Thomas Cranmer (1489–1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and
Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI.
Along with Thomas Cromwell, he supported the principle of royal supremacy in
which the king was considered sovereign over the Church within his realm. He
was responsible for establishing the first doctrinal and liturgical
structures of the Church of England, and succeeded in publishing the first
officially authorised vernacular service, the Exhortation and Litany. When
Edward came to power, Cranmer was able to promote major reforms. He wrote
and compiled the first two editions of the Book of Common Prayer, a complete
liturgy for the English Church. He developed new doctrinal standards in
areas such as the eucharist, clerical celibacy, the role of images in places
of worship, and the veneration of saints. Cranmer was tried for treason and
heresy when Mary I came to the throne. Imprisoned for over two years and
under pressure from the Church authorities, he made several recantations and
reconciled himself with the Catholic faith. However, on the day of his
execution, he dramatically withdrew his recantations and died as a
Protestant martyr. His legacy lives on within the Church of England through
the Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles, an Anglican
statement of faith derived from his work.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cranmer>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1804:
United States Navy Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a raid to destroy the
captured USS Philadelphia in Tripoli, denying her use to the Barbary States
in the First Barbary War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Decatur>
1899:
French President Félix Faure suddenly died from apoplexy while having sexual
activities with Marguerite Steinheil in his office.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Faure>
1918:
The Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence of Lithuania,
proclaiming the restoration of an independent Lithuania governed by
democratic principles, despite the presence of German troops in the country
during World War I.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Independence_of_Lithuania>
1934:
The Austrian Civil War ended with the military of the First Austrian
Republic defeating the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer Schutzbund,
leaving at least several hundred people dead and more than a thousand
wounded in the five-day conflict.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_Civil_War>
1985:
"The Hizballah Program" was released, describing the ideology and goals of
the Shia Islamic political and paramilitary organization Hezbollah as
"putting an end to any colonialist entity" in Lebanon, bringing the
Phalangists to justice for "the crimes they [had] perpetrated," and
establishing an Islamic regime in Lebanon.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_Hezbollah>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sobriquet (n):
A familiar name for a person, such as a pet name or nickname
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sobriquet>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Public opinion, or what passes for public opinion, is not invariably a
moderating force in the jungle of politics. It may be true, and I suspect it
is, that the mass of people everywhere are normally peace-loving and would
accept many restraints and sacrifices in preference to the monstrous
calamities of war. But I also suspect that what purports to be public
opinion in most countries that consider themselves to have popular
government is often not really the consensus of the feelings of the mass of
the people at all, but rather the expression of the interests of special
highly vocal minorities — politicians, commentators, and publicity-seekers
of all sorts: people who live by their ability to draw attention to
themselves and die, like fish out of water, if they are compelled to remain
silent. --George F. Kennan
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_F._Kennan>