Mark Master Mason

Mark Master Mason is the first degree conferred in a Royal Arch Chapter. Its symbolism is drawn from the working life of the operative craftsman: the marking of finished stones so that each could be identified, credited to its maker, and fitted to its intended place in the building.

History

The custom at the heart of the degree is genuinely ancient. Medieval operative masons chiseled personal marks into the stones they dressed, partly as a signature of workmanship, partly so that payment could be matched to work, and partly to distinguish sound stone from flawed stone at the building site. Marked stones survive in cathedrals and abbeys across Europe, and marked stones have been recovered from early American building sites as well.

Ceremonial degrees built around this practice appeared in the eighteenth century, and they arose in more than one place independently. An Irish “Mark Man” and “Mark Master” tradition developed alongside the Craft degrees, a Scottish tradition attached the Mark to Royal Arch qualification, and in the American colonies and the new United States the Mark was being worked well before the close of the eighteenth century. These parallel developments share the same core imagery even where their legends differ, which is why no single founding place or date is claimed for the degree.

In the American York Rite the Mark Master degree settled into place as the natural beginning of the Capitular system: the candidate continues the story of a Fellowcraft workman, and the degree’s keystone symbolism links the Craft Lodge narrative to the Temple story that the Chapter degrees carry forward.

In the York Rite

The Mark degree is conferred as the first of the four degrees of the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. It prepares the way for Past Master, Most Excellent Master, and Royal Arch Mason. A fuller overview of all four degrees is on the degree histories page.