Book of Common Prayer (1549)
Evidence of Cranmer's Protestant theology can be seen throughout the book; however, the services maintain the traditional forms and sacramental language inherited from medieval Catholic liturgies.
[6] The work of producing a liturgy in the English language was largely done by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, starting cautiously in the reign of Henry VIII and then more radically under his son Edward VI.
By the time the first prayer book was published, Cranmer shared more in common with Reformed theologians like Martin Bucer and Heinrich Bullinger.
[1] 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.
"[9] Cranmer agreed with Reformed Protestant theology,[8] and his doctrinal concerns can be seen in the systematic amendment of source material to remove any idea that human merit contributed to an individual's salvation.
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.
There are no powerful rites conducted by sacerdotal figures while people stand some distance away fingering prayer beads or gazing on images of saints whose intercession they crave.
[23] It allowed for lay people to receive communion under both kinds, a departure from the Catholic Church's practice since the 13th century of giving the laity bread only.
[28] He relied heavily on the Sarum rite[29] and the traditional service books (Missal, Manual, Pontifical and Breviary) as well as from the English primers used by the laity.
[8] He borrowed much from German sources, particularly from work commissioned by Hermann von Wied, Archbishop of Cologne; and also from Andreas Osiander (to whom he was related by marriage).
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.
[1] In September 1548, bishops and senior clergy met at Chertsey Abbey and then later at Windsor and agreed that "the service of the church ought to be in the mother tongue.
[31] Despite conservative opposition, Parliament 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, 9 June.
[16] 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.
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 and its English equivalent, the Primer.
The Roman Catholic Church believed the Mass was a sacrifice—the same sacrifice of Christ on the cross—and a means of grace in which forgiveness, salvation and healing were obtained.
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 or chancel to place monetary donations in a "poor men's box".
"[77][71] The theme of God receiving the child continued with the gospel reading (Mark 10) and the minister's exhortation, which was probably intended to repudiate Anabaptist teachings against infant baptism.
[71] The medieval service made reference to the infant's personal faith — a relic of ancient times when adult converts were routinely baptised.
The catechism included the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and a discussion of the individual's duty to God and neighbor.
[79] The prayer book rejected the idea that marriage was a sacrament[79] while also repudiating the common medieval belief that celibacy 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 of Galilee.
"[80] 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."
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.
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".
In the traditional service, the ordination candidate would be anointed, put on Mass vestments and receive the eucharistic vessels to symbolise his new role.
[38] Theologian Gordon Jeanes writes that "Musically the greatest loss was of hymnody, reflecting Cranmer's own acknowledged lack of compositional skill.
Conservative clergy took advantage of loopholes in the 1549 prayer book to make the new liturgy as much like the old Latin Mass as possible, including elevating the Eucharist.
[95] 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 in the summer of that year, partly because many Cornish people lacked sufficient English to understand it.
The Scottish Episcopal Church would occasionally adopt 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.
