Stifani NOT de Monaco !!!
Stifani NOT de Monaco !!
Comment and translation by Arturusrex February 19th
The rumours had been seeping through for several weeks that Stifani would not be as welcome as all that in Monaco for the Consecration of the new Grand Lodge. A mixture of scepticism and discretion on the part of everybody involved down to our own humble level contributed to the low profile interim and to the high profile outcome of today’s events. Stifani excluded!
The following from Bro Semper Fi, on today’s Myosotis Ligérien explains in more detail:
Well Beloved Brethren
When one of my Brothers from the UGLE, on February 4th 2011 promised me a surprise for the 19th, without wishing to tell me more, in spite of my insistence, he simply said: “have the pleasure of the surprise and savour it when the time comes”.
Today, I have savoured it. A big surprise, indeed. And as for the pleasure it afforded me, that I wish to share with you all, my Brothers.
What surprise, so awaited?
François Stifani, intuita personæ, (the others being full aware who he is,) came up against a unanimous barrage to keep him out of this morning’s celebration of the Foundation of the Grand Lodge of Monaco.
Yes, you read it right. Not only an example of the Restraint of the Prince! But the actual openly declared wish expressed by the other regular Grand Lodges present there, including those of England and Germany, not to recognize as one of theirs this man who wills and wants at whatever cost to be the Grand Master of the Grande Loge Nationale Française.
Elsewhere, and in all discretion, but with firmness enough, other regular Grand Lodges had threatened not to attend should he force his way in.
Today, François Stifani represents only himself in the eyes of regular international masonry.
I momentarily hesitated between two things:
the misery of the distressing spectacle we exhibit, or rather, he exhibits in our name, to the outer world and also to all the Brethren and Sisters of all the Masonic obediences throughout the world;
and joy on seeing, at last, a manifest sign of our sacred and regular union refusing the turpitude of a single man and the members of his cohort for whom Fraternity has for too long been a rhyme for servility.
Are my words too harsh? But not so, far less!
Whoever you may be, my Brothers, those who were at Monaco today, February 19th 2011, you who knew that the Rule left not an inch in our midst for a profane even if dressed in a Masonic apron, be thanked for your courage in showing us and bringing us your discreet and fraternal assistance.
In our months old fight to regain calm and serenity in our lodges, far from the peering outsiders, you have reinvigorated us in our attempts to continue to open the eyes of all those who have been trapped and abused and made victims of make-believe and false pretences.
Even more do you motivate us to eradicate, at last, the stigma of infamy that afflict us for having born this yoke and this rape of our minds and basic principles to which we have always been attached; to make our combat without fault or weakness.
Because you dared say no to the intruder and to desecration of what we have ever held to be most sacred since we received Light, you re-inspire us with the courage and strength that legitimate our will to pursue a fight of which the sole outcome can only appear in the form of the wisdom and beauty of the reform to which we have committed.
Little matters to us the name of the tyrant. He will have been naught but the kinglet of the land of grime. The lessons of history will not be those of an abject profane, the name of whom shall forever be effaced from our collective memory, but the lesson of our vigorous opposition to him, faithful to our engagements and first obligations.
All our victories in the Courts of Justice were steps on the way, necessary obviously, but not one of them had the sweet savour of what you did today.
The Temple has to be rebuilt. The most humble of the workers are already at work. The most ancient, those whose age is unknown, have never left the site.
By your testimony of solidarity, the Rule lives on, and live on it will for ever in the hearts and minds of those to whom it has been entrusted and who will transmit it unfailingly in their turn.
To have been entered and received as a Mason Free and Accepted was long ago our honour. To see our way through the present cataclysm will complete our happiness.
Doubt not a single instant. Wait and pertinently see what justification is given in the “communications” for my absence.
My fraternal affection for you all.
.
SEMPER-FI