![Book of common prayer 1549](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Book_of_common_prayer_1549.jpg)
The 1549 ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the original version of the ''
Book of Common Prayer
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...
'', variations of which are still in use as the official
liturgical book
A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services.
Christianity Roman Rite
In the Roman Rite of the Catholic ...
of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
and other
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
churches. Written during the
English Reformation
The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...
, the prayer book was largely the work of
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...
, who borrowed from a large number of other sources. Evidence of Cranmer's
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
theology can be seen throughout the book; however, the services maintain the traditional forms and
sacramental
A sacramental in Christianity is a material object or action (in Latin ''sacramentalia'') ritually blessed by a priest to signal its association with the sacraments and so to incite reverence during acts of worship. They are recognised by the Cat ...
language inherited from medieval
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
liturgies. Criticised by Protestants for being too traditional, it was replaced by the significantly revised
1552 ''Book of Common Prayer''.
Title
The complete title was ''The Book of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church after the Use of the Church of England''. The prayer book's title refers to three categories of services; "common prayer" meant morning and evening prayer.
Background
The forms of
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
worship in the late medieval church in England followed the
Roman Rite
The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while dist ...
. The priest said or sung the
liturgy
Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...
in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, but the liturgy itself varied according to local practice. By far the most common form, or "
use
Use may refer to:
* Use (law), an obligation on a person to whom property has been conveyed
* Use (liturgy), a special form of Roman Catholic ritual adopted for use in a particular diocese
* Use–mention distinction, the distinction between using ...
", found in Southern England was that of
Sarum (Salisbury). There was no single book; the services that would be provided by the ''Book of Common Prayer'' were to be found in the
Missal
A missal is a liturgical book containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the liturgical year. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a pries ...
(the
Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
), the
Breviary
A breviary (Latin: ''breviarium'') is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times.
Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such a ...
(
daily office
In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of Fixed prayer times#Christianity, fixed times of prayer at regular intervals. A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or sel ...
s), the Manual (the occasional services of
baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
, marriage, burial etc.), and the
Pontifical
A pontifical ( la, pontificale) is a Christian liturgical book containing the liturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of the ordinal for the ordination and consecration of deacons, priests, and bishops to Holy O ...
(services conducted by a
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
—
confirmation
In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...
,
ordination
Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...
). The chant (
plainsong
Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ''plain-chant''; la, cantus planus) is a body of chants used in the liturgy, liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in La ...
or plainchant) for worship was contained in the ''
Roman Gradual
The ''Roman Gradual'' (Latin: ''Graduale Romanum'') is an official liturgical book of the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church containing chants, including the proper and many more, for use in Mass.
The latest edition of 1974 takes account o ...
'' for the Mass, the
''Antiphonale'' for the offices, and the ''Processionale'' for the
litanies
Litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Judaic worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions. The word comes through Latin ''litania'' from Ancient Greek λιτανεία (''litan ...
.
The
liturgical year
The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...
followed the Roman calendar for the universal
feast days
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context do ...
, but it also included local feasts as well. The liturgical calendar determined what was to be read at the daily offices and the Mass. By the 1500s, the calendar had become complicated and difficult to use. Furthermore, most of the readings appointed for each day were not drawn from the Bible but were mainly legends about
saints' lives. When scripture was assigned, only brief passages were read before moving on to an entirely different chapter. As a result, there was no
continuity in scriptural readings throughout the year.
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' was a product of the
English Reformation
The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...
. In England, the Reformation began in the 1530s when
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
separated the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
from the
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and the authority of the
pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
. For the liturgy,
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
reformers advocated replacing Latin with English, greater
lay
Lay may refer to:
Places
*Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada
*Lay, Loire, a French commune
*Lay (river), France
*Lay, Iran, a village
*Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community
People
* Lay (surname)
* ...
participation, more Bible reading and sermons, and conforming the liturgy to Protestant theology. Henry VIII, however, was religiously conservative, and Protestants had limited success in reforming the liturgy during his reign.
The work of producing a liturgy in the English language was largely done by
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...
,
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, starting cautiously in the reign of Henry VIII and then more radically under his son
Edward VI
Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...
. In his early days Cranmer was a conservative
humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humani ...
and admirer of
Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...
. After 1531, Cranmer's contacts with Protestant reformers from continental Europe helped to change his outlook. By the late 1530s, Cranmer had adopted
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
views. By the time the first prayer book was published, Cranmer shared more in common with
Reformed
Reform is beneficial change
Reform may also refer to:
Media
* ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang
* Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group
* ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine
*''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...
theologians like
Martin Bucer
Martin Bucer ( early German: ''Martin Butzer''; 11 November 1491 – 28 February 1551) was a German Protestant reformer based in Strasbourg who influenced Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican doctrines and practices. Bucer was originally a me ...
and
Heinrich Bullinger
Heinrich Bullinger (18 July 1504 – 17 September 1575) was a Swiss Reformer and theologian, the successor of Huldrych Zwingli as head of the Church of Zürich and a pastor at the Grossmünster. One of the most important leaders of the Swiss Re ...
.
Theology
![Thomas Cranmer by Gerlach Flicke](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Thomas_Cranmer_by_Gerlach_Flicke.jpg)
Compared to the liturgies produced by the
continental Reformed church
Continental Reformed Protestantism is a part of the Calvinist tradition within Protestantism that traces its origin in the European continent. Prominent subgroups are the Dutch Reformed, the Swiss Reformed, the French Reformed (Huguenots), the ...
es in the same period, the ''Book of Common Prayer'' seems relatively conservative. For England, however, it represented a "major theological shift" toward Protestantism. The preface, which contained Cranmer's explanation as to why a new prayer book was necessary, began: "There was never any thing by the wit of man so well devised, or so sure established, which in continuance of time hath not been corrupted."
Cranmer agreed with Reformed Protestant theology, and his doctrinal concerns can be seen in the systematic amendment of source material to remove any idea that human
merit
Merit may refer to:
Religion
* Merit (Christianity)
* Merit (Buddhism)
* Punya (Hinduism)
* Imputed righteousness in Reformed Christianity
Companies and brands
* Merit (cigarette), a brand of cigarettes made by Altria
* Merit Energy Company, ...
contributed to an individual's
salvation
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...
. The doctrines of
justification by faith alone and
predestination
Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby G ...
are central to Cranmer's theology. In justification, God grants the individual
faith
Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion".
Religious people often ...
by which the
righteousness of Christ is claimed and the
sinner is forgiven. This doctrine is implicit throughout the prayer book, and it had important implications for his understanding of the
sacrament
A sacrament is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments ...
s. For Cranmer, a sacrament is a "sign of an holy thing" that signifies what it represents but is not identical to it. With this understanding, Cranmer believed that someone who is not one of God's
elect
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...
receives only the outward form of the sacrament (washing in baptism or eating bread in communion) but does not receive actual
grace
Grace may refer to:
Places United States
* Grace, Idaho, a city
* Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois
* Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office
* Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...
. Only the elect receive the sacramental sign and the grace. This is because faith—which is a gift only the elect are given—unites the outward sign and the inward grace and makes the sacrament effective. This position was in agreement with the Reformed churches but was opposed to the Roman Catholic and Lutheran views.
