Chartered in 1865, named for Dante Alighieri, and rooted in the Italian Red Lodge tradition of New Orleans.
Dante Lodge #174 was established in New Orleans in 1865 by brethren of Silencio Lodge and Las Amigas Del Orden. They sought a Lodge that would work in the Italian language and chose Dante Alighieri — father of that tongue and author of the Divine Comedy — as their namesake.
The ritual is now conferred in English, yet Dante Lodge remains one of the last Scottish Rite Red Lodges in the United States: a living thread of New Orleans Masonic history, Italian heritage, and the brotherhood of men who strive to make good men better.
Commemorating 150 Years
Dante Lodge No. 174 F&AM · 1865–2025
Dante Lodge marked its sesquicentennial with a commemorative coin bearing the clasped hands of brotherhood, the square and compasses, and the words Peace and Harmony and Hand in Hand. The coin honors Joseph Brisolara, charter master, and Mark A. Hopkins, master at the time of the anniversary.
One hundred fifty years after brethren gathered in Italian-speaking labor, Dante Lodge continues the same work — men bound by oath, united in charity, and walking forward together.
Sesquicentennial commemorative coin · 1865–2015
Peace and Harmony · Hand in Hand
Milestones, degrees, and the fellowship that binds Dante Lodge #174 together.
Fifty years of service
Worshipful Brother Stephen Dummer presented 50-year certificates to Worshipful Brothers Noles “Papa” Esponge and Melvin Mims, with Worshipful Brother Mark Grouchy and Brother Brian McGibbon standing witness — a milestone honored among the brethren of Dante Lodge #174.
2015 · Entered Apprentice & Master Mason
In 2015, the Mississippi Mountain Men Degree Team conferred a Master Mason degree while Dante Lodge #174 conferred their famous Entered Apprentice degree — brethren in buckskin and yellow aprons at the altar, a memory still spoken of in the lodge room.
Fellowship among brothers
Brother Vince Vance presenting a gift to Worshipful Master Mark A. Hopkins — a moment of appreciation and good fellowship among the brethren of Dante Lodge #174.
St. Louis Cemetery Number Three · New Orleans, Louisiana
Tomb of Dante Lodge #174, F&AM, in St. Louis Cemetery Number Three, which is owned by the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The Lodge received its charter from the MW Grand Lodge of Louisiana in 1866. Dante is one of the ten “Scottish Rite” Blue Lodges in New Orleans. Its members were originally from Italian immigrant families.
How above-ground burial works
On the front face of the tomb you will see numbers on a marble slab. This slab is the enclosure tablet. Each number marks a shelf inside the vault. When a member of the society died, the tablet would be removed and the coffin placed inside. After a year and a day, the Lodge could receive another brother in the same place. The tablet was opened again, and the remains of the previous burial were swept toward the back, where a slot allows them to fall into the caveau — the vault below. This is the same process used by above-ground tombs throughout New Orleans.
On the crown of the tomb you will see the words Dante Lodge and the square and compasses with the letter G. A bronze bust of Dante Alighieri once stood here until Hurricane Katrina. Society tombs like this were common in the nineteenth century: any member without a family tomb could rest with dignity among his brothers. Fraternal orders offered belonging, care for surviving families, and the quiet assurance that a brother would not be buried alone.
The bronze bust of Dante
From 1890 to 2005, a bronze bust of Italian poet Dante Alighieri crowned the top of the Dante Lodge #174 burial vault within St. Louis Cemetery #3. Whether the bust was stolen or destroyed in the chaos of Katrina remains unknown. It was created by Italian sculptor and lodge member Achille Perelli, receiving great fanfare when it was put in place.
The prestige of Dante Lodge is believed to have influenced the renaming of Carrollton’s Madison Street to Dante Street in 1894 — a name old Carrolltonians still pronounce “dan TEE,” though newer residents often say it as the poet did.
Society tombs like this one functioned much as mutual aid does today: brethren contributed to build and maintain the vault so that members without a family tomb could rest with dignity among their brothers. Today the tomb still bears Masonic symbolism at its crown — a sunburst, the square and compasses with the letter G, and the all-seeing eye — even after the loss of Perelli’s bust in 2005.
Location & design
The Dante Lodge society tomb stands in St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 on Esplanade Avenue. It is an above-ground oven vault with an upper chamber and a lower pit, called a caveau. New Orleans heat turns the sealed vault into a high-temperature chamber that reduces remains so the space can be used again.
The upper chamber
Coffins are placed on a heavy stone shelf behind a removable tablet on the front face of the tomb. By tradition and by law, a body remains undisturbed for at least a year and a day. After that time, the shelf can be cleared for the next brother of the Lodge.
The caveau
Remaining bones and ashes are then swept or lowered into the dark underground pit at the bottom of the tomb. This is how society vaults have served New Orleans fraternal orders for generations — one monument, many brethren, each given a dignified rest among their own.
