Henry the VIII ("the Defender of the Faith," as named by the then-pope) merely attached his name to a Church movement that was already well underway.
The Anglican church was created (historically, and this is doubted by many) by Joseph of Aramathia and "grew up" apostolically outside the Roman Catholic church as (in part) the Celtic Church.
It only became a part of the RCC through the efforts of St. Augestine at the Synod of Whitby -- and was always a paid in the arse, with great distrust of hierarchy and its own traditions and rules (e.g., married priests, monastaries being , the occassional mass in English, etc.).
The "Henry the VIII created the Anglican Church" is really B.S. It was happening and he saw the writing and pushed it along for his selfish purposes.
This is very questionable history. I was an Anglican, and I never heard anything of the sort. There were vague claims to being a separate tradition, and it's true that some English and Irish were Catholics before Augustine was sent to England. But this tale makes nonsense of the whole history of the middle ages in England.
Actually the distinctness of the British Church from the Patriarchate of Rome was extinguished by the Normans. Henry VIII could point to precedents, but he did establish a new institution.
Many of the most traditional Orthodox argue for the sainthood of Harold Godwinson, Last Orthodox King of England, and his companions who died at Hastings.
The Saxon coronation rite used at Harold's coronation, did not include the filioque in the Creed, and the English church was out of communion with Rome over local matters from 1052 until the Norman invasion. Harold's daughter married Prince Vladimir Monomach of Kiev, and Saxon nobility who fled England mostly went to Constantinople or Kiev.
Henry's movement, however, was not a restoration of the pre-Norman status quo ante ecclesiologically, and the Thirty-Nine Article of Religion, the standard Anglican exposition of the faith and of ecclesiological order, are decidedly protestant, not something any of the notable British saints from before the Norman uniformization of the British church to papal rule--be it Joseph of Aramathia; Patrick, Enlightener of Ireland; David of Menavia; Chad of Litchfield; or a host of others--would have recognized or assented to.
"The "Henry the VIII created the Anglican Church" is really B.S. It was happening and he saw the writing and pushed it along for his selfish purposes."
He had good political purposes for pushing it along, as well. Rome was defunding England by not replacing Bishops (and a diocese without a Bishop sent its funds directly to Rome)
But no matter, England was restored to communion after Henry VIII death - and "Bloody Mary" proceeded to do what she did with nary a peep from Rome - thereby ensuring it's demise in England - as the Catholic Church became associated with death, mayhem, and the desired destruction of England herself.
The English made a rational choice that favored God and Country over the politicians in Rome that wanted Spain to defeat England.
So, Blame Henry VIII and condemn him to hell, but he was probably a better Catholic than than the Catholics that think he's in hell are today.
The Catholic church of that era was a political and religious institution. Protestants saw the folly of this and that is one reason why we have the great country we have today in the U.S. - and why Protestant tolerance enshrined in our Constitution allows ALL faiths to be practiced relatively free from government interference.
Of course, there may be one or two folks that disagree on this thread.......
Not at all. The English people were solidly Catholic. I suggest you pick up a copy of Eamon Duffy's The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580. The English Reformation was entirely a creation imposed from above, and Queen Mary's success in restoring the Catholic Church in England almost immediately is a sufficient demonstration of that.
LOL
Riiiiiiight.
I disagree with that. The Celtic Church as practised by the Britons (the Welsh), the Irish etc. was different from the Latin Church, but this disappeared from England after the Saxon invasion. England was Pagan from the 5th century to the 7th. St. Augustine converted the Kentish kingdom to the Latin Church. The Celtics refused to have anything to do with the heathen Saxons. Later on the kings of Wessex got to meet with emissaries from both the Celtic and Latin churchs and he chose the Latin church because Rome was the Center. And he chose wisely. England was a key member of the Catholic Church right from the 9th century through the Norman invasion (when it became closer to Rome), through to the schism by Henry VIII. However, Queen Elizabeth's Protestant leanings broke all chances of reconciliation.
Re Your post #13.....BINGO!!!!!
England and Ireland were evangelized from Rome the first time. St. Augustine was merely revangelizing those areas the Catholic Celto-Romans had abandoned in the face of the Anglo-Saxon invasion.