Royal Arch Masonry is the term used to denote the first part of the York Rite

York Rite

The York Rite or American Rite is one of several Rites of the worldwide fraternity known as Freemasonry. A Rite is a series of progressive degrees that are conferred by various Masonic organizations or bodies, each of which operates under the control of its own central authority...

 system of Masonic degrees. Royal Arch Masons meet as a Chapter, and the Chapter confers four degrees: Mark Master Mason, Past Master, Most Excellent Master, and Royal Arch Mason.

Chapter level

A Chapter is in many ways the same as a Lodge; it has officers and a ritual degree system, which in this case consists of four degrees: Mark Master Mason, Past Master (in some jurisdictions the degree is named Virtual Past Master, to distinguish those who have taken this degree in a Royal Arch Chapter from those who were installed as a Worshipful Master in a lodge), Most Excellent Master, and Royal Arch Mason. However, unlike Lodges, the titles of the Officers change depending on the degree being conferred:

Mark Master Mason	(Virtual) Past Master	Most Excellent Master	Royal Arch Mason
Master	Master	Master	High Priest
Senior Warden	Senior Warden	Senior Warden	King
Junior Warden	Junior Warden	none	Scribe
Senior Deacon	Senior Deacon	Senior Deacon	Principal Sojourner
Junior Deacon	Junior Deacon	Junior Deacon	Royal Arch Captain
Master Overseer	none	none	Master of the Third Veil
Senior Overseer	none	none	Master of the Second Veil
Junior Overseer	none	none	Master of the First Veil
Marshal	Marshal	Marshal	Captain of the Host
Tyler	Tyler	Tyler	Sentinel
Secretary	Secretary	Secretary	Secretary
Treasurer	Treasurer	Treasurer	Treasurer

Regional level

Every US State has its own Grand Chapter, which performs the same administrative functions for its subordinate Chapters as a Grand Lodge does for its subordinate Lodges. In other countries there are either national or state Grand Chapters. The Chapter also has its own equivalents of Grand Lodge Officers, modified from the titles of the officers of a Royal Arch Chapter:

• Grand High Priest
• Deputy Grand High Priest
• Grand King
• Grand Scribe
• Grand Treasurer
• Grand Secretary
• Grand Chaplain
• Grand Captain of the Host
• Grand Principal Sojourner
• Grand Royal Arch Captain
• Grand Master of the Third Veil
• Grand Master of the Second Veil
• Grand Master of the First Veil
• Grand Sentinel

In jurisdictions that have them, there are also District Deputy Grand High Priests appointed by the Grand High Priest to oversee the districts of the jurisdiction as the representative of the Grand High Priest. Grand Representatives are appointed to keep in contact with their counterparts in other jurisdictions.

Grand Chapters also contribute to specific charities which differ from state to state.

General Grand Chapter

Many of the Grand Chapters around the world (notable exceptions include: Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia) are members of an umbrella group called the General Grand Chapter, founded October 24, 1797. It publishes a quarterly magazine called Royal Arch Mason and supports the ABLEKids Foundation.

The History of General Grand Chapter

In 1797, a group of Masons met in Hartford to try to establish some sort of governing body for degrees that were largely conferred in the New England states, which became the Grand Chapter of the Northern States, and later was broken down into the state-by-state Grand Chapter system. This body later became the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons International.

Development of the Royal Arch Degrees

The actual founding of Royal Arch Masonry is unknown. Until 1797, Lodges performed the Chapter degrees, as well as some others that are now more familiarly part of the Knights Templar degrees, such as Order of the Red Cross and the Knights Templar degree.

Fredericksburg Lodge in Virginia lists a conferral of the Royal Arch degree on December 22, 1753. There are Chapters noted as giving certain degrees as far back as 1769 in Massachusetts (St. Andrew's Royal Arch Chapter, Boston, MA, then known as Royall Arch Lodge), where the first Knights Templar degree was also conferred. Through a report compiled by the Committee on History and Research appointed by the Grand Chapter of Massachusetts in 1953 and 1954, it was found that St. Andrew's Royal Arch Chapter was the oldest constituted Chapter in the Western Hemisphere, having been officially constituted April 9, 1769, though the records implied that the Chapter had been working prior to that date, and perhaps as early as 1762. The report also states that it is unknown whether the Fredericksburg lodge in Virginia conferred only the Royal Arch degree or the entire series of degrees.

The April 30, 1793 minutes of St. Andrew's Royal Arch Chapter state that the so-called Excellent degree may have become the Past Master Degree, and that a similar degree by that name was conferred in 1790 by King Cyrus Chapter in Newburyport, MA. There was also a "Super Excellent" degree that simply disappeared from the St. Andrew's minutes after December 21, 1797, and it was postulated that it may have become the Most Excellent Master degree, first noted in the same minutes on February 21, 1798.

The Past Master Degree was already in existence by 1797, and appears in a few monitors of the era: it is one of the four degrees in the Webb Monitor (1797) and appears in Jeremy Cross' monitor in 1826.

The Most Excellent Master Degree is considered American in origin, although it has been postulated by Denslow and Turnbull that it was merely a rearrangement of preexisting material. They state that the first mention of it by name is when it was conferred on William S. Davis on August 28, 1769 in St. Andrew's Royal Arch Lodge, and that the degrees came from lodges originating from the Irish Constitution. Similarities between this degree and material in the 19° in the Early Grand Rite of Scotland are also enumerated upon, and they conclude that the degree is from that Rite.

As for the Royal Arch Degree, Turnbull and Denslow contend that "It is the most widely known and talked about degree in the Masonic system" because it had been part of the third degree until the formation of the United Grand Lodge of England

United Grand Lodge of England

The United Grand Lodge of England is the main governing body of freemasonry within England and Wales and in other, predominantly ex-British Empire and Commonwealth countries outside the United Kingdom. It is the oldest Grand Lodge in the world, deriving its origin from 1717...

. However, its age can only be guessed at, and the first working of it was at the aforementioned Fredericksburg, Virginia

Fredericksburg, Virginia

Fredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,286...

. Denslow and Turnbull also quote earlier Masonic historian Robert Freke Gould's assertion from documentation that the Royal Arch existed in Youghal

Youghal

Youghal is a town in County Cork, Ireland. Sitting on the estuary of the River Blackwater, in the past it was militarily and economically important. Being built on the edge of a steep riverbank, the town has a distinctive long and narrow layout...

 (in County Cork

County Cork

County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

), some time prior to 1743. Dr. Fifield D'Assigny also wrote of it in Ireland in 1744.

Royal Arch Masonry in Canada

Royal Arch Masonry in Canada, differs slightly from that explained above from an American perspective. In Canada it tends to have stronger historical ties to the UK than to the USA, and in Canada unlike in the USA, the historical link to the monarchy remains. However it should be noted that recent changes to the Holy Royal Arch Degree in the UK, did not necessarily occur in Canada. In most Chapters in Canada the Past Master degree is not worked, there are only a few exceptions. The degree of the Holy Royal Arch is considered the "completion of the Master Mason's degree" in Lodge - a phrase inherited from England, but which was officially abandoned in England in 2004. The Officer's titles listed above may differ slightly, and of course the history is different, and more intertwined with that of the British Empire from which it largely grew, there are Chapters that received their charters from the Scottish Grand Chapter and therefore differ in respects.