Book of Common Prayer

Prayer book of the Church of England that prescribes different aspects of liturgy: the form of church services; the administration of the sacraments; church rites, such as the ordination and consecration of priests, bishops and deacons. In the 16th and 17th centuries, several Acts of Uniformity made the Book of Common Prayer the mandatory form of worship.

The first version was prepared by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, in the reign of Edward VI. Published in 1549, it combined Catholic and reformed elements: Mass, for example, was celebrated according to Latin rites, but in English. The book contained the forms of service for weekday and Sunday worship, and it included morning prayer, evening prayer and the Holy Communion. Furthermore, it set out the forms of funeral services as well as confirmation or marriage ceremonies.

Revised versions were published in 1552 and again in 1559, the year after Elizabeth I's succession to the throne. After the recent religious turmoil - England had been strictly Protestant under Edward VI, then Catholic under Mary I -, the 1559 edition consolidated the Church of England as a reformed church (with the queen, rather than the pope, as its head).

In 1662, a new edition of the Book of Common Prayer was agreed upon. In May, another Act of Uniformity received royal assent, establishing the predominance of the Anglican church after the death of Oliver Cromwell and the Restoration of the monarchy. "Outside the Commonwealth most churches of the Anglican Communion possess their own variants of the English prayer book" (Britannica).

Sources

Benton, J.H.: The Book of Common Prayer - its Origin and Growth. Boston: The Merrymount Press, 1910.
"Book of Common Prayer." Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 11 July 2008, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Book-of-Common-Prayer.
Davies, Horton: Worship and Theology in England. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970.
Ratcliff, Edward: The Books of Common Prayer. Watford: Sun Printers, 1949.