Protestants were particularly hostile to the Catholic Church's teaching that each
Mass was the sacrifice of Jesus for the
redemption of the world. To the reformers, to believe that the Mass is a propitiatory offering that forgives sins is to rely on human activity instead of having faith in the efficacy of Christ's death. This was incompatible with justification by faith. Protestants taught that the
Eucharist
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
was a remembrance and representation of Christ's sacrifice, but not the sacrifice itself. Protestants also rejected the Catholic doctrine of
transubstantiation
Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of th ...
. According to this doctrine when the priest said the
words of institution
The Words of Institution (also called the Words of Consecration) are words echoing those of Jesus himself at his Last Supper that, when consecrating bread and wine, Christian Eucharistic liturgies include in a narrative of that event. Eucharistic ...
, the sacramental bread and wine ceased being bread and wine and became the flesh and blood of Christ without changing their appearance. To Protestants, transubstantiation seemed too much like magic, and they rejected it as an explanation for what occurred in the Eucharist.
Protestants opposed the
sacrament of penance
The Sacrament of Penance (also commonly called the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession) is one of the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, seven sacraments of the Catholic Church (known in Eastern Christianity as sacred mysteries), in which ...
for two reasons. The first reason was private or
auricular confession
Confession, in many religions, is the acknowledgment of one's sins (sinfulness) or wrongs.
Christianity Catholicism
In Catholic teaching, the Sacrament of Penance is the method of the Church by which individual men and women confess sins ...
of sin, which parishioners were supposed to undertake at least once a year. For Protestants, private confession was a problem because it placed a priest between people and God. For Protestants, forgiveness should be sought directly from God. The second reason was that the sacrament of penance demanded some good work as a sign of contrition.
Protestants believed that when a person died he or she would receive either eternal life or eternal damnation depending on whether they had placed their faith in Christ or rejected him. Thus, Protestants denied the Catholic belief in
purgatory
Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...
, a state in which souls are punished for
venial or minor sins and those sins that were never confessed. The Catholic Church also taught that the living could take action to reduce the length of time souls spent in purgatory. These included good works such as giving
alms
Alms (, ) are money, food, or other material goods donated to people living in poverty. Providing alms is often considered an act of virtue or Charity (practice), charity. The act of providing alms is called almsgiving, and it is a widespread p ...
,
praying to saints and especially the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
, and
prayer for the dead
Religions with the belief in a future judgment, a resurrection of the dead or a purgatory often offer prayers on behalf of the dead to God.
Buddhism
For most funerals that follow the tradition of Chinese Buddhism, common practices include chantin ...
, especially as part of the Mass. The idea of purgatory was not found in the BCP. Cranmer's theology also led him to remove all instances of prayer to the saints in the liturgy. The literary scholar
Alan Jacobs explains this aspect of the prayer book as follows:
Cranmer and his Protestant allies were forced to compromise with Catholic bishops who still held power in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
. The final form the BCP took was not what either the Protestants nor the Catholics wanted. Historian
Albert Pollard
Albert Frederick Pollard, FBA (16 December 1869 – 3 August 1948) was a British historian who specialized in the Tudor period. He was one of the founders of the Historical Association in 1906.
Life and career
Pollard was born in Ryde o ...
wrote that it was "neither Roman nor
Zwinglian
The theology of Ulrich Zwingli was based on an interpretation of the Bible, taking scripture as the inspired word of God and placing its authority higher than what he saw as human sources such as the ecumenical councils and the church fathers. He ...
; still less was it
Calvinistic
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...
, and for this reason mainly it has been described as Lutheran."
Drafting and authorisation
While Henry was king, the English language was gradually introduced into services alongside Latin. The English-language
Great Bible
The Great Bible of 1539 was the first authorised edition of the Bible in English, authorised by King Henry VIII of England to be read aloud in the church services of the Church of England. The Great Bible was prepared by Myles Coverdale, worki ...
was authorised for use in 1538. Priests were required to read from it during services. The earliest English-language service of the Church of England was the ''
Exhortation and Litany
The ''Exhortation and Litany'', published in 1544, is the earliest officially authorized vernacular service in English. The same rite survives, in modified form, in the ''Book of Common Prayer''.
Background
Before the English Reformation, processi ...
''. Published in 1544, it was no mere translation from the Latin. Its Protestant character is made clear by the drastic reduction in the
invocation of saints, compressing what had been the major part into three petitions. The litany was included in the first ''Book of Common Prayer''.
Only after the death of Henry VIII and the accession of Edward VI in 1547 could revision proceed faster. The
Sacrament Act of 1547 introduced the first major reform of the Mass. In 1548, pursuant to the act, a liturgical text was published in the form of a booklet titled, ''The Order of the Communion.'' This English text was to be added to the Latin Mass. It allowed for lay people to receive
communion under both kinds
Communion under both kinds in Christianity is the reception under both "species" (i.e., both the consecrated bread and wine) of the Eucharist. Denominations of Christianity that hold to a doctrine of Communion under both kinds may believe that ...
, a departure from the Catholic Church's practice since the 13th century of giving the laity bread only. ''The Order of the Communion'' was incorporated into the new prayer book largely unchanged.
While the English people were becoming accustomed to the new Communion service, Cranmer and his colleagues were working on a complete English-language prayer book. Cranmer is "credited
ith
The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany.
Geography
Location
The Ith is immediatel ...
the overall job of editorship and the overarching structure of the book"; though, he borrowed and adapted material from other sources. He relied heavily on the Sarum rite and the traditional service books (Missal, Manual, Pontifical and Breviary) as well as from the English
primers used by the laity. Other Christian liturgical traditions also influenced Cranmer, including
Greek Orthodox
The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek language, Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the Eastern Orthodox Church, entire body of Orthodox (Chalced ...
and
Mozarabic
Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...
texts. These latter rites had the advantage of being
catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
but not Roman Catholic.
Cardinal Quiñones' revision of the daily office was also a resource. He borrowed much from German sources, particularly from work commissioned by
Hermann von Wied
Hermann of Wied (German: ''Hermann von Wied'') (14 January 1477 – 15 August 1552) was the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne from 1515 to 1546.
In 1521, he supported a punishment for German reformer Martin Luther, but later opened up one of the H ...
, Archbishop of Cologne; and also from
Andreas Osiander
Andreas Osiander (; 19 December 1498 – 17 October 1552) was a German Lutheran theologian and Protestant reformer.
Career
Born at Gunzenhausen, Ansbach, in the region of Franconia, Osiander studied at the University of Ingolstadt before b ...
(to whom he was related by marriage). The Church Order of Brandenburg and Nuremberg was partly the work of the latter. Many phrases are characteristic of the German reformer Martin Bucer, the Italian
Peter Martyr (who was staying with Cranmer at the time he was finalising drafts) or of his chaplain,
Thomas Becon
Thomas Beccon or Becon (c. 1511–1567) was an English cleric and Protestant reformer from Norfolk.
Life
Beccon was born c.1511 in Norfolk, England. He entered the University of Cambridge in March 1526-27, probably St John's College, Cambridge, ...
.
Early in the draft process, bishops and theologians completed questionnaires on liturgical theology. In September 1548, bishops and senior clergy met at
Chertsey Abbey
Chertsey Abbey, dedicated to St Peter, was a Benedictine monastery located at Chertsey in the English county of Surrey.
