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The Book of Common Prayer across Denominational and National Borders

The Anglican Contribution to Spanish Liturgical Life: Spanish Translations of the Book of Common Prayer and the liturgy of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church

L’apport anglican à la vie liturgique espagnole: les traductions espagnoles du Book of Common Prayer et la liturgie de l’Eglise réformée épiscopale d’Espagne
Don Carlos López-Lozano

Abstracts

Spanish translations of the Book of Common Prayer in the 17th and 18th century and their use by various groups of Spanish Protestant exiles are a testimony to early interactions between the Anglican Church and Spain. Given this history, the creation in the late 19th century of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church, the small Spanish branch of the Anglican Communion, is not as odd as may first appear. In its prayer book, the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church has fused the liturgical tradition represented by the Book of Common Prayer with the Mozarabic rite, the ancient liturgy of Spanish Christians. It thereby seeks to provide a door to Spain’s own indigenous liturgical heritage, which has virtually been forgotten in Spanish Roman Catholic practice. The Spanish, national identity of Anglicans in Spain is thus affirmed and celebrated.

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1The capacity of Anglican liturgical spirituality to be considered, experienced and affirmed as both Catholic and Reformed is key in the continued contribution of Anglicanism to liturgical renewal in the Church at large in the West. As in the case of the Old Catholic Churches, the process of devising a liturgy for the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church shows that the liturgical contribution of the Anglican tradition is found as much in the ecclesiological principles and identity it embodies as in the actual texts of Cranmer’s liturgy.

2Since the 17th century, the story of liturgical cross-fertilising between the Anglican Church and Spain has essentially run down two lines: one is the story of the translation of the Book of Common Prayer into Spanish and its use by Spanish exiles in England (that Spanish translations were actually used for worship is an important difference from the Italian translations, whatever the similarities between the two stories may otherwise be). The other is the story of the development of a branch of the Anglican Church in Spain from the end of the 19th century. The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church, right from its inception, has engaged in a highly creative and original fusing of the Prayer Book heritage and of the ancient Spanish liturgy, the Mozarabic rite.

3There does not seem to be any causal link between the two stories, but they are nonetheless both about England, its Church and its religious heritage repeatedly constituting a haven for some of those Spaniards who dissented from the Roman Catholic Church. That this dissent crystallised at the end of the 19th century into the creation of a Church that fused its liturgical sense of Spanishness with Anglicanism is a testimony to the role of the Anglican tradition in the recovery by the Western Church as a whole of the fullness of its liturgical heritage.

  • 1 Francisco Quiñones,. Breviarium Romanum ex Sacra potissimum Scriptura et probatis sanctorum histori (...)

4Cross-influences between the Anglican liturgy and the Spanish world have worked both ways. When Thomas Cramner composed morning and evening prayer, he was influenced by the book published in 1535 by Cardenal Quiñones.1 Quiñones’ book eliminated some of the antiphons and responses, and distributed all the psalms during the week. He organized the lectionary so the Holy Scriptures could be read during the course of the year.

  • 2 Geoffrey Curtis, “Espiritualidad Anglicana”, Dialogo Ecumenico no. 16 (1969): 501.

5A few years before The Book of Common Prayer was published, The King´s Primer of 1545 included a collection of prayers by Ludovico, also known as el “Español,” Luis Vives de Valencia, the preceptor of Princess Mary, Catherine of Aragon’s daughter. The book was reprinted several times because these Spanish prayers were very popular and spoke to people through their sincerity and clarity.2 Spain and its people were therefore not absent from the English Reformation.

  • 3 Breviarium Secundum Regulam Beati Isidori (Toledo: A. Ortiz, 1502).
  • 4 In the Mozarabic rite there is a service specifically for clergy and people in cathedrals that cond (...)

6The more obvious example of Spanish influence on The Book of Common Prayer was the Mozarabic liturgy. Archbishop Cramner used the first printed edition of the Mozarabic liturgy in Toledo in 1500 and a Mozarabic book of hours from 1502, specifically in the organization of morning and evening prayer.3 Today in Lambeth Palace library it is possible to find two copies of these books with marginal notes by Cramner. It is very clear that when he condensed the seven hours of the Roman Breviary into morning and evening prayer he was inspired the Mozarabic rite.4

7Given this subtle Spanish influence on the Book of Common Prayer, perhaps it was not entirely unfathomable that an indigenous form of Anglicanism eventually took hold in Spain centuries later. Seen in this historical perspective, Spanish Anglicanism, which has claimed the Mozarabic liturgical heritage, is not such an odd leap as people might at first think.

Spanish translations of the Book of Common Prayer

8Long before the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church was founded, Anglican liturgy was not entirely unknown in the Spanish world thanks to several Spanish translations of the Prayer Book, some of which were actually used for worship.

  • 5 For more on Tomas Carrascón, see William McFadden, Fernando Texeda: Complete Analysis of his Work, (...)

9Tomás Carrascón (also known by the nom de plume that he used, Fernando de Texeda) made the first complete Spanish translation of The Book of Common Prayer in the 17th century.5 Carrascón was a Spaniard living in exile who fled the Spanish Inquisition and found religious freedom in 17th century England. He was a friend of King James I and other influential members of the English court. He enjoyed the protection of John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln and Keeper of the Great Seal, who asked him to translate the English liturgy into Spanish. It may have been thanks to this work that he was appointed canon of Hereford cathedral.

  • 6 Gregorio Marañón, El Conde-Duque de Olivares. La pasión de mandar (Madrid, 1946), 54.

