La Fraternidad Lodge No. 387, the first Spanish‑speaking lodge in New York

 

Founder, Andrés Cassard.

Fraternity Lodge No. 387. April 16, 1855. First Spanish-speaking lodge in New York, active to this day, and Cassard was its Worshipful Master until 1859.

My Dear Brothers and Members

I take a moment to express the deep pride, the high honor, and the immense privilege it is for me to count La Fraternidad No. 387 as my Mother Lodge; to have served within it as Worshipful Master, and to recall with reverence the memory of its founder, Andrés Cassard, “a Mason deeply rooted in the Masonic spirit.”

    Andrés Cassard was born in Santiago de Cuba on July 27, 1823, the same year in which the secret society Soles y Rayos de Bolívar made an unsuccessful revolutionary attempt to secure the island’s independence.     Andrés was the son of the Frenchman Francisco Cassard and Olmeso Grimaldi, refugees from Santo Domingo. He passed away in New York on February 3, 1894, at the age of 70.     Cassard was initiated in June of 1853 in the French Lodge “La Sincerité” No. 2, which today bears the number 373 on the roll and works under the obedience of the Grand Lodge of New York. In La Sincerité No. 2, many Cubans were initiated who later joined together to found Lodge Fraternidad No. 387 on April 16, 1855. “Fraternidad” was the first Spanish‑speaking lodge in that State, active to this day, and Cassard served as its Worshipful Master until 1859.     On December 27, the Day of Saint John the Evangelist, the Supreme Council of Colón was founded at what was then Santo Tomás Street No. 4, in the residence of the landowner ANTONIO VINENT y GOLA, Marquis of Palomares de Duero, in the City of Santiago de Cuba.     This High Masonic Body—of which the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for the Republic of Cuba is the historical continuation—had its origin on Tuesday, December 27, 1859, thanks to the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America (founded in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1801). This Scottish Rite Authority, on March 25, 1859, issued—through the Illustrious Brothers ALBERT PIKE, 33°, Sovereign Grand Commander, and ALBERT G. MACKEY, 33°, Grand Secretary General—the Patent to the Cuban Illustrious Brother ANDRÉS PANTALEÓN CASSARD y CASSARD, 33°, appointing him General Deputy with full powers to constitute the “Supreme Council of Colón of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for Cuba and the other islands of the West Indies.”     Although the Spanish colonial authorities prevented Illustrious Brother ANDRÉS CASSARD, 33°, from disembarking in Santiago de Cuba, he designated Brother JUAN RAFECAS to complete the number of Members required to form this Body on the Island. Thus the Supreme Council of Colón—today the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for the Republic of Cuba, the Highest Scottish Rite Masonic Body—was duly founded.

Dialogue, Union, Transparency.. 

Doing is the best way of saying 

T.·.A.·.F.·.

R.·.H.·. Juan A. Blanco Alzola La Fraternidad No. 387, Orient of New York Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of Cuba near the Grand Lodge of New York..

Research by: Bro. Jorge J, Romero.

English translation prepared with the assistance of: