Sovereign Grand Commander Seale presents his Allocution during the Opening Session of the Supreme Council.
As we come to the conclusion of our business session, it is the tradition of the Grand Commander to deliver his Allocution. I don’t intend to read that which has been given to you in printed form; you can do that at your leisure. I will, however, share with you my thoughts from writing my first Allocution.
As I looked at the Allocution and its preparation, I became curious about how the process started. We always say “It’s time to have the Allocution,” but I wondered when did the tradition start? When did we start having Allocutions? (By the way, the word simply means an address or a report to the Supreme Council.)
I went in our library, pulled some old Transactions off the shelf, and asked one of our librarians, “When did we start having an Allocution?” As I began to go through those records I found the first Allocution that Grand Commander Pike presented. It was apparently in 1857. Somewhere about 1867 or 1869 the entire Allocution was actually delivered as an oral address; before that it was a written report.
As I looked for the origin of this tradition, I became sidetracked into reading some of the Allocutions. Yellowed texts that had been there for years and years surrounded me as I took a trip back in time. When you turn those old pages one after the other, it’s almost like turning the years back, and in your mind you could be sitting as an Inspector in the Supreme Council of 1857—or of 1863—or of 1901—or of 1925.
It was fascinating to look at what they were talking about. What were the issues that were on their agenda? What were their successes? What were their failures?
In 1857 Grand Commander Pike reported that he was sick of working on the Allocutions, of getting it printed, and of getting it back on time. He found it to be a wearisome task.
In 1863 the Nation was rent asunder by sectional differences. Grand Commander Pike said that he despaired that the Rite would not survive. He said that the task of being the Grand Commander had proven almost too much for him. He also said, “I value and treasure the honors of the office, while sometimes not wishing to be burdened with its responsibility.”
In 1901 the budget for the Supreme Council biennial expenditures was $12,000!
In 1925, there was a celebration of a grand and glorious building that would house our Council.
If you look at what’s there, you find men just like us. Men, that in some place, in some Lodge, in some Scottish Rite building, gathered around an altar upon which was open the book of their faith. They pledged themselves to things that were right, and good, and true, and they agreed that there is a way to live and a way not to live. Masonry to them was a journey into life.
Our Deputy in Louisiana reminds me over and over that Masonry is a journey. We are all of us, all the time, Entered Apprentices, because we continue to learn, we continue to progress, and we continue to grow. Those of us that are in this room, and particularly those of us that are in this circle, have been singularly honored to be leaders of the Craft—to be leaders of the Scottish Rite.
That is an awesome responsibility. If it were mine alone, or if it were yours alone, I would seriously question if we were up to the task, for each one here is but a frail, mortal man. But I also know when every man in this room is united, arm in arm, hand in hand, and dedicated to the principles they received in Masonry, there are few obstacles that can overcome us. The journey into life is long, it is dark, it is fraught with error, but it is also one that we must not faint or fall away from. So that is our duty as Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, as Deputies of our Council, as Honorary Members: to be leaders of the Craft.
You have given me the very great honor and responsibility of leading this Supreme Council into the future. It’s a task that I don’t take lightly, and I thank you for the experience and the honor of being placed here. I trust that my actions during the past biennium, summarized in the published Allocution, have met your expectations.
