This year, remarkable for many events- the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics amongst them- has another major cultural celebration: the 350th Anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. This book-written all those years ago- is still the official liturgy of the Church of England. And while its anniversary has been marked in certain circles with some gusto, it has not achieved, in my very humble opinion, anything like the publicity or public acclaim that last year’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible accrued. Which to me is astonishing for, like the King James Bible and the works of Shakespeare, to paraphrase Henry Crawford and Edmund Bertram, we all get to know phrases from the Book of Common Prayer, without really knowing how:
But Shakespeare one gets acquainted with without knowing how. It is a part of an Englishman’s constitution. His thoughts and beauties are so spread abroad that one touches them everywhere; one is intimate with him by instinct. No man of any brain can open at a good part of one of his plays without falling into the flow of his meaning immediately.”
“No doubt one is familiar with Shakespeare in a degree,” said Edmund, “from one’s earliest years. His celebrated passages are quoted by everybody; they are in half the books we open, and we all talk Shakespeare, use his similes, and describe with his descriptions; but this is totally distinct from giving his sense as you gave it. To know him in bits and scraps is common enough; to know him pretty thoroughly is, perhaps, not uncommon; but to read him well aloud is no everyday talent
Mansfield Park Chapter 34,
Of course the way mine and previous generations, including Jane Austen’s, got to know these phrases by heart was though repetition: the 1662 Prayer Book, with slight alterations, was the liturgy with which I grew up and heard at every service in my youth, as did Jane Austen. I was married and my children were baptised using the beautiful services contained within it. I try to attend services using the Prayer Book, but these days it is getting harder and harder to do so for the rituals contained in Common Worship has replaced it in many, many parish churches and cathedrals. What a pity to lose such a link with the past. And doubly a pity, for we are all, I am sure, very familiar with the following phrases, all culled from its pages, even though some may not be aware it is the source of these phrases we can hear almost every day:
Speak now or forever hold your peace….To love, cherish and to obey…Till Death us do part…Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust…Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest…In the midst of life we are in death…Renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world…
I could continue,but will restrain myself, much to your relief, no doubt :) As it is now the 350th anniversary of this book, which undoubtedly influenced Jane Austen, and to which she made direct references in her works, I thought I would post a small series about it. Today, I want to look at a brief history of this very influential book, then my next posting will be about Jane Austen’s use of it.
Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, who edited the first Anglican Prayer Book
The Prayer Book was originally complied by Thomas Cranmer in the 16th century. It was published in 1549 during the reign of King Edward VI, and as such it was a product of the English Reformation, following the break with Rome by Henry VIII. The 1549 book was vitally important as it was the first prayer book written in English to contain all the forms of service for daily and Sunday worship and to do so within a single volume.
This first Prayer Book included services for morning prayer, evening prayer, the Litany, and Holy Communion. The book also included other occasional services in full: the orders for baptism, confirmation, marriage, ‘prayers to be said with the sick‘ and a funeral service. It set out in full detail the Epistle and Gospel readings for the Sunday Communion Service. The Old Testament and New Testament readings for daily prayer were also specified as were the set Psalms. Canticles, mostly biblical, were also provided to be sung between the readings. The services in this prayer book were important in the development of the Church for they emphasised the people’s participation in the eucharist, and required that the Bible was to be read from cover to cover. Fast days were retained but saints’ days were not.
The 1549 book was rapidly succeeded by a revision in 1552 which was again edited by Thomas Cranmer, then Archbishop of Canterbury. This book never came into use however because, on the death of Edward VI in 1553, his half-sister Mary I restored Roman Catholic worship to all English churches. On her death in 1558, her protestant half-sister, Elizabeth became Queen and a compromise version- which was largely the 1552 prayer book with a few amendments from the 1549 edition- was published in 1559.
In 1604, under the reign of James I, there was a minor revision of the Prayer Book, but the terrible events of the English Civil War proved disastrous for its continued use. In 1645 it was abolished for use and the Long Parliament decreed that anyone found to be still using it was to be found guilty of a criminal offence.