10A fascinating book by Dr. Gregorio Marañón explains how the first Spanish edition saw the light of day.6 The story is noteworthy since it led to the first ever translation of The Book of Common Prayer into Spanish. When James I’s son, Charles Stuart, prince of Wales, and princess Mary, sister of King Philip I of Spain were engaged to be married, James asked for a translation of the prayer book so that Spanish courtiers could understand the catholic doctrine of the church of England.

  • 7 At the same time as Carrascón was asked to produce his Spanish translation, a French-speaking Angli (...)

11The marriage never took place. This may have been due to the religious intransigence of the duke of Olivares, a close and powerful confidant of King Philip, as well as to the prejudices of the Spanish Counter Reformation. The prince of Wales turned up in Madrid without any fanfare, accompanied solely by the duke of Buckingham, wishing to meet the Spanish princess. The straight-talking Mary saw him as no more than a heretic and proceeded to cross herself in his presence in case she were spiritually damaged. Thus spurned, the prince of Wales returned home, laden with gifts and humiliated both politically and romantically.7

  • 8 Liturgia Inglesa o Libro del rezado publico, de la administracion de los Sacramentos, y otros Ritos (...)

12The first Spanish translation of the Prayer Book in 1623 was based on the English edition approved by Queen Elisabeth in 1559 with the changes authorised by James I in 1604, followed by a translation of the book of psalms.8 The Spanish used by the translator is particularly old-fashioned and severe. For instance, he uses “threat” to render “warning”. The Spanish text also contains a large number of spelling mistakes and omissions. He sometimes throws in articles and prepositions that are absent from the English text or adds words that the original text does not warrant. The text may have been published in a rush and the draft may not have been checked through properly. Also, the font and typesetting do not make its reading any easier.

Second and third edition of the Book of Common Prayer in Spanish in the 18th century

  • 9 Liturgia ynglesa, o El libro de oracion commun y administracion de los sacramentos, segun el uso de (...)
  • 10 El Nuevo Testamento de Nuestro Senor Jesu Christo, nuevamente sacado á luz, corregido y revisto por (...)

13The second edition of The Book of Common Prayer in Spanish9, printed by Félix Antonio de Alvarado of Seville in 1707, basically came about as a result of the revision of the prayer book in 1662, which made it necessary to update Tomás Carrascón’s previous Spanish translation. The second edition was intended for small groups of Spanish-speaking Anglicans in London and Amsterdam, which brought together Spanish religious exiles and British merchants who traded with Spain and wanted to brush up their Spanish.10

  • 11 Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo, Historia de los heterodoxos españoles (Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores C (...)

14Félix Antonio de Alvarado translated and revised this new edition of the prayer book. He had gone to England in exile on conscientious grounds where he publicly recanted his Roman Catholicism and joined the above-mentioned Spanish-speaking community, founded by Lord Stanhope on his return from seven years living in Spain.11 Alvarado eventually became an Anglican minister of this congregation although, to make ends meet, he did spend some of his time making translations paid for by the Quakers.

15This edition features an extremely interesting prologue where the translator explains to the reader that the first edition had become exceedingly scarce and also that it contained a number of mistakes typical of its era, as well as printing errors. The author points out that in addition to the reforms ushered in by the religious authorities he has significantly updated the language, style, structure and spelling. He ends by pointing out that there are three different translations of the Lord’s prayer, so individual worshippers can pick the version they prefer for private prayer. He stipulates that in public worship in Spanish churches, ministers should always use the same version, the one thought to be most faithful to the original Greek. Following the 1662 English version, this volume differs from the original Spanish translation as it introduces prayer sequences to be used at sea or for ordinations. This newer version cuts out all the archaic language and is far more readable and stylish than its predecessor.

  • 12 La liturgia ynglesa, o El libro de la oracion comun y administracion de los sacramentos, segun el u (...)

16Eight years later this edition was out of print. Alvarado reprinted it in London in 1715 with London’s sizeable Spanish exile population in mind.12 Most of the changes to this edition are corrections of errata from the 1707 version, for instance amending an article or a letter here and there where they led to confusion, i.e. “ovejas” (sheep) instead of “orejas” (ears). Spanish spelling was also modernised: “parroquia” instead of “parrochia” (parish) o “catecismo” for “catechismo”. It is obvious that Alvarado read widely in Spanish and was up to speed with the latest changes in grammar and spelling back home and the way the language was evolving.

17The most striking change in this version is Alvarado’s new prologue: “Exhortation to all the faithful of the Spanish nation who wish to bring forward the kingdom of Christ to read Holy Scripture”. This sentence clearly highlights the aims of the editor and translator. The prologue begins by praising Holy Scripture and urging the reader to read it, with biblical quotations, calling on the church councils and fathers who had supported reading Holy Scripture, focusing specifically on St John Chrysostom, quoting extensively from his sermon on Lazarus.

18He argues for the historical importance of translating Holy Scripture, referring to a number of ancient and modern translations. Clearly, the insistence on translation and access to Scripture in the prologue was related to the overriding ambition of this version, namely to spark reform within the Spanish church by circulating the prayer book widely.

Other editions of the Book of Common Prayer in Spanish in the 19th and 20th centuries

19New Spanish versions came out throughout the 19th century, usually as propaganda to promote reform in the Spanish and Latin American churches.

20The historical context of the first half of the 19th century favoured regular new editions of the prayer book in Spanish. The Napoleonic invasion of the Iberian peninsula and the Anglo-Spanish Alliance against the French saw the stock of the United Kingdom, its ways and traditions, rise in Spanish eyes. This was a time of great cultural upheaval. The Duke of Wellington became a national hero and received the titles of duke of Ciudad Rodrigo and viscount of Talavera in 1812. Henceforward there would be growing numbers of Spanish religious exiles in England. The lack of religious freedom in Spain was one reason why so many editions of the prayer book were produced both for Spanish-speaking communities in England and with a view to circulating them in Spain.

