DeatH OF a
CraFtsman

the leGend and lessons
Behind a faMous work of
craftsManship

by John L. Cooper III, Junior Grand Warden

In Rosslyn Chapel, in Scotland, stands a memorial to the remarkable skill of the stonemason’s art. Called the Apprentice Pillar, it might also be called the Pillar of Beauty, for it is an exquisite example of freestone carving by an operative mason. The legend, which may not be as old as the pillar itself, tells of the tragic end of the craftsman who carved it, and the jealousy that caused his murder.

Crime of passion

It begins with a Master Mason who assigns an Entered Apprentice the task of carving the third, and most beautiful, of the central pillars in the chapel. He does not give the Entered Apprentice any instruction in how to carve the pillar, perhaps because he wants the Entered Apprentice to fail at the task.

The Master Mason then sets off for a foreign land, ostensibly to study a famous pillar and then bring the design back to the chapel, where he will complete the pillar that the failed Entered Apprentice could not carve. However, upon his return, he discovers that the Entered Apprentice has completed the pillar, and that he has done so with a skill that the Master Mason could never hope to achieve. In his anger, the Master Mason strikes the Entered Apprentice on the forehead with a setting maul, felling him dead at his feet.

As a punishment for his crime, the other stonemasons carve
a stone head representing the Master Mason along the inner
wall of the chapel, with its gaze forever fixed on the Apprentice
Pillar. And across from this, they carve another head – one
representing the slain Entered Apprentice, with a great wound
on his forehead, gazing forever at the stone
head of his murderer. The crime and its con-
sequences were carved in stone for all time.

Lessons carved in stone

The legend is about the failure of the Master Mason to perform his prime duty of instructing his Entered Apprentice, and, instead, plotting to discredit him and claim the glory for himself. It backfires, and instead of our remembering the great skill of the Master Mason, we remember only his betrayal. The beauty created by the Entered Apprentice is his lasting memorial.

The story teaches three Masonic lessons that we should not forget. First, it is the duty of every Mason to empower another Mason to succeed. Every Entered Apprentice is told that his “future moral and Masonic edifice” will be built well and truly if he stays close to the “master builder” in his lodge – symbolically represented by the master of the lodge. That, in turn, requires the master to teach Freemasonry to those in his charge, and particularly to a new Mason.