In an earlier essay, England’s Reformed Monasticism (see also the Kinist Review, Summer 2010), I suggested several practical ways kinists can rebuild a culture of “kin(g)ship” within Protestant churches. One suggestion was restoring the christian kalendar and its commemoration of saints. I hope to explore the historic aspects of this idea, and why it might interest kinists.
To some ears “Protestant Saints” might sound oxymoronic(1). However, Anglicans and “high-church” Protestants during the 16th and 17th centuries often continued the medieval cults but in a ‘reformed’ manner. Though such might sound Romanist, it should be remembered during the first generation of reform categories like “protestant” and “roman catholic” weren’t so neat and tidy. The term ‘protestant’ didn’t even exist until nine years following Luther’s 95 Theses. Until then, Swiss and English divines might interchangeably be called “Lutherans”. Many reformers, like Martin Bucer, and certainly Luther himself, initially received their religious education either as Augustinian monks or discovered the New Learning while serving as prebends, deans, professors, or in other Roman Catholic minor orders akin to the academic chapters. In the early years of reform, 1520-1545, the anticipation a free general council (2) between Northern Protestant churches and Rome bred a kind of theological hesitancy if not purposed conservatism, especially in England and in Germany, where the hope of reconciliation drove policies of accommodation and continuity to certain medieval practices. Despite the Roman abuse of the medieval saint-cult, the mentioning saints in church prayers has primitive origin, dating to the second century.
English divinity continued this older religious practice on the condition it was not contrary to scripture. The earlier Roman Catholic cult was distinguished by a vast and messy array of superstitions, not to mention devotional practices promoted by the Papacy that reinforced Rome’s merit theology. An alternative to abolishing the entire cultus was pruning away exagerations. English Reformers accomplished this several ways (3). In 1538 reverencing of images by decking or prayer were banned in both public and private worship (4). The 1536 Ten Articles rebuked those vain superstitions, “as to think that any saint is more merciful, or will hear us sooner than another or that any saint doth serve for one thing more than another, or is patron of the same” (Formularies, p. 30). In 1548 Anglicans started reform of the Salisbury mass, finishing an overhaul of the missal and its related Christian calendar which eliminated many legendary saints. In 1544 the “litany of saints” was also revised, where the heavenly saints were reduced to a single stanza while living members of the church gained the greater focus of the litany. Until 1549 this single stanza continued from the Cranmer’s 1544 litany where an invocation of heavenly saints remained:
“Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of our Savior Jesus Christ. Pray for us All holy Aungels and Archaungels and all holye orders of blessed spirites. Praye for us. All holy patriarkes, and Prophetes, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, & Virgins, and all the blessed company of heaven: Praye for us.”
The next prayer book published in 1549 collated together the 1544 and 1536 reforms. But the single invocation quoted above was removed. This omission represented a final shift away in devotions from the orderly host in heaven towards Christ’s commonwealth on earth; e.g., “God save the King”, et al. This liturgical development in the prayer book basically translated the sacred order in heaven to the emerging order in the national church. As Laud’s book said, “Everlasting God, which hast ordained and constituted the services of all Angels and men in a wonderful order”. The wonderful order of men on earth was recalled with every state prayer found in the BCP and royal primers of the period, reminding men of their common parentage(s) yet hierarchic loyalties to church, council, and Crown(5). The 1547 Homily on Obedience parallels the earthly to heavenly order, “Almighty God hath created and appointed all things in heaven, earth and waters, in a most excellent and perfect order. In heaven he hath appointed distinct and several orders and states of Archangels and Angels. In earth he hath assigned and appointed Kings, Princes, with other Governors under them, in all good and necessary order.” (Prayer Book and Homily, p. 73) The emphasis on the terrestrial was evident in the BCP’s litany as well as prayer for whole church. In both, the top of the earthly hierarchy was the Crown, followed by royal seed, then bishops, nobles, and people. By 1552 the focus from the heavenly saints to the terrestrial Kingdom was complete. For instance, the Whole Church Prayer in 1549 earlier read, “Let us pray for the whole state of Christ’s church”, but in 1552 and later editions the phrase “militant here in earth” was added. The litany followed the same course of reform.