  • 13 Mariano Méndez Bejarano, “Vida y obras de D. José Maria Blanco y Crespo, Revista de Archivos, Bbli (...)

21The first reissue in the 19th century was the work of the well-known Spanish writer Joseph Blanco White (José Maria Blanco y Crespo), who was exiled in London. Blanco White, a former Roman Catholic priest, had risen to great heights within the church but had then lost his faith. In the early 1810s he was exiled in England for political reasons, being a liberal when Fernando VII had just ascended to the throne looking to restore absolutism. His language skills were such that he was considered bilingual in English and Spanish. His love of literature got him a professorship in English literature at Oxford University. Contact with the Anglican Church helped him recover his faith and on 19 March 1814 he became a priest of the Church of England. Bejarano tells us that in 1821 Blanco White began writing his renowned Letters from Spain. In 1822 he agreed to translate the prayer book into Spanish pro bono for the editor Mr. Bagster, who planned to send copies to Spain and South America as propaganda. It came out in London in 1823, without a printing date.13

  • 14 The book of common Prayer, And Administration of the sacraments, And other Rites and Ceremonies acc (...)

22This version is very different from the previous ones, as regards both the length and quality of the text.14 It became the reference point for all future editions of the prayer book in the 19th century. The translator uses modern print and punctuation. The language of the prayers is more vibrant. The rubrics, in italics, are clearer. There was a reprint in London in 1836, for which Mr. Bagster may have been responsible.

  • 15 Liturgia anglicana o libro de oración común, y administración de los sacramentos, y otros ritos y c (...)

23In 1837 the Church of England’s Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) brought out a new, larger edition for publication in Spain. The main point of interest is that it uses Catholic bishop Romano Félix Torres Amat’s Spanish version of the Bible, which the SPCK had published, as a way to win over Spanish readers.15

  • 16 Common Prayer Book and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Chur (...)

24In 1839 the SPCK issued a new version with two different covers. One is identical to its predecessor (except for the change in the publication date). The other has a different cover.16 The reason for this second false cover was so that the Spanish authorities would not confiscate the book. Censorship was still rife in Spain.

  • 17 Liturgia anglicana, ó libro de la oracion común, y administración de los Sacramentos, y otros ritos (...)
  • 18 Informe de la Iglesia de Inglaterra, su fe y culto (London: Hatchard and Co., [1866]).
  • 19 The cover is identical to the previous edition of 1864, except for its last three lines: Oxford: Un (...)

25In 1864 the prayer book was reissued in Spain. Although it does not say so, the SPCK must have footed the bill as it had done in the past.17 Around the same time, the prayer book was sent, along with a selection of liturgical texts, to members of the Spanish Parliament, under the title “Church of England Report” clearly from the same publisher but lacking a printing date.18 This delightful little work has a concise six-page prologue highlighting the catholicity of the Church of England’s liturgy and the publication’s educational aims, i.e. promoting reform in “other” churches. After the prologue come basic texts: the Apostles’ creed, the Lord’s prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Nicene creed, a selection of liturgical texts from the ordinal, a few questions from the examination of ordinands, the Te Deum, the collect for Pentecost and the tenth nona after Trinity, confession and absolution, the collect prior to Easter Sunday, the collect for the Easter Vigil and Good Friday, the consecration canon with the relevant subheadings and exhortations to those taking communion. The end of the book features the formulation for consecrating bishops, with long and detailed explanations. In 1869 and again in 1876 the SPCK reprinted the prayer book in Spanish at the Oxford University Press.19

26These translations did not of course spur on reforms in Catholic Spain and their use was mainly limited to groups of exiles. It was the progress of religious freedom in Spain at the end of the 19th century, combined with reaction to the First Vatican Council that allowed the rise of a minority church that looked up to the Anglican Church for inspiration. But interestingly, although direct Anglican liturgical influence can be seen, it was much more the Church of England as a model for both reclaiming and reforming the national past that flamed the imagination of the founders of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church. This led to the publication of a Spanish prayer book which leaned on Anglican principles to resurrect the Mozarabic rite.

The Mozarabic rite and the Spanish liturgical heritage

  • 20 Nelson B. Hodgkins, “The Influence of the Mozarabic rite on the Liturgy of the Spanish Reformed Epi (...)

27The Mozarabic liturgy has been studied several times in relationship with the liturgy of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church.20 This liturgy was the national expression of orthodox Christianity which evolved from the 4th to the 11th century in Spain. Through the years it borrowed from diverse sources to make worship meaningful to the Spanish people.

28The term Mozarabic means “Christians living among Arabs.” The term began to be used after 711 when the Moors conquered the Iberian peninsula and then this adjective was later applied to this liturgical rite. Prior to that, it was called the Hispanic rite or Visigothic rite.

  • 21 There exist various sources on this subject, I recommend a book recently translated into English, R (...)

29No one specific date can be established as the date when the Mozarabic rite came into being. Claims have been made that this was the form of Christian worship brought to Spain by the Apostles, or borrowed from North Africa, or brought from the East by the chaplains to the Imperial troops who occupied parts of Spain from 554 until 629, or written by St. Isidore. 21

  • 22 Archdale King, Liturgies of the Primatial Sees (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1957), 23.