It was founded in 666 AD by Saint Erkenwald who was the first abbot, and from 675 AD the Bishop of London. At the same time ...
and then later at Windsor and agreed that "the service of the church ought to be in the mother tongue." These meetings were likely the final steps in a longer process of composition and revision. There is no evidence that the book was ever approved by the
Convocations of Canterbury and York
The Convocations of Canterbury and York are the synodical assemblies of the bishops and clergy of each of the two provinces which comprise the Church of England. Their origins go back to the ecclesiastical reorganisation carried out under Arc ...
. In December 1548, the traditionalist and Protestant bishops debated the prayer book's eucharistic theology in the House of Lords. Despite conservative opposition,
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
passed the
Act of Uniformity on 21 January 1549, and the newly authorised ''Book of Common Prayer'' was required to be in use by
Whitsunday
Whitsun (also Whitsunday or Whit Sunday) is the name used in Britain, and other countries among Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian High Holy Day of Pentecost. It is the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the H ...
, 9 June.
Content
The BCP replaced the several regional Latin liturgical uses (such as the Use of Sarum, the
Use of York The Use of York (Latin: ''Eboracum'') or York Rite was a liturgical use of the Roman Rite – itself a Latin liturgical rite – practised in part of northern England, prior to the reign of Henry VIII. During Henry's reign the Use of York was sup ...
and the
Use of Hereford
The Use of Hereford or Hereford Use was a variant of the Roman Rite used in Herefordshire before the English Reformation. When Peter of Aigueblanche, Bishop of Hereford, returned to his native Savoy he used it in his church in Aiguebelle.Mugni ...
) with an English-language liturgy. It was far less complicated than the older system, which required multiple books. The prayer book had provisions for the daily offices, scripture readings for Sundays and holy days, and services for communion, public baptism, confirmation, matrimony,
visitation of the sick, burial,
purification of women and
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent (the six weeks of penitence before Easter). It is observed by Catholics in the Rom ...
. An
ordinal for
ordination
Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...
services was added in 1550. There was also a calendar and
lectionary
A lectionary ( la, lectionarium) is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christianity, Christian or Judaic worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" or evang ...
, which meant a Bible and a
Psalter
A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters we ...
were the only other books required by a priest.
Liturgical calendar
The prayer book preserved the seasonal or
temporale
The temporale ( or ) is one of the two main cycles that, running concurrently, comprise the Liturgical year in Roman Catholicism, defined by the General Roman Calendar. (The other cycle is the ''sanctorale''.) The term comes into English from medie ...
calendar of the traditional
church year
The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...
almost unchanged. The church year started with
Advent
Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity.
The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''.
In ...
and was followed by
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
and the
Epiphany season
The Epiphany season, also known as Epiphanytide or the time of Sundays After Epiphany, is a liturgical period, celebrated by many Christian Churches, which immediately follows the Christmas season. It begins on Epiphany Day, and ends at various ...
.
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent (the six weeks of penitence before Easter). It is observed by Catholics in the Rom ...
began the season of
Lent
Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...
and was followed by
Holy Week
Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...
, the
Easter season
Eastertide (also known as Eastertime or the Easter season) or Paschaltide (also known as Paschaltime or the Paschal season) is a festal season in the liturgical year of Christianity that focuses on celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. ...
,
Ascensiontide,
Whitsun
Whitsun (also Whitsunday or Whit Sunday) is the name used in Britain, and other countries among Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian High Holy Day of Pentecost. It is the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the Ho ...
, and
Trinity Sunday
Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christianity, Western Christian liturgical year, liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the ...
. Before the Reformation, Wednesdays and Fridays were
station days
Station days were days of fasting in the early Christian Church, associated with a procession to certain prescribed churches in Rome, where the Mass and Vespers would be celebrated to mark important days of the liturgical year. Although other cit ...
. In the prayer book, the
1544 Litany was used and Holy Communion celebrated on these days.
The prayer book also included the
sanctorale
The sanctorale (English pronunciation /saŋktəˈreɪli/, /saŋktəˈrɑːleɪ/) is one of the two main cycles that, running concurrently, comprise the Liturgical year in Roman Catholicism, defined by the General Roman Calendar, and used by a varie ...
or
calendar of saints
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
with
collect
The collect ( ) is a short general prayer of a particular structure used in Christian liturgy.
Collects appear in the liturgies of Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches, among oth ...
s and scripture readings appropriate for the day. However, it was reduced from 181 to 25 days. Only
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
saints were commemorated, with the exception of
All Saints' Day
All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the church, whether they are know ...
. Other feasts, such as the
Assumption
Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven.
Assumption may also refer to:
Places
* Assumption, Alberta, Canada
* Assumption, Illinois, United States
** Assumption Town ...
and
Corpus Christi, were removed. Cranmer opposed praying to saints in hopes they might intercede for the living, but he did believe the saints were role models. For this reason, collects that invoked saints were replaced by new ones that only honored them. The following saints were commemorated:
*
Circumcision of Christ
The circumcision of Jesus is an event from the life of Jesus, according to the Gospel of Luke chapter 2, which states: And when eight days were fulfilled to circumcise the child, his name was called Jesus, the name called by the angel before h ...
,
Epiphany
Epiphany may refer to:
* Epiphany (feeling), an experience of sudden and striking insight
Religion
* Epiphany (holiday), a Christian holiday celebrating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ
** Epiphany season, or Epiph ...
and
conversion of St. Paul
Conversion or convert may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman''
* "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series
* "The Conversion" ...
in January
*
Purification of the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
and
St. Matthias in February
*
Annunciation
The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...
in March
*
St. Mark the Evangelist in April
*
St. Philip and
St. James in May
*
St. Barnabas, the
Nativity of St. John the Baptist
The Nativity of John the Baptist (or Birth of John the Baptist, or Nativity of the Forerunner, or colloquially Johnmas or St. John's Day (in German) Johannistag) is a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of John the Baptist. It is observe ...
, and
St. Peter in June
* St.
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...
and
St. James the Apostle in July
*
St. Bartholomew the Apostle
Bartholomew (Aramaic: ; grc, Βαρθολομαῖος, translit=Bartholomaîos; la, Bartholomaeus; arm, Բարթողիմէոս; cop, ⲃⲁⲣⲑⲟⲗⲟⲙⲉⲟⲥ; he, בר-תולמי, translit=bar-Tôlmay; ar, بَرثُولَماو ...
in August
*
St. Matthew
Matthew the Apostle,, shortened to ''Matti'' (whence ar, مَتَّى, Mattā), meaning "Gift of YHWH"; arc, , Mattai; grc-koi, Μαθθαῖος, ''Maththaîos'' or , ''Matthaîos''; cop, ⲙⲁⲧⲑⲉⲟⲥ, Mattheos; la, Matthaeus a ...
and
Michael and All Angels
Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christian festival observed in some Western liturgical calendars on 29 September, an ...
in September
*
St. Luke the Evangelist
Luke the Evangelist (Latin: '' Lucas''; grc, Λουκᾶς, '' Loukâs''; he, לוקאס, ''Lūqās''; arc, /ܠܘܩܐ לוקא, ''Lūqā’; Ge'ez: ሉቃስ'') is one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of t ...
and
St. Simon
Simon the Zealot (, ) or Simon the Canaanite or Simon the Canaanean (, ; grc-gre, Σίμων ὁ Κανανίτης; cop, ⲥⲓⲙⲱⲛ ⲡⲓ-ⲕⲁⲛⲁⲛⲉⲟⲥ; syc, ܫܡܥܘܢ ܩܢܢܝܐ) was one of the most obscure among the apostl ...
and
St. Jude in October
*
All Saints' Day
All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the church, whether they are know ...
and
St. Andrew the Apostle in November
* St.
Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle ( arc, 𐡀𐡌𐡅𐡕𐡌, hbo, תוֹמא הקדוש or תוֹמָא שליחא (''Toma HaKadosh'' "Thomas the Holy" or ''Toma Shlikha'' "Thomas the Messenger/Apostle" in Hebrew-Aramaic), syc, ܬܐܘܡܐ, , meaning "twi ...
,
St. Stephen
Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...
,
St. John the Evangelist, and
Holy Innocents Day in December
The calendar included what is now called the lectionary, which specified the parts of the Bible to be read at each service. For Cranmer, the main purpose of the liturgy was to familiarise people with the Bible. He wanted a congregation to read through the whole Bible in a year. The scripture readings for the daily office followed ''
lectio continua
In Christianity, Lectio continua (Latin for ''continuous reading'') refers to the practice of reading Scripture in sequence over a period of time. Each reading (which may take place every day or every Sunday) etc. begins where the previous session ...
''. For Morning and Evening Prayer, the lessons did not change if it was a saints' day. The readings for Holy Communion did change if it was a feast day. This became a problem when a
moveable feast
A moveable feast is an observance in a Christian liturgical calendar which occurs on different dates in different years.John Ayto ''Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms'' 2010 p123 019954378X "a movable feast an event which takes place at no reg ...
fell on the same day as a fixed feast, but the prayer book provided no instructions for determining which feast to celebrate. Directions for solving this issue were not added to the BCP until the
1662 prayer book.
Morning and evening prayer
Cranmer's work of simplification and revision was also applied to the
daily offices, which were reduced to
Morning
Morning is the period from sunrise to noon. There are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and night) because it can vary according to one's lifestyle and the hours of daylight at each time of year. However, morning strict ...
and
Evening Prayer. Cranmer hoped these would also serve as a daily form of prayer to be used by the laity, thus replacing both the late medieval lay observation of the Latin
Hours of the Virgin
The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as Hours of the Virgin, is a liturgical devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, in imitation of, and usually in addition to, the Divine Office in the Catholic Church. It is a cycle of psalms, ...
and its English equivalent, the ''Primer''. This simplification was anticipated by the work of Cardinal Quiñones, a Spanish
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...
, in his abortive revision of the Roman Breviary published in 1537. Cranmer took up Quiñones's principle that everything should be sacrificed to secure continuity in singing the Psalter and reading the Bible. His first draft, produced during Henry's reign, retained the traditional seven distinct
canonical hours
In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of fixed times of prayer at regular intervals. A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or selection from, such prayers.
In ...
of Office prayer. His second draft, produced during Edward's reign, reduced the offices to only two, but Latin was retained for everything except the Lord's Prayer and the lessons.
The 1549 book established a rigorously biblical cycle of readings for Morning and Evening Prayer and a Psalter to be read consecutively throughout each month. A chapter from the Old Testament and the New Testament were read at each service. Both offices had a
canticle
A canticle (from the Latin ''canticulum'', a diminutive of ''canticum'', "song") is a hymn, psalm or other Christianity, Christian song of praise with lyrics usually taken from biblical or holy texts. Canticles are used in Christian liturgy.
Ca ...
after each reading. For Morning Prayer, the ''
Te Deum
The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chur ...
'' or ''
Benedicite
The Benedicite (also Benedicite, omnia opera Domini or A Song of Creation) is a canticle that is used in the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours, and is also used in Anglican and Lutheran worship. The text is either verses 35–65 or verses 35–66 of ...
'' followed the Old Testament reading and the ''
Benedictus
Benedictus may refer to:
Music
* Benedictus (Song of Zechariah), ''Benedictus'' (''Song of Zechariah''), the canticle sung at Lauds, also called the Canticle of Zachary
* The second part of the Sanctus, part of the Eucharistic prayer
* Benedictus ...
'' followed the New Testament reading. At Evening Prayer, the ''
Magnificat
The Magnificat (Latin for "y soul
Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...
magnifies he Lord
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...
'' and ''
Nunc dimittis
The Nunc dimittis (), also known as the Song of Simeon or the Canticle of Simeon, is a canticle taken from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 29 through 32. Its Latin name comes from its incipit, the opening words, of the Vulgate ...
'' were sung. On Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Cranmer's litany was to follow Morning Prayer.
Clergy were required to say both Morning and Evening Prayer daily. If this requirement was followed, a clergyman would have read the entire Old Testament once a year. He would have read the New Testament three times a year.
Holy Communion
Medieval Mass
Before the Reformation, the
Eucharist
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
was called the
Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
. The Roman Catholic Church believed the Mass was a sacrifice—the same sacrifice of
Christ on the cross—and a
means of grace
The means of grace in Christian theology are those things (the ''means'') through which God gives grace. Just what this grace entails is interpreted in various ways: generally speaking, some see it as God blessing humankind so as to sustain and emp ...
in which forgiveness,
salvation
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...
and healing were obtained. It was believed that the benefits of Christ's sacrifice were applied not only to those who received communion but also to those who witnessed the Mass and those who were prayed for during the service.
The entire service was said in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. The priest offered and consecrated bread and wine on a
stone altar while reciting a long prayer known as the
canon of the Mass The Canon of the Mass ( la, Canon Missæ), also known as the Canon of the Roman Mass and in the Mass of Paul VI as the Roman Canon or Eucharistic Prayer I, is the oldest anaphora used in the Roman Rite of Mass. The name ''Canon Missæ'' was used in ...
. When the priest said the
words of institution
The Words of Institution (also called the Words of Consecration) are words echoing those of Jesus himself at his Last Supper that, when consecrating bread and wine, Christian Eucharistic liturgies include in a narrative of that event. Eucharistic ...
, the bread and wine miraculously became the
body
Body may refer to:
In science
* Physical body, an object in physics that represents a large amount, has mass or takes up space
* Body (biology), the physical material of an organism
* Body plan, the physical features shared by a group of anima ...
and
blood of Christ
Blood of Christ, also known as the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in Christian theology refers to (a) the physical blood actually shed by Jesus Christ primarily on the Cross, and the salvation which Christianity teaches was accomp ...
according to the doctrine of
transubstantiation
Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of th ...
(see also
real presence of Christ in the Eucharist
The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way.
There are a number of Christian denomina ...
). The priest then
elevated
An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train for short) is a rapid transit railway with the Track (rail transport), tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast i ...
the sacramental bread (called the host) so that the congregation could see and adore it as Christ's body. In the name of the congregation, the priest then offered the consecrated bread and wine to God, praying that God would accept the sacrifice for the living worshippers and the faithful dead. The priest then consumed the offering.
Since laypeople only received communion once a year at Easter, they were mainly spectators performing
eucharistic adoration. For most of the Mass, congregants prayed privately, often with
rosaries
The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...
, a
book of hours
The book of hours is a Christian devotional book used to pray the canonical hours. The use of a book of hours was especially popular in the Middle Ages and as a result, they are the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscrip ...
