This week in Christian history: ‘Mother of Methodism’ born; Edict of St. Germain; Book of Common Prayer

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, January 17, 2021

Parliament establishes Book of Common Prayer – Jan. 21, 1549

The Canterbury Cathedral is the seat of the Cathedral of the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primate of All England and religious leader of the Church of England. | (PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/HANS MUSIL)

This week marks the anniversary of when the Parliament of England passed an Act of Uniformity requiring that the Book of Common Prayer be used in all Anglican worship services.

The development of the Book of Common Prayer came in response to England’s separation from the Roman Catholic Church, with it replacing other Latin liturgical sources.

“It was a compromise between conflicting opinions as to religious doctrine and as to forms of worship. This was its strength; for this made it a liturgy established by the consent and authority of the people, for the use of the people, in the common language of the people,” wrote J.H. Benton in the 1910 publication The Book of Common Prayer: Its Origins and Growth.

“It has been twice proscribed by law, all copies of it ordered to be destroyed, and its use in public or private devotions made a crime. But it has, with few substantial alterations, remained unchanged in its original form for three hundred and fifty years.”