PARENTHESES

Mossimo is a mid-range American apparel company, founded in 1986. Mossimo specializes in youth, teenage, and adult male clothing. It draws from street, urban and sport styles.

Its local outlet in the Philippines had produced and released into market a T-shirt printed with a defaced insignia of the Order of DeMolay. Active and Senior Members of the Order of DeMolay in the Philippines are now up in arms against Mossimo!

The DeMolay seal is a property of the Order of DeMolay. It is worn with pride and honor by millions of DeMolay members all over the world. Like the Masonic Square and Compasses its usage is bounded by rules and confined exclusively within Fraternal domain. Our emblems are strictly not under public domain – “like the cross” or, the swastika!.
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Here’s a video I made for my Masonic Lodge, the Jacques DeMolay Memorial Lodge No.305, Free and Accepted Masons.

WASHINGTON — A sequel to the blockbuster thriller The Da Vinci Code is set to lift the veil on mysterious Freemason symbols carved into the very fabric of the historic streets and buildings of the US capital.

Novelist Dan Brown has set the new adventures of his hero, scholar-adventurer Robert Langdon, right in the heart of Washington, which could reveal some astonishing facts for history buffs.

Brown “had a contact with us but then cut it short. We are all sitting around waiting for his book to come out but nobody knows what he’s going to say,” Akram Elias, grand master-elect of Washington’s Grand Lodge, told AFP.

According to the pre-publicity, the book — working title The Solomon Key — will feature Langdon, hero of the mass-selling The Da Vinci Code and who was played by Tom Hanks in the hit film version.

“For the first time, Langdon will find himself embroiled in a mystery on US soil. This new novel explores the hidden history of our nation’s capital,” Brown wrote in a posting on his official Web site.
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At last the souls of the murdered Knights and Brethren of the Pauperes Commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici (Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon), or as they are popularly known, the Knights Templar, may now find peace and rest. Our Hero and Martyr, Jacques DeMolay, the Templar’s last Grand Master, who was falsely accused, tortured and was burned at the stake together with his Brother Knights by order of the Church, can now be finally vindicated.

Come October 13 will be the 700th Anniversary of the crackdown and mass arrests of the Templars including their last Grand Master, Jacques DeMolay. They were arrested in 1307 and for seven years they suffered torture under the hands of the inquisition. On the seventh year after their arrest, in 1314, Jacques DeMolay and two of his Brother Knights were burned at the stake. By a strange coincidence, it is on the seventh century after DeMolay was burned at the stake, that the mysteries of the Order of the Knights Templar could soon be laid bare after the Vatican announced the release of a crucial document which has not been seen for almost 700 years.

According to the news published in the website of The Telegraph UK, , and also from BBC, a new book, Processus contra Templarios, will be published by the Vatican’s Secret Archive on Oct 25, and promises to restore the reputation of the Templars, whose leaders were burned as heretics.“For 700 years we have believed that the Templars died as cursed men, and this absolves them.”

After 700 years, Oh Great Son of France, our Hero and Martyr, “Jacques DeMolay, thou art avenged!”

On the side, here’s a graphic I made and published in my blog, seven days before October 13, the 700th anniversary of the Templars arrests. It is a study of a logo for my Mother Lodge, the Jacques DeMolay Memorial Lodge No.305, Masonic District NCR-A, Manila, under the Grand Jurisdiction of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines:

For the Masonic fraternity, the months of January to February are traditionally set for installation of Blue Lodge officers. The installation of Lodge officers signals the beginning of all Masonic labors for the year. Other than Masonic Funeral Rites, Masonic installation ceremonies are usually held in public. It is intended as such in order for the family, friends and guests of Masons to witness and appreciate the beauty of Masonic ceremonies preserved and practiced for ages by generations of Masons.

Last Saturday, January 13, my Lodge, Jacques DeMolay Memorial Lodge No.305 F.& A.M., held its 15th Public Installation Ceremonies at the Scottish Rite Temple in Manila. My wife Bambit and my elder brother Ferdie, also a Past Master Councilor of the Order of DeMolay, was there to witness this beautiful ceremony. I was appointed and installed as Lecturer of our Lodge for Masonic year 2007.

Bambit (center) and my elder brother Ferdie (sitting next to bambit) with some brethren and their families during the reception after the installation.

What do these American Presidents share in common?

George Washington – 1st President of the United States
James Madison – 4th President of the United States
James Monroe – 5th President of the United States
Andrew Jackson – 7th President of the United States
James K. Polk – 11th President of the United States
James Buchanan – 15th President of the United States
Andrew Johnson – 17th President of the United States
James A. Garfield – 20th President of the United States
William McKinley – 25th President of the United States
Theodore Roosevelt – 26th President of the United States
William Howard Taft – 27th President of the United States
Warren G. Harding – 29th President of the United States
Franklin D. Roosevelt – 32nd President of the United States
Harry S Truman – 33rd President of the United States
Lyndon B. Johnson – 36th President of the United States (Entered Apprentice)
Gerald R. Ford – 38th President of the United States

They were all Freemasons. And the last and oldest living among them, Gerald R. Ford, had just died at the age of 93.

My Brethren, the roll of the workmen has been called, and one Master Mason has not answered to his name. He has laid down the working tools of the Craft and with them he has left that mortal part for which he no longer has use. His labors here below have taught him to divest his heart and conscience of the vices and superfluities of life, thereby fitting his mind as a living stone for that spiritual building — that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Strengthened in his labors here by faith in God, and confident of expectation of immortality, he has sought admission to the Celestial Lodge above.

Brother GERALD RUDOLPH FORD
Born: July 14, 1913 Omaha, Nebraska

His Masonic Record:

Initiated: September 30, 1949, Malta Lodge No. 465, Grand Rapids, Michigan, along with his half-brothers Thomas Gardner Ford (1918-1995), Richard Addison Ford (1924-) and James Francis Ford (1927- ). The Fellowcraft and Master Mason Degrees were Conferred by Columbia Lodge No. 3, Washington, D.C., on April 20 and May 18, 1951, as a courtesy to Malta Lodge. Brother Ford was made a Sovereign Grand Inspector General, 33°, and Honorary Member, Supreme Council A.A.S.R. Northern Jurisdiction at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, on September 26, 1962, for which he served as Exemplar (Representative) for his Class. Brother and President Ford was unanimously elected an Active Member of the International Supreme Council, Order of DeMolay and its Honorary Grand Master, at its Annual Session held at Orlando, Florida, April 6-9, 1975; Brother Ford held this post until January 1977, at which time he became a Past Honorary Grand Master, receiving his Collar and Jewel on October 24, 1978 in Topeka, Kansas, from the Hon. Thomas C. Raum, Jr., Grand Master, Order of DeMolay.

Departed: December 26, 2006

Farewell Brother Gerald,Travel Well, Travel light. Someday we will be meeting you in the Grand Assembly of all faithful workmen and servants of the Great Architect of the Universe, presided by Him, in the Celestial Lodge above. Amen. So Mote it Be.