Gloriana Day: thanksgiving for the mellow light of the 1559 Prayer Book
It is Gloriana Day. In 1604 the Prayer Book Kalendar was revised to include the little-known St. Evurtius, commemorated on 7th September. It marked the day on which Gloriana, Elizabeth I, had been born. 7th September, therefore, is Gloriana Day, a day to rejoice in the Elizabethan Settlement. On this Gloriana Day, laudable Practice gives thanks for the Book of Common Prayer 1559 . Our thanksgiving begins with recognition that it was Elizabeth who restored the Book of Common Prayer. The opening words of the 1559 Act of Uniformity remind us what would have been lost if Mary had remained on the throne and established a succession: Where at the death of our late sovereign lord King Edward VI there remained one uniform order of common service and prayer, and of the administration of sacraments, rites, and ceremonies in the Church of England, which was set forth in one book, intituled: The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of Sacraments, and other rite...