The Liturgical Calendar: The Church Remembers

Today the church remembers Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, Bishops, 1555, and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1556.

"Today we shall light such a fire in England as shall never be extinguished." With these words Latimer and Ridley went to the stake and were burned to death on this day in 1555 at Oxford. Besides being burned together, Latimer and Ridley had much in common. Both were English bishops with strong protestant sympathies. Each was an exceptionally fine preacher in an age of great preachers. Both were Cambridge men. Both were social reformers.

Latimer was the sometime Bishop of Worcester, who rose to prominence in the days of Thomas Wolsey and Henry VIII. He first gained a reputation as a social reformer and then as a church reformer. This alone was enough to put Queen Mary on his heels.

Nicholas Ridley, the sometime Bishop of London, was equally infamous to Mary's inquisitors. During his brief episcopate he had seen to the founding of three hospitals and had contributed significantly to the new Book of Common Prayer. His "protestantizing" sermons brought down upon his head the wrath of Mary's most unreconciliatory regime. Yet Latimer and Ridley had, indeed, lit a fire in England that was not to be extinguished.

Thomas Cranmer was Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of both Henry VIII and Edward VI, and he presided over the reform of the Church of England. He was the chief composer of The Book of Common Prayer. He was one of the foremost scholars of his day, an eminent student of Holy Scripture and Liturgy. Cranmer was convinced that a thorough reform of the church was needed in his day.

When Mary Tudor ascended the throne, Cranmer was imprisoned and convicted of heresy. He was burned at the stake at Oxford on March 21, 1556. Prior to the execution he had, under duress, signed recantations repudiating his reforming activities. For this he publicly repented and at the stake he is said to have willfully placed his right hand into the flames, saying, "This hand hath offended."

For all martyrs and for those whose witness has renewed the church, we give you thanks, Lord God. Amen.

Read the Wikipedia article here.

Keep us, O Lord, constant in faith and zealous in witness, that, like your servants William Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer, we may live in your fear, die in your favor, and rest in your peace; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

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