History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution — Volume 2MacCaffrey, James
Religion
History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution — Volume 2
MacCaffrey, James
Catholic Church -- History -- Modern period, 1500-
While Parliament was in session Convocation assembled once more.
Cromwell, as the king's vicar-general in spirituals, claimed the right
to preside either in person or by proxy. Many of the new bishops who
had been appointed since 1533 were distinctly Lutheran in their ideas
and tendencies. Latimer of Worcester, who was well known to favour
German theology, was supported by five others, Shaxton, Goodrich,
Edward Foxe, Hilsey, and Barlow. Though Latimer on a former occasion
had been censured by Convocation he was selected to deliver the
opening sermon, in which he inveighed against Purgatory, images,
altars, relics, pilgrimages, the carelessness of the clergy, and the
abuses of the spiritual courts. Convocation having approved of
Cranmer's verdict regarding Henry's marriage with Anne Boleyn, a
petition was sent up from the lower house to the bishops complaining
of the erroneous views propagated by various preachers in the province
of Canterbury. The vast body of the older bishops were determined to
condemn these heretical views, which were little less than the renewal
of the Lollard teaching with a slight admixture of Lutheran theology,
but Cranmer, Latimer, and Foxe were equally determined to prevent such
a condemnation. The dispute promised to be both warm and protracted.
Cromwell, however, appeared in the assembly with a book of /Ten
Articles/ drawn up by the king for securing religious unanimity, and
insisted that the prelates should accept them. The Articles were
moderate in tone, and generally were not in opposition to the old
theology. They approved of Transubstantiation, emphasised the
importance and necessity of Baptism, Penance, and the Eucharist
without affirming that these were the only three Sacraments, declared
that good works were necessary for justification, that prayers might
be offered for those who were dead, that the use of the word Purgatory
was not to be recommended, that reverence should be shown to images
and pictures, and that the older ceremonies should be retained. The
great objection to these Articles was not the doctrine they set forth,
but the fact that they were issued by the king's authority. That the
King of England could revise the beliefs and ceremonies of the
Catholic Church was in itself a revolution, and should have opened the
eyes of the Catholic-minded bishops to the full meaning of royal
supremacy. Furthermore, Convocation declared that the Bishop of Rome
could not convene a General Council without the permission and
co-operation of the Christian princes. A few weeks later Cromwell
issued a set of /Injunctions/ to be observed by the clergy charged
with the care of souls. They were to set forth the Articles drawn up
by the king, to discourage pilgrimages and the observation of holidays
that had not been abrogated, not to lay too much stress upon images
and relics, and to warn the people to teach their children in English
the Our Father, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments; they were to give
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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