KNIGHT OF THE MEDITERRANEAN PASS, some times called KNIGHT OF ST. PAUL. An honorary degree, con ferred on Knights Templar and Knights of Malta. Its cere monies are very impressive, and its organization into councils, governed by appropriate officers, assimilates its forms to that of one of the regular degrees of Masonry. The ritual of this degree informs us that it was founded about the year 1367, in consequence of certain events which occurred to the Knights of Malta. In an excursion made by a party of these Knights in search of forage and provisions, they were attacked while crossing the river Offa,nto (the ancient Aufidio), by a large body of Saracens, under the command of the renowned Amurath I. The Saracens had concealed themselves in ambush, and when the Knights were on the middle of the bridge which spanned the river, they were attacked by a sudden charge of their enemies upon both extremities of the bridge. A long and sanguinary contest ensued; the Knights fought with their usual valor, and were at length victorious.
The Saracens were defeated with such immense slaughter that fifteen hundred of their dead bodies encumbered the bridge, and the river was literally stained with their blood. In commemoration of this event, and as a reward for their valor, the victorious Knights were affranchised in all parts of the Mediterranean coasts, that is to say, had free permission to pass and repass, wherever and whenever they pleased, from which circumstance the degree, which was then founded, received its name of "Mediterranean Pass." It will be seen from these details that there is no real connection between this degree and that given under the same name to Royal Arch Masons, although there is some internal evidence that the latter was surreptitiously obtained from, and is only a corruption of, the former. [See MEDITERRANEAN PASS.]