king henry viii declared himself the head of the english church.
king henry viii declared himself the head of the english church.
who declared himself the head of the english church?
king henry viii
in 1534, king henry viii separated the english church from rome. a theological separation had been foreshadowed by various movements within the english church, such as lollardy, but the english reformation gained political support when henry viii wanted an annulment of his marriage to catherine of aragon so he could marry anne boleyn. pope clement vii, considering that the earlier marriage had been entered under a papal dispensation and how catherine's nephew, emperor charles v, might react to such a move, refused the annulment. eventually, henry, although theologically opposed to protestantism, took the position of protector and supreme head of the english church and clergy to ensure the annulment of his marriage. he was excommunicated by pope paul iii.
church of england
"i have now, then, i think, sufficiently demonstrated what i undertook to prove. i have proved that the last revision and settlement in 1662 of the formularies of the english church, by which the bishops and clergy are bound, both by their ordination promises and by act of parliament, was distinctly catholic. i have proved, therefore, that the catholic-minded clergy of the english church alone are in the right, that the charge of “romanizing” and unfaithfulness to their church, so persistently brought against them because of their faithful adherence to catholic truth and practice, is a grievous slander, and that the only consistent course for their opponents to adopt—in order, if they can, to put themselves in the right—is to endeavour to get the formularies of the church altered in a “protestant” direction, and so to alter the basis on which we now stand. until this be accomplished, which god forbid! catholic-minded churchmen, and they only, truly represent the mind of the english church. all others are simply, more or less, conspirators against “the principles of the” english “reformation” in its latest, and therefore most carefully considered, development. consequently, it is obvious that the efforts so strenuously made in the present day by nominal churchmen of puritan sentiments to persecute and, if possible, put down the catholic-minded clergy of the english church, under a pretended zeal for the principles of the english reformation, wear an appearance of gross hypocrisy. puritans, ever since the first dawn of “the reformation,” have been in the church of england only on sufferance. if any are to be restrained, it must not be those clergy who loyally carry out the principles of the church which the revisers of 1662 so strenuously maintained against all attacks, but any who (although many of them holding position and preferment within the church) use their position and influence, contrary to their ordination promises, to carry out the work of the nonconformists of 1662, and undermine the reformation principles for which the revisers of 1662 contended, and which they have preserved in the formularies of the church."
richard enraght