The Church of England
The Anglican Communion has its beginnings in the Church of England, which has existed since S. Augustine of Canterbury converted the Anglo-Saxon tribes. S. Augustine was a bishop sent by Pope S. Gregory I ("the Great"), in A.D. 596, to convert these relatively new inhabitants of the British Isles. The pope had seen some Angle children in the Roman slave-market and felt compelled to covert such a handsome race. Prior to the settlement of the Anglo-Saxons, the indigenous Celtic tribes had been Christianized by Joseph of Arimathea, who supposedly brought the Holy Grail with him to England. When the Anglo-Saxon heathen came from the continent, the Celts were driven back. At the arrival of S. Augustine, there was initial tension between the Celts and the Roman missionaries under him. The Celtic Christians had had their own bishoprics and liturgy for some time, and the papal missionaries wanted to "Romanize" the Celts, as well as the Anglo-Saxon heathen. This set the stage for centuries of conflict between England and Rome.
This conflict came to a head at the beginning of the 13th century. The papacy had consolidated its power and had become a well-established monarchy by this time. Rome had also begun to require fealty from each of the nations in Western Christendom. The Plantagenet rulers of England, however, refused to pay, so Pope Innocent III placed an interdict on England and forbade all sacramental rites, from Baptism to the Last Rites, to be performed in England until it paid fealty. This lasted for five years before England finally conceded. Despite this, however, Mediæval England flourished and was very devout and very catholic. It was even called "Mary's dowry" because of the great devotion of the English people to the Blessed Virgin. The most popular Marian shrine in all England at the time was that of Our Lady of Walsingham.
The Tudor Reformation
Several hundred years later, when Henry VIII drew the Church of England under his temporal control, he ended a struggle between England and Rome that had been mounting for some time. Though Henry broke ties with Rome for very selfish reasons, he upheld the catholic faith to his deathbed. In fact, he was so adamently against Protestantism that he wrote a tract against Martin Luther. This earned him the title Defensor fidei, or Defender of the Faith, from the pope. (English monarchs, rather stangely, bear the title to this day.) Unfortunately, the new power enjoyed by the monarchy, following the War of the Roses, had corrupted Henry to such an extent that he became a vicious tyrant in his later years. The absence of a legitimate male heir to the throne also put some pressure on him. When he sought an annulment of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon, he unwittingly left everything up to his trusted advisor the Archbishop of York, Cardinal Wolesy. Wolesy chose to bring Henry's case to Rome rather than just settle on a quite annulment given by the Primate of All England, the Archbishop of Canterbury. This, as most know, ended in disaster and the first breach with Rome.
When Henry's son Edward VI -- who was merely a boy -- ascended the throne, the Reformation hit England. Many radical Protestant reformers had their way with the boy king and changed many things, mainly abolishing what were believed to be superstitious and repugnant "Romish" practices. These "reforms" were carried out to so grotesque an extent, in theory, that the new Church of England seemed to owe more to the heretics of Geneva than historic catholicism. But while the intelligentsia and nobility [at least the vocal part of the intelligentsia and nobility] were becoming increasingly Protestant, the nobles and common folk were still very catholic. Therefore, the "reforms" were only partial in practice. A synod of bishops met to discuss the reforms to be implemented. In A.D. 1549, The Booke of the Common Prayer was issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer. This book was esentially a translation and simplification of the Sarum Missal. It was designed to be used not only by the clergy, but by the laity. Previously, England had its own Latin rite for the Mass, known as the Sarum Rite -- which had been used for centuries. This rite was somewhat similar to one of the the rites of the Oriental Church (i.e. the Eastern Orthodox) and had many interesting and unique peculiarities such as red vestments for Good Friday and flabella (feather fans) used during the Mass. The Book of Common Prayer drew heavily from the Sarum Rite. Archbishop Cranmer, however, saw this only as a partial reform and began working on the next revised edition of The Book of Common Prayer in order to carry his Calvinistic "reforms" further. In A.D. 1570, the Roman Church standardized its liturgy, and forced all bishops to conform to this new rite, at the Council of Trent (which had been convened to reform abuses in the church and denounce the heresies of the continental "reformers".) This standardized Roman liturgy became known as the Tridentine Rite.
