Book of Common Prayer (1549) facts for kids
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The 1549 Book of Common Prayer (often called the BCP) was the very first version of a special prayer book. This book is still used today, in different forms, by the Church of England and other Anglican churches around the world. It was created during the English Reformation, a time when big changes happened in the church in England.
Most of the work on this prayer book was done by Thomas Cranmer, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury. He used ideas from many different sources. You can see Cranmer's Protestant beliefs throughout the book. However, the services still kept some traditional ways and words from older Catholic church services. Some Protestants thought it was still too traditional. Because of this, a new, much more changed version was made in 1552.
Contents
What's in the Name?
The full name of the book was The Book of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church after the Use of the Church of England.
This long title tells you what the book is about. It covers three main types of church services:
- Common Prayer: This means daily prayers, like morning and evening prayers.
- Sacraments: These are important church ceremonies like baptism (when someone becomes a member of the church) and Holy Communion (a special meal remembering Jesus).
- Other Rites and Ceremonies: This includes other special services like weddings or funerals.
Why a New Prayer Book?
Before the 1500s, church services in England were very different.
- They were all spoken or sung in Latin, a language most people didn't understand.
- There wasn't one single book for all services. Priests needed many different books for different parts of the service.
- The church calendar was very complicated.
- Many readings were about saints' lives, not directly from the Bible. When the Bible was read, it was only short parts. This meant people didn't get to hear much of the Bible.
The Book of Common Prayer came about because of the English Reformation. This started in the 1530s when Henry VIII separated the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church and the authority of the pope.
Protestant reformers wanted to change church services. They wanted:
- Services to be in English, so everyone could understand.
- More people to take part in the services.
- More Bible reading and sermons.
- Services to match Protestant beliefs.
Henry VIII was quite traditional, so not many changes happened during his time. But when his son, Edward VI, became king in 1547, things moved much faster.
Thomas Cranmer's Role
The main person who worked on creating the English prayer book was Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury. He started carefully under Henry VIII and then made bigger changes under Edward VI.
Cranmer was influenced by Protestant thinkers from Europe. By the time the first prayer book was published, he shared many ideas with reformers like Martin Bucer.
What the Book Believed
The 1549 Book of Common Prayer was a big step towards Protestantism in England. Cranmer believed that people were saved by faith in God alone, not by their own good actions. This idea was very important to him.
For Cranmer, a sacrament (like baptism or Holy Communion) was a "sign of a holy thing." It showed something holy but wasn't exactly the same as the holy thing itself. He believed that only those chosen by God truly received God's grace through the sacraments.
Protestants also disagreed with the Catholic idea that each Mass was a new sacrifice of Jesus. They believed Jesus's sacrifice on the cross was a one-time event. For Protestants, the Eucharist (Holy Communion) was a way to remember and show Christ's sacrifice, not the sacrifice itself.
They also rejected the Catholic teaching of transubstantiation. This was the belief that during Mass, the bread and wine actually turned into Jesus's body and blood, even though they still looked like bread and wine. Protestants thought this sounded too much like magic.
Another change was about confession. Catholics believed people should confess their sins to a priest at least once a year. Protestants believed people should talk directly to God for forgiveness.
The idea of purgatory was also removed. Purgatory was believed to be a place where souls went to be punished for minor sins before going to heaven. Protestants believed that after death, people went straight to heaven or hell based on their faith in Christ. So, prayers for the dead and prayers to saints were removed from the services.
Cranmer and his Protestant friends had to work with Catholic bishops who still had power. So, the final prayer book was a compromise. It wasn't exactly what either side wanted.
How it Was Made and Approved
During King Henry VIII's reign, English was slowly added to church services. The Great Bible in English was allowed in churches in 1538. Priests had to read from it.
The first English service was the Exhortation and Litany, published in 1544. This prayer was very Protestant because it greatly reduced the number of times saints were asked for help. This litany was later included in the first Book of Common Prayer.
After Henry VIII died and Edward VI became king in 1547, changes happened faster. In 1548, a booklet called The Order of the Communion was published. This English text was added to the Latin Mass. It allowed regular people to receive both the bread and wine during communion, which was a big change from the Catholic practice of only giving them bread. This booklet was later put into the new prayer book.
While people were getting used to the new Communion service, Cranmer and his team worked on a full English prayer book. Cranmer was in charge of editing and structuring the book. He used parts from older church service books and also from German church services.