Before it was removed, the 1549 Whole Church prayer was similar to the 1544 litany, only briefly mentioning the heavenly procession:
“And here we do geve unto thee moste high praise, and heartie thankes, for the wonderfull grace and vertue, declared in all thy sainctes, from the begynning of the worlde: And chiefly in the glorious and moste blessed virgin Mary, mother of thy sonne Jesu Christe our Lorde and God, and in the holy Patriarches, Prophetes, Apostles and Martyrs, whose examples (O Lorde) and stedfastnes in thy fayth, and kepyng thy holy commaundementes, graunt us to folowe”
But notice the 1549 saint-prayer above was commemorative rather than intercessory, so even at this early Edwardian date England had acquired a format that would define future reformed catholic petitions. Following the 1562 homily on prayer, we are instructed that only the Father has the attributes to answer those who call upon him. Meanwhile, only the Son has the favor to advocate our behalf. Thus prayers could neither be addressed to nor requested of saints without tarnishing the Triune God’s glory(6). Yet the virtues demonstrated in mortal lives could indeed be remembered, even asked for. So, the homilist says, “not that we should put any religion in worshipping of them, or praying unto them; but that we should honor them by following their virtuous and godly life” (Prayer Book and Homily, p. 223). The 1536 Ten Articles said the same, “there may be representers of virtue and good example, and that they also be by occasion the kindlers and stirrers of men’s minds, and make men oft to remember and lament their sins and offences, especially images of Christ and our Lady” (Formularies, p. 28).
Principally written by Melancthon in 1536, the Wittenburg Concord, by which the English Ten Articles were a reply and closely framed, likewise said, “We do not reject the remembrance of saints and the celebration of their days, but for the following reasons consider that it is beneficial and Christian to keep their remembrance” (art. 16). The Concord then provided three causes: 1. “God wanted to set before Christendom examples in whom he might show that he pleases to be gracious”; 2. “to hold before the people examples of faith and of other virtues, so that we may follow after them, each one his own calling”; 3. “we should thank God that he gave these gifts to the saints, and they should be praised for having really used God’s gifts and resisted the desire of the flesh to squander”. Melanchthon ended the article quoting fathers,
“This veneration of the saints we permit in the sense only St. Basil and St. Jerome speak of it, for Basil speaks thus in his sermon concerning the martyr Gordius: “The saints do not need our praises for their salvation, but we need to remember them in order to follow their example.” In another sermons he says: ‘To praise and bless the martyrs is the same thing as to admonish the Church to follow their examples and their virtues”. (Bray, p. 159)
Martin Bucer, agreeing with Melanchthon’s commendation said,
“we teach that the blessed saints who lie in the presence of or Lord Christ and of whose lives we have biblical or other trustworthy accounts, ought to be commemorated in such a way, that the congregation is shown what graces and gifts their God and Father and ours conferred upon them through our common Saviour and that we should give thanks to God for them, and rejoice with them as members of the one body over those graces and gifts, so that we may be strongly provoked to palce greater confidence in the grace of God for ourselves, and to follow the example of their faith.”
By 1549 common prayer already had a regular form for commemorating saints, exemplified not only in the prayer book but in the collect for All Saints Day:
“O Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord; Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen(7)”
A similar one emphasizing the examples of saints can be read in the 1928 BCP’s Whole Church prayer:
“And we also bless thy holy Name for all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear; beseeching thee to grant them continual growth in thy love and service, and to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom.”
A favorite, more embellished style is the prayer of commemoration found within the Society of King Charles Martyr’s Liturgical Manual (see graphic above) where the collect for Jan. 30th reads,
“Blessed Lord, in whose sigh the death of thy Saints is precious: We magnify thy Name for thine abundant grace bestowed upon thy servant, King Charles of England, by which he was enabled so cheerfully to follow the steps of his blessed Master and Savior, in a constant meek suffering of all barbarous indignities, and at last resisting unto blood, and even then, according to the same pattern, praying for his murderers. Let his memory, O Lord, be ever blessed among us, that we may follow the example of his courage and constancy, his meekness and patience, and great charity; and all for Jesus Christ’s sake, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.”
English divines followed the criteria of Cranmer and Bucer, eliminating ‘legendary saints’ and dividing the remainder into biblical and historic kinds. However, Anglican theology retained a hesitancy regarding the dearly departed. Greater saints remained. The Ten Articles said, “they be thus to be honored, because they be known the elect persons of Christ, because they be passed in godly life out of this transitory world, because they already do reign in glory with Christ” (Formularies, p. 29). But in the morning prayer liturgy, the Te Deum reads, “We believe that thou shalt come to be our judge. We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood. Make them to be numbered with thy saints, in glory everlasting. O Lord, save thy people, and bless thine heritage. Govern them, and lift them up forever” (1928 BCP, p. 10-11). The biblical saints were those disciples & apostles found in scripture; otherwise known as ‘red-letter saints’, designated by red type in the prayer book which indicated their ‘festive’ significance. Whereas the historical saints not mentioned in scripture (the ‘churchy” ones), often british kings and ancient doctors, went by the moniker as ‘black-letter’. But these were downplayed with no necessary festivity attached. Legendary saints or events (e.g, the Assumption of Mary) and those martyrs who battled for papacy (like Thomas Becket) were promptly eliminated. Black-letter saints pertaining to England’s history and the primitive church slowly gained ground, starting in 1552 with Clement and Lawrence. Others made gradual comebacks, appearing first in Tudor primers and then in the 1662 prayer book(8). The 1662 is notable for adding new saints and days of commemoration unique to Anglican history, namely, King Charles I martyr (who was beheaded by army millenarians January 30th,1649) and the 1660 Restoration the Crown, Charles II.