Under Henry VIII, monasteries were abolished, but bishops, priests & deacons remained. They were put under the guidance of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. The Mass, however, remained in Latin and catholic doctrine remained unchanged. Under Edward, the Reformation was widely implemented and the liturgy changed. When Mary I became queen after Edward, she brought back much of what was lost, restored ties with Rome and persecuted many of the Protestants. Eventually, Elizabeth I came to the thrown, after her sister Mary's death, and she was faced with a predicament. Many called for reform and many called for a return to tradition. Realizing that this could turn into a major conflict, Elizabeth chose a middle ground. "Reformed catholicism" came into being. The Book of Common Prayer would come back into use, but continental Protestant theology (i.e the theology of people like Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, et al.) would be discouraged. In addition, there would be a toleration of sundry views so long as one remained loyal to the Church of England and the Supreme Governour of the Church of England -- Queen Elizabeth. The English accepted the compromise. This became known as the Elizabethan Settlement.
What this meant was that the seven sacraments, three creeds, and basic catholic doctrine would stay, but "Romish embellishments" would be thwarted. The Book of Common Prayer was revised in a much more catholic direction. The pope even offered to approve this new Anglican rite, if Elizabeth would reëstablish ties with Rome. The queen, however, had no stomach for papal domination and rejected his offer. An excommunication followed suit. Now, it has been stated by Roman Catholics that the Tudors had no intention of keeping catholicism, let alone the doctrine of the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Holy Sacrament. Conveniently, they seem to forget the famous reply of Queen Elizabeth I (who held some catholic views) to those reformers in the Church of England who would deny the Real Presence:
He took the Bread and Brake it,
And what his Word doth make it,
That I believe and take it.
The Puritan Uprising
This middle ground, or via media, between Catholicism and Protestantism lasted until the English Civil War, when the Puritans gained control. The Puritans wanted to "purify" the Church of England from what they believed to be too many Romish views. They accepted the teachings of the continental reformers, primarily John Calvin. A sizable minority of the English people seemed to subscribe to such views. There were, in fact, many Puritans in both Parliament and the military. They eventually became strong enough to challenge the monarchy and execute the king, as well as the Archbishop of Canterbury. The reign of the Puritans was characterized by harsh and strict rule, and much iconoclasm. They abolished all catholic practices, smashed altars, torched cathedrals, desecrated shrines, and beheaded the most famous Anglican martyr, King Charles I. This barbarism lasted only a few decades before the English grew tired of the horror of the Puritan yoke and ousted them. Many Puritans escaped to America and began to wreak their havoc in the New World. The monarchy and church were restored in A.D. 1660 and The Book of Common Prayer revised and put back to use in 1662. The via media was reinstituted.
The Evangelical & Catholic Revivals
This middle ground continued, but eventually stagnated. The Stuarts had fostered an environment that allowed intellectuals to thrive in the church. The Stuart monarchs varied in temperament, but viewed the church as something great. They had high ideals for the Church of England. When Queen Anne died, without a successor, George of Hanover was asked to take the throne. With his Lutheran background, he had no stomach for the catholicity of the English Church. The brilliant intelligentsia of the previous Stuart monarchs were thwarted at every opportunity and the integrity of the episcopacy and church hierarchy faltered. This trickled down to the parochial clergy as well. Protestant sentiments became quite ubiquitous in England, but they seemed to lack a religious fervor. A need for reform became evident by the middle of the 18th century. Two movements in the late 18th century and early 19th century changed the face of Anglicanism. The first was the Evangelical Revival started by two Anglican priests, who were brothers, by the names of John & Charles Wesley. While Charles is known mainly for his hymnody, John was known more for his ideas about religion. He stressed personal holiness, scriptural study, a steadfast & methodical approach to the Prayerbook, and an emphasis on preaching. He also stressed more frequent reception of the Eucharist. Unfortunately, the Wesleys' followers eventually split from the Church and formed the Methodist Church. To this day, they lack the catholicity of the Church of England.
The second movement is commonly called the Catholic Revival, or the Oxford Movement. A group of Oxonians (students and faculty of Oxford University) began to write tracts on what was wrong with the Church of England. The primary author of these tracts was the great John Henry Newman. One of the things that these Oxonians saw was a decline in reverance and morality. Their solution? Mediæval catholicism. The Oxford Movement was very focused on catholic theology, while the ensuing Anglo-Catholic Movement of later years was very much focused on catholic practices. The Tridentine Mass [the Latin Mass standardized, for all Roman Christendom, at the Council of Trent] was translated into English. This became known as The English Missal. Those Anglo-Catholics who use this or The Anglican Missal (a variation) are known as "missal catholics," while those who use The Book of Common Prayer, with some additions to the prayers and ceremony, are known as "prayer-book catholics." Monastic communities of monks and nuns were formed; the rosary became popular; confessions became more regular; High Mass, with full ceremonial, was not uncommon; and priests began to wear "Roman" garments, not only in the church, but on the street. Esentially, the Catholic Reformers wanted to bring mediæval catholic practice back to the church. Some of the reformers eventually left for the Roman Catholic Communion, such as John Henry Newman. Those who stayed, such as John Keble and Edward Bouverie Pusey, did much to change the face of Anglicanism. This new "Anglo-Catholicism" caught on like wildfire. By the 1920s, one in every four Anglicans was an Anglo-Catholic. As the Church of England spread to the colonies, so did the Catholic Revival. Today, almost half of the Anglican Communion is "Anglo-Catholic" (though most Anglo-Catholics live in the Third World.)
