What’s the date?

Masonic Fraternity

Does anyone know what 5894 A.L. stands for?

21 Comments

jakolson

about 14 years ago

Translates into "Anno Lucis," which is a Latin phrase that translates into "Year of Light."

Adam

about 14 years ago

It means 5894 Anno Lucis or "Year of Light." It's the way the Freemasons date things. They add 4000 years to the AD date. So, in this case the date would be 1894.

Sam

about 14 years ago

http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/anno_lucis.htm

Anno Lucis, the year of light, is the date of the creation of the world according to some Christian interpretations of the Bible, when God (in the Biblical book of Genesis) said "Let there be light!" (saying that long before any human knew any English).  The Masons traditionally say the beginning of the world is 4004 B.C., which is 0 A.L.

Sherman

about 14 years ago

I just wonder why C. L. Brown was so proud of getting laid by the Masonic Fraternity that he/she chiseled the graffiti to brag about it.

Chuck

about 14 years ago

Hey that's sort of cool. Maybe I'll do that for my future headstone. Except I want to be cremated and have my ashes tossed into uhm not sure yet.

Tony D.

about 14 years ago

If that stone's from the Temple Opera Block (originally part Masonic Temple, part Duluth's first public library, with an attached opera house where the Orpheum is now) at 2nd Ave. E. and Superior street, then it should translate to 1890, not 1894. (The Masonic Temple at Lake Ave. and 2nd St. was built in 1912.)

So, it seems to me they add 4004 years to the current date, not 4000. Er, right?

jbrown

about 14 years ago

Board of Trade building?

Tony D.

about 14 years ago

Board of Trade: 1895.

TopOfTheHillMan

about 14 years ago

I knew a girl in college who was laid by the Beta fraturnity...

edgeways

about 14 years ago

TonyD. Yeah, as Sam implies it is indeed 4004, not 4000. 

There is a handful of good lines about this very thing in the play Inherit the Wind.

All based on Archbishop Ussher, "first day of creation began at nightfall preceding Sunday, October 23, 4004 BC".

Codie

about 14 years ago

That's silly. As if the first humans who ever walked the earth thought, "Oh shit, first thing we must do is start a calendar so we can keep track of exactly how many days we've been here for."

Bob

about 14 years ago

It's Latin for "leakus anai," or leaky anus.

tony d

about 14 years ago

Hey David, what is the building in the pic? I am researching the Orpheum/Temple Opera Block/NorShor and yesterday found the date the Temple Opera opened: October, 1889. So I'm guessing that's not the Temple Opera Building....

Lithis

about 14 years ago

Tony D, it's the Board of Trade building. See the south side of the corner at First Street and Third Avenue West. This would've been a good "Where in Duluth?"

I wasn't sure if it was that or the old YWCA building, but I just walked past the YWCA building and I think it said 1908.

Tony D.

about 14 years ago

Thanks, Lithis -- but your new info poses a question: The Board of Trade was built in 1895, so that really throws off the Mason's "current year + 4,004" deal, because if that is so the stone in the photo should be for a building constructed in 1890 -- or at least the stone was laid in 1890. Unless, of course, the stone was laid in 1894 and the building was finished in 1895 and the date is a mistake (someone forgot to add those extra four years?) literally carved in stone.

(YWCA: finished in 1909, so cornerstone could well have been set in 1908.)

David

about 14 years ago

BOARD OF TRADE is correct.

Lithis

about 14 years ago

And thanks for asking this, David. I was always curious about it when I walked past it.

Lithis

about 14 years ago

AL is AD plus 4000 years. AM is AD plus 4004 years. This is from the Phoenixmasonry page that Sam linked to, and the Library and Museum of Freemasonry agrees. 5894 AL is the same as 5898 AM and 1894 AD. So the cornerstone's date is correct.

Tony D.

about 14 years ago

Thanks, Lithis and David!

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