HISTORY OF THE FREEMASONRY IN GUATEMALA

At the beginning of the 20th century, a movement was pushed to separate the structure of symbolic Freemasonry from its remaining philosophical bodies.

This resulted in the independence of the three symbolic degrees, which would now come under the auspices of a Grand Lodge and the authority of a Grand Master.

The Sovereign Great Dining Hall Juan Padilla Matute, who held the position from 1895 to 1912 appointed a commission to organize the Grand Lodge at the session held by the Supreme Council on 29 January 1900. The Commission was chaired by I:. P:. H:. Francisco Eleazaro Asturias Catalán. However, it was until the session held by the Supreme Council on September 16, 1902, that it was appointed on Monday of each week to verify the preparatory work of the organization and foundation of the Grand Lodge. On September 29 of the same year, the first meeting was held.

At this first meeting, a Great Provisional Officers was elected.

At that meeting, Q:. H:. Victor J. Morales proposed that the new High Body of Symbolic Masonry be called “Grand Lodge of the Republic of Guatemala, Central America” and agreed the form and design of the seal and banner.

The QQ:. HH:. Palma Morales and Saenz, presented the motion to delete the names of the 10 founding lodges that were:

the other Departaments:

• • “Fénix No. 5 ” de Quetzaltenango,
  • “Estrella de Occidente No. 10” de San Marcos,
  • “Igualdad No. 13” de Totonicapán,
  • “Estrella del Norte No. 17” de Cobán y
  • “Fraternidad No. 20″ de Antigua Guatemala.

It was decided to leave the same names of the Constituent Lodges and only modify their number, ordered the nomenclature from No. 1 and by rigorous order of date of foundation. The Resp:. Log:. Union maintained its number, to the Resp:. Log:. Fenix corresponded the No. 2, to the Resp:. Log:. Firmeza the No. 3, to the Resp:. Log:. Estrella de Occidente No. 4, to Resp:. Log:. Igualdad No. 5 and so on.

The second session was held on 20 October 1902 and the work was devoted to presenting the draft Constitution, the General Statutes, and the Declaration of Principles. The latter was of vital importance for the formation of the New Grand Lodge because it had to reflect the philosophical principles advocated by the new High Symbolic Corps and the acceptance of the norms of international recognition. The above is in order to be recognized as a regular Grand Lodge by the Great Mother Lodge of England. This is what constitutes the Doctrine of Regularity of Origin, that is, symbolic lodges regularly constituted by a Regular Body as was the Supreme Council, which decide to form a Masonic power.

The Third Ordinary Session was convened and held on December 21, 1902, and resolved everything related to the installation of the new Grand Lodge.

The Fourth Session was held on 20 June 1903 and the main purpose of it was for the constituent lodges to appoint their representatives.

The Fifth Session was held on July 13, 1903, the agenda and the agenda had as its main points, the adoption of the General Rules and other provisions related to the installation of the Grand Lodge.

At the 6th meeting, on August 8, 1903, the Painting was chosen, which was to be installed on October 20, 1903, and was integrated as follows:

• Respectable Grand Master: Francisco Castañeda Castañeda,
• Deputy of the Supreme Council: Francisco Eleazaro Asturias Catalán,
• Grand First Watchman:Victor J. Morales
• Grand Second Watchman: Rene Guerin
• Grand Speaker: Vicente Sáenz
• Grand Secretary: Rodolfo E. Sandoval
• Grand Treasurer: Carlos M. Palma

All of which were sworn and solemnly installed in the Grand Session called for effect on October 20, 1903. Since then, the following VV:. MM:. Have held the position of Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Guatemala:

In 1954, due to the political situation that confronted the country, symbolic Freemasonry went through a serious crisis and lived a period of almost 10 years deeply divided. In that period two Grand Lodges functioned and the constitutive Lodges doubled their numbers. In 1964, after several years of negotiations, the division ended, and, as part of the arrangements that were reached, the quality of Grandmasters was recognized by the HH:. who had held that position in the two Grand Lodges, therefore, it is that from 1954 until 1964 appear in the list of Grand Masters, two brothers with such quality. The same happened with the HH:. who held the position of Venerable Masters in the Lodges who doubled their numbers.