Thomas Cranmer 		March 21
Archbishop of Canterbury
Liturgist and Martyr
Thomas Cranmer was born at Aslockton in Nottinghamshire in 1489. He spent twenty-six years of his life at Cambridge University, first as a student, then as a fellow of Jesus College and a university preacher.
In 1529 King Henry VIII was having difficulty getting the ecclesiastical courts to cooperate with his plans. The king hoped to have his marriage to Catherine of Aragon declared invalid. He engaged Cranmer to spearhead a move to refer the matter to theologians in various European universities and sent him on various embassies. Cranmer was called home to succeed William Warham as archbishop of Canterbury, an appointment he accepted with reluctance. Cranmer had a high sense of duty to his sovereign, and in May 1533 pronounced the king’s marriage to Catherine invalid and that to Anne Boleyn valid.
Cranmer’s position enabled him to direct the course of the English Reformation. Although it seems he was not linked with those at Cambridge influenced by Luther in the 1520s, Cranmer came under the influence of reformed theologians during his three years in Germany. It was during this time that he secretly married Margaret Osiander.
Cranmer developed a love for the Scriptures during his time as a fellow of Jesus College. Later, as archbishop, he was instrumental in having a copy of the Bible placed in every church, and his subsequent writings show that he had a good knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures. Many of his liturgical writings found their way into the first English Prayer Book and remained largely unchanged in the 1662 book, which has been used by Anglicans throughout the world for four centuries.
When the nine-year-old Edward VI succeeded his father in 1547, the stage was set for the English church to take on a more Protestant flavour under the protector Somerset. Cranmer welcomed this, though without taking the first initiatives. By the time the young king died in 1553, the English church had a new Book of Common Prayer, largely of Cranmer’s composition and showing unmistakable Reformed influences. The Church allowed its clergy to marry. The Reformation in England had accelerated.
The accession of Queen Mary in 1553 quickly brought a return of papal authority, and Cranmer was arrested. He spent the last two and a half years of his life in prison, first in the Tower and then at Oxford. During this time he was tried for treason, then for heresy. The psychological strain was immense, and it is not surprising that he signed a number of recantations during this time. However, just before being led to the stake to be burnt as a heretic, he publicly renounced all his recantations. He told the crowd that his right arm, which had signed the recantations, would be the first part of his body to be burned. So he died on Saturday, 21 March 1556, with his right arm held steadily in the fire. As he died he cried out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
For Liturgical Use
Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury for twenty-three years under three Tudor monarchs, was martyred as a heretic on 21 March 1556, when Queen Mary temporarily brought the English church back into the papal fold. Cranmer steered the church through the troubles of the Reformation and left an unparalleled legacy of liturgical writing in the Book of Common Prayer. His writings expressed his mature, reformed, biblical theology. For him nothing was more important than that Christians should “read, mark, learn and inwardly digest” the Scriptures.
Sentence
My heart overflows with a noble theme; I utter the song I have made for a king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready writer.	Psalm 45:1
Collects
Almighty God,
your servant Thomas Cranmer guided the Church of England
through the tumult of reformation
and provided a liturgy in the language of the people,
sealing his work with his life’s blood;
strengthen our faith when it wavers,
so that at the last we may stand firm,
through the grace of your Son Jesus Christ.
Almighty God, King of kings,
Lord of lords, the only ruler of princes,
we thank you for Thomas,
who trusted only in your manifold and great mercy,
and lifted his voice in praise.
Psalms	119:97-104	119:169-176
Readings
Isaiah 43:1-3a		Do not be afraid
2 Timothy 2:8-15		Suffering for the gospel
John 10:11-15		A faithful shepherd
Post Communion Sentence
Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.	Hebrews 12:1, 2