"Freemasons" or "masons" are members of an international
fraternal organization composed of highly independent local
units called "lodges." The tradition originated in stonemason
guilds of the late Middle Ages but in time the tools of the
trade (e.g., square and compasses, trowels, plumb rules)
became symbols for moral lessons promoting the brotherhood of
mankind. Meetings involve esoteric, quasi-spiritual rituals
and members must profess belief in some supreme being, but
discussion of religion is usually forbidden. The secrecy of
masonic lodges has sometimes bred suspicion and conspiracy
theories in outsiders, particularly in Ireland where most
members have traditionally been Protestant. Leopold Bloom
evidently is, or once was, a mason.
In Lestrygonians Bloom recalls a night when "there
was that lodge meeting on about those lottery tickets,"
and later in the same chapter Nosey Flynn tells Davy Byrne
that Bloom has become prosperous because fellow masons have
assisted him: "He's in the craft.... Ancient free
and accepted order. Light, life and love, by God.
They give him a leg up." The word "craft" here refers to
Freemasonry's medieval origins, and other words echo its
rites. Gifford comments: "the order regarded itself as
practicing 'Ancient and Accepted Rites', to which all 'free
men could be admitted'. Three symbols of light dominate the
Masonic temple: the Volume of the Sacred Law (the Bible),
symbolic of the light from above; the square, symbolic of the
light within man; and the compass, symbolic of fraternity, the
light around man. The Masonic ritual, as articulated in the Antient
Charges (1723), expresses a commitment to the creation
of 'the Temple of Human Love, the foundations of which are
Wisdom, Strength and Beauty'. Flynn's "by God" is his own
Irish interpolation: the Masonic formula dictated tolerance
under 'the Great Architect of the Universe'."
Flynn's cryptic language appears inspired by the secrecy of
the order—"They're as close as damn it"—and that
reserve extends to Bloom himself, who does not once speak or
think of himself as a mason. This is in keeping with an oath
that new members of the order must take, pledging never to
reveal any of "the hidden mysteries of Ancient Free Masonry."
Flynn appears to allude to this oath when he tells Byrne that
Bloom will never put anything "in black and white," and
Bloom murmurs some of the words of the oath at the end of Circe.
At several points, though, people do refer to others as
masons. In Cyclops the Citizen sees Bloom pacing
outside the pub and growls, "What's that bloody freemason
doing... prowling up and down outside?" In Penelope
Molly recalls how he made progress landing singing gigs for
her in churches "till the jesuits found out he was a
freemason." And in Lotus Eaters Bloom thinks
that King Edward is
sometimes shown dressed up as "A mason." Since 1875
Prince Albert Edward had been the Grand Master of English
freemasons, and in Circe he rises up "robed as a
grand elect perfect and sublime mason with trowel and
apron, marked made in Germany."
People ask to join masonic lodges, and most lodges do not
require a specific religious affiliation. The emphasis is on
admitting people of good moral character and encouraging
members to do good in the world. Nevertheless, most freemasons
in Ireland have come from the Protestant population, and at
the time of the novel the Catholic church had long been
embroiled in disputes with European masonic lodges, accusing
them of promoting atheism. An 18 September 2017 article by
Mark Phelan in the Irish Times, "Local brotherhood –
An Irishman’s Diary on the freemasonry controversy in 1920s
Ireland," observes that the widely read Catholic Bulletin
described Ireland's freemasons as "a naked stripping gang of
alien adventurers" who "rolled like lava over this fair land."
As he is burned at the stake in Circe Bloom is called
"Charitable Mason." Nosey Flynn insinuates that, as a
member of a despised minority, he may have been thinking less
of charitable action than of material advancement when he
associated himself with prominent Protestant citizens. Perhaps
so, but any such advancement would have come at the cost of
making himself even more of an outsider in the insular world
of Dublin Catholics. Conspiracy theories about the freemasons
have often involved anti-Semitic slurs, and Flynn seems to be
engaging in both kinds of character assassination when he
asserts that Bloom will not put anything "in black and white."
In Penelope Molly thinks, "well have him coming home
with the sack soon out of the Freeman too like the rest on
account of those Sinner Fein or the freemasons." In Hades
Bloom looks at the formerly Protestant Tom Kernan with the same kind
of guarded assessment that he gave the Jewish butcher in Calypso:
"Secret eyes, secretsearching eyes. Mason, I think:
not sure."
In at least one important way, Freemasonry itself is insular
and exclusive: its lodges do not accept women. But there have
been a few exceptions. Nosey Flynn luridly tells the story of
a woman who "hid herself in a clock to find out what they
do be doing. But be damned but they smelt her out and swore
her in on the spot a master mason. That was one of the saint
Legers of Doneraile." Most of this report actually is
true. Elizabeth Aldworth, née Doneraile, the daughter
of Arthur St. Leger, the 1st Viscount Doneraile of County
Cork, was known in her own time as "The Lady Freemason." She
walked in masonic processions with her apron and other
insignia, and her portrait hangs in various Irish lodges.
According to contemporary accounts, a lodge meeting was held
in her father's house ca. 1710-12 while it was under
construction. Elizabeth, then in her late teens, had fallen
asleep in the library next door and was awakened by sounds
from a hole in a loose brick wall. She removed some bricks and
watched. When she was caught, the masons decided to initiate
her to protect the secrecy of their rites. The story of the
clock is apocryphal, as is the "master mason" flourish.
(Freemasonry has three levels of initiation, derived from the
medieval craft guilds: Entered Apprentice, Journeyman or
Fellowcraft, and Master Mason.)
