The Rev. Dr. John Wycliffe: The Morning Star of the Reformation

Today the Church remembers a great scholar and someone who was a firm believer that the Bible should be accessible to all people in their own language, John Wycliffe, who was born in Yorkshire, England around 1330, and was educated at Oxford, becoming a doctor of divinity in 1372.  Wycliffe is known as “the Morning Star of the Reformation.”

Wycliffe began translating the Bible into English with the help of John Purvey.

The Roman Catholic Church leaders bitterly opposed it writing that: “By this translation, the Scriptures have become vulgar, and they are more available to lay, and even to women who can read, than they were to learned scholars, who have a high intelligence. So the pearl of the gospel is scattered and trodden underfoot by swine.”

Wycliffe responded: “Englishmen learn Christ’s law best in English. Moses heard God’s law in his own tongue; so did Christ’s apostles.”

Wycliffe died before the translation was complete and before the authorities could convict him of heresy. Purvey is considered responsible for the version of the “Wycliffe” Bible we have today. Though Wycliffe's followers, who were known as “Lollards,” were driven underground, they remained a persistent irritant to Roman Catholic authorities until the English Reformation made their views the norm.

Let us pray:  O God, your justice continually challenges your Church to live according to its calling: Grant us who now remember the work of John Wycliffe contrition for the wounds which our sins inflict on your Church, and such love for Christ that we may seek to heal the divisions which afflict his Body; through the same Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Remember to set your clocks back one hour this Saturday!

All Hallows Eve at St. Augustine, this Thursday. Starting at 6 PM, we will be welcoming the children of the neighbor and giving away treats!

This Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of All Saints at the 9 AM Eucharist.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Jo and Pat.

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550