The Collect
Almighty and everliving God, who didst guide thy servant Thomas Cranmer, with others, to render the worship of thy Church in a language understanded of the people: Make us ever thankful for this our heritage, and help us so to pray in thy Spirit and with the understanding also, that we may worthily magnify thy holy Name, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Holy Spirit ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Readings (Acts ii. 38; Saint Matthew vi. 5)
In 1549 a new prayer book was published containing versions of the liturgy in English. Generally believed to have been supervised by Thomas Cranmer, the Book of Common Prayer was at the centre of the decade of religious turmoil that followed, and disputes over its use were one of the major causes of the English Civil War in the 1640s. The book was revised several times before the celebrated final version was published in 1662.
The Book of Common Prayer is still in use in many churches today, and remains not just a liturgical text of great importance but a literary work of profound beauty and influence.
+++
