Cryptic Masonry

In England and Wales, the York Rite degrees of Cryptic Masonry are part of the Order of Royal and Select Masters.

The various positions in the lodge are modeled directly after Craft Masonry and though the names are often different the duties are largely the same.

[1] It publishes a quarterly magazine called The Cryptic Freemason and supports the Cryptic Masons Medical Research Foundation, Inc.[2] The degrees of Royal and Select Master were not originally combined into one system, each having been conferred by separate parties and initially controlled by separate Councils.

This accounts for the fact that control of the Cryptic degrees vacillated back and forth in many jurisdictions, even after the formation of Grand Councils.

The Royal degree appears to have been developed primarily in New York under direction of Thomas Lownds, whereas the Select was vigorously promulgated by Philip Eckel in Baltimore.

The records of St. Andrews Chapter in Boston indicate that a degree of this name was conferred during the latter part of the eighteenth century.

The earliest positive reference to the Super Excellent in connection to the Cryptic Rite is 22 December 1817, when a "Lodge" of Super Excellent Masters was organized by Columbian Council of Royal Masters in New York.