Event date: February 14, 2014 to March 05, 2014
Ill∴ Bro. Kamel Oussayef, 33°, a resident of Winchester, MA and an Assistant Master of Ceremonies of Massachusetts Consistory, had his first book published: Doszedardski’s Book of Wisdom: Freemasonry through the veil of an ancient French Manuscript.
The translation of Doszedardski’s manuscript is being published by the Supreme Council of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction.
Bro. Oussayef has worked as a volunteer at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library in Lexington, Massachusetts since 2003. His assignment was to inventory and catalogue numerous antique French manuscripts and documents. Some date as far back as the 17th century. Today, they are preserved in the collections of the National Heritage Museum and Library in Lexington.
To break up the tedious routine of inventorying and cataloguing the precious manuscripts, Bro. Oussayef decided to attempt to translate one of the 19th century manuscripts. This particular manuscript attracted his attention due to its beauty and content.
Book of Wisdom is a manuscript that Jean Frederick Doszedardski compiled during the early 1800s. Ill∴ Doszedardski was a Freemason who held the prestigious title of Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the 33rd Degree, the highest rank in Scottish Rite Freemasonry. At that time, every active Mason of such a rank would traditionally keep a hand written booklet to record important facts and decisions, or to copy meaningful documents for future reference.
Book of Wisdom is a compilation of Masonic rules as well as historic facts. These facts include how the elite Fraternity to which Doszedardski belonged flourished in the Western Hemisphere.
The manuscript contains interesting allusions to the political situation prevailing in France at the time. The island of Espanola, an island fought over by France and Spain, is discussed in particular. The first Black Republic in the world was established following the slaves’ revolt lead by Toussaint L’ouverture in 1804 on the island.
Many White European slave owners, a majority of whom were ironically Freemasons, were forced to flee their plantations in Haiti and to settle in either Cuba, the United States, or to return to France.
Book of Wisdom: Freemasonry through the Veil of an Ancient French Manuscript is available now for $34.95 plus shipping from the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, at https://shop.scottishritenmj.org/.
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The Bodies of the Scottish Rite, sitting in the Valley of Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acknowledge and yield allegiance to the Supreme Council, 33°, of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States of America, whose Grand East is in Lexington, Massachusetts.