, or at
side altars dedicated to particular saints. Before receiving communion, laypeople were supposed to
fast and confess their sins to a priest who assigned
penance
Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of Repentance (theology), repentance for Christian views on sin, sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic Church, Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox s ...
and then pronounced
absolution
Absolution is a traditional theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Christian priests and experienced by Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, although the theology and the pra ...
. When receiving the sacrament, a communicant knelt while the priest placed the host directly into their mouth, so their hands would not touch it. By custom, laypeople were only given the host to eat; only clergy received
communion under both kinds
Communion under both kinds in Christianity is the reception under both "species" (i.e., both the consecrated bread and wine) of the Eucharist. Denominations of Christianity that hold to a doctrine of Communion under both kinds may believe that ...
.
Reformed service
The new service was titled "The Supper of the Lord and the Holy Communion, commonly called the Mass" as a compromise with conservatives. Besides the name, it also preserved much of the medieval structure of the Mass (stone altars,
vestment
Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially by Eastern Churches, Catholics (of all rites), Anglicans, and Lutherans. Many other groups also make use of liturgical garments; this ...
s, etc.). Nevertheless, the BCP liturgy was a "radical" departure from traditional worship in that it "eliminated almost everything that had till then been central to lay Eucharistic piety". The sacrifice of the Mass was replaced with a Protestant service of thanksgiving and spiritual communion with Christ. The notions of transubstantiation and eucharistic adoration were suppressed. In the new liturgy, the priest
faced the congregation instead of
turning his back to them. The service was to now be in English, and laypeople were to be encouraged to participate by receiving communion under both kinds frequently.
The first part of the service was known as
ante-Communion. It progressed as follows:
*
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...
*
Collect for Purity
* the day's
introit
The Introit (from Latin: ''introitus'', "entrance") is part of the opening of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, psalm verse and ''Gloria Patri'', ...
psalm sung by clerks
*
Kyrie
Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek , vocative case of (''Kyrios''), is a common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, also called the Kyrie eleison ( ; ).
In the Bible
The prayer, "Kyrie, eleison," "Lord, have mercy" derives fr ...
sung by clerks
*
Gloria
Gloria may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music
* Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise
* Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise
** Gloria (Handel)
** Gloria (Jenkins) ...
sung by clerks
* collect of the day
* collect for the king
*
Epistle
An epistle (; el, ἐπιστολή, ''epistolē,'' "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as par ...
and Gospel readings assigned for the day
*
Nicene Creed
The original Nicene Creed (; grc-gre, Σύμβολον τῆς Νικαίας; la, Symbolum Nicaenum) was first adopted at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. In 381, it was amended at the First Council of Constantinople. The amended form is a ...
sung
* sermon or reading from the ''
First Book of Homilies''
The second part of the service began with two exhortations. These exhortations describe the body and blood of Christ as a pledge and remembrance of
Christ's love. Those who worthily receive the sacrament spiritually feed on Christ and are
united with him as children of God. Worthy reception means having sorrow for sins,
charity
Charity may refer to:
Giving
* Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons
* Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing
* Ch ...
toward the world, and
repentance
Repentance is reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs, which is accompanied by commitment to and actual actions that show and prove a change for the better.
In modern times, it is generally seen as involving a co ...
. Those who receive unworthily are warned that they eat and drink their own damnation. The teaching that communicants "spiritually eat the flesh of Christ" was a direct attack on the doctrine of real presence.
The
offertory
The offertory (from Medieval Latin ''offertorium'' and Late Latin ''offerre'') is the part of a Eucharistic service when the bread and wine for use in the service are ceremonially placed on the altar.
A collection of alms (offerings) from the c ...
then follows. In the medieval rite, the offertory was when the priest offered the bread and wine to be consecrated as the body and blood of Christ. In the BCP, the offertory was a collection of scriptures about generosity and almsgiving, such as
Matthew 6:19–20, to be said or sung while members of the congregation moved to the
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...
or
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ove ...
to place monetary donations in a "poor men's box". At this point, the service could only continue if there were people present willing to receive communion with the priest. If no one was willing, the service ended without communion. The Reformers hoped to establish the practice of weekly congregational communion, but laypeople were reluctant to participate that often. Those receiving communion remained in the chancel near the altar for the rest of the service. If there were communicants, the priest laid on the altar enough bread and wine. According to Anglican theologian Charles Hefling, whether the priest actually offered the bread and wine "is debatable. Analogy with the Mass would suggest that he does, but nothing in the prayers or
rubrics
A rubric is a word or section of text that is traditionally written or printed in red ink for emphasis. The word derives from the la, rubrica, meaning red ochre or red chalk, and originates in Medieval illuminated manuscripts from the 13th cen ...
says so." Hefling goes on to say the offertory sentences refer to almsgiving and "cannot, without special pleading, be referred directly to the bread and wine."
After the offertory comes the sacramental prayer. It began with the
preface
__NOTOC__
A preface () or proem () is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a '' foreword'' and precedes an author's preface. The preface often closes ...
and
Sanctus
The Sanctus ( la, Sanctus, "Holy") is a hymn in Christian liturgy. It may also be called the ''epinikios hymnos'' ( el, ἐπινίκιος ὕμνος, "Hymn of Victory") when referring to the Greek rendition.
In Western Christianity, the ...
. The priest then turned to the altar to say or sing a long prayer that was based on the Sarum rite's canon of the Mass. The canon was divided into three parts: intercession, consecration, and memorial/oblation. Part one was a
bidding prayer
A bidding-prayer ( ang, biddan, "to pray", cf. german: beten) is the formula of prayer, or exhortation to prayer, said during worship in churches of the Anglican Communion. It occurs during the liturgy of the word, following the sermon. Such formu ...
for the king, clergy, and people (including the dead). Thanks was also given for the saints in heaven. This replaced the traditional "bidding of the bedes" that had occurred after the sermon.
Part two of the canon was the consecration. It began with a recitation of Christ's death on the cross and the
Last Supper
Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...
. In order to redeem sinners, God gave his son, Jesus Christ, to be crucified. Christ's self-sacrifice was powerful enough to make satisfaction for all of humanity's sins. Before he died, Christ established the Lord's Supper as a perpetual memorial of his death. The priest then made the
sign of the cross
Making the sign of the cross ( la, signum crucis), or blessing oneself or crossing oneself, is a ritual blessing made by members of some branches of Christianity. This blessing is made by the tracing of an upright cross or + across the body with ...
over the bread and wine while petitioning God to do the following:
This petition was not meant to imply that a transformation occurred in the elements. For Cranmer to bless something meant only to set it apart for a holy purpose. In saying "unto us", Cranmer meant the bread and wine would represent the body and blood, which can only be received spiritually. After the petition, the
words of institution
The Words of Institution (also called the Words of Consecration) are words echoing those of Jesus himself at his Last Supper that, when consecrating bread and wine, Christian Eucharistic liturgies include in a narrative of that event. Eucharistic ...
were spoken, but the rubric immediately after forbade any elevation of the sacrament. For Reformers, elevation was unacceptable because it implied that the elements changed after consecration and invited congregants to engage in eucharistic adoration. While the sacramental bread and wine were consecrated for a holy purpose, they were not to be objects of worship.
The third part of the canon is the memorial and oblation. The priest prays, "we thy humble servants do celebrate and make... the memorial which thy Son hath willed us to make; having in remembrance his blessed passion, mighty resurrection, and glorious ascension".