Frontispiece of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer
After the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660( Hurrah!), the restrictions on the use of the Prayer Book were removed. Charles II initiated another major revision to the Prayer Book, and convened the Savoy Conference in 1661. The purpose of the conference was to decide the manner and content of the liturgy for the 17th century Anglican church. The Revised Book of Common Prayer which resulted was made legal by the Act of Uniformity of 1662 ,which ordered the exclusive use of the new Prayer Book, in all places of worship, from St. Bartholomew’s Day (that is, the 24th August) 1662 onwards,
“before which all ministers must publicly declare their assent to it on pain of deprivation…“
And since that date, 350 years ago almost to the day, that edition-with minor amendments- has remained the official Prayer Book of the Church of England, and of most other Churches in the worldwide Anglican Communion. It has been extremely influential: Christian denominations other than the Anglican Church have adopted and adapted its services and prayers for their own use. For example, traditional Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian prayer books have all borrowed from it. The wording of the Prayer Book marriage and burial rites have been adopted by other denominations and, as we have seen above, phrases from the book have seeped into the everyday English language. This all explains why Jane Austen knew the book intimately…and next time we shall discuss how she used it in her writings.
18 comments
August 28, 2012 at 10:41 pm
Caitlin
Thank you for this! I’m not well acquainted with the book, but I did read through parts of it online while studying Jane Eyre and a critical essay that tied action in the book’s given and implied dates with dates in the prayer book, and was very impressed. One of the services I loved is the prayer of thanksgiving for a woman coming through the perils of childbirth. I don’t know if that made it into 20th century versions or not. And thank you mentioning that not all services use the prayer book – I will remember this when planning a trip, and look for places that use the book in services. Looking forward to your next post!
August 28, 2012 at 11:05 pm
jfwakefield
My pleasure, Caitlin. The service you were thinking of was The Churching of Women. I had two wonderful rectors who administered this service to me, after the births of my children. One confessed he’d never had a request to do it in his whole career, and the other had performed it only once before ( they were both near retirement age!)
August 30, 2012 at 9:47 pm
Caitlin
I’m so glad you did that – it seems very touching. I would have requested it too.
August 30, 2012 at 10:05 pm
jfwakefield
Some people have strong objections to the service, but for me, it was just a matter of being eternally grateful to have survived with a healthy child :)
August 29, 2012 at 12:15 am
Adam Q
I have a fondness for and affinity with the Book of Common Prayer, not only is my birthday on the anniversary of Thomas Cranmer’s death, but August 24th is my wedding anniversary.
I was lucky enough when visiting Winchester Cathedral in 2010 to see Jane Austen’s grave and memorials, to arrive just in time for the Evensong service, so I attended that first. In Canada, there is very little usage of the Prayer Book nowadays, but my youthful attendance in England meant that I could recite most of the words by heart as the service progressed.
August 29, 2012 at 2:54 am
jfwakefield
That is, in essence is it’s genius, dont you agree. It is so memorable.It is meant to be said, and it latches onto the memory, as Shakespeare’s poetry and prose also does. I too can recite Communion and Evensong without reference to the text. And , if I have to endure a Common Worship Service, do so in my head to avoid the more mundane language our modern masters feel is more accessible than Cranmer’ poetry.
August 29, 2012 at 5:28 am
kfield2
Thanks for this topic for the post today, Julie. I am looking forward to what else you are going to bring us on this topic. I am an American Presbyterian, but I am a Christian first. I have seen copies of The Book of Common Prayer but had never been in an Episcopal church until my daughter married her husband there, his home church. I have often wondered if having the same readings for each cycle in the church’s year would cause people to become word reciters and not listen to the words their mouths have spoken. I realize that there is comfort in tradition and that is a reason for many people to love the prayer book. I wonder if the 1662 version is at use in the US today? I’d love to have a copy to see what riches I might find in it to help me in my daily worship of God. Are they tough to come by in Britain? I should say, in case you aren’t aware, there was a break in the American Episcopal Church in the past few years. Those that broke off were more orthodox in their thinking and felt that the original church was too liberal. So, we have The Episcopal Church, which I believe is under the same bishop you Brits are, and then we have The North American Anglican Church whose bishop is one in Africa, perhaps Uganda? I’m still not clear of all of the details. This has been a very trying time for all concerned. Didn’t mean to run on. I just thought you might like to know a bit of what is happening over the pond here.
August 29, 2012 at 8:08 am
jfwakefield
Yes, I do know of the situation in the Episcopal church, my best friend is a member :). As the Episcopalian Church is part of the Anglican Communion, and the Archbishop of Canterbury is also its spiritual leader ( though without any legal powers in respect of it) we get to hear a lot about it here in the UK.
You can easily find available copies of the Prayer Book online or in second hand shops. As I understand it, the Episcopalian Prayer Book is in more regular use in North Anerican churches, than it is in England. It is, in essence, exactly the same as it was when Jane Austen heard and read it. Speaking personally, I find that the repetition and familiarity with the words of the services that long term exposure to the words of Prayer Book brings only heightens my inner spiritual life. Attending services using this beautiful language is a comfort, solace and a deeply moving experience for me. I find the modern language used in other services in my church rather mundane and sadly lacking in grace, intellect and beauty, and often feel diminished by it. Sad, but very true.