30St. Isidore, Bishop of Seville, describes the Spanish liturgy, including the “Seven Prayers of the Faithful” in his 7th century De ecclesisticis officiis. He and Leander (Archbishop of Seville, 600) and Hildefonsus (Bishop of Toledo, 667) may be considered to be the three most important people who brought the Spanish liturgy to its height in the 7th century. Scholars believe that they were not originators of a new rite, but enriched an old national rite which had been passed down to them.22

31Perhaps some of the confusion is due to the unstable political situation which existed in Spain from the 4th to the 11th centuries. Not only was what we now call Spain broken up into small kingdoms, but invasion and occupation first by the Visigoths and then by the Moors changed the whole way of life.

  • 23 Jordi Pinell, “El Problema de las dos tradiciones del antiguo rito hispánico. Valoracion documental (...)

32In the 4th century, Christianity was the dominant religion in Spain, but the same rite was not used in the various dioceses.23

33In the 5th century the Visigoths invaded and occupied Spain, bringing with them their Arian Christianity. We can imagine that there was hostility between the two interpretations of Christianity, but this was resolved in the 6th century when King Recared accepted the Trinitarian faith.

34In 711 the Moors had conquered almost all of Spain and occupied it until 1085 when they were driven out of Toledo. Some might think that a country overrun by Moslems would be unable to practice Christianity — the great Christian centers of North Africa disappeared under this rule — yet this was not true of Spain. The use of the Mozarabic rite was permitted continuously in the land occupied by the Moors. However, the Church was in crisis and this resulted in three centuries of decadent church practice. This spelled the end of the rite.

35The six main books used in the Mozarabic rite were the Liber Missarum which was like the Roman Sacramentary and contained prayers for all Masses, the Liber Antiphonarum which contained the music of all antiphons and responses. The Liber Orationum which had collects for all the services but the Mass, the Liber Ordinum which contained the occasional offices, votive Masses, the Psalter, and the Liber Comicus which contained the canticles and Scripture lesson.

36The Mozarabic rite influenced the Gallican liturgy and through it probably the church in Northern Italy. It may also have had some effect on the English and Scottish churches by way of the Celtic liturgy. The Gallican and Celtic liturgies were also widespread but in today´s world they are almost museum pieces. And so would be the Mozarabic liturgy had it not been for the effort of Cardinal Francisco Ximenes de Cisneros, Archbishop of Toledo.

  • 24 Recently the Bishop´s Conference of the Spanish Roman Catholic Church has published a new order of (...)

37In the late 15th century he collected all the Mozarabic manuscripts available. He commissioned Alfonzo Ortiz and three Mozarabic priests to prepare these manuscripts for printing. In 1500 a Missal was printed and in 1502 a breviary. A permanent chapel (the Corpus Christi chapel) was set aside in the Cathedral of Toledo for the celebration of the Mozarabic liturgy, and a group of chaplains appointed. This has continued to this day. However this is now little more than a daily performance, for no one is able to receive communion there anymore. The chapel is not even a tourist attraction because few tourists know what is going on there.24

  • 25 The Mozarabic rite was prohibited by Pope Gregory VII in a letter to King of Spain, Alfonso VI of L (...)

38But the fact is that in the minds of many in the world of the church, both Catholic and Protestant, there is still a fondness for the national Mozarabic rite and many Spaniards regret its suppression.25

39When in the mid-19th century a group of Spanish clergy and people broke away from the Church of Rome, many over the issues of the infallibility of the Pope, it was natural that they should think of reclaiming their religious heritage connected to this rite.

The Prayer Book of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church

  • 26 Reseña de la Instalacion del Consistorio Central de la Iglesia Española Reformada. 1868 (Gibraltar, (...)

40Religious freedom, even in the broadest sense, was unknown in Spain until 1868 when Queen Isabella was deposed. Before this, a number of Roman Catholic priests, who had left that church over disagreements with some of its doctrines had found refuge in Gibraltar. They formed the Spanish Reformed Church in 1868 and established a central board to govern it.26

  • 27 Liturgia Española (Sevilla: De Gironés y Orduña, 1871). This small booklet contains the general con (...)

41These priests found many people in Spain who shared their dissatisfaction, particularly after the proclamation of the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope in 1870. Two of these priests, the Rev. Francisco Palomares and the Rev. J.B. Cabrera had become familiar with Anglican doctrine and with the Prayer Book while in exile in Gibraltar. Palomares in Seville and Cabrera in Madrid founded “reformed” congregations based on the Anglican form of worship. With the help of the Anglican Chaplain to the British Embassy, Palomares was able to buy the Church of San Basilio at Seville which had been confiscated by the government. There, in June 1871, the first public service of the “Reformed Spanish Church” was held. It was a Prayer Book service and Rev. Palomares preached.27

42A proposal by the seven “Reformed” churches in Spain and Portugal seeking an alliance with the Anglican Communion was presented to the 1876 Lambeth Conference. The Conference recognized the suffering of their Spanish and Portuguese brethren, but felt the best solution was to give the Bishop of “the Valley of Mexico” jurisdiction over these churches. At the time, Mexico had just become a part of the Episcopal Church, and no bishop had been elected yet.

43In 1879, the Right Rev. H.C. Riley was consecrated bishop of Mexico, and in 1880, he presided over the first synod of the “Reformed” Church. He confirmed over one hundred people and ordained one priest on that occasion.

44At the synod, the Rev. Cabrera was chosen as Bishop-elect of the Spanish Reformed Church, but he was not consecrated for fourteen years. This man was to be the greatest influence, the very “spirit” of the Church in his forty years of ministry.

  • 28 Frederick Douglas How, William Conyngham Plunket: Fourth Baron Plunket and Sixty-first Archbishop o (...)

