The Swedish Order of the Freemasons make great use of Heraldry, the Order Itself has Arms (or rahter the Great Country Lodge) as do all Provincial Lodges, Lodges and Fraternal Associations. All individual members are also required to take Arms upon reception in the VIII Grade. The heraldic quality of these Arms vary, but the newer ons tend to be more heraldic than older ones. As me myself is no Mason I have used the open sources available at the Site of the Order http://www.frimurarorden.se/ as these are mostly the Arms of the Order, Provincial Lodges ect. few personal Arms will be shown.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/images/sfmo_stort_vapen.gif
Arms of the Great Country Lodge.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/cfe/images/cfe.gif
Arms of the Research Lodge Carl Friedrich Eckleff. The quills alludes to research and the oakleaves to the name Eckleff which suposedly have somethink to do with Oak (Ek in Swedish).
http://www.frimurarorden.se/svea/images/svea.gif
Arms of the Svea Provincial Lodge.
The Provincial Lodges are made up of St John’s Lodges, St. Andrew’s Lodges, Fraternal Association and Freemasons Clubs. The later ones appears not to have Arms as far as I know. There are also one peculiar Lodge the Mälardalen Steward Lodge.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/svea/mstl/images/mstl.gif
Arms of the Mälardalen Steward Lodge in Eskilstuna (under the Svea Provincial Lodge). The Motto is "Tron slår broar" which translates as "Faith build Bridges". The Inscription on the upper hand is the name of the Lodge.
Some Lodges from the Svea Provincial Lodge:
http://www.frimurarorden.se/svea/e/images/st_erik.jpg
The St. John’s Lodge St. Erik, Stockholm.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/svea/af/images/af.gif
The St. John’s Lodge Adolf Fredrik, Stockholm.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/svea/nc/images/nc.gif
The St. Andrew’s Lodge Den Nordiska Cirkeln (The Nordic Circle), Stockholm.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/svea/l/images/l.gif
The St. Andrew’s Lodge St. Laurentius, Uppsala. Shows the namegiving Saint, perhaps better known to Englishspeakers as St Lawrence.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/svea/d/images/d.gif
The St. Andrew’s Lodge St. David, Västerås. These are a variation of the Arms of Västmanland where Västerås is situated.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/svea/gd/images/gustafdalen.jpg
The Fraternal Association Gustaf Dalén, Lidingö. The Arms alludes to the namesake Gustaf Dalén inventor of the sun-valve which causes a beacon to ligth itself at dusk and extinguished itself at dawn, which laid the base for unmaned Lighthouses. He also worked on many other things and was awared the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1912. He lived for many years in Lidingö and died there in 1937. Not only an inventor he served for many years on the City Council of Lidingö.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/svea/b/images/b.gif
The Fraternal Association St Botvid, Nyköping. St Botvid Patron of Södermanland was murdered in the vicinity of Nyköping on Rågö by a Vendian Slave he just brougth freedom. Ungreathfulness is the thanks of the world ...
http://www.frimurarorden.se/svea/pdd/images/pdd.gif
The Fraternal Association Petrus de Dacia, Visby. The Dog bearing a torch alludes to the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) to which the namegiver belonged. He served as Prior of a Dominican Convent in Visby, he traveled wide and become fascinated with the story about a Nun of the Beginer Order Kristina of Sommeln and wrote her biography. Friedrich Mehler one of the Founders of the Fraternal Association wrote a Music Play called "Petrus de Dacia" inspired by this biography. So in chosing this name the Association honoured one of its founders and the historical invironment in which it works.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/spl/images/spl.gif
The Scanian Provincial Lodge. Below some Lodges under these Provincial Lodge:
http://www.frimurarorden.se/spl/gust/images/gust.gif
The St. John’s Lodge Gustaf, Karlskrona. The Motto translates as "Beneficial work require Science".
http://www.frimurarorden.se/spl/am/images/am.gif
The St. John’s Lodge Acacian-Malmöhus, Malmö. In the upper part Freemason insignia and below the Griffin’s Head from the arms of Malmö.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/spl/cub/images/cub.jpg
The St. Andrew’s Lodge Cubiska stenen (Cubic Stone), Kristianstad.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/spl/sir/images/sir.jpg
The St. Andrew’s Lodge Sirius, Halmstad.
