Thomas Cranmer defied the Pope to please a King - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Who would dare to take the English Catholic Church out from under the Pope's power and put it under King Henry VIII in 16th Century England?
Thomas Cranmer was the Archbishop of Canterbury who led the English reformation away from the Pope and the Catholic Church, and cleared the legal path for Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn.
He also made it cool to be Protestant in a deeply Catholic country.
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” “Till death us do part.” Did you know it was Cranmer who wrote them?
Cranmer wrote a book of common prayer, not in priestly Latin, but English.
As Britain’s empire expanded, Cranmer’s English church with it's English prayer book, spread around the world. Australia included.
And it changed England, and everyone in every continent it touched.
This is episode 2 of our 5 part season 2 of Religious Rebels. You can find season 1 here. Stay tuned to Radio National, find us on the Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts as we bring you the next four episodes week by week.
