Published: October 15, 2008 04:15 am         

Rare Masonic texts to visit Cooperstown

The Cooperstown Masonic Temple will host a collection of rare facsimile manuscripts relating to the Knights Templar on Tuesday.

In April, the Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Masonic Library of Grand Lodge announced the acquisition of Processus Contra Templarios, an unprecedented publication containing a collection of facsimile manuscripts relating to the trials of the Knights Templar. Library Trustees and staff will conduct a week-long excursion starting Sunday and continuing through Oct. 25, visiting six upstate New York sites. The trip is planned to conclude on the day of the Grand Master's Ball in Buffalo, honoring Edward G. Gilbert, Grand Master of Masons in the state of New York.

The Cooperstown Masonic Temple at 77 Main St., home of Otsego Lodge No. 138, will host a public program at 8 p.m., followed by a potluck dessert buffet. Anyone with curiosity or interest in Freemasonry or the Knights Templar may attend, organizers said.

The program will include a display of the bound volume containing the transcription of the testimony taken from the captive Knights Templar in 1308. The display will include facsimile reproductions of the original documents, which reproduce the handwriting of medieval Inquisitors.

A half-hour presentation from Thomas M. Savini, director of the Livingston Masonic Library, and William J. Thomas, trustee of the library, will provide an overview of the Knights Templar, describe their place in history and discuss their interest to scholars of contemporary Freemasonry. The program includes an opportunity for questions and comments from the audience.

Presented in October 2007, Processus Contra Templarios is a joint project of the Vatican Secret Archives and Italy's Scrinium cultural foundation.

While presenters said there is no conclusive evidence to show that Freemasonry descended from the Knights Templar, there are historical and cultural connections between the two.

"The Masonic heritage includes investigation into Freemasonry's historical roots, but also the study of its inspirational roots, which include Rosicrucianism; the study of philosophy from the European Enlightenment; and study of the Knights Templar," Savini said.

Otsego Lodge was chartered in 1795.