Scholars have traced the earliest origins of the Royal Arch Degree to Ireland dating to the late 1600’s. In England, the earliest record of the Royal Arch Degree occurs in 1738. In 1752, ambulatory or military warrants for Lodges were introduced into the organization of Freemasonry which integrated the Royal Arch Degree with the Master Mason Degree. The adopted custom in military Lodges proved instrumental in bringing Royal Arch Masonry to America as British soldiers practiced the Craft in the expanding colonies.
The Royal Arch Degree has been described as the “climax of Ancient Craft Masonry and Masonic Symbolism”, and as "the root and marrow of Freemasonry." The degree chronicles the darkest hours of Jewish history from the destruction of King Solomon’s Temple and captivity in Babylon to the noble and glorious work of rebuilding the City of Jerusalem and the second Temple of God nearly 500 years later. The candidate represents one of the three sojourners dedicated to the task helping rebuild the temple as the dramatic lessons center on the fortuitous discovery and recovery of several important treasures from a hidden vault, and the restoration of the greatest of all treasures in Masonry long lost in the Third Degree - the True Word of a Master Mason. It finally reveals the full light of Ancient Craft Masonry as a complete system in accordance with the original plan. Without the Royal Arch, the Master Mason Degree “is like a song half sung, a tale partly told, or a promise unfulfilled. The Royal Arch stands as the rainbow of promise in the sky; it stands as the promise of the resurrection, of that which was lost and that which shall be recovered!”
From GGCRAMI (General Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons International) Archives
