E Comp John Peters PGSoj Metropolitan Grand Inspector Reports on an excerpt from an article by E Comp Huib Lazet PGStB SGC Netherlands.

It took more than two centuries for the English Royal Arch to pass the Dutch coast. In the 18th and 19th centuries the Dutch Order of Freemasons had no interest whatsoever in English, Scottish and Irish Freemasonry, banning them in actual fact.

Only after the Second World War was the Sublime Degree introduced in the Netherlands.

For Dutch Freemasons it was an entirely ‘new’ degree, being the completion of the ‘Moderns’ “Three Degrees” system, they had received around 1730 via France.

The Dutch introduction of the Royal Arch began in fact in 1942. Dutch Freemasons fled from the occupied Netherlands to London, where English Freemasons provided a refuge by constituting the Anglo-Dutch Lodge. After the war, the Grandmaster of the Dutch Order of Freemasons, MW Brother L.J.J. Caron visited London, became a member of the Anglo-Dutch Lodge and was informed about Royal Arch Freemasonry. A revelation even to this Grandmaster!

In order to import this ‘new degree’ into Dutch freemasonry MW Brother Caron suggested that an Anglo-Dutch Chapter should be founded. Consequently, this was consecrated in 1948 in Freemasons’ Hall.

A little later, a large group of Dutch Craft Brethren were exalted in the Anglo-Dutch Chapter. This nucleus was the starting point of RA masonry on Dutch soil. On February 3, 1949 Chapter ‘Nos Vinxit Libertas’, was established in the ‘Masonic Hall’ of Amsterdam, under the English Constitution.

From the beginning, a Dutch translation of the Domatic ritual was used. On 21st October 1950 the Supreme Grand Chapter of the Netherlands was established and ‘Nos Vinxit Libertas’, became ‘Chapter No 1’, with soon more to follow.Therefore, Anglo-Dutch Chapter 5862 is the ‘Mother’ of Dutch Royal Arch Masonry!

A recent visit to London by SGC Netherlands promises to be the reinforcement of a Masonic bond across the North Sea and a revival of a truly Anglo-Dutch Chapter!

This article is part of the Arena Magazine, Issue 50 December 2022 edition.
Arena Magazine is the official magazine of the London Freemasons - Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Metropolitan Grand Chapter of London.

Read more articles in the Arena Issue 50 here.