The Masonic and Rosicrucian Mystery of St John's Church, Warminster

Do you live in Warminster, Wiltshire, or have you ever visited this English county, particularly to admire the extraordinary megalithic monument of Stonehenge ? Perhaps you have had the opportunity to visit the Church of St John the Evangelist in Warminster. But have you noticed a small detail that could easily be described as a small Masonic and Rosicrucian mystery ? Your curiosity is piqued and you're probably wondering what the Masonic and Rosicrucian mystery of St. John's Church in Warminster is ! This article will help you to find out.

St John's Church, Warminster 

At first glance, the picturesque and very pretty Church of St John, Warminster, resembles many other British religious buildings in what is called Early English Gothic style. This architectural style prevailed in England between the late twelfth and mid-thirteenth centuries, but was widely adopted and imitated in the Gothic Revival movement of the nineteenth century.

St John's Church, Warminster

Despite its perfectly medieval appearance, St John's Church in Warminster is actually a neo-Gothic building, built in 1864-1865. As Warminster's population grew rapidly in the 19th century, the old 11th-century church of St Denys proved inadequate and two new churches were built, Christ Church in 1831 and St John's in 1865.

The architect of St John's Church was George Edmund Street (1824-1881), one of the most remarkable architects of the Victorian Gothic Revival movement, to whom we owe many churches but who is best known for his masterpiece, the Royal Courts of Justice in London. The simple, austere exterior of the church contrasts with the rich ornamentation inside. There are magnificent stained glass windows by Clayton and Bell of London, who specialise in the neo-Gothic style. You can also admire the magnificent mosaics designed by another eminent neo-Gothic architect, Charles Edwin Ponting F.S.A. (1850-1932), and made between 1911 and 1915 by James Powell and Sons of London. Ponting also added a barrel-vaulted baptistery at the east end of the church between 1925 and 1926.

The Mosaics of the Four Archangels 

But what is this famous Masonic and Rosicrucian mystery ? Only the most discerning minds will notice it. It is to be found in the mosaics of the four Archangels, placed on either side of the central stained glass window in the choir of the church : to be more precise, in the mosaic representing the Archangel Raphael, whose surprising features will be noticed by any Freemason who holds the degree of Knight Rose Croix and who has some knowledge of The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosencreuz.

The mosaic of the Archangel Raphael in St. John's Church, Warminster

We know that Raphael traditionally appears in the ritual of receiving the degree of Knight Rose Croix, where he is represented by the one who guides the recipient on his symbolic journey. This degree is found in a number of Masonic rites, such as the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, the Traditional French Rite and the Irish Prince Masons. But how does the mosaic in St John's Church, Warminster, allude to this Masonic degree and, more generally, to the Rosicrucian tradition ? There is nothing incongruous about the representation of an archangel in a church and there is no need for a Masonic-Rosicrucian hypothesis to justify its presence.

And yet it is. The way in which Raphael is depicted in this mosaic is difficult to explain in any other way. In one sense, the depiction is traditional, showing Raphael accompanying the young Tobias according to the account in the Book of Tobit, a deuterocanonical biblical book found in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles but absent from Protestant editions. However, there are three details that do not correspond to the traditional depictions.

First, the dominant colour of this mosaic, both for the archangel's robe and for his wings, is red. Traditionally, Raphael is associated with the colour green, while red is precisely the colour of the Masonic regalia of the Knights Rose Croix. Of course, this could simply be an artistic choice and does not prove anything.

But a second detail is intriguing. Raphael holds a sword in his right hand, whereas no sword is mentioned in the story of the Book of Tobit. In traditional depictions, the four archangels sometimes carry swords as a sign of power. But in the case of Raphael, when he is shown accompanying Tobias, he never carries a sword. On the other hand, Raphael of the Rose Croix degree carries one, as do all the members of the chapter. Again, this may be an iconographic error, although Charles Ponting, who knew the subject well, would certainly not have made it.

