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May 2008 Volume 31, Number 5 When King Henry separated the Church in England from the Roman Pontiff there was no immediate change in the Liturgy. However, Thomas Cranmer his Archbishop of Canterbury arid Nicholas Ridley began to translate and edit the Roman Missal (the Altar Book used to celebrate the Eucharist) the Roman Breviary (The book used for Morning and Evening Prayer) the Manual of Occasional Services (The book used for Baptism, Funerals etc.) and the Pontifical (The book used by the Bishop for Episcopal Services) into English. The 1549 Book of Common Prayer is the result of that work. The actual book and all of the forms of the Book of Common Prayer may be viewed online at the following address: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/index.html Unique among the Prayer Books of the time is a most important feature of Anglican Theology. The liturgy of the church was available to all the people in a language they understood. Further, all of the Sacramental Celebrations, Morning and Evening Prayer and the Psalms of David were all included in one book. Linking this prayer book with a Bible available in the language of the people and no longer was the church the property of a clerical class. In 1550 the work was complete as the Ordinal was added to the Book of Common Prayer. The Ordinal contains the liturgy for ordaining Bishops Priests and Deacons. Under Edward the VI, Parliament decreed the use of this prayer book to be compulsory. This was to be an often repeated practice. A new prayer book or a revision was accepted and then Parliament would require all clergy to use that hook for public worship. The first Book of Common Prayer was not well accepted by either the High Church Anglo-Catholics or the Low Church Puritans. The second Book of Common Prayer 1552 was completed under Edward VI. Radically different from the 1549 book, it too was made compulsory by Parliament. Where the 1549 book was structured to be a translation of the Latin Sarum Rite into English, the 1550 book is the product of the Reformation. The Holy Communion Service is changed and many other services were eliminated. Vestments for the clergy and the method of offering prayer all changed in the 1552 book. Mary I suppressed the 1552 Book and the Church of England as she restored the Roman Catholic Church in England. Many leading reformers were martyred including Cranmer and Ridley. This back and forth, High Church and Low Church, Catholic and Protestant continues even today. The Anglican Church has consistently experienced tension between these two extremes. The church proudly has proclaimed itself both Catholic and Protestant. This claim can be traced to the time of the 1552 Book of Common Prayer and the Elizabethan Settlement. In 1558 Elizabeth ascended to the throne and the Book of Common Prayer was again revised. Elizabeth wanted the 1549 Book restored and she authorized the revision of the 1552 book to bring it more into agreement with the 1549 book. In 1604 further changes were authorized under James I moving closer to the Catholic Tradition of the 1549 Book. The Commonwealth suppressed the Book of Common Prayer. In 1660 the Monarchy was restored and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer was authorized and made compulsory. This book was used in the American Colonies and although it was understood as a compromise book it was too catholic for the Puritans. It is this book that is considered the basis of Anglican Theology and Liturgy today, however for the church in America and interesting bit of history needs to be explored. There is not the direct connection between the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and the 1789 (The first American Book) that we may think exists. In 1637 the High Church Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud tried to impose the 1549 Book of Common Prayer in the church in Scotland. The Scots refused, however when the Episcopal Church in Scotland was organized in 1764 the 1549 Book of Common Prayer was used as the basis for their Book of Common Prayer. The Episcopal Church of Scotland was the church of the Non-Jurors, those who refused the oath of allegiance and did not follow the acts of conformity. This reorganized church may be understood as the Old Catholic church connected with the old Celtic church in Scotland. The American Colonies used the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The church in was the C of E (Church of England) and the clergy were loyalists. Samuel Seabury was a priest and a medical doctor. In 1766 Seabury, as the secretary of the Convention of the Episcopal Clergy of the Province of New York, wrote to the SPG (The Society for the Propagation of the Faith) requesting help in obtaining Bishops for the New World. The Church of England refused to Consecrate Bishops for the Americas. In 1783, following the Revolutionary War, the clergy in America chose Seabury and Jeremiah Leaming as candidates for the Episcopate (Bishops). Leaming refused for health reason, but Seabury travels to England seeking Consecration. The C of E refused because he could not take the oath of Loyalty to the King. At this point Seabury went to the Church in Scotland and specifically the NonJurors of the Scottish Episcopal Church seeking consecration as a Bishop. The Non-Jurors are an independent Catholic Church not connected to the C of E. They understood their authority through the Divine Will rather than through the desire of any Monarch or the will of the State. On the 14th of November 1784 Samuel Seabury was consecrated a Bishop in Aberdeen and signed a concordat with the Scottish Church. The concordat did not require the use of the Scottish prayer book, however it urged, ” the American Church to make every effort to celebrate the Venerable Mystery conformable to the most primitive Doctrine and Practice which the Church of Scotland has copied after her Communion Office.” Thus the 1789 Book of Common Prayer follows the Scottish Communion Office, instead of the 1662 BCP. In 1792 the next two American Bishops were consecrated. Bishops White and Provoost were consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishop of York and Bath and Wells and Rochester. In 1789 Bishop Madison was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Bath and Well and Rochester. The first American Consecration occurred when Bishop Claggett was consecrated the first Bishop of Maryland by the American Bishops thus uniting the Apostolic Succession of Scotland and England in the American Church. The 1789 BCP was followed by the 1892 BCP and finally the 1928 BCP. The similarity of all three of these books and their connection to the Scottish Book is remarkable. In the Anglican Church, the Missal follows the Book of Common Prayer. The Missal is the enhanced version of the currently used Book of Common Prayer. The first Missal that is credited as belonging to the Anglican Church is produced in England by the Society of SS. Peter and Paul in the early 1800’s. Prior to that time, High Church Anglican used the Roman Missal to augment the BCP in their worship. In America it is the Society of Peter and Paul and the Gavin Foundation that published Missals. The 1911 St Dunstan’s Missal was widely used and conformed to the 1892 BCP. In 1912 Knott and Sons Published Missals for England and America. The revisions in 1930 and 1933 conformed to the 1928 BCP. In 1958 the last edition added the revised Holy Week Services. It is this Missal that we are using for our 10:00 am. Holy Eucharist. The skeleton is the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and it is enhanced with the music and additions of catholic worship with which we have become accustomed. Bart + |
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