[ The memorial is described as a "sacrifice of praise" for the benefits of Christ's death and resurrection, especially forgiveness of sins. The priest then, in the name of the congregation, prays:
The canon closes with an acknowledgment of the congregation's unworthiness to offer any sacrifice to God; nevertheless, God is asked to accept it as their duty and service. This sacrifice is not Christ nor his body and blood because, in the words of Charles Hefling, "Christ has been offered already, by Christ himself." Historian ]Diarmaid MacCulloch
Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch (; born 31 October 1951) is an English academic and historian, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was former ...
argues that for Thomas Cranmer "there is really nothing which humanity can offer God, except itself." Hefling elaborates on this point:
The canon was followed by the Lord's Prayer. Private confession prior to the service was now optional. Instead, the priest made a general confession
The General Confession is a prayer of contrition in various Christian denominations, including Anglicanism, Methodism, and Roman Catholicism.
Anglicanism and Methodism
In Anglicanism, the "General Confession" is the act of contrition in Thomas ...
of sin on behalf of the whole congregation and pronounced absolution. Following the absolution, the priest said what are known as the "comfortable words", scripture passages which give assurance of Christ's mercy (taken from Matthew 11:28, John 3:16, 1 Timothy 1:15 and 1 John 2:1–2). The priest then knelt at the altar and prayed in the name of all the communicants the Prayer of Humble Access.
When administering the sacrament, the priest said "The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life" and "The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life",[ for the bread and wine respectively. Cranmer deliberately made these words ambiguous. Traditionalists would understood them as identifying the bread and wine with the body and blood of Christ, but Protestants would understand them as a prayer that the communicant might spiritually receive the body and blood of Christ by faith.
The service ended as follows:
* ]Agnus Dei
is the Latin name under which the " Lamb of God" is honoured within the Catholic Mass and other Christian liturgies descending from the Latin liturgical tradition. It is the name given to a specific prayer that occurs in these liturgies, and ...
sung by the clerks
* postcommunion Postcommunion (Latin: Postcommunio) is the text said or sung on a reciting tone following the Communion of the Mass.
Form
Every Postcommunion (and secret) corresponds to a collect. These are the three fundamental prayers of any given Proper Mass. ...
sentences sung by the clerks
* prayer of thanksgiving
Baptism
In the Middle Ages, the church taught that children were born with original sin
Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...
and that only baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
could remove it. Baptism was, therefore, essential to salvation. It was feared that children who died without baptism faced eternal damnation
Damnation (from Latin '' damnatio'') is the concept of divine punishment and torment in an afterlife for actions that were committed, or in some cases, not committed on Earth.
In Ancient Egyptian religious tradition, citizens would recite th ...
or limbo
In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin '' limbus'', edge or boundary, referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of Western Euro ...
. A priest would perform an infant baptism
Infant baptism is the practice of baptising infants or young children. Infant baptism is also called christening by some faith traditions.
Most Christians belong to denominations that practice infant baptism. Branches of Christianity that ...
soon after birth on any day of the week, but in cases of emergency, a midwife could baptise a child at birth. The traditional baptism service was long and repetitive. It was also spoken in Latin. The priest only spoke English when exhorting the godparents
In infant baptism and denominations of Christianity, a godparent (also known as a sponsor, or '' gossiprede'') is someone who bears witness to a child's christening and later is willing to help in their catechesis, as well as their lifelon ...
.
To Cranmer, baptism and the Eucharist were the only dominical sacraments (sacraments instituted by Christ himself) and of equal importance. Cranmer did not believe that baptism was absolutely necessary for salvation, but he did believe it was ordinarily necessary and to refuse baptism would be a rejection of God's grace. In agreement with Reformed theology, however, Cranmer believed that salvation was determined by God's unconditional election
Unconditional election (also called sovereign election or unconditional grace) is a Calvinist doctrine relating to predestination that describes the actions and motives of God prior to his creation of the world, when he predestined some people to ...
, which was predestined
Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby Go ...
. If an infant was one of the elect, dying unbaptised would not affect the child's salvation. The prayer book made public baptism the norm, so a congregation could observe and be reminded of their own baptism. In cases of emergency, a private baptism could be performed at home.
Largely based on Martin Luther's baptism service, which simplified the medieval rite, the prayer book's service of public baptism maintained a traditional form and sacramental character. It also preserved some of the symbolic actions and repetitive prayers found in the medieval rite. It began at the church door with these words:
The priest then said a prayer, originally composed by Luther, based on Noah
Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
's deliverance from the flood:
The priest then made the sign of the cross on the infant's forehead and chest as a token of faith and obedience to Christ. The congregation then prayed "Receive hese infants(o Lord) as thou hast promised by thy well beloved son,... that these infants may enjoy the everlasting benediction of thy heavenly washing, and may come to the eternal kingdom which thou hast promised, by Christ our Lord."[ The priest then performed a ]minor exorcism
The expression minor exorcism can be used in a technical sense or a general sense. The general sense indicates any exorcism which is not a solemn exorcism of a person believed to be possessed, including various forms of deliverance ministry. This ...
(Cranmer reduced the multiple exorcisms in the medieval rite to just one) saying, "I command thee, unclean spirit, in the name of the father, of the son, and of the holy ghost, that thou come out, and depart from these infants."
The theme of God receiving the child continued with the gospel reading (Mark 10
Mark 10 is the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It presents further teachings of Jesus as his journey progresses towards Jerusalem.
Text
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter ...
) and the minister's exhortation, which was probably intended to repudiate Anabaptist
Anabaptism (from New Latin language, Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re- ...
teachings against infant baptism. The congregation then recited the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed
The Apostles' Creed (Latin: ''Symbolum Apostolorum'' or ''Symbolum Apostolicum''), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is a Christian creed or "symbol of faith".
The creed most likely originated in 5th-century Ga ...
. The medieval service made reference to the infant's personal faith — a relic of ancient times when adult converts were routinely baptised. Cranmer replaced these with an emphasis on the faith of the congregation: "Almighty and everlasting God, heavenly father, we give thee humble thanks, that thou hast vouchsafed to call us to knowledge of thy grace, and faith in thee: Increase and confirm this faith in us evermore".[
At this point, the service moved inside the church near the ]baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism.
Aspersion and affusion fonts
The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...
. Baptismal vows
Baptismal vows are the renunciations required of an adult candidate for baptism just before the sacrament is conferred. In the case of an infant baptism they are given by the godparents (sponsors) or parents themselves. In many Christian denomina ...
were made by the godparents on behalf of the child. The devil, the world and the flesh were forsaken. Then the godparents affirmed belief in the Apostles' Creed. After this, the child was baptised by triple immersion and dressed in traditional white baptismal clothing
Baptismal clothing is apparel worn by Christian proselytes (and in some cases, by clergy members also) during the ceremony of baptism. White clothes are generally worn because the person being baptized is "fresh like the driven manna". In certain C ...
, with the priest saying:
The priest then anointed
Anointing is the ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person's head or entire body.
