Today the Church remembers Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, from 1533 to 1553, years that were very difficult indeed and a time when many people found it difficult to keep their heads attached to their bodies. He was a leader of the Reformation in England and is most known for the Book of Common Prayer.
He was born in 1489 in Aslockton in Nottinghamshire, England. His parents, Thomas and Agnes Cranmer, were of modest wealth and were not members of the aristocracy. Their oldest son, John, inherited the family estate, and Thomas and his younger brother, Edmund, were placed on the path to a clerical career. At the age of fourteen, two years after the death of his father, he was sent to the newly created Jesus College, Cambridge, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree following a curriculum of logic, classical literature, and philosophy. During this time he began to collect medieval scholastic books, which he preserved faithfully throughout his life. For his Master’s degree, he took a different course of study, concentrating on the humanists, Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples and Erasmus. Shortly after receiving his Master of Arts degree in 1515, he was elected to a Fellowship of Jesus College.
Sometime after Cranmer took his MA, he married a woman named Joan. He was forced to forfeit his fellowship, resulting in the loss of his residence at Jesus College. In order to support himself and his wife, he took a job as a reader at another college. When Joan died during her first childbirth, Jesus College showed its regard for Cranmer by reinstating his fellowship. He began studying theology and by 1520 he was ordained a priest. He received his doctorate of divinity in 1526.
Cranmer was made Archbishop of Canterbury by King Henry VIII, and he defended the position that Henry's marriage to Katharine of Aragon (Spain) was null and void. During a time when many literally "lost their heads", he kept his in more ways than one. A staunch advocate that the Church needed reformation, he had to navigate the whims of Henry VIII whom, in conscience, Cranmer felt duty bound to obey because Henry was king.
Cranmer took Edward under his wing and protected him. Now Cranmer felt that he was unfettered and when Edward came to the throne, Cranmer moved to bring the Reformation in deeper ways to England, especially in the area of worship by his work on the Book of Common Prayer. His success, however, was as short lived as Edward's reign as king.
When Mary came to the throne and became queen of England, Cranmer was in a real pickle. He had believed, with a fervor that many people today will find hard to understand, that it is the duty of every Christian to obey the monarch, and that “the powers that be are ordained of God” (Rom. 13). As long as the monarch was ordering things that Cranmer thought good, it was easy for Cranmer to believe that the king was sent by God's providence to guide the people in the path of true religion, and that disobedience to the king was disobedience to God. Now that Mary was Queen of England, she commanded him to return to the Roman Catholic Church. Cranmer wrote a letter of submission to the Pope and to Roman Catholic doctrines. However, Queen Mary was unwilling to believe that the submission was sincere, and he was ordered to be burned at Oxford on this day, 21 March in 1556. Cranmer repudiated his final letter of submission, and announced that he died a Protestant. He said, "I have sinned, in that I signed with my hand what I did not believe with my heart. When the flames are lit, this hand shall be the first to burn." And when the fire was lit around his feet, he leaned forward and held his right hand in the fire until it was charred to a stump.
Let us pray: Merciful God, through the work of Thomas Cranmer you renewed the worship of your Church by restoring the language of the people, and through his death you revealed your power in human weakness: Grant that by your grace we may always worship you in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ, our only Mediator and Advocate, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
LENTEN PROJECT
NETS FOR LIFE! NetsforLife® works to eliminate malaria in some of the most remote areas of sub-Saharan Africa. Churches are often the only functioning institutions in these communities located “at the end of the road.” Episcopal Relief & Development is a key part of this program. Their presence and power unite people to bring about lasting change for the whole community. By drawing on this trusted delivery system—churches and faith-based groups— vulnerable people are reached with life-saving nets and other services. NetsforLife® serves people in need regardless of faith affiliation.
We at St. Augustine’s can help. Each net only costs $12.50; it is a small price to pay to help save someone made in the image and likeness of God. Let’s work toward a goal of 50 nets during this Lenten season and help God in healing the world.
CALENDAR REMINDERS
The next program in the Lenten Series is at St. Augustine’s on Wednesday, 23 March starting at 6:00 p.m. with Stations of the Cross, followed by the Eucharist. We will then have a light meal and begin the teaching. We will have a sign-up sheet on Sunday for the meal. Please come!
We will have a pot luck lunch for Easter so begin thinking about what to bring.
PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST, especially the men and women of our Armed Forces serving at home and abroad, the people of Japan and Libya.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550
He was born in 1489 in Aslockton in Nottinghamshire, England. His parents, Thomas and Agnes Cranmer, were of modest wealth and were not members of the aristocracy. Their oldest son, John, inherited the family estate, and Thomas and his younger brother, Edmund, were placed on the path to a clerical career. At the age of fourteen, two years after the death of his father, he was sent to the newly created Jesus College, Cambridge, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree following a curriculum of logic, classical literature, and philosophy. During this time he began to collect medieval scholastic books, which he preserved faithfully throughout his life. For his Master’s degree, he took a different course of study, concentrating on the humanists, Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples and Erasmus. Shortly after receiving his Master of Arts degree in 1515, he was elected to a Fellowship of Jesus College.
Sometime after Cranmer took his MA, he married a woman named Joan. He was forced to forfeit his fellowship, resulting in the loss of his residence at Jesus College. In order to support himself and his wife, he took a job as a reader at another college. When Joan died during her first childbirth, Jesus College showed its regard for Cranmer by reinstating his fellowship. He began studying theology and by 1520 he was ordained a priest. He received his doctorate of divinity in 1526.
Cranmer was made Archbishop of Canterbury by King Henry VIII, and he defended the position that Henry's marriage to Katharine of Aragon (Spain) was null and void. During a time when many literally "lost their heads", he kept his in more ways than one. A staunch advocate that the Church needed reformation, he had to navigate the whims of Henry VIII whom, in conscience, Cranmer felt duty bound to obey because Henry was king.
Cranmer took Edward under his wing and protected him. Now Cranmer felt that he was unfettered and when Edward came to the throne, Cranmer moved to bring the Reformation in deeper ways to England, especially in the area of worship by his work on the Book of Common Prayer. His success, however, was as short lived as Edward's reign as king.
When Mary came to the throne and became queen of England, Cranmer was in a real pickle. He had believed, with a fervor that many people today will find hard to understand, that it is the duty of every Christian to obey the monarch, and that “the powers that be are ordained of God” (Rom. 13). As long as the monarch was ordering things that Cranmer thought good, it was easy for Cranmer to believe that the king was sent by God's providence to guide the people in the path of true religion, and that disobedience to the king was disobedience to God. Now that Mary was Queen of England, she commanded him to return to the Roman Catholic Church. Cranmer wrote a letter of submission to the Pope and to Roman Catholic doctrines. However, Queen Mary was unwilling to believe that the submission was sincere, and he was ordered to be burned at Oxford on this day, 21 March in 1556. Cranmer repudiated his final letter of submission, and announced that he died a Protestant. He said, "I have sinned, in that I signed with my hand what I did not believe with my heart. When the flames are lit, this hand shall be the first to burn." And when the fire was lit around his feet, he leaned forward and held his right hand in the fire until it was charred to a stump.
Let us pray: Merciful God, through the work of Thomas Cranmer you renewed the worship of your Church by restoring the language of the people, and through his death you revealed your power in human weakness: Grant that by your grace we may always worship you in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ, our only Mediator and Advocate, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
LENTEN PROJECT
NETS FOR LIFE! NetsforLife® works to eliminate malaria in some of the most remote areas of sub-Saharan Africa. Churches are often the only functioning institutions in these communities located “at the end of the road.” Episcopal Relief & Development is a key part of this program. Their presence and power unite people to bring about lasting change for the whole community. By drawing on this trusted delivery system—churches and faith-based groups— vulnerable people are reached with life-saving nets and other services. NetsforLife® serves people in need regardless of faith affiliation.
We at St. Augustine’s can help. Each net only costs $12.50; it is a small price to pay to help save someone made in the image and likeness of God. Let’s work toward a goal of 50 nets during this Lenten season and help God in healing the world.
CALENDAR REMINDERS
The next program in the Lenten Series is at St. Augustine’s on Wednesday, 23 March starting at 6:00 p.m. with Stations of the Cross, followed by the Eucharist. We will then have a light meal and begin the teaching. We will have a sign-up sheet on Sunday for the meal. Please come!
We will have a pot luck lunch for Easter so begin thinking about what to bring.
PLEASE REMEMBER EVERYONE ON OUR PRAYER LIST, especially the men and women of our Armed Forces serving at home and abroad, the people of Japan and Libya.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550
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