Anno Lucis

What is A.L.?
Latin for "Year of Light." You will also see it abbreviated as A:.L:.. It is used as a calendar system within the Freemason fraternity.

The well known Masonic Historian Albert Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry (c)1920 describes Anno Lucis as:

Anno Lucis: The date used in ancient Craft Masonry; found by adding 4000 to the Vulgar Era; thus, 1911 + 4000 = 5911.

Vulgar Era: describes what we now call our current year. Vulgar as in lacking quality, taste or refinement.

Anno Lucis is believed to be influenced by the writings of Archbishop James Ussher in the mid 17th century, who established the date known as the Date of the world, October 23, 4004. The popularity of his books, as well as an authorized King James Bible reprint of the work, posthumously in 1701, gave the date an almost unquestioning reverence as much as the Holy Bible itself.

Ussher became determined to approximate when the universe was created. He traveled to Britain and Europe in 1640, trying to seek the earliest available manuscripts he could find. After studying a number of Middle Eastern & Mediterranean histories, and influenced by the Holy Bible, the Book of Genesis was used to determine when he thought the universe was created.
Ussher came to the conclusion that the universe was created at 9:00 am October 23, 4004 BC. He later published his conclusions in 1650 through his work titled Annales veteris testamenti, a prima mundi origine deducti ['Annals of the Old Testament, deduced from the first origins of the world'].

Anno Lucis can be found in books throughout Freemasonry, including the one below, The Constitutions of the Free-Masons printed in June 1734 by Benjamin Franklin. It is believed that he did this because he felt that it would increase the availabilty of readership of the first edition of the Constitutions published in London in 1723.

Anno Lucis is called the Year of Masonry, or the Year of Light. It refers to the biblical account of the creation of the Universe.

Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." Holy Bible KJV

In its metaphorical sence, it denotes the advent of light, or knowledge, being brought to man. Perhaps if A:.L:. had evolved later, a more scientific calendar such as the geologic Holocene Calendar or Human Era Calendar might have influenced it. The Holocene Calendar also uses an astronomical numbering system but adds 10,000; thus 1971+10,000=11971.

REFERENCES USED

http://www.freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/annolucis.html
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/25/
http://www.masonic-lodge-of-education.com/anno-lucis.html
http://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/lewis-evans/
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1993Natur.366..716E