By extension, the term is also applied to related acts of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing a person or object with any perfumed oil, milk, butter, or oth ...
the child with chrism
Chrism, also called myrrh, ''myron'', holy anointing oil, and consecrated oil, is a consecrated oil used in the Anglican, Assyrian, Catholic, Nordic Lutheran, Old Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Latter Day Saint churches in ...
oil, saying:
The rite concluded with an exhortation to the godparents on their duties toward the child. The prayer book also included a monthly rite of changing and blessing the water in the baptismal font. This sequence of prayers derives from the Mozarabic Rite, and it begins with:
Confirmation and catechism
The ''Book of Common Prayer'' also included a service for confirmation
In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...
and a catechism
A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...
. In Catholicism, confirmation was a sacrament believed to give grace for the Christian life after baptism and was always performed by a bishop.
Cranmer saw confirmation as an opportunity for children who had been baptised as infants to personally affirm their faith. At confirmation, children would accept for themselves the baptismal vows made by godparents on their behalf. Before being confirmed, children would be taught the catechism in church before evening prayer on Sunday. The catechism included the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
, the Lord's Prayer, and a discussion of the individual's duty to God and neighbor. Everyone was required to know these in order to receive Communion.
The confirmation service followed the Sarum rite. The bishop prayed that the confirmand would be strengthened with the "inward unction
Anointing is the ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person's head or entire body.
By extension, the term is also applied to related acts of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing a person or object with any perfumed oil, milk, butter, or oth ...
of thy Holy Ghost". Afterwards, the bishop made the sign of the cross on the child's forehead and laid his hands on the head. The only significant change to the traditional rite was that the confirmand was not anointed with chrism oil.
Marriage
The marriage service was largely a translation of the Sarum rite. The first part of the service took place in the nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
of the church and included an opening pastoral discourse, a time to declare objections or impediments to the marriage, and the marriage vows
Marriage vows are promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a wedding ceremony based upon Western Christian norms. They are not universal to marriage and not necessary in most legal jurisdictions. They are not even universal w ...
. The couple then moved to the chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ove ...
for prayers and to receive Holy Communion.
The prayer book rejected the idea that marriage was a sacrament while also repudiating the common medieval belief that celibacy
Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both, usually for religious reasons. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the ...
was holier than married life. The prayer book called marriage a "holy estate" that "Christ adorned and beautified with his presence, and first miracle that he wrought in Cana
Cana of Galilee ( grc, Κανὰ τῆς Γαλιλαίας; ar, قانا الجليل , translit= Qana al-Jalil , lit=Qana of the Galilee) is the location of the Marriage at Cana, at which the miracle of turning water into wine took place in ...
of Galilee." Sacerdotal Sacerdotalism (from Latin ''sacerdos'', priest, literally one who presents sacred offerings, ''sacer'', sacred, and ''dare'', to give) is the belief in some Christian churches that priests are meant to be mediators between God and humankind. The und ...
elements in the rite were removed, and the emphasis was on the groom and bride as the true ministers
Minister may refer to:
* Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric
** Minister (Catholic Church)
* Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department)
** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...
of the wedding. The wedding ring
A wedding ring or wedding band is a finger ring that indicates that its wearer is married. It is usually forged from metal, traditionally gold or another precious metal. Rings were used in ancient Rome during marriage, though the modern pract ...
was retained, but it was not blessed. Cranmer believed that blessings applied to people not things, so the couple was blessed.
The Sarum rite stated there were two purposes for marriage: procreation of children and avoidance of fornication
Fornication is generally consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other. When one or more of the partners having consensual sexual intercourse is married to another person, it is called adultery. Nonetheless, John ...
. Cranmer added a third purpose: "for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity." In the Sarum rite, the husband vowed "to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health, till death us depart." Cranmer added the words "to love and to cherish" (for the wife "to love, cherish, and obey").
Visitation of the sick
The office for the visitation of the sick was a shortened version of the Sarum rite. It featured prayers for healing, a long exhortation by the priest and a reminder that the sick person needed to examine their conscience and repent of sin while there was still time. The rite had a penitential tone, which was reinforced by the option to make private confession to the priest who would then grant absolution. This was the only form for absolving individuals provided in the prayer book and was to be used for all other private confessions. The visitation rite also included anointing of the sick, but a distinction was made between the visible oil and the inward anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Communion of the sick was also provided for in the prayer book. While the Catholic practice of reserving the sacrament was forbidden, the priest could celebrate a shortened Communion service at the sick person's house or the sacrament could be brought directly from a Communion service at the parish church to be administered to the sick.
In the medieval rite, there were prayers to saints asking for their intercession on behalf of the sick. These prayers were not included in the prayer book liturgy. Other changes made included the removal of symbolic gestures and sacramental
A sacramental in Christianity is a material object or action (in Latin ''sacramentalia'') ritually blessed by a priest to signal its association with the sacraments and so to incite reverence during acts of worship. They are recognised by the Cat ...
s. For example, the prayer book rite made anointing of the sick optional with only one anointing on the forehead or chest. In the old rite, the eyes, ears, lips, limbs and heart were anointed to symbolise, in the words of historian Eamon Duffy, "absolution and surrender of all the sick person's senses and faculties as death approached".
Burial
The Order for the Burial of the Dead was focused on the resurrection of Jesus
The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lo ...
as a pledge and guarantee of the resurrection
Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, which ...
and glorification
Glorification may have several meanings in Christianity. From the Catholic canonization to the similar sainthood of the Eastern Orthodox Church to salvation in Christianity in Protestant beliefs, the glorification of the human condition can be a ...
of all believers. It included a procession through the church yard, the burial, a service in church and Holy Communion. There were remnants of prayer for the dead
Religions with the belief in a future judgment, a resurrection of the dead or a purgatory often offer prayers on behalf of the dead to God.
Buddhism
For most funerals that follow the tradition of Chinese Buddhism, common practices include chantin ...
and the Requiem Mass
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...
, such as the provision for celebrating Communion at a funeral. At the same time, much of the traditional funeral rites were removed. For example, the service in the house and all other processions were eliminated.
Ordinal and vestments
When first published, the prayer book lacked an ordinal, the book containing the rites for the ordination
Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorization, authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominational ...
of deacons and priests and the consecration
Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...
of bishops. The 1550 ordinal
The Edwardine Ordinals are two ordinals primarily written by Thomas Cranmer as influenced by Martin Bucer and first published under Edward VI, the first in 1550 and the second in 1552, for the Church of England. Both liturgical books were inten ...
was published in March 1550 to fill this need, replacing the pontifical
A pontifical ( la, pontificale) is a Christian liturgical book containing the liturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of the ordinal for the ordination and consecration of deacons, priests, and bishops to Holy O ...
from Sarum practice. The ordinal adopted the Protestant doctrine of ''sola scriptura
, meaning by scripture alone, is a Christian theological doctrine held by most Protestant Christian denominations, in particular the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, that posits the Bible as the sole infallible source of au ...
'' and has ordination candidates affirm they are "persuaded that the holy scriptures contain sufficiently all doctrine required of necessity for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ". The ordinal was based on work by Martin Bucer.
The services were also simplified. For Cranmer and other reformers, the essential part of ordination was the laying on hands
The laying on of hands is a religious practice. In Judaism ''semikhah'' ( he, סמיכה, "leaning f the hands) accompanies the conferring of a blessing or authority.
In Christian churches, this practice is used as both a symbolic and formal met ...
with prayer. In the traditional service, the ordination candidate would be anointed, put on Mass vestments and receive the eucharistic vessels to symbolise his new role. In the prayer book, however, the only thing the candidate was given was a Bible from which he would teach.
