ANGLO-PAPALISM

The term 'Anglo Papalism' is probably an American neologism. The term arose from the writings of the Revd. Spencer Jones, Vicar of Moreton-in-the March, author of ''England and the Holy See'' and the Revd. Lewis T. Wattson, an American clergyman who became an Anglican Franciscan, who collaborated on ''The
Prince of the Apostles'' in 1904. Their successors regarded the pope as the head of the Church. They accepted in full the Councils of Trent and the Vatican Council of 1870, and also nearly all subsequent definitions of doctrine, including the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. ''Apostolicae Curae'', the papal decree on the validity of the Anglican orders was rejected. They were sustained by a definite theory of the English Reformation.
Anglo Catholics generally regarded the English Reformation as an act of the Church of England repudiating papal authority and in the process making an appeal to the early church which made possible a non-papal Catholicism. They usually regarded Archbishop] Thomas Cranmer as more of a translator than as a theologian and saw the service in the first Book of Common Prayer as being the Mass in English. ^[1] Anglican Papalists, on the other hand, regarded the Church of England as two provinces of the Roman Catholic Church forcibably severed by act of the crown from the rest. Gregory Dix, an eminent Anglican Papalist, monk of Nashdom Abbey, and scholar, in his defence of Anglican orders speaks of Cranmer and his friends using the power of the state to impose his views on the church by act of parliament. Anglican Papalists thus regarded the Book of Common Prayer as having only the authority of use, and believed it legitimate to use the Roman Missal and Breviary for their services. Like most Anglo Catholics, they made use of the rosary, benediction, and other Roman Catholic devotions. Cranmer they regarded as a heretic, and his first Prayer book as an expression of Zwinglian doctrine. They worked for the reunion of the Church of England with the Holy see, which they saw as the logical objective of the Oxford Movement, and in l908 began the "Church Unity Octave of Prayer", the precursor of the much more general "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity".
Anglican Papalists set up a variety of organisations, such as the Catholic League and the Society for Promoting Catholic Unity (SPCU) which published ''[The Pilot]'' a journal which propagated their views, and provided the leadership in many more general Anglo-Catholic organisations such as the Annunciation Group. In the 1950's the Fellowship of Christ Eternal Priest, which was set up for Anglican ordinands in the armed forces and published a journal called "The Rock", was strongly pro-Roman.
Some Anglican religious communities were Anglican Papalist, prominent among them the Benedictines of Nashdom, who used for their services the Roman Missal and Monastic Breviary all in Latin.

Contents

Liturgy

Bibliography

References

Liturgy

The English Missal, a form of the Tridentine Mass interspersed with sections of the Book of Common Prayer, was commonly used by Anglican Papalists, and contained the Canon of the Mass in English and Latin. Its use however was not confined to them, as Anglo Catholics who did not care for ''The Parson's Handbook'', or the Pope, still found it a convenient volume for their services. Adrian Fortescue's ''Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described'' served as a useful guide as to how to use the missal. Often the Anglo Catholic vicar of a church would use the English version for the main masses, while at early celebrations some Anglican Papalist curates would use only the Roman Missal in English or Latin. In like manner, many modern Anglican Papalists and Anglo Catholics wishing to have an orthodox mass in modern English use the Missa Normativa especially since its missals are considerably cheaper than any alternative.
Historically, Anglo-Catholics who adopted Roman Rite practices (such as the Tridentine Mass and lace cottas) were popularly seen as Anglo-Papalist. Today, use of the Mass of Paul VI is similarly regarded as an Anglo Papalist trend. Use of the Mass of Paul VI is more common among parishes associated with the group Forward in Faith.

Bibliography

★ Michael Yelton. Anglican Papalism. Canterbury Press Norwich, 2005. ISBN 1-85311-655-6.
Peter F Anson. Fashions in Church Furnishings 1840- 1940 Studion Vista , 1965, Chapters XXIX, XXX.
= The Call to the Cloister. London SPCK 1955, pp. 183-192, 462-466, 547 - 548.
Hugh Ross Williamson, The Walled Garden Macmillan 1957, Chapters X, XIV - XVI.
Gregory Dix, The Question of Anglican Orders, Dacre Press, 1944. pp 31 - 32.
External links

★ Catholic League Predominantly Anglo-Papalist organization centered in England.

★ Historical documents connected with the Society of SS Peter and Paul, an historically Anglo-Papalist organization
www.churchtimes.co.uk/15566-19k

References

1. This view has become discredited among some historians and has taken considerable damage from the work of Diarmaid MacCulloch, especially in his ''Life of Thomas Cranmer'' published in 1996.