Some Fraternal Associations of the Scanian Provincial Lodge:
http://www.frimurarorden.se/spl/kaf/images/kaf.jpg
The Karlshamn Freemason Fraternal Association. The Arms are based on the Municipal Arms of Karlshamn, as seen below:
http://www.karlshamn.se/Upload/1630/Fargvap.jpg
Picture from the official Karlhamn site http://www.karlshamn.se/Kommunen/Kommunledning/Arkiv/Karlshamns_vapen/
http://www.frimurarorden.se/spl/klipp/images/klipp.gif
The Klippan Freemanson Association.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/spl/kcb/images/kcb.jpg
The Chapter Fraternal Association Kjell Christopher Barnekow, Helsingborg and Halmstad.
The Dominican dog in the arms of a Freemasonic entity looks really funny. Thank you for sharing that curiosities.
Yes that migth look a bit odd. But then it should be remembered that the Swedish Freemasonry is a bit different from international Freemasonry, as it’s General Rules states that The Swedish Order of Freemasons is based on the Christian Faith. To become a member you have to be a Christian and not just a believer in a Higher Beeing.
That’s it, dear Marcus, but on another hand, not so long ago, to be a loyal Swedish subject, one had to be, in theory, to be a Lutheran.
And especially to meet a Dominican immortalised in this role…
But I do not imply anything more than that looks slightly odd.
Yes you are rigth odd it may seem, but remember that many municipal Arms with Saints on them survived the Reformation. Things are not that straightforward as one can believe. The Great Champion of Lutheranism King Gustavus Adolphus was in his day heavy subsidised by Catholic France.
Oh yes, dear Marcus, I know well that the religious history of Sweden is special indeed, and I did not expect banalities
Well returning to Heraldry:
http://www.frimurarorden.se/gpl/images/gpl.gif
The Göta Provincial Lodge.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/gpl/sa3s/images/sa3s.gif
St John’s Lodge Salomon á Trois Serrures, Göteborg.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/gpl/astr/images/astr.gif
St John’s Lodge Astraea, Borås.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/gpl/bj/images/bj.gif
St Andrew’s Lodge Birger Jarl, Skövde.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/gpl/fsu/images/fsu.gif
The Franternal Association Den Flammande stjärnan (The Flaming star), Uddevalla.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/gpl/dgl/images/dgl.gif
The Fraternal Association Den Gyllene lågan (The Golden Flame), Borås.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/opl/images/opl.gif
Arms of the Östgöta Provincial Lodge.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/opl/dmp/images/dmp.jpg
Arms of the St John’s Lodge Den Mellersta Pelaren (The Middle Pillar), Jönköping.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/opl/on/images/on.jpg
Arms of the St John’s Lodge Orion, Oskarshamn. In the Chief the three Stars of the Constellation Orion’s Belt.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/opl/dgc/images/dgc.jpg
Arms of the St Andrew’s Lodge Den Gyllene Cirkeln (The Golden Circle), Linköping. The Motto "Mot ljuset" translates as "Towards the Light".
http://www.frimurarorden.se/opl/o/images/o.jpg
The Fraternal Association St Olof, Norrköping.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/opl/dts/images/dts.jpg
The Fraternal Association De tre stjärnor (The Three Stars), Oskarshamn. The Motto "Ingen död utan liv" translates as "No Death without Life".
http://www.frimurarorden.se/opl/njud/images/njud.jpg
The Fraternal Association Njudung, Vetlanda. These Arms are based on the Municipal Arms of Vetlanda with the addition of two Red so called Freemasons’ Crosses.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/vpl/images/vpl.jpg
Arms of the Värmland Provincial Lodge.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/vpl/c/images/c2.jpg
Arms of the St John’s Lodge St Carolus, Karlstad.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/vpl/eng/images/eng.jpg
Arms of the St John’s Lodge Engelbrecht, Örebro.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/vpl/ham/images/hammaren.jpg
Arms of the St John’s Lodge Hammaren (The Hammer), Karlskoga. I guess the Hammer alludes to Armaments Industries of Karlskoga.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/vpl/ca/images/ca2.jpg
The St Andrew’s Lodge Carl August, Karlstad.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/vpl/eug/images/eug.jpg
The St Andrew’s Lodge Eugen, Örebro.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/vpl/dab/images/dab.jpg
Arms of the Fraternal Association Dalarnes Andreas Bröder (The Andrew’s Brothers of Dalarna), Falun. The Arrows are from the Provincial Arms of Dalarna.
http://www.frimurarorden.se/vpl/egg/images/egg.jpg
Arms of the Fraternal Association Erik Gustaf Geijer, Sunne.