Charlotte to the three carnations

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The signet of the Masonic Lodge "Charlotte to the Three Carnations"

The Lodge Charlotte zu den Drei Nelken (also: Sankt Johannis-Loge Charlotte zu den Drei Nelken im Orient Meiningen ) is a Masonic Lodge in Meiningen founded in 1773 and revived in 1993 . The lodge has matriculation number 81 and belongs to the Great National Mother Lodge "To the Three Worlds" in Berlin . The lodge has been inactive since 2000.

history

Beginnings

A first Masonic lodge in Meiningen was founded in 1741 by Duke Carl Friedrich von Sachsen-Meiningen with the name Aux Trois Boussoles (To the three compasses). It was the first daughter box to the mother box “To the Three Worlds” in Berlin and the sixth box in Germany at all. The colloquial language was French and the members were mainly high court officials. After the death of Carl Friedrich in 1743, this lodge was dissolved again.

Lodge Charlotte with the three carnations

18th century

Under the protection of Duchess Charlotte Amalie von Sachsen-Meiningen, the widow of Duke Anton Ulrich , who died in 1763, a patent was issued on September 29, 1773 for a new lodge named Charlotte zu den Three Carnations , which started its work on August 31, 1774 recorded.

Excerpt from the patent, quotation: That after we have considered that after a request made to us for the expansion of the high order as well as for the profitable use and advantage of those in the province entrusted to our supervision and under our command, we have considered brothers and freemasons to be good and useful to found and establish a true and genuine Masonic Lodge. This is also proven by this box with the name Charlotte to the three carnations and give her two Cs with a princely hat inside three carnations for the coat of arms ...

Initially consisting of five members, the number quickly increased to 26 members with four serving brothers. The serving brothers were responsible for serving and standing watch in front of the box rooms. The statute consisted of 30 articles. The lodge was led by seven officials: the master of the chair , two presidents, a speaker, a secretary, the master of ceremonies and the almsman .

The lodge practiced tolerance, humanity and charity . The members sought reforms in the school system and stood up for orphans and poorer sections of the population. So they built a model school with eleven children (1774), a teachers' college and a school for the poor (both 1776). The schools were completely maintained by the lodge and the students received free board, lodging and clothing. In 1782 the members bought the Eybensche house as a lodge house . The box later moved to a building on Spitalgasse.

19th century

After the death of Duke Georg I as master of the chair in 1803, the lodge was orphaned, but was revived in 1816 by Oberjägermeister Freiherr von Ziegesar as master of the chair and the Kommerzienrat and mayor Holdefreund. After the reorganization of the Duchy in 1826, when the former Duchy of Saxony-Hildburghausen was incorporated into Saxony-Meiningen, the Charlotte Lodge merged with the Hildburghausen Lodge Karl zum Rautenkranz . The teachers 'seminar was relocated to Hildburghausen in the same year , where it was merged with the teachers' seminar there. In 1833 the two lodges separated again. In 1844 the lodge moved into a suitable domicile in the hotel "Zum Erbprinzen" in the Untere Marktstrasse (today Georgstrasse), where it converted a hall into a temple.

After a great boom in the Masonic Lodge in the middle of the 19th century, the Lodge had 135 members, 17 honorary members and five serving brothers in 1864. The Masonic spirit increased as members became more devoted to social problems. They organized better care for the poor and donated funds for bread and fires. The lodge founded a laundry facility and the poorer citizens could buy bread and potatoes cheaply from the Freemasons.

In 1873 the lodge gave up the rooms in the “Erbprinzen” due to a rent increase and bought a house for 30,857 marks in Steinweg in front of the Upper Gate. From 1890 onwards, the Masonic Lodge found increased popularity and took on the new task of reconciling modern natural sciences with the concept of God without dogmatism . Because of structural inadequacies and high maintenance costs, the aim was to build a new lodge house.

20th century

The lodge house built in 1905 on Bismarckstrasse

On May 21, 1905, the lodge, which now had 205 members, inaugurated its new self-financed lodge building in Bismarckstrasse (today Neu-Ulmer-Strasse). The architect was the lodge member Karl Behlert . On this occasion, Duke George II sent the following greeting, quote: I am very pleased with the greeting sent to me by men who worship ideals. I return it with warm thanks. May the lodge in the new home be able to live out joyfully. George .

During the First World War, 14 of the 36 lodge brothers called up died at the front. In 1932 the Masonic Lodge had 175 members, 20 honorary members and five serving brothers. The Freemasons hoped for a victory from President Hindenburg in 1933 , which would allow them to continue to work freely. Since Freemasonry could not be reconciled with the national socialists' policy of harmonization , they urged the Freemasons to dissolve their lodges. At the same time, persecutions of Freemasons took place. The Charlotte Lodge for the Three Carnations dissolved on September 1, 1935. The district leadership of the NSDAP moved into the lodge building .

A re-establishment of the lodge was not possible after the Second World War due to the establishment of the GDR , which also did not tolerate the Freemasons. Instead, the district leadership of the KPD and then the SED were located in the lodge building . After the political change , Freemasons resumed their work in Meiningen on June 13, 1992 when the Georg Liberalitas Lodge was re-established . The name Georg Liberalitas refers to Duke Georg I. The domicile of the lodge belonging to the Grand Lodge of the Old Free and Accepted Masons of Germany is the Hotel Sächsischer Hof in Meiningen.

Start-up

In 1993, the Charlotte to the Three Carnations Lodge was finally re-established at Schloss Landsberg through an initiative of the Lodge “The United Friends of the Nahe” in Bad Kreuznach . The lodge has been inactive since 2000. In 2016, in cooperation with the Georg Liberalitas Lodge, the celebrations for “275 years of Freemasonry in Meiningen” were celebrated.

Known members

literature

  • Meininger homeland sounds. In: Meininger Tageblatt . 7/1992.
  • Meiningen Board of Trustees: Meiningen City Dictionary. Bielsteinverlag, Meiningen 2008, ISBN 978-3-9809504-4-2 .
  • Helmut Müller: Considerations on Freemasonry in Meiningen. 2005.

Web links