45Another figure expressed lasting interest and had lasting influence: Lord Plunket, then Bishop of Meath, later Archbishop of Dublin.28 As early as 1879 he was working with the Spanish and Portuguese Churches, supporting them financially and making frequent visits for confirmations and ordinations until his death some twenty years later. He was the founder of the “Spanish and Portuguese Church Aid Society,” which to this day prints prayer books, maintains churches, supports seminarians and supplements clergy income.

46In the early 1890s Archbishop Plunket, with the approval of the Archbishop of Canterbury, arranged for these two churches to come under the jurisdiction of the disestablished Church of Ireland. Since the “Reformed” Church did not have three bishops, the provision was that there be set up a “Provisional Council of Irish Bishops” (originally Archbishop Plunket, and Bishops Stack of Clogher and Welland of Down) who would supervise the work of these churches.

47Without the written consent of this Council there could be no election or consecration of a bishop, and no change in doctrine, formularies, or discipline of the Church. This provision prevails to this day.

48The Council received permission from the Irish House of Bishops to consecrate Rev. J. B. Cabrera as the first bishop of the “Reformed” Churches. He was consecrated on September 23rd, 1894, in Madrid and was active until his death in 1916.

  • 29 Oficios Divinos y Administración de los Sacramentos y Otras Ordenanzas en la Iglesia Española (Madr (...)

49Bishop Cabrera was a capable liturgical editor and was the guiding force behind the first Prayer Book used by the Spanish Reformed Church. This book was first published in 1881 and was then approved with some modification by the Synod of 1889 and is essentially the same as the Prayer Book in use in Spain today.29

50It contained a wealth of material from the ancient Mozarabic liturgy since Bishop Cabrera felt that this major expression of their liturgical heritage should be revived. This liturgy was officially considered a museum piece as far as the Roman Catholic Church was concerned, but it still lived in the hearts of the members of the Spanish Episcopal Church.

  • 30 Charles R. Hale, Mozarabic Liturgy and The Mexican Branch of the Catholic Church of Our Lord Jesus (...)

51The work of the Rev. Charles R. Hale, later Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts, helped considerably to revive the Mozarabic heritage. Bishop Hale had been doing extensive research on the Mozarabic rite and had prepared a form of service for Holy Communion, assembling a multitude of collects and other variable prayers, and a Baptismal Office, all from Mozarabic sources.30

  • 31 Oficios Provisionales de la Iglesia Episcopal Mexicana o Iglesia de Jesus (Mexico: T. Gonzalez Suce (...)

52The reason he had made this study was that the Reformed Mexican Church had asked to become part of the Episcopal Church and desired a liturgy which would incorporate elements of their Spanish liturgical heritage in it. The Church of Jesus in the Valleys of Mexico (Iglesia de Jesus en los Valles de Mexico) like the Spanish Episcopal Church was an indigenous movement formed by former Roman Catholic priests. They followed the Anglican model of ‘Catholic but not Roman.’ They welcomed Bishop Hale’s scholarly work and the result was a Book of Common Prayer printed in 1901.31 Hale’s influence on Cabrera’s Prayer Book was considerable.

53The available Mozarabic sources did not yield a complete set of offices, so in order to have a complete Prayer Book, Bishop Cabrera was forced to include material from other sources, and he wrote parts of it himself.

54The content of the present Prayer Book is overwhelmingly traditional Mozarabic, with a small portion of Mozarabic sources derived from Hale’s work and material written by Cabrera. The rest is to be traced back to Anglican sources (including the Irish Prayer Book which contained some Mozarabic influence), the Swiss liturgy, the Roman liturgy, the Lusitanian (Portuguese) Prayer Book, and Irvingite (Catholic Apostolic Church) material. About half of the wording of Morning and Evening Prayer, the confirmation service and the marriage liturgy have been borrowed from The Book of Common Prayer. “The Prayers to be used at Sea” is taken completely from The Book of Common Prayer. For a book containing this multitude of sources it is very well edited and none of the material seems out of place with the other sources.

55Since 1889 there have been two revisions of the Prayer Book. The first was in 1906 when additions were made to the two Offices for Baptism, and the Offices for the Ordination of Presbyters and the Consecration of Bishops were added. The second revision in 1952 provided shortened forms of several offices, notably the Communion Office, which was accepted provisionally by the Synod. Also at that time an experiment was made with a new lectionary based on the Church Year, arranged so that the lessons of special importance fall on Sundays. The Committee on Revision was careful to preserve the essential character of the 1889 book.

56The Mozarabic Mass contained nineteen variable parts, some of which changed each day, others changed with the seasons of the church year. The Spanish Communion Service has reduced the number of variables to nine, with only the three lessons, the sermon, and the collect changing every day. The other variable parts change according to the liturgical season and can take from eight to seventeen different forms.

  • 32 One for each of the following seasons: Advent, from Christmas to Septuagesima, from Septuagesima to (...)

57The eight Introits are all taken from Bishop Hale´s order of service, which he gleaned from Mozarabic sources. 32

  • 33 Advent, from Christmas to New Year, from New Year to Epiphany, the Feat of Epiphany, after Epiphany (...)

58The seventeen different Laudas (portion of the psalms that is sung after the Gospel, followed by hallelujahs) are all Mozarabic and change according to the season.33 They change for the following times: during advent, from Christmas to New Year, from New Year to Epiphany, the Feat of Epiphany, after Epiphany until Septuagesima, from Septuagesima to Lent, during Lent, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, after Easter until Ascension, from Ascension until Pentecost, from Pentecost to Trinity, Trinity Sunday, after Trinity until Advent, on Days of Supplication, on days of Thanksgiving.

