Archbishop commemorates his predecessor

Archbishop Rowan Williams was in Oxford on Tuesday 21st March, taking part in a series of events organised by the Prayer Book Society to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the Martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer.

Preaching to a congregation of around 750 people at a Service of Holy Communion (according to the Book of Common Prayer rite) in the University Church of St.Mary the Virgin, Archbishop Williams paid warm tribute to Cranmer. Members of the congregation then processed to the site in Broad Street where Cranmer was put to death, continuing to the Martyrs’ Memorial where the Archbishop laid a wreath.

Concluding the day’s events, the Archbishop was the chief guest at a luncheon for 200 in Balliol College.

“We are delighted that even more people than we expected have come from all around the country and beyond to mark their respect for Cranmer”, said Prudence Dailey, Deputy Chairman of the Prayer Book Society. “It was a particular privilege to have the present Archbishop of Canterbury with us”.

Background

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, was the central figure of the Protestant Reformation in England in the 16th Century.  He fell foul of the Roman Catholic Queen Mary and, following a trial in the church at which the commemorative service was held, he was burned at the stake in Oxford on 21st March 1556. Five months earlier fellow reformers Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer had met a similar fate.

One of the most tangible manifestations of Cranmer’s legacy is the Book of Common Prayer. His Prayer Book of 1552 underwent modest revision in 1662, and it is a tribute to the Archbishop’s genius that this book became the common thread binding together those of widely differing forms of churchmanship across the worldwide Anglican Communion. Cranmer’s use of language and his theological insights have bequeathed a Prayer Book which lives on to this day both as a service book and as a doctrinal formulary of the Church of England.

In recent years there has been an increased interest in the use of the Book of Common Prayer by both laity and clergy. The Prayer Book Society has responded by restructuring the organisation, including the setting up of training courses for ordinands and clergy.

Order of Service - PDF