Priests still wore vestments
Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially by Eastern Churches, Catholics (of all rites), Anglicans, and Lutherans. Many other groups also make use of liturgical garments; this w ...
. For Holy Communion, they wore a white alb
The alb (from the Latin ''albus'', meaning ''white''), one of the liturgical vestments of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Reformed and Congregational churches, is an ample white garment coming down to the ank ...
and cope
The cope (known in Latin as ''pluviale'' 'rain coat' or ''cappa'' 'cape') is a liturgical vestment, more precisely a long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colours, litu ...
.[ For the services of morning and evening prayer, baptism and burial, priests wore the ]surplice
A surplice (; Late Latin ''superpelliceum'', from ''super'', "over" and ''pellicia'', "fur garment") is a liturgical vestment of Western Christianity. The surplice is in the form of a tunic of white linen or cotton fabric, reaching to the kne ...
. Bishops wore a rochet
A rochet () is a white vestment generally worn by a Roman Catholic or Anglican bishop in choir dress. It is unknown in the Eastern churches. The rochet in its Roman form is similar to a surplice, except that the sleeves are narrower. In its Ang ...
, surplice or alb, and a cope. When being consecrated, bishops were to wear a black chimere
A chimere ( , or ) is a garment worn by Anglican bishops in choir dress, and, formally as part of academic dress.
A descendant of a riding cloak, the chimere resembles an academic gown but without sleeves, and is usually made of scarlet or black ...
over a white rochet
A rochet () is a white vestment generally worn by a Roman Catholic or Anglican bishop in choir dress. It is unknown in the Eastern churches. The rochet in its Roman form is similar to a surplice, except that the sleeves are narrower. In its Ang ...
. This requirement offended John Hooper, who initially refused to wear the offensive garments to become bishop of Gloucester
The Bishop of Gloucester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury.
The diocese covers the County of Gloucestershire and part of the County of Worcestershire. The see's centre of governan ...
. His refusal launched the first vestments controversy
The vestments controversy or vestarian controversy arose in the English Reformation, ostensibly concerning vestments or clerical dress. Initiated by John Hooper's rejection of clerical vestments in the Church of England under Edward VI as desc ...
in the Church of England.
Music
The Latin Mass and daily office traditionally used monophonic
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...
chant for music. While Lutheran churches in Germany continued to use chant in their services, other Protestant churches in Europe were replacing chant with exclusive psalmody
Exclusive psalmody is the practice of singing only the biblical Psalms in congregational singing as worship. Today it is practised by several Protestant, especially Reformed denominations. Hymns besides the Psalms have been composed by Christians ...
. The English reformers followed the Lutheran example by retaining chant for their new vernacular services. There was, however, a demand to make chant less elaborate so that the liturgical text could be heard clearly. This had been a common concern for humanists
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humanis ...
such as Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...
. Cranmer preferred simple plainsong
Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ''plain-chant''; la, cantus planus) is a body of chants used in the liturgy, liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in La ...
that was "functional, comprehensible to and even performable by any persevering member of a congregation".
The English litany was published along with simple plainsong based on the chant used in the Sarum rite. When the BCP was published, there was initially no music because it would take time to replace the church's body of Latin music. Theologian Gordon Jeanes writes that "Musically the greatest loss was of hymnody
Robert Gerhard's Hymnody is a contemporary classical work from 1963, which was an assignment from BBC. This piece was written during February and March of that year.
Composer notes
A note from the composer: First citation comes from Psalm ...
, reflecting Cranmer’s own acknowledged lack of compositional skill."
John Merbecke
John Marbeck, Merbeck or Merbecke () was an English choral composer and theological
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in un ...
's ''Book of Common Prayer noted'', published in 1550, also used simple plainsong musical settings. Merbecke's work was intended to be sung by the "singing men" of cathedrals and collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a ...
es, not by the congregation. In smaller parish churches, every part of the liturgy would have been spoken. Merbecke's musical settings experienced a revival in popularity during the 19th century, when his settings were revised to be sung by congregations. Some of those settings have remained in use into the 20th century.
Reception
The 1549 ''Book of Common Prayer'' was a temporary compromise between reformers and conservatives. It provided Protestants with a service free from what they considered superstition, while maintaining the traditional structure of the Mass.
It was criticised by Protestants for being too susceptible to Roman Catholic re-interpretation. Conservative clergy took advantage of loophole
A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system.
Originally, the word meant an arrowslit, a narrow verti ...
s in the 1549 prayer book to make the new liturgy as much like the old Latin Mass as possible, including elevating the Eucharist. The conservative Bishop Gardiner endorsed the prayer book while in prison, and historian Eamon Duffy notes that many lay people treated the prayer book "as an English missal". Nevertheless, it was unpopular in the parishes of Devon and Cornwall where, along with severe social problems, its introduction was one of the causes of the Prayer Book Rebellion
The Prayer Book Rebellion or Western Rising was a popular revolt in Cornwall and Devon in 1549. In that year, the ''Book of Common Prayer'', presenting the theology of the English Reformation, was introduced. The change was widely unpopular, ...
in the summer of that year, partly because many Cornish people lacked sufficient English to understand it.
Protestants considered the book too traditional. Martin Bucer identified 60 problems with the prayer book, and the Italian Peter Martyr Vermigli
Peter Martyr Vermigli (8 September 149912 November 1562) was an Italian-born Reformed theologian. His early work as a reformer in Catholic Italy and his decision to flee for Protestant northern Europe influenced many other Italians to convert a ...
provided his own complaints. Shifts in Eucharistic theology between 1548 and 1552 also made the prayer book unsatisfactory—during that time English Protestants achieved a consensus rejecting any real bodily presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Some influential Protestants such as Vermigli defended Zwingli
Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system. He attended the Unive ...
's symbolic view of the Eucharist. Less radical Protestants such as Bucer and Cranmer advocated for a spiritual presence in the sacrament. Cranmer himself had already adopted receptionist
A receptionist is an employee taking an office or administrative support position. The work is usually performed in a waiting area such as a lobby or front office desk of an organization or business. The title ''receptionist'' is attributed to ...
views on the Lord's Supper. In April 1552, a new Act of Uniformity authorised a revised ''Book of Common Prayer'' to be used in worship by 1 November.
Centuries later, the 1549 prayer book would become popular among Anglo-Catholics
Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches.
The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...
. Nevertheless, Cranmer biographer Diarmaid MacCulloch
Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch (; born 31 October 1951) is an English academic and historian, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was former ...
comments that this would have "surprised and probably distressed Cranmer". Non-jurors of the Scottish Episcopal Church
The Scottish Episcopal Church ( gd, Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Episcopal(ian) Kirk) is the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion in Scotland.
A continuation of the Church of Scotland as intended by King James VI, and ...
would occasionally adopted the 1549 Communion office rather than the current version of the 1662 prayer book during the early 18th century until the creation of native liturgies in 1718.
See also
*Anglican doctrine
Anglican doctrine (also called Episcopal doctrine in some countries) is the body of Christian teachings used to guide the religious and moral practices of Anglicans.
Approach to doctrine
Anglicanism does not possess an agreed-upon confessi ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
{{Anglican Liturgy
Book of Common Prayer
English Reformation
History of the Church of England
Anglican liturgical books