59Fifty-three collects for Sundays and major feasts are by Bishop Hale from Mozarabic sources. The others are either traditional Mozarabic collects for the day (2nd Sunday of Advent, Christmas, Sunday after Christmas, Circumcision [2nd Collect], Easter [2nd Collect], Ascension, Pentecost [2nd Collect], Trinity Sunday [2nd Collect], Last Sunday after Trinity), or collects adapted from both Mozarabic and Anglican sources (Epiphany [1st Collect]) or borrowed from Anglican sources (the feast of the circumcision [1st collect] and the 6th Sunday after the Epiphany). The collect for Maundy Thursday is by Cabrera.

60The Spanish Church celebrates the same Holy Days as those in the English Book of Common Prayer and the collects for those days are all by Bishop Hale, with the exception of the collect for the Transfiguration which was composed by Bishop Cabrera.

  • 34 Advent, from Christmas to Epiphany, from Epiphany to Septuagesima, from Septuagesima to Lent, durin (...)

61The Illations, which are the equivalent of the Proper Prefaces of the Book of Common Prayer before the Sanctus, change twelve times a year and all are taken from Hale´s work on Mozarabic sources with the exception of the Illation for Holy Thursday, which is Bishop Cabrera’s composition.34 .

  • 35 Advent, from Christmas to New Year, from New Year to Epiphany, Epiphany, after Epiphany until Septu (...)

62The Blessing of the People (the first benediction) varies seventeen times within the Church Year35 and all variants are traditional Mozarabic blessings.

  • 36 One Introit contained fifty-two lines in the original!

63The Introits and the Illations have been shortened for the most part from the original Mozarabic which tended to be quite wordy.36

64The variable Lessons are with few exceptions the traditional Mozarabic lessons for the day. While the Psalm also changes every day in the Mozarabic, the Spanish service now uses the first five verses of Psalm 106 at every celebration.

The Communion service

65In comparing the Spanish Communion service and the Mozarabic Mass, some differences can be noted. A number of them can be attributed to the desire to return to a Mozarabic use, rid of Roman influences. This is the case for the Confession and Absolution which, in the Spanish Communion service follows the Remembrance of the Faithful Dead, before the Illation. This is a restoration to the proper position of the early Mozarabic Mass. Cardinal Cisneros’s Mass shows the later position at the beginning of the Office, which was made to conform with the Roman Mass.

66Through Roman influence, a second commemoration of the living and the dead crept into the Mozarabic Liturgy but the Spanish prayer book has reverted to a single commemoration immediately after the Offertory section.

67While the unique fraction ritual of the Mozarabic rite in which the bread is broken into nine pieces (one each for: the Incarnation, the Nativity, the Circumcision, the Apparition, the Passion, the Death, the Resurrection, the Glory, and the Kingdom) and arranged symbolically on the paten in the form of a Cross with two pieces at the side has been omitted from the text of the Spanish liturgy, it is in fact practiced by most Reformed Episcopal priests when the congregation starts to sing the anthem “Gustad y Ved.” (“Taste and See”).

  • 37 The only other changes that I could identify concern the Mozarabic collect and the Missia and Alia (...)
  • 38 Simplification may also be behind the move to avoid too many double endings on prayers — a noted ch (...)

68The structure of the two services is essentially the same and probably 75% of the content is the same (with minor changes of wording and abbreviations).37 The nineteen variables have been reduced to nine which seems to be a good move. The Mozarabic Mass was difficult for the faithful to follow, not just because it was in Latin, but because it was practically a new Mass every time they attended.38

Conclusion

69The story of Anglican liturgy in the Spanish world is one which started as a history of exile and dissent in a context of Roman Catholic hegemony. When a measure of religious freedom was given in late 19th century Spain, it then turned into a history of bringing back to life a forgotten national liturgical tradition. This endeavour, however, might have been short-lived because of the great difficulties that the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church encountered in the years of the Franco regime. Churches were destroyed. The number of clergy went down to four at one point. At the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, every “Reformed” Church had a school for its children. These were all closed by the government. Marriage outside the Roman Catholic Church was illegal. Civil ceremonies took months or years to process and getting approval was difficult for Protestant churches. Despite their marginalization, however, Spanish Episcopalians kept their faith.

70With the death of General Franco in 1975, Spain entered into a period of democracy and religious freedom. In 1980, the two “Reformed” churches of Spain and Portugal became fully integrated into the Anglican Communion as extra-provincial jurisdictions under the care of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

  • 39 One of the best sources for more information about the Spanish Reformed Episcopal church is Francis (...)

71Today the church is well established all around Spain and it is possible to find an Anglican community in all major cities. The Church runs several social programs and projects. It maintains good relations with the Roman Catholic Church and has an official agreement with the State.39 Spanish Episcopalians are now once more making the Mozarabic liturgy a living rite, thriving in the midst of their nation. Their story may send an important message to the Anglican Communion if it wishes to grow in those parts of the world where English is not the dominant language.

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Notes

1 Francisco Quiñones,. Breviarium Romanum ex Sacra potissimum Scriptura et probatis sanctorum historiis collectum et concinnatum. Rome,1535. More generally on the influence of Quiñones on the first Books of Common Prayer, see Diarmaid MacCulloch, Cranmer (London/New Haven : Yale University Press, 1996), 222, 224-5; Geoffrey Cuming, The Godly Order: Texts and Studies relating to the Book of Common Prayer (London: Alcuin Club/ SPCK, 1983), 2-7, 62; Bryan D. Spinks, “Treasures Old and New: A Look at Some of Thomas Cranmer’s Methods of Liturgical Compilation”, in Thomas Cranmer: Churchman and Scholar, ed. Paul Ayris and David Selwyn (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1993), 177 and Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of its offices (London : Macmillan, 1902), esp. 34, 309, 341-3, 355, 369.

