Gibraltarian researcher Keith Sheriff has been invited to attend the ‘XII Symposium Internacional de Historia de la Masonería Española’ in Almeria jointly organised by the Universities of Almería and Zaragoza between October 8-10th 2009.

This is a prestigious congress attended by many of the world’s leading academics in the field of Masonic history. Amongst the foremost of these is Professor José Antonio Ferrer Benimeli who retires this year after almost three decades as head of CEHME and the President of the Congress since its inception in 1983.

Mr Sheriff said: “I will be addressing the congress on the role Gibraltar, and more specifically St. John’s Lodge No. 115 had on the evolution of Spanish Freemasonry and later preservation of Order following bitter political persecution during the 19th Century. I will deliver two papers entitled ‘St. John’s Lodge and the true origins of Spanish freemasonry in the 19th Century’ and ‘ The Masonic influence of the Lodge of St. John in the Campo de Gibraltar’.

“It was as a result of this persecution of Liberals and Freemasons by Fernando VII’s during Spain’s ‘Decada Ominosa’ (1823-33) that the Lodge of St. John adopted the Spanish language in their rituals (a privilege still continued to this day) attracting hundreds of Spaniards to their ranks and adopting the symbol of a phoenix to commemorate its decisive role in the preservation of Spanish rituals and ideas during the dark days of political and religious intolerance. To Spanish Freemasons the Lodge was affectionately known as la logia de San Juan la Fenix.

“During the second half of the 19th century St. John helped set up various Lodges in the Cadiz area and by the time of the Sexenio Liberal in 1870, Andalusia and in particular the Campo de Gibraltar became a hotbed of Masonic activity, so much so that by the end of the century over 25% of all Lodges and Freemasons in Spain could be found in the immediate vicinity of Gibraltar.

“If the above hypothesis is accepted it may well have profound implications to the historical chronology of Spanish Masonic history as it may well disprove the present theory that Spanish Freemasonry was almost exclusively influenced by the Grand Orient of France and not by English Freemasonry. Through St. John, Spanish freemasonry did not only survive, it prospered and planted the seeds for the future proliferation of the Order in the final third of the 19th Century.

“The demise of Spanish Freemasonry and the Masonic exiles in Gibraltar as a result of the Spanish Civil War will be covered by Professor Antonio Morales Benitez from Algeciras in his presentation entitled ‘La masoneria española en el refugio de Gibraltar’ and covers the role played by Spanish Freemasons in Gibraltar, and includes references to Gibraltarian members of Spanish lodges whose police files have been preserved in the Masonic Archives in Salamanca during the Franco years. “Around 90 files exist and it is known that a few of the more influential members of these Spanish Lodges were even tried in abstentia by Francoist courts. The fear that Spaniards would once again use St. John to again foment anti-national ideology from the refuge of Gibraltar, prompted Grand Lodge to issue a proclamation withdrawing St. John’s historic privilege to carry out their rituals in the Spanish language in early 1945. The members of the Lodge reacted by adopting a silent but dignified protest of opening the Lodge as normal but not carrying out any initiations or other degrees. For twelve years the stand off ensured until the order was rescinded in 1956. In 1960 the first non-English District Grand Master of Gibraltar was appointed. He was a member of St. John and a Spaniard by birth, his name was Antonio Mena.”