In December 1548, Protestant and traditional bishops argued about the prayer book's beliefs in Parliament. But on January 21, 1549, Parliament passed a law called the Act of Uniformity. This law made the new Book of Common Prayer required for all churches by June 9, 1549.
What Was Inside the Book
The BCP replaced many different Latin service books with one English book. It was much simpler. The prayer book included services for:
- Daily morning and evening prayers.
- Bible readings for Sundays and holy days.
- Holy Communion.
- Public baptism.
- Confirmation.
- Marriage.
- Visiting the sick.
- Burial.
- Other special ceremonies.
A book for ordination (making new priests and bishops) was added in 1550. The prayer book also had a calendar and a list of readings (called a lectionary). This meant a priest only needed the Bible and a Psalter (a book of Psalms) in addition to the BCP.
Church Calendar
The prayer book kept most of the traditional church year calendar, which starts with Advent and includes Christmas, Lent, and Easter.
It also included a calendar of saints' days, but it was much shorter. Only 25 saints' days were kept, mostly for saints from the New Testament. Other feasts, like the Assumption (about Mary) and Corpus Christi, were removed. Cranmer didn't want people praying to saints to ask for help, but he did believe saints were good role models. So, prayers that asked saints for help were changed to prayers that only honored them.
The calendar also told people which parts of the Bible to read at each service. Cranmer wanted people to become very familiar with the Bible. He wanted congregations to read through the whole Bible in a year.
Morning and Evening Prayer
Cranmer made the daily prayers much simpler, reducing them to just Morning and Evening Prayer. He hoped that regular people would use these prayers daily, not just priests.
The 1549 book set up a clear plan for reading the Bible during these daily prayers. A chapter from the Old Testament and the New Testament was read at each service. This meant that if a clergyman followed the rules, he would read the entire Old Testament once a year and the New Testament three times a year.
Holy Communion
The new service was called "The Supper of the Lord and the Holy Communion, commonly called the Mass." This name was a compromise with more traditional people.
Even though it kept some parts of the old Mass, it was a big change. The idea of the Mass as a sacrifice was replaced with a Protestant service of thanksgiving and spiritual connection with Christ. The ideas of the bread and wine actually changing into Jesus's body and blood, and worshipping them, were removed.
In the new service, the priest faced the congregation instead of having his back to them. The service was now in English, and people were encouraged to receive both the bread and wine often.
The service had two main parts:
- First part: This included the Lord's Prayer, a special prayer for purity, a psalm, the Kyrie and Gloria (songs of praise), prayers for the day and the king, readings from the Bible (Epistle and Gospel), the Nicene Creed (a statement of belief), and a sermon.
- Second part: This began with two talks that explained that the bread and wine were a reminder of Christ's love. It taught that worthy people who received communion would spiritually connect with Christ. It also warned those who received it unworthily.
Next came the offertory. This was a time when Bible verses about giving were read or sung, and people could put money into a "poor men's box." If no one wanted to receive communion, the service would end here.
If people were receiving communion, the priest would place enough bread and wine on the altar. The main prayer of the service, called the canon, followed. It included prayers for the king, clergy, and people, and thanks for the saints.
The consecration part of the prayer talked about Christ's death on the cross and the Last Supper. It said that Christ's sacrifice was enough to forgive all sins. The prayer also said the words of institution (Jesus's words about the bread and wine), but the rules said the priest should not lift up the bread and wine. This was because lifting them up suggested they had changed and encouraged people to worship them, which Protestants did not want.
The service ended with the Lord's Prayer. People no longer had to confess their sins privately to a priest before communion. Instead, the priest said a general confession for everyone and then announced God's forgiveness. Then, the priest said comforting Bible verses and a special prayer called the Prayer of Humble Access.
When giving the bread and wine, the priest said words that could be understood in different ways. Traditional people might think it meant the bread and wine were Jesus's body and blood. Protestants would think it meant a prayer that the person would spiritually receive Christ by faith.
Baptism
In the Middle Ages, people believed that children were born with original sin and needed baptism to remove it. It was feared that children who died without baptism would not go to heaven. So, babies were often baptized very soon after birth.
Cranmer believed baptism was very important, but he didn't think it was absolutely necessary for salvation. He believed God chose who would be saved. The prayer book made public baptism the usual way, so everyone in the church could see it and be reminded of their own baptism. In emergencies, a private baptism could still be done at home.