2 Geoffrey Curtis, “Espiritualidad Anglicana”, Dialogo Ecumenico no. 16 (1969): 501.

3 Breviarium Secundum Regulam Beati Isidori (Toledo: A. Ortiz, 1502).

4 In the Mozarabic rite there is a service specifically for clergy and people in cathedrals that condensed all the canonical hours into two offices, morning and evening. On the influence of the Mozarabic rite, see Procter Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, op.cit, 571-2 and Diarmaid MacCulloch, Cranmer, op.cit., 415

5 For more on Tomas Carrascón, see William McFadden, Fernando Texeda: Complete Analysis of his Work, together With a Study of his Stay in England (1621-1631), unpublished M.A. thesis, Queen´s University, Belfast, 1933, and Rafael Carasatorre Vidaurre, “El reformista español conocido como Fernando Tejeda responde al nombre real del navarro Tomás Carrascón de las Cortes y Medrano”, Príncipe de Viana Año 64 no. 229 (2003): 373-391.

6 Gregorio Marañón, El Conde-Duque de Olivares. La pasión de mandar (Madrid, 1946), 54.

7 At the same time as Carrascón was asked to produce his Spanish translation, a French-speaking Anglican minister, Dlau, was asked to do a French version, in case the prince married the French princess, Henrietta Maria, which he did eventually.

8 Liturgia Inglesa o Libro del rezado publico, de la administracion de los Sacramentos, y otros Ritos y ceremonias de la Iglesia de Ingalaterra, trans. Fernando de Texeda, 1623. Amongst the three copies held in the Biblioteca Nacional de Espana is a copy of particular interest (shelfmark : U/7576). Bound in English-style leather and bearing the golden seal of the library of its former owner, Lord Keeper; it subsequently belonged to Luis Usoz y Río, who donated it to the national library. A strange figure in Roman numerals appears on the cover as a print date, it is thought to be a printing error or an attempt to cover up the date for the benefit of the Spanish authorities, as suggested by Wiffen to Luis Usoz y Ríos, in a letter included in the volume at the national library.

9 Liturgia ynglesa, o El libro de oracion commun y administracion de los sacramentos, segun el uso de la Yglesia de Inglaterra, hispanizado por D. Felix Anthony de Alvarado, trans. Felix Anthony de Alvaredo (London: G. Bowyer, 1707).

10 El Nuevo Testamento de Nuestro Senor Jesu Christo, nuevamente sacado á luz, corregido y revisto por Sebastian de la Enzina, trans. Sebastian de la Enzina (Amsterdam: Jacob Borstio, 1718).

11 Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo, Historia de los heterodoxos españoles (Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 1935), vol. 2, 398. The first volume of this book has been published in English, A History of the Spanish Heterodox, trans. Eladia Gómez-Posthill (London: Saint Austin Press, 2009).

12 La liturgia ynglesa, o El libro de la oracion comun y administracion de los sacramentos, segun el uso de la Yglesia Anglicana, hispanizado por D. Felix de Alvarado, trans. Felix Anthony de Alvaredo (London: G. Bowyer, 1715).

13 Mariano Méndez Bejarano, “Vida y obras de D. José Maria Blanco y Crespo, Revista de Archivos, Bbliotecas y Museos (Madrid, 1920), 437.

14 The book of common Prayer, And Administration of the sacraments, And other Rites and Ceremonies according to the use of the United Church of England and Ireland: together with the psalter, or psalms of David in eight languages ... : to which are added the service at the convocation of the clergy ... with tirty-nine articles of religion, London: Samuel Bagster, 1821 OR 1825. I Could not find the 1823 edition

15 Liturgia anglicana o libro de oración común, y administración de los sacramentos, y otros ritos y ceremonias de la Iglesia, según el uso de la Iglesia de Inglaterra Irlanda: juntamente con el Salterio o salmos de David y la fórmula de la consagración, ordenación, e institución de los obispos, presbíteros y diaconos, Nueva ed. corr. y rev. por la Sociedad para Promover el Conocimiento Cristiano (Londres: impresso por Ricardo Clay, 1837).

16 Common Prayer Book and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, According to the Practice of the Church of England and Ireland: along with the Psalms of David (Seville: National Print Works, 1839).

17 Liturgia anglicana, ó libro de la oracion común, y administración de los Sacramentos, y otros ritos y ceremonias de la Iglesia : según el uso de la Iglesia de Inglaterra é Irlanda, juntamente con el Salterio o Salmos de David, puntuados según se han de cantar o rezar en las Iglesias ; y la fórmula de la consagracion, ordenación e institutción de los obispos presbíteros y diáconos Londres: Impreso por G.M.Wats, 1864.

18 Informe de la Iglesia de Inglaterra, su fe y culto (London: Hatchard and Co., [1866]).

19 The cover is identical to the previous edition of 1864, except for its last three lines: Oxford: University Press. 1869 and the back cover reads: Printed For the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge At The Clarendon Press, Oxford.

20 Nelson B. Hodgkins, “The Influence of the Mozarabic rite on the Liturgy of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church”, manuscript (Alexandria, Virginia: Virginia Theological Seminary, 1959); Charles Hale, Mozarabic Collects Translated and Arranged from the Ancient Liturgy of the Spanish Church (New York: James Pott, 1881). The introduction to the translation of the 1889 Spanish prayer book in The Revised Prayer Book of the Reformed Spanish Church, as authorized by the Synod of that Church on May 1889, Translated by R. S. C. with an introduction by the Most Rev. Lord Plunkett, Archbishop of Dublin, 2nd edition (Dublin: Alex Thom & Co., 1894), iii-xxviii.

