Yeats and the Ancient Prince Masons from Time Immemorial: R+ H.R.D.M., S.P.R.C.

In a letter to Lady Gregory, Yeats described the Masonic ceremony given at the funeral of his uncle, George Pollexfen, in Sligo in 1910. Pollexfen had been initiated into the the Isis-Urania Temple of the Order of the Golden Dawn in December of 1893 where he took on the the Latin motto 'Festina lente'.  He was a unionist Protestant who did not approve of Yeats's nationalist position.  He was W.B. Yeats' Mother's brother.  Eighty Masons attended his funeral, and two of them threw white roses (a traditional Jacobite symbol) on his grave. Yeats explained that they and Pollexfen were "Priori Masons," who used the white rose as a prime symbol. 

This reference to "Priori Masons" alluded to their membership in what is properly termed the 'Original Chapter of Prince Masons' or the Metropolitan College of Heredom for Ireland', which styles itself as the first and most ancient or primitive English speaking authority for the Rose Croix.