Fiat Lux

Fiat lux is a Latin phrase meaning “Let there be light”, drawn from Genesis 1:3. It is used as a motto by educational institutions and as the name of Masonic lodges. Its biblical source and its later institutional uses are distinct parts of its history.

Biblical context

In the Latin creation narrative, the command is followed by the statement that light came into being. God then separates light from darkness and names day and night. The creation of the greater and lesser lights and the stars appears later in the chapter, in the account of the fourth day. The phrase thus belongs to a particular passage about creation before it becomes a metaphor for knowledge.

Masonic examples

The name has been adopted by lodges in different countries. These are individual organisations with their own histories:

• Fiat Lux, Lucerne: the Swiss lodge's history dates its establishment as Lodge No. 25 of the Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina to 20 January 1904. It grew from a Masonic conference formed in Lucerne in 1850.
• Respetable Logia Fiat Lux, Coamo, Puerto Rico: a surviving circular letter dated 15 April 1902 asks Cold Water Lodge for help in building a Masonic temple. The document is held by the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library.
• Fiat Lux Lodge No. 1717, Washington, DC: the lodge's own account describes planning discussions beginning in 1998 and the choice of its name in January 2000.

Sharing the same motto or name does not, by itself, establish a common charter or organisational connection between lodges.

Educational use

The University of California uses Fiat lux as its motto. Its Berkeley library explains the association of the words with an open book on the university seal. This is a documented use of light as an image of learning outside Freemasonry, and an example of why the phrase alone does not identify a Masonic institution.

See also

• Masonic museums and libraries
• Rosicrucians