What does “Quattuor Coronati” mean

The Martyrdom of the Four Crowned
According to the Masonic tradition, the Four Crowned were four non slave stone cutters. They were called Claudius, Nicostratus, Simpronanius and Simplicius; during Diocletian’s empire they worked in Rome, building imperial goods. They were Christians and when they were asked to carve pagan effigies they refused; for this reason they were massacred. Their martyrdom was commemorated by the Confraternity of the Comacine Brothers (the first Freemasons), which portrayed them on the four sides of the Ark of St. Augustine in Pavia, leaving them to the eternal memory of Freemasonry.

Sancti Quattuor Coronati
Each Masonic Communion constitutes a (unique) Quattuor Coronati Lodge or Sancti Quattuor Coronati, in order to promote initiatory research and culture; it is made of experts that study the symbology and the esoterical meaning of rituals. They investigate the sense of the sacred geometry involved in the architecture of Temples and Cathedrals built by the ancient Builders and in the vestments and holy vessels. They develop debates to settle evasive interpretations of subjects of universal interest.

Each Sancti Quattuor Coronatibecomes a kind of Athanor, where the abilities and intelligence of the participants don’t crash but blend, in the search of a truth beyond cultural and ideological prejudices, dogmas and other totems of profanity.

The Esonet Project and Quattuor Coronati
The Esonet Project is also addressed to the study of ritual and esoterical themes of Freemasonry. Since we don’t have to follow the principles of any Obedience, we can act freely without any constraints, starting from the consideration that the diversity of catechisms and Masonic rituals is not casual, but the result of the will to distinguish oneself from the competing Obediences. We think that feeling competitors and opponents is a symptom of serious mediocrity.
Italian freemasonry is divided; each part tries and claims its authenticity by changing common roots. They call it renovation, but it has caused the loss of many extraordinary meanings. A striking example of fake renovation is the Masonic Constitution written by Andersen. He was an Anglican priest who falsified, burned and destroyed documents that linked Freemasonry to the past; he tried to establish the sovereignty of his country (England) over the rest of the Masonic world.

These operations can be accepted only by masons ignorant of their history and masonry science. Others feel the need to get their initiatory roots back, where the ‘light raises from East’. They are researchers who reject conventicles, unconventional masons to which we dedicate many sections of the Esonet Project, included Quattuor Coronati.

The investigation into the meanings of the initiatory tradition without stopping at the barriers of ideologies brings us closer to our roots; to an esotericism that is not trade of fantasy but the germ of ancient sciences.

by Athos A. Altomonte
Responsible for the Editorial Staff of the Esonet Project