Strangers' church was a term used by English-speaking people for independent

Protestant churches Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

established in foreign lands or by foreigners in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

during the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. (The spelling stranger church is also found in texts of the period and modern scholarly works.)

English churches on the European continent

Many English churches sprang up in the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

and

Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

during the English Reformation. The most famous of these were established by the

Marian exiles The Marian exiles were English Protestantism, Protestants who fled to Continental Europe during the 1553–1558 reign of the Catholic Church, Catholic monarchs Queen Mary I and Philip II of Spain, King Philip.Christina Hallowell Garrett (1938) ''M ...

who fled Catholic persecution under Mary Tudor. Among these was the

English Reformed Church, Amsterdam The English Reformed Church is one of the oldest buildings in Amsterdam, situated in the centre of the city. It is home to an English-speaking congregation which is affiliated to the Church of Scotland and to the Protestant Church in the Nethe ...

The Stranger Churches in England

The first Stranger Church to be set up in

was that led by the Italian reformer,

Bernardino Ochino Bernardino Ochino (1487–1564) was an Italian, who was raised a Roman Catholic and later turned to Protestantism and became a Protestant reformer. Biography Bernardino Ochino was born in Siena, the son of the barber Domenico Ochino, and at the ...

in 1547 ( Cranmer's permission coming in January 1548). Although set up for the Italian community in London, it welcomed reformed Protestants of other nationalities as well. Cranmer made it quite clear that this was an example of how he wanted the reformation in England to proceed by forcing the traditionalist Bishop

Edmund Bonner Edmund Bonner (also Boner; c. 15005 September 1569) was Bishop of London from 1539 to 1549 and again from 1553 to 1559. Initially an instrumental figure in the schism of Henry VIII from Rome, he was antagonised by the Protestant reforms intro ...

to attend Ochino's inaugural sermon. To the dismay of

bishop of London 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 ...

Nicholas Ridley, the fully independent Stranger Churches were founded in his see in 1550 with the help of Protestant aristocrats such as William Cecil and

Katherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk Katherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, ''suo jure'' 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby ( Willoughby; 22 March 1519 – 19 September 1580), was an English noblewoman living at the courts of King Henry VIII, King Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth I. ...

. On 24 July 1550 the Dutch Stranger Church of London received a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

and was incorporated by

letters patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...

. The congregation received a grant of the Austin or Augustinian Friars Church which remains the site of the city's Dutch Protestant Church, the church itself having been destroyed in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Upon incorporation, the church was renamed the "Temple of the Lord Jesus" and given four pastors: two for the Dutch church, and two for the French/ Walloon church meeting in St. Anthony's Chapel. Cranmer's main purposes in giving official sanction to the Churches seem to have been two-fold. Firstly, they provided a glimpse of how a reformed Protestant Church might work in England, within the episcopal system which many of the "hotter" reformers wished to abolish. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, they helped Cranmer and his allies in the suppression of heretical strains of religion, such as the

non-Trinitarian Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the mainstream Christian doctrine of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence ...

George van Parris George van Parris (died 1551) was a Dutch Arian, who was burnt at the stake in London by his fellow Dutchmen for denying that Jesus Christ was God.Andrew Pettegree, 'Parris, George van (d. 1551)', first published 2004, 615 words George van Parris ...

, who was burned in 1551 with the assistance of

John a Lasco John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

(known in Poland as Jan Łaski).A. Spicer, "A Place of Refuge", p. 95.

Members of London's Dutch Stranger Church

, first superintendent of the church *

Steven Mierdman Steven Mierdman (c.1510–1559) was among the most important Dutch printers of Reformation books. Mierdman, also known as Stephen Mierdman, Steven Mierdmans, Stephen Myerdmann, and Steven Mierman, was born in Hooge Mierde. He first printed i ...

, printer (pseud. Niclaes van Oldenborch), joined the church in 1550 *

Justus Velsius Justus Velsius, Haganus, or ''Joost Welsens'' in Dutch (c. 1510, The Hague, Low Countries – after 1581 at an unknown location), was a Dutch humanist, physician, and mathematician. Velsius started his career as a highly respected professor of li ...

, dissident, joined the church in 1563 until expelled from the kingdom

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stranger Churches 1547 establishments in England 16th-century Protestant churches Types of church buildings Strangers

English churches on the European continent

The Stranger Churches in England

Members of London's Dutch Stranger Church

See also

Further reading

References