Anglicanism came to the United States with the colonies. After the Revolution, however, the American Church did not want the name Anglican -- which is Latin for "English" -- in its title. So, it became the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. "Protestant" meaning "opposed to Roman Papal rule" and "Episcopal" meaning "having bishops." They were Protestant Episcopal as opposed to Roman Episcopal (i.e. the Roman Catholic Church.) The Catholic Revival came to America as well, and flourished in the Northeast and the West. Churches such as S. Mary the Virgin (New York), S. Mark's (Philadelphia), Church of the Advent (Boston), Church of the Advent of Christ the King (San Francisco), and S. Mary of the Angels (Los Angeles) came into being and attracted people by the hundreds. These and other Anglo-Catholic parish churches are known for their opulence. They have been left with lavish furnishings and sizable endowments. The reason for this being that the Protestant Episcopal Church, as the national church of America, has always had the wealth of our nation (most evident in its generous members) at its disposal.
The Church Today
Today, in the Anglican Communion, we differentiate between the several sects in the church. There are Evangelicals, or Low Churchmen (i.e the Protestants). There are Anglo-Catholics, or High Churchmen (i.e. the Catholics.) There are Latitudinarians, or Broad Churchmen (i.e. those who want a middle course.) Most of the American Episcopal Church today is Broad Church. These names origianlly designated theological differences, but have now come to refer, generally, to liturgical ones. Due to the liturgical changes of the Second Vatican Council, and the extent that they have been carried out in both the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. and the liturgical revisions in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S., many R.C. churches are virtually indistiguishable, that is to say liturgically, from many P.E. churches.
Unfortunately, after the Second Vatican Council we now have a new group -- the Radical Liberals. As the saying goes, "when Rome has a cold the rest of us get pneumonia." The changes brought about by VC II spilled over into the Anglican Communion as well. These Radical Liberals are relentless in their quest to reshape the face of the Episcopal church so that it resembles neither Anglicanism nor catholicism (and sometimes, not even Christianity.) They have brought about: the so-called "ordination" of women priests; a new "Book of Common Prayer" (which resembles none of the previous editions); they advocate inclusive language (or as some of us call it "intrusive language") which directly contradicts Christ's teaching of God as "Our Father"; folk music reminiscent of the '60s (which has been proven to discourage the congregation from singing and generally creates a fiesta-like, rather than a prayer-like atmosphere); radical & offensive changes in the liturgy ; irreverance towards the Blessed Sacrament, a decline in the beautiful ceremonial and musical tradition of the church; a theology which stresses neither the bloody, agonizing death of Christ on the cross, nor his glorious Resurrection and Ascension; and a decrease in the prayer life of the church. This group advocates catering to the people as opposed to worshiping God. While this group has taken changes furthest in the American Episcopal Church, those who oppose them have been vehement (or have left the church) and it is still possible to find traditional worship and religion in the Protestant Episcopal Church. Unfortunately, for the Roman Catholics, many new changes have been implemented on almost every level. If a Roman Catholic wants to find traditional worship he has to look pretty hard and may have to go to one of these rebel "separatist" groups like the Society of S. Pius X, whose priests still say the Latin Mass, or even go to an Episcopal church.
In today's world, Anglo-Catholic churches provide an outlet for Western Christians who want to have the mystery and awe brought back into religion. If you come by an Anglo-Catholic church you may find a Mozart, Haydn or Brahms Mass being sung. You may find High Mass (albeit in English) on Sunday, with all the incense, bells and chanting that go along with it. You may find the rosary, and other such devotions as the norm. Sunday afternoons you may find Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament after Evensong. You'll find people involved in the Society of Mary, the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, the Guild of All Souls & the Sodality of the Living Rosary. But hopefully, among all this, you'll find some real religion. Unfortunately, real religion seems to be dying out in both the Roman Catholic Church, and the Protestant Episcopal Church, in America today. If you are a catholic and have issues with the new "catholicism" of today, then, by God, speak up! Your kind has been silent for far too long. If you don't, you may find a "post-Christian" church slowly taking over your catholic one...
Jesu mercy, Mary pray.
-Michael J. Ernst