Black-letter saints usually had no collects and propers (9). More often lesser saints were given secular or mneumetic functions with such times/places for bill collection, street names, college chapters, almonries, hospitals, etc.. Black and some red-letter saints might have local observances depending upon the indulgence of the King and/or bishops, “And likewise we must keep holydays unto God, in memory of him and his saints, upon such days as the church hath ordained their memories to be celebrated; except they be mitigated and moderated by the assent and commandment of us, the supreme head and the ordinaries” (Formularies, p. 30). But Edward and Elizabeth actually restrained the increase of black-letter days partly because too many holy days, rather than promoting godliness encouraged idleness while discouraging charity, “that it shall profit more their soul’s health, if they do bestow that on the poor and needy, which they would have bestowed upon the said images or relics” (Bray, p. 176). Injunctions against veneration of saints were probably more pastoral than dogmatic. The1539 Abrogation of Holy Days was similar in this regard about the vice of idleness, Cromwell’s Goodly Primer reading:
“First, that the feast of dedication of the Church shall in all places throughout this realm be celebrated and kept on the first Sunday of the month of October for ever, and upon none other day. Item, that the feast of the patron of every Church within this realm, called commonly the Church holyday, shall not from henceforth be kept or observed as a holy day as heretofore hath been used, but that it shall be lawful to all and singular persons, resident or dwelling within this realm, to go to their work, occupation, or mystery, and the same truly to exercise and occupy upon the said feast, as upon any other workday, except the said feast of the Church holyday such as else universally observed as a holyday by this ordinance following…it may be lawful for every man to go to his work or occupation upon the same, as upon any other workday, except always the feasts of the Apostles, of our blessed Lady, and of St. George, and thus the four Evangelists, and Mary Magdalene.” (Three Primers, p.331-2)
Kinists ought consider how the saint days of the calendar solemnize a “ethnos”. Though many shrines and reliquaries were demolished and outlawed during the reformation, the ‘reformed catholic’ keeping of biblical and trustworthy historical saints continued the memory of sacred people and land. With every wave of conquest arriving upon Britain (e.g., the Anglo-Saxon, then Norman races), so too followed their saints, stratified and collected into the BCP calendar. While the first prayer book was rather barebone, both black and red-letter saint days increased. When James I introduced prayer books adapted for Ireland and Scotland their calendars were edited to incorporate saints peculiar to the celtic ethnos. Inside these 17th century editions can be found men of holy memory like Columba and Patrick. A personal favorite is the 1637 Scottish prayer book where numerous Northumbrian saints appear—Kings Edwin & Oswald, Bede, Aidan, Colmán of Lindisfarne, et al.—hearkening back to a period when tribal kings ruled lesser realms like Mercia, Sussex, Kent. Prayer books from continuing churches contain feast days of local significance for Tudor and Carolinian divines like Thomas Cranmer, Matthew Parker, William Laud, Lancelot Andrewes, and William Law. More modern doctors remembered in the calendar might include William Muhlenberg, John Hobart, and the White & Seabury consecrations.
A reformed catholic treatment of saints seems preconditional to understanding the even more sticky subject of Protestant prayers for the departed. As said earlier, I hope to look at how kin(g)ship might be reconstructed within magisterial protestantism through the field of certain liturgical customs. Sainthood was one way to memorialize the deceased. In many ways, magisterial protestantism never broke from catholicism but continued it with varying degrees of non-dogmatic prohibitions (thus accounting for national differences between, say, German and English). The English treatment probably was more conservative, eliminating only those saints either caked in fabulous legend or serving as props for Papacy. Anglican liturgy, therefore, is simplified with a modest saint-cultus that allows history and time sacrilized through the Calendar. Saints were often signs or focal points for ethnos and would vary from locality to locality.
Next: Protestant Prayers for the Departed or A Protestant Dirge