21 There exist various sources on this subject, I recommend a book recently translated into English, Raúl Gómez-Ruiz, SDS, Mozarabs, Hispanics and the Cross (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2007), 10-26.

22 Archdale King, Liturgies of the Primatial Sees (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1957), 23.

23 Jordi Pinell, “El Problema de las dos tradiciones del antiguo rito hispánico. Valoracion documental de la tradición B, en vistas a una eventual revisión del ordinario de la Misa Mozarabe,” Liturgia y musica mozarabes: Ponencias y comunicaciones presentadas al I Congreso Internacional de Estudios Mozarabes, Toledo, 1975 (Toledo: Instituto de Estudios Visigotico-Mozarabes de San Eugenio, 1978), 3-44.

24 Recently the Bishop´s Conference of the Spanish Roman Catholic Church has published a new order of liturgy to be used for the small Mozarabic community in Toledo: Missale Hispano-Mozarabicum, Ordo Missae (Barcolona: Coeditores Litúrgico, 1991).

25 The Mozarabic rite was prohibited by Pope Gregory VII in a letter to King of Spain, Alfonso VI of Leon and Sancho V of Navarra in the year of 1074. But Spaniards in the 11th Century thought of the Roman rite as foreign and unfamiliar.

26 Reseña de la Instalacion del Consistorio Central de la Iglesia Española Reformada. 1868 (Gibraltar, 1868).

27 Liturgia Española (Sevilla: De Gironés y Orduña, 1871). This small booklet contains the general confession, the creed, the litany and some prayers and psalms from The Book of Common Prayer and the Mozarabic liturgy to be used for Morning Prayer.

28 Frederick Douglas How, William Conyngham Plunket: Fourth Baron Plunket and Sixty-first Archbishop of Dublin, A Memoir (London: Isbister, 1900).

29 Oficios Divinos y Administración de los Sacramentos y Otras Ordenanzas en la Iglesia Española (Madrid: J. Cruzado, 1881) and Oficios Divinos y Administración de los Sacramentos y Otros Ritos en la Iglesia Española Reformada (Madrid: J. Cruzado, 1889). .

30 Charles R. Hale, Mozarabic Liturgy and The Mexican Branch of the Catholic Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ Militant Upon Earth, a Liturgical Study (Newark, N.J.: privately printed, 1876).

31 Oficios Provisionales de la Iglesia Episcopal Mexicana o Iglesia de Jesus (Mexico: T. Gonzalez Sucesores, 1894). There is another printed edition from 1901 with more prayers, variations and alternatives (published by El Siglo XIX). This book followed more or less the printed edition of the Spanish Episcopal church of 1889 with some variations, notably the inclusion of some Mozarabic prayers. These were unfortunately eliminated when the church was absorbed into the Episcopal Church of the United States. One of the conditions was to eliminate their existing liturgy and accept the Spanish translation of the American Book of Common Prayer.

32 One for each of the following seasons: Advent, from Christmas to Septuagesima, from Septuagesima to Lent, Lent, from Easter to Ascension, from Ascension to Pentecost, from Pentecost to Trinity, from Trinity to Advent.

33 Advent, from Christmas to New Year, from New Year to Epiphany, the Feat of Epiphany, after Epiphany until Septuagesima, from Septuagesima to Lent, Lent, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, after Easter until Ascension, from Ascension to Pentecost, from Pentecost to Trinity, Trinity Sunday, after Trinity until Advent, on days of Supplication, on days of Thanksgiving.

34 Advent, from Christmas to Epiphany, from Epiphany to Septuagesima, from Septuagesima to Lent, during Lent, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, from Easter to Ascension, from Ascension to Pentecost, from Pentecost to Trinity, Trinity Sunday, from Trinity to Advent.

35 Advent, from Christmas to New Year, from New Year to Epiphany, Epiphany, after Epiphany until Septuagesima, from Septuagesima to Lent, Lent, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, after Easter until Ascension, from Ascension until Pentecost, from Pentecost until trinity, Trinity Sunday, after Trinity until Advent, on days of Supplication, on days of Thanksgiving.

36 One Introit contained fifty-two lines in the original!

37 The only other changes that I could identify concern the Mozarabic collect and the Missia and Alia Oratio. The Mozarabic collect is traditionally found in either of two places: after the Sacrificium or at the beginning of the service. The Spanish Church has placed it in yet another position, before the Prayer for Peace. The reason for this I have not been able to discover, so I will have to be satisfied by simply mentioning it. In the Mozarabic, the Missa and Alia Oratio are really one prayer with two parts: the first addressed to the people and the second to God. In the Spanish Church they have been reversed, but this seems unimportant to me since the two parts are still discernable.

38 Simplification may also be behind the move to avoid too many double endings on prayers — a noted characteristic of the Mozarabic rite — at the conclusion of petitions especially where the choir responds “Amen,” and also when the celebrant says the Doxology and again when the choir responds with “Amen.” This occurs only twice in the Communion Office but more often in the Morning and Evening Offices of the Spanish book.

39 One of the best sources for more information about the Spanish Reformed Episcopal church is Francisco Serrano Álvarez, Contra Vientos y Mareas,, Barcelona,: CLIE, 2000.

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References

Electronic reference

Don Carlos López-Lozano, The Anglican Contribution to Spanish Liturgical Life: Spanish Translations of the Book of Common Prayer and the liturgy of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal ChurchRevue Française de Civilisation Britannique [Online], XXII-1 | 2017, Online since 02 May 2017, connection on 28 March 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/1250; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/rfcb.1250

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About the author

Don Carlos López-Lozano

Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church

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