August 30, 2012 at 1:56 am
kfield2
Julie, I really appreciate your response to my queries. I’m wondering if the preference of the familiarity vs the other kinds of services you referred to is a matter of what you grow up with, in many cases. I hope to be able to attend an Anglican Church on my next trip to England. Our friends that we stay with are not church goers at all so it’s been awkward to do so up to this point.
Again, thanks for taking time to answer my questions and to give me your own perspective.
August 30, 2012 at 7:19 am
jfwakefield
No, in my case I can quite categorically state that due to the banal language used and some doctrinal matters, the new services have never found any favour with me. It’s not a matter of mere familiarity vs. novelty. At all.
But I do hope you don’t mind if we keep to an historical perspective from now on. I helped moderate a large website some years ago, and we had to limit any religious discussion, including historical, due to the problems that arose. Thank you for understanding.
August 29, 2012 at 10:45 am
Lyn Bailey
A lifelong Episcopalian, married to a Methodist minister, I can tell you that what happens when the same words are said is that different phrases pop up at different times, and take hold. ” We are not worthy to gather up the crumbs under Thy table,” is my earliest example of that, from before I could read. That’s a long time ago. When the liturgy changes from week to week, as in the United Methodist church, there is a different feel. One reason I remained Episcopalian after 43 years of marriage.
August 29, 2012 at 1:20 pm
jfwakefield
I think that was what I was trying to convey,Lyn :)
However,perhaps we ought to keep to thinking about Jane Austen and her experience now ;)
August 29, 2012 at 10:38 am
Lyn Bailey
Time was when I could recite the whole Communion service by heart. Now we do Rite II, and not Rite I, which is the same as the 1929 prayer book and tp which, I believe, you refer. This is, of course, the American version. Now there are different choices. Good I suppose, but not the same as having those historic words that go back so far rolling out on a Sunday morning.
August 29, 2012 at 1:42 pm
jfwakefield
In 1980 the Alternative Service Book was introduced to the Church of England, as an alternative to the Prayer Book. This, where communion was concerned, introduced Rite A and B, which were never traditional enough to satisfy me and further , it introduced elements which were never found in Prayer Book services. This has been superseded by the services in Common Worship, introduced in 2000. The 1928 Book of Common Prayer ,though used extensively in the past- when we married eons ago our priest refused to read the 1662 introduction and substituted the 1928 version instead- was never legally approved for use by the Anglican Church by Parliament,and was IIRC, rejected twice by the House of Commons.
However, interesting this all is, I can see that these comments if taken further might be potentially divisive,and in introducing this topic I admit I had failed to realise how much people would want to talk about their own experience. Comparing our religions has no place here really, and so from now on I’d like us all( and that includes me!) to speak only about Jane Austen and how she and her writings were influenced by her religion. Thank you all.
August 29, 2012 at 9:26 pm
cathyallen
This is very interesting, Julie. I’m particularly surprised about the Book of Common Prayer phrases that are a part of our language: “Speak now or forever hold your peace,” etc. I had no idea! Can you identify any specific phrases, like those, in any of Jane Austen’s novels? I guess what I mean is, some that are still in use, so even a 21st century Catholic American would recognize them? Or, perhaps that’s what your next posting in this series will be? If so, I’m looking forward to reading it with bated breath!
August 30, 2012 at 7:15 am
jfwakefield
Exactly, you are anticipating me! If you can wait a couple of days, then I hope to be able to help you a little.
August 30, 2012 at 6:14 pm
cathyallen
Aha! Looking forward to it, thanks!
August 30, 2012 at 2:20 am
kfield2
I, too, would be interested in knowing passages in Jane Austen’s novels where she has used The Book of Common Prayer. It would help me to see how much a part of her life her roots in the B of CP. BTW, is that offensive to refer to the book that way? I do not want to offend. I wonder if Rev Austen has any notes or letters left where we could see his ecclesiastical thoughts. They would perhaps give further information to help us understand Jane Austen in her family context. I have read Jane Austen and the Clergy and another book of that topic but the name is escaping me. Perhaps I’d better read them again!
Oh, sorry that I opened the discussion on today’s practices. I had no intention to start a different line of comments about today’s thoughts on the topic. I’m glad you reminded us to go back to Jane and her experiences. After all, that’s why we all come to you, right!