The Presentation of White Gloves

Bro.....The Ceremony of your initiation has now been completed, and you are now entitled to take your place in the Lodge, where I hope you will enjoy many years with us.

You were constantly referred to during the ceremony as the Candidate. This word is derived from the Latin word "candidatus" meaning white; and from which is also derived the English word "candid" meaning honest and straightforward.

You are wearing the white apron of an EA Freemason, and white has always been a symbol of innocence, hence the whiteness of your apparel is indicative of the honest and straightforward nature of all our work and actions.
You were taught something of this when you were invested with your White Apron by the SW, and although as we progress through Masonry our Aprons will accumulate further adornments in various shades of Blue, Silver and even Gold, nevertheless all our Aprons are basically White, as indeed are the Gloves which you can see that we are all wearing.
At the moment, however, you are without such a pair. Allow me to present you with this pair. Please put them on and wear them at all future meetings, unless specifically asked to remove them. Whilst you do so, I will tell you something further of the history and significance of a Presentation of this kind.

The first recorded instance of a presentation of White Gloves to a new initiate, was in the year 1730, when a brother named John Coustos was initiated into a London Lodge. It became the custom to be presented with two pairs of gloves. One pair for the initiate himself, and one pair for his wife, or lady of his choice, to symbolise to her the innocence and honesty of the proceedings in which he had been involved. Although by reason of his obligation, he was precluded from revealing the details thereof, in just the same way as you are because of the Obligation you have recently taken on the VSL.

Coustos was born in Berne in Switzerland in 1716. He was a jeweler by trade, and as young men will, he decided to seek his fame and fortune abroad, this venture to him to Lisbon the Capital City of Portugal Here, he became a Founder member of a Lodge and eventually the Master. However, the religious persecution, know as the Spanish Inquisition, in which those not adhering to the Roman Catholic faith were oppressed, was active at the time, and spread through the Iberian peninsular; and in 1738 Pope Clement XII issued his Bull condemning Freemasonry. In 1743 Coustos was seized and taken prisoner by the Inquisition. After imprisonment and torture, he was condemned to the Galleys for refusing to divulge the secrets of the Craft. Falling ill he was sent to the Infirmary and later managed to bring his case to the notice of the British Ambassador in Lisbon. He was released in 1744 and reached England in the December of that year. In 1746 he published a book entitled "The Sufferings of John Coustos for Freemasonry and His Refusal to Turn Catholic in the Inquisition of Lisbon".

The Presentation of White Gloves tends to be the exception rather than the rule these days, and in some Lodges, lying mainly to the north of here where it is still practiced, the Initiate is told at this stage that whilst he remains an entered apprentice, he is expected to sit in the NE part of the Lodge, to symbolise his recent admission.

W.Bro.R.Hopwood P.Pr.S.G.D.
Wyre Lodge 7704

THIS ANCIENT FORM OF RITUAL IS NO LONGER APPROVED BY THE UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND AND SHOULD NOT BE USED IN ANY LODGE UNDER THAT CONSTITUTION.