Philip Anthony Nowlan of Tewksbury was installed a District Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts, and will preside over eight lodges in the Third Masonic District for the next year.
The 232 lodges and 38,000 Freemasons in the Commonwealth are divided into 32 Districts, and led by a District Deputy Grand Master.
The Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts is the oldest lodge in the Western Hemisphere and the third oldest in the world. It was chartered in 1733, following the establishment of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717, and Ireland in 1725. In 2008 the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts celebrated its 275th Anniversary. A Grand Lodge is the governing body that ensures the activities of the lodges and members comply with its Constitutions and Regulations; it also maintains the uniformity of the centuries-old initiation ceremony candidates experience when they become members.