The most significant detail, however, is Raphael's curious attire in the mosaic. Dressed in white, he wears a wide red band across his chest, held in place by his belt. A simple stole, you might ask, but why aren't the other archangels wearing one too ? Shouldn't we rather see in this strange attire a clear reference to the way Christian Rosencreuz dresses when he prepares to go to the royal wedding to which he has been invited ? "Thereupon I prepared myself for the journey, put on my white linen habit, girded my loins with a blood-red ribbon tied crosswise over my shoulders" (The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosencreuz, First Book, Day 1).

Three surprising details in this Raphael suggest that a Masonic-Rosicrucian significance probably guided Charles Ponting in the design of this work. This impression is reinforced by a curious feature of the four archangel mosaics in St John's Church, Warminster : only two colours dominate the four representations, blue for Michael and Gabriel, and red for Raphael and Uriel. Traditionally, each of the four archangels is associated with a particular colour : often green for Raphael, purple for Michael, blue for Gabriel and gold or red for Uriel. This division is not absolute and can vary, but it is customary to assign a different colour to each archangel.

The four archangels of St. John's Church, Warminster

Why do only two colours characterise the four archangels of Warminster ? Could it be that we see here the distinguishing features of two types of Freemasonry : blue Freemasonry, as Craft Freemasonry is commonly known, i.e. the first three degrees, and red or Scottish Freemasonry, i.e. the higher degrees. Red is indeed the colour of the Knight Rose Croix, but also of many other higher degrees, and several 18th century French rituals defined red as "the true Scottish colour". 

Although their depiction is classical and does not seem to hide any secret message, the colours worn by Michael, Gabriel and Uriel are intriguing. Let's see how these colours might suggest a Masonic meaning. The blue of Michael and Gabriel could indicate the function of blue Freemasonry : doesn't Michael, who kills a dragon or a demon, represent the fight against passions that Freemasons enter into through initiation ? And doesn't Gabriel, who announces a miraculous birth, foreshadow the rebirth of Hiram in each rising Master ?

As for red, we have already seen that it is the colour of the Knight Rose Croix, whose ritual explicitly mentions Raphael. As for Uriel, this colour is also understandable. Uriel, the Light of God, is the Archangel who reveals higher truths : associating him with red could indicate that it is at the summit of Scottish Freemasonry that the ultimate secrets of Freemasonry are revealed.

Finally, if you combine blue and red, what do you get ? The regalia of the Domatic Royal Arch, which is so important in English Freemasonry !

The mystery remains 

Many clues suggest that the four archangels in St John's Church in Warminster are allusions to Freemasonry and the Rosicrucian tradition. However, it is difficult to prove this hypothesis. That's why it remains a mystery.

We would need to be able to prove that Charles Edwin Ponting was a Freemason, and our research in this area has been unsuccessful. Nowhere do we find any trace of his membership of the Masonic order. On the other hand, he was clearly an Anglo-Catholic, i.e. a member of a movement within the Anglican Church which, from the 1830s, defended the Catholic nature of Anglicanism. Some of its members did not hesitate to join the Roman Catholic Church, such as John Henry Newman (1801-1890), an Anglican priest who joined the Catholic Church in 1845 and became a cardinal in 1879. Many Anglo-Catholic Freemasons left Freemasonry to align themselves with the Roman position.

The Society of Antiquaries of London

Ponting belonged to a movement that was not necessarily sympathetic to Freemasonry, but on the other hand he was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (F.S.A.), a prestigious London learned society that always counted many Freemasons among its members. His interest in medieval architecture inevitably led to an interest in Freemasonry, if only from a historical point of view, and he inevitably came into contact with many Freemasons. It is also likely that the romantic and vaguely mystical side of the Gothic Revival movement led him to take an interest in Rosicrucianism.

A Masonic and Rosicrucian influence on Charles Edwin Ponting is therefore possible, and we would be grateful if readers could provide us with any information we may have missed about his possible Masonic membership and spiritual motivations. But for the moment, the mystery of St John's Church, Warminster, remains unanswered.