THE ORDER OF MELCHISEDECH A Defence of ... - Rore Sanctifica

The background to the new Ordinal lies in the fact that Cranmer invited Martin Bucer to stay with
him for several months during the summer of 1549. Bucer's extreme Protestant views are referred to
on p. 107, and also in Cranmer's Godly Order. Among the works which Bucer brought with him
was one on ordination, De Ordinatione Legitima. Father Messenger notes that the Edwardine rite "is
inspired throughout by Bucerian ideas, and that to an enormous extent it merely paraphrases or
rather translates his Latin Lutheran rite". 3 The Rev. C. Smyth confirms from an Anglican
standpoint that "it is almost certain that the function of the
Commission was not to devise a new Ordinal, but to accept or suggest improvements to one that
had already been drawn up, presumably by Cranmer and Ridley, on the basis of a draft made by
Martin Bucer." 4
The 1550 Ordinal was revised in 1552, the principal difference being found in the service for the
ordination of a priest in which the ceremony for the delivery of the chalice and paten was removed.
Even in the 1550 rite the signification of this ceremony had been reduced to giving authority to
minister the Sacraments and not the power to offer sacrifice.
The two Ordinals were in use for about four years and were utilized for the ordination of a good
number of priests and the consecration of six bishops: Poynet, Hooper, Coverdale, Scory, Taylor,
and Harley. Another bishop, Ferrar of St. David's, had been consecrated before the issue of the 1550
Ordinal but with an amended version of the Sarum Pontifical.
MARY TUDOR
When Queen Mary ascended the throne, and a reconciliation with Rome was effected, the Pope
appointed Cardinal Pole as his legate. Among the many problems facing the Cardinal-Legate was
the problem of the priestly ordinations and episcopal consecrations which had taken place during
the schism. The clergy could, in the main, be placed in one of three categories:
1. Those who had been ordained before the schism.
2. Those ordained during the schism but according to the Pontifical.
3. Those ordained according to the new Ordinal.
With regard to the first and second classes, their ordination was certainly valid and all that was
necessary was that they should be absolved from the guilt of schism and given the Church's
authority to use the orders they had received. For this purpose dispensations would be needed but
nothing more.
With regard to the third class, the case was different. They had been ordained according to a rite
which had not been approved by the Church and their status was a matter of admitting of
considerable doubt. There were a number of possibilities, some quite technical and complex, as to
what precisely this status might be. The three most likely possibilities were:
1. The ordinations could be accepted as valid and satisfactory.
2. They could be accepted as of dubious validity and necessitate conditional reordination.
3. They could be invalid.
Cardinal Pole decided to ask for guidance from Rome before making his decision. The matter was
entrusted to Thomas Thirlby, Bishop of Ely, who left for Rome in February 1555. He had been
consecrated with the rites of the Pontifical during the reign of Henry VIII and therefore had full
knowledge of all that had taken place under both kings. He had, moreover, made a public protest
against the new Ordinal when it was introduced into the House of Lords. He carried all the relevant
documents with him, including a Latin translation of the essential parts of the Anglican Ordinal.
These documents are still filed in the Vatican archives.
On 20 June 1555, Pope Paul IV issued his Bull Praeclara Charissimi in which he ruled that "those
who have been promoted to Ecclesiastical Orders . . . by anyone but a bishop validly and lawfully
ordained are bound to receive those Orders again." The Bull was received in England and duly
promulgated, as is recorded in Cardinal Pole's register (preserved at Douai) under the date 22