A country without saints?
When the altars were (we are told) stripped, were the saints banished? Did the land of the reformed ecclesia Anglicana become "a country without saints"?
On this All Saints' Day, here are three reasons why this was not so.
Firstly, the landscape continued to be marked by the Saints. Hooker says of the names of the parish churches of the reformed ecclesia Anglicana, that some were named "in memorie of the trinitie it selfe, some of Christ under sundrie titles; of the blessed virgin not a fewe, manie of one Apostle Saincte or Martyr, manie of all" (LEP V.13.1). In defending this ancient practice, Hooker unfolds the significance of the landscape by marked by the names of the Saints:
because by the ministrie of Saintes it pleased God there to shaw some rare effect of his power; or els in regard of death which those Saintces havinge suffered for the testimonie of Jesus Christ did therebie make the places where they died venerable; or thirdlie for that it liked good and virtuous men to give such occasion of mentioninge them often, to the end that the naminge of theire persons might cause inquirie to be made and meditation to be had of theire virtues - LEP V.13.3.
Secondly, time continued to be shaped by the Saints. As even Duffy admits in the conclusion of The Stripping of the Altars, the liturgical calendar of the Book of Common Prayer "with its saints' days" was a way of "preserving" traditional observances. This similarly applied to the Black Letter Days in the BCP Calendar. Although no liturgical provision was made for these days, the bishops in 1661 defended their inclusion in the Calendar against Puritan criticism:
[they] are left in the Calendar, not that they should be so [as red letter days] kept as holy days, but they are useful for the preservation of their memories and for other reasons, as for leases, law days, etc.
John Donne's deeply evocative 'A Nocturnal upon St Lucy's Day' is a glorious example of this. More prosaically, we also get a sense of how time continued to be shaped by the saints in the diary of Parson Woodforde. He consistently notes dispensing charity to the children of the parish on "Valentines day", and to the poor of the parish "this being St Thomas's Day". Similarly, payment of obligations such as the poor rate were recorded from, for example, "last Lady Day to Michaelmas".
Thirdly, prayer continued to be in the company of the Saints. At Mattins, the Te Deum petitioned that we might "be numbered with thy Saints: in glory everlasting". At Evensong, the Magnificat - "or the Song of the blessed Virgin Mary" - was said or sung. At both offices, the Apostles' Creed confessed faith in "The Communion of Saints". And at the Communion, the Church militant here on earth joined "with all the company of heaven" in praise of the Holy Trinity. The "blessed company of all faithful people" shared in prayer and praise:
And whilst this universal quire,
That Church in triumph, this in warfare here,
Warm'd with one all-partaking fire
Of love ... - John Donne, 'A Litany'.
The reformed ecclesia Anglicana did not create "a country without saints". It did, in Augustinian fashion, reform the late medieval Latin cultus, moved by a concern that reverencing the Saints should not obscure the Church's Christological centre. To use a phrase from Augustine, regarding his concerns with the North African cult of the martyrs, the reformed ecclesia Anglicana celebrated the Saints in "a sober manner". With Augustinian reserve, yes, but also with an authentic, native piety, so that experience of place, time, and prayer continued to share in the communion of the Saints.
O Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord: Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys, which thou hast prepared for them that unfeignedly love thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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