Revision of the Book of Common Prayer

Timeline

1. 1550–1552London · LondonThe first Prayer Book of 1549 provoked controversy between radical Protestants and conservatives for retaining Catholic liturgical elements such as the Mass and the sacrament of the Eucharist. During the protectorates of Somerset and Northumberland in the 1550s, Cranmer and reformist councillors pushed for more thorough Protestant liturgical reform.
2. 1552Westminster · LondonParliament passed the 1552 Act of Uniformity, authorizing the second Book of Common Prayer as the sole lawful book of worship in England, with fines and imprisonment for violators, thereby imposing Protestant liturgy by law.
3. 1552–1553England · EnglandOn 1 November the new Prayer Book took effect across the Church of England, replacing 'sacrament of the body and blood' with 'Holy Communion,' simplifying vestments and rites, and incorporating the theology of the Forty-Two Articles, precursor to the Thirty-Nine Articles. The 1552 edition became an important model for the 1559 Elizabethan Prayer Book and deeply influenced Anglican liturgical tradition.