Thomas Cranmer- Martyr

[Cajun Huguenot]

Thomas Cranmer was a man with many faults and failings. He was a very “human” individual. He was born in 1489 the second of a minor landowner and like so many sons of that day he would receive no inheritance from his father because he was not the eldest son. Because of this, he was destined to become a priest and entered Cambridge in 1510. His path toward being a clergyman ended however when he decided to marry. His wife died giving birth and he returned to Cambridge and the priesthood.

Cranmer was noticed by King Henry VIII who sent him to Rome to argue the case for Henry’s divorce from his wife (Catherine) before the Pope. Cranmer was unsuccessful in this venture but Henry soon appointed him ambassador to Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain Charles V.

In 1532 Thomas Cranmer went to Germany to learn more of the Protestant movement. While in Germany he married the daughter of a Lutheran theologian (remember he is at this time a priest).

In 1533 Cranmer, keeping his marriage a secret, was made Archbishop of Canterbury. Three days later he declared Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon to be null and void so Henry could marry Ann Boleyn.

Cranmer adopts Protestant (mostly reformed) ideas and works for reform in the Church of England. The Book of Common Prayer and the 39 Articles are mostly his doing. Cranmer had many faults, but he served and supported the Reformation in England for many years.

Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary) became queen of England in 1553 after the death of her Protestant half brother Edward VI. Mary, like her mother (the divorced Catherine of Aragon), was a devout Roman Catholic and she was determined to crush the Reformation in England. She had numerous Protestants burnt at the stake and caused many others to flee to the continent. When the pressure was on Archbishop Cranmer, he signed a recantation of His Reformed views. But soon after he regained his internal strength and recanted of his recantation.

Mary ordered him burned at the stake. When the fire was lit around him Thomas Cranmer thrust his hand with which he had signed his recantation into the fire that it might be consumed first.

Thomas Cranmer died a true martyr for the faith. He was very human and had many failings. He reminds me of Peter who under pressure denied the faith, but like Peter was restored to faith and died in the service of the Lord. Cranmer was martyred on March 21, 1556.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

 

[gtsecc]

[font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]He wrote many things of which you woul be familliar, including:[/font]
[font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif][/font]
[font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif][/font]
[font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]A[/font][font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]LMIGHTIE God, unto whom all hartes bee open, and all desyres knowen, and from whom no secretes are hid: clense the thoughtes of our hartes, by the inspiracion of thy holy spirite: that we may perfectly love thee, and worthely magnifie thy holy name: through Christ our Lorde. Amen.[/font]




[font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]D[/font][font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]EERELY beloved frendes, we are gathered together here in the syght of God, and in the face of his congregacion, to joyne together this man and this woman in holy matrimonie, which is an honorable estate instituted of God in paradise, in the time of mannes innocencie, signifying unto us the misticall union that is betwixte Christe and his Churche: whiche holy estate,[/font]

 

[JM]

[font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]He wrote many things of which you woul be familliar, including:[/font]


[font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]A[/font][font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]LMIGHTIE God, unto whom all hartes bee open, and all desyres knowen, and from whom no secretes are hid: clense the thoughtes of our hartes, by the inspiracion of thy holy spirite: that we may perfectly love thee, and worthely magnifie thy holy name: through Christ our Lorde. Amen.[/font]




[font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]D[/font][font=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]EERELY beloved frendes, we are gathered together here in the syght of God, and in the face of his congregacion, to joyne together this man and this woman in holy matrimonie, which is an honorable estate instituted of God in paradise, in the time of mannes innocencie, signifying unto us the misticall union that is betwixte Christe and his Churche: whiche holy estate,[/font]

gtsecc, did Cranmer write the above or re-write prayers from the Sarum Rite Liturgy?

 

[gtsecc]

gtsecc, did Cranmer write the above or re-write prayers from the Sarum Rite Liturgy?

Cranmer was a Roman Catholic Priest. One of the greatest things he did was to hold the Mass in English. On the first Sunday in Pentecost, the parishners arrived as they always had at their Roman Catholic parish, and heard the Mass for the first time in English.



I am not sure which parts he translated and which parts he wrote, but he was a gifted writter and translator. If he simple translated:



ALMIGHTIE God, unto whom all hartes bee open, and all desyres knowen, and from whom no secretes are hid: clense the thoughtes of our hartes, by the inspiracion of thy holy spirite: that we may perfectly love thee, and worthely magnifie thy holy name: through Christ our Lorde. Amen.





it is amazing that he was able to keep the all the beauty of the language including the double-entendre.