity of regenerated life, in the liberation of our sleep in Thee, and in the
presence of the world to come, which is the world of the Holy One, the world of
resurrection in Thee and of union with Christ the Spirit.
All: Amen
Supreme Magus: Benedicite
Domino, laudate et superexaltate eum in coelo. Gloria Patri, et Filio, et
Spiritui Sancto, Sicut erat in principio, et nunc et semper, in saecula
saeculorum.
All: Amen
Director-General of Ceremonies: Be seated Fratres.
Supreme Magus: The
Office of Suffragan of this Province being vacant, I call upon the Chief Adept
to nominate the Suffragan to hold Office in this Province.
Chief Adept: Most
Worthy Supreme Magus, I nominate Very/Right Frater ….
Supreme Magus: Right
Worthy Chief Adept I approve of your nomination and you will now proceed to
obligate ... to the High Office of Suffragan.
Chief Adept: I
call upon the Director-General of Ceremonies to present before me Very/Right
Worthy Frater … the Suffragan Nominate.
The Director-General of Ceremonies leads the
Suffragan Nominate to the kneeling stool before the Altar, where he kneels.
Director-General of Ceremonies: To order Fratres.
Chief Adept: Very/Right
Worthy Frater ……., you will now recite your obligation as Suffragan.
Suffragan Nominate: I do hereby accept the Office of Suffragan to which I have been appointed
and by the Sacred Name of I.N.R.I. do promise to fulfil the duties of that
Office faithfully and conscientiously until a successor has been regularly
nominated in my stead. I do further solemnly promise that I will loyally support
the Right Worthy Chief Adept for this Province, in the work of the Province, and
I will earnestly endeavour to maintain the aims and principles of the Society of
the Rose and Cross and extend its influence to the best of my ability. So help
me the Most Glorious and Ever Blessed Trinity.
All this I do solemnly promise.
Chief Adept Raises the Suffragan Nominate
Chief Adept: Very/Right
Worthy Frater … as a pledge of your fidelity and to seal that obligation you
will raise your right hand towards the Sacred Emblems on the Altar.
The Director-General of Ceremonies brings up
the Robe and Jewel of the Suffragan and the Chief Adept invests him.
Chief Adept: I
now clothe you with the Robe of Suffragan, may INRI clothe you with His Light as
with a garment. I invest you with the Jewel of authority.
The Chief Adept returns to his Chair and the
Director-General of Ceremonies conducts the Suffragan to his seat.
Director-General of Ceremonies: Fratres of the Province of … below the rank of Suffragan to order.
You will salute the new Suffragan for the
Province with four times 3 and 2.
Director-General of Ceremonies: All Fratres to order.
Supreme Magus (or Chaplain-General): Let us pray.
The peace of God which passeth all
understanding, keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of
his son Jesus Christ our Lord: and the blessing of God Almighty the Father; the
Son and the Holy Spirit be amongst us and remain with us always.
or in Latin:
Pax Dei, quae superat omnem intellectum,
conservet corda vestra et mentes vestras in cognitione et amore Dei, et Filii
ejus Jesu Christi Domini nostri; et benedictio omnipotentis Dei, Patris et Filii
et Spiritus Sancti, vobis adsit, semperque vobiscum maneat,
All: Amen
Chief Adept: In
the Name of INRI The Great Emmanuel, I declare this Convocation of the Province
of … closed
Knocks Five and Three.
The Temple is resumed in the Grade of Zelator.
Chief Adept: Right/Very
Worthy Celebrant, you will continue the work of your College.
Director-General of Ceremonies conducts the
Chief Adept to his seat in the North East, next to the Substitute Magi and the
Supreme Magus who sits next to the Altar. He then escorts the Celebrant to the
Chair of the College.
Director-General of Ceremonies: Right/Very Worthy Celebrant the Most Worthy Supreme Magus will now retire
accompanied by the Chief Adept and escorted by the Officers of High Council.
Director-General of Ceremonies forms the
escort and conducts the Supreme Magus and the Chief Adept to their positions.
(When SM and escort have retired).
Celebrant: Be
seated Fratres. (The College is then closed).