The baptism service was based on Martin Luther's simpler version. It kept some traditional actions and prayers. The priest would make the sign of the cross on the baby's forehead and chest. The service also included a prayer asking God to receive the infants. A short exorcism was also included, asking any "unclean spirit" to leave the infants.
The service moved inside the church near the baptismal font. The godparents made promises for the child, saying they would reject evil and believe in the Apostles' Creed. The service ended with advice to the godparents about their duties to the child.
Confirmation and Catechism
The Book of Common Prayer also included a service for confirmation and a catechism (a set of questions and answers to teach Christian beliefs).
In the Catholic Church, confirmation was a sacrament that gave grace for Christian life after baptism. Cranmer saw confirmation as a chance for children, who were baptized as babies, to say they believed in God for themselves. Before being confirmed, children would learn the catechism in church. This catechism included the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer. Everyone had to know these things to receive Holy Communion.
During the confirmation service, the bishop prayed that the person would be strengthened by the Holy Spirit. The bishop would then make the sign of the cross on the child's forehead and lay his hands on their head. One big change was that the child was not anointed with special oil.
Marriage
The marriage service was mostly a translation of the old Latin service. The first part of the service took place in the main part of the church. It included a talk by the priest, a chance to say if there were any reasons the couple shouldn't marry, and the marriage vows. Then the couple moved to the front of the church for prayers and to receive Holy Communion.
The prayer book said that marriage was not a sacrament, but it was a "holy estate" that Jesus honored. It focused on the bride and groom as the main people in the wedding. The wedding ring was kept, but it was not blessed. Instead, the couple themselves were blessed.
Cranmer added a third reason for marriage: "for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity." He also added the words "to love and to cherish" to the husband's vows.
Visitation of the Sick
This service was a shorter version of the old one. It included prayers for healing, a long talk by the priest, and a reminder for the sick person to think about their sins and repent. The service had a serious tone, and the sick person could confess their sins privately to the priest and receive forgiveness.
The prayer book also allowed for Holy Communion to be given to the sick. The priest could hold a short Communion service at the sick person's home or bring the sacrament directly from the church.
Prayers to saints for the sick were removed. Other changes included removing symbolic actions and holy objects. For example, anointing the sick with oil became optional and was only done on the forehead or chest, not on many parts of the body as before.
Burial
The service for the Burial of the Dead focused on the resurrection of Jesus as a promise that all believers would rise again. It included a procession through the churchyard, the burial itself, a service in the church, and Holy Communion. Some parts of the old prayers for the dead were kept, like the option to have Communion at a funeral. However, many traditional funeral rites were removed, such as services held in the home.
Ordinal
When the prayer book was first published, it didn't include an ordinal, which is the book for making new deacons, priests, and bishops. The 1550 ordinal was published in March 1550 to fix this.
This ordinal followed the Protestant idea of sola scriptura (Scripture alone). It made people becoming priests or bishops promise that they believed the Bible contained everything needed for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
The services were also simplified. For Cranmer, the most important part of ordination was the laying on hands with prayer. In the old service, the person being ordained would be anointed with oil and given special church clothes and communion cups. In the new prayer book, the only thing they received was a Bible, to show their role was to teach from it.
Church Clothes
Priests still wore special clothes called vestments. For Holy Communion, they wore a white alb and a cope. For morning and evening prayer, baptism, and burial, priests wore a surplice. Bishops wore a rochet, surplice or alb, and a cope. When becoming a bishop, they wore a black chimere over a white rochet. This rule caused some arguments, as some people, like John Hooper, refused to wear these clothes at first.
Church Music
Before the Reformation, church music was mostly monophonic chant (a single melody). While some Protestant churches kept chant, others started using only psalms. The English reformers kept chant for their new English services. However, they wanted the chant to be simpler so that the words could be heard clearly.
When the BCP was published, there wasn't much new music right away because it took time to create English versions. John Merbecke's Book of Common Prayer noted, published in 1550, provided simple chant music. This music was meant for church choirs, not for everyone in the congregation to sing. In smaller churches, everything would have been spoken. Merbecke's music became popular again in the 1800s and is still used today.
See also
- Anglican doctrine
Images for kids
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The people who put together the first Book of Common Prayer in a book from 1722.
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