View source for Ritualism in the Church of England

{{Use British English|date=April 2025}}
{{Short description|Emphasis on the rituals and liturgical ceremony of the church}}
{{multiple issues|
{{more footnotes needed|date=February 2011}}
{{tone|date=March 2022}}
}}
Ritualism, in the history of [[Christianity]], refers to an emphasis on the [[ritual]]s and [[liturgical]] ceremonies of the Church, specifically the Christian practice of [[Holy Communion]].
[[File:BC St. Ignatius apse window 3.jpg|right|thumb|Image of a [[thurible]] in a stained glass window, St. Ignatius Church, [[Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts|Chestnut Hill]], [[Massachusetts]]]]
In the [[Church of England|Anglican church]] in the 19th century, the role of ritual became a contentious matter. The debate over this topic was also associated with struggles between the [[High Church]] and [[Low Church]] movements.
{{TOC limit|3}}

==Definition==
In [[Anglicanism]], the term ''ritualist'' is often used to describe the revival of the second generation [[Oxford Movement]]/[[Anglo-Catholicism|Anglo-Catholic]]/[[High Church]], which sought to reintroduce a range of [[Catholicism|Roman Catholic]] [[Liturgy|liturgical practices]] to the [[Church of England]]. Ritualism is also seen as a controversial term (i.e., rejected by some of those to whom ritualism is applied).

===Common arguments===
Arguments about ritualism in the Church of England were often shaped by opposing (and often unannounced) attitudes towards the concept of {{lang|la|[[sola scriptura]]}} and the nature of the authority of the [[Bible]] for Christians.

====For====
Those who support the ritualist outlook in the Church of England have often argued that the adoption of key elements of [[Roman Catholic]] ritual would:

* Give liturgical expression to the [[ecclesiological]] belief that the Church of England is more Catholic than Protestant;
* Give liturgical expression to a belief in the [[Real Presence]] and concomitantly that the [[Eucharist]] is the most important act of church worship and should be the norm;
* Be the most effective vehicle for giving expression to the worship of [[heaven]] as described in the [[Book of Revelation]] in which the use of white robes and [[incense]] in a setting of considerable beauty is described;
* Be a liturgical expression of the story in the book of [[Gospel of Matthew]] of the response of the [[Magi]] to the [[birth of Jesus]] who brought the gifts of [[gold]], [[frankincense]] and [[myrrh]] as an act of [[adoration]];
* Enable worshippers to use all of their senses in order to [[worship]] with the whole person and not just the mind;
* Be [[Incarnation (Christianity)|incarnational]] by placing emphasis on liturgical action and physical objects. Those in favour of ritualism argue that it draws attention to the importance that Christians should attach to the belief that, in [[Jesus]], "the Word became flesh" (John 1).<ref>{{bibleverse|John|1}}</ref> Those things are part of what God makes and saves and are not repudiated by him;
* Be the most effective form of worship for cultures that are either highly visual or have low [[literacy]] rates;
* Be an expression of the human response to God that calls on humans to offer their best in worship as a way of expressing the value ("worth") that they place on God. Worship is, [[etymologically]], "worth-ship".

====Against====
[[File:John Charles Ryle Vanity Fair 26 March 1881.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|[[John Charles Ryle|Bishop Ryle of Liverpool]] – a leading critic of ritualism – by [[Carlo Pellegrini (caricaturist)|Carlo Pellegrini]], 1881]]
Those who oppose ritualism in the Church of England have generally argued that it:

* Promotes [[idolatry]] by encouraging worshippers to focus on ritual objects and actions rather than the things they are meant to symbolise;
* Constitutes an attempt to wrest the Church of England from its Protestant identity;
* Constitutes a downgrading of the significance of [[preaching]] and biblical exposition in regular Christian worship;
* Encourages an idolatrous attitude to the Eucharist because ritualism is predicated on a belief in the Real Presence;
* Uses excessive elaborations in worship that cannot be justified on the basis of the descriptions of worship in the [[gospels]], the [[Acts of the Apostles]], or the [[Epistles]] in the [[New Testament]]. The robes used in the worship of heaven described in the Book of Revelation are plain white;
* Undermines a key Protestant belief that no human actions, even worship that has been precisely and carefully offered, can be of any value when it comes to being [[Justification (theology)|justified]] in the eyes of God: worship should be an unfussy, obedient, [[penitent]], grateful, and spontaneously joyful response to the experience of [[Born again (Christianity)|being saved]] by [[Sola fide|faith alone]] in [[Jesus]]. Ritual and tradition are merely human inventions;
* Has often impeded the understanding of the gospel by wrapping up [[Christianity|Christian]] worship in indecipherable [[symbol]]ic acts;
* Is not beautiful as proponents claim but rather gaudy and distracting from contemplative worship.

==Ritualist controversies in the 19th century==
===Origins===
[[File:A "fiddleback" chasuble from the church of Saint Gertrude in Maarheeze in the Netherlands.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|A "fiddleback" chasuble, the use of which by a priest could lead to prosecution]]
The development of ritualism in the Church of England was mainly associated with what is commonly called "second generation" Anglo-Catholicism (i.e., the Oxford Movement as developed after 1845 when [[John Henry Newman]] abandoned the Church of England to become a [[Roman Catholic]]). Some scholars{{who|date=December 2013}} argued that it was almost inevitable that some of the leaders of Anglo-Catholicism would turn their attention to questions of liturgy and ritual and started to champion the use of practices and forms of worship more commonly associated with Roman Catholicism. However, there was only limited enthusiasm among ritualists to introduce the widespread use of [[Ecclesiastical Latin|Latin]] in the liturgy, which was the norm in the Roman Catholic Church before [[Vatican II]].

[[File:Biretta.png|thumb|left|upright=0.9|Traditional [[biretta]]]]
The leaders of the first generation of the Anglo-Catholic revival or Oxford Movement (i.e., Newman, [[Edward Bouverie Pusey]], and [[John Keble]]) had been primarily concerned with [[theological]] and [[ecclesiological]] questions and had little concern with questions of [[ritual]]. They championed the view that the fundamental identity of the Church of England was Catholic rather than Protestant. They argued that Anglicans were bound by obedience to use the ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]''. "Tract 3" of the ''[[Tracts for the Times]]'' series had strenuously argued against any revision of the ''Book of Common Prayer'', viewing its use as a matter of absolute obligation. Even ''[[Tract 90]]'', which analysed the [[39 Articles]], was more concerned with the theological dimension of the issue. It gave little attention to the question of altering current liturgical practice in the Church of England.

Although the primary concern of the Oxford Movement was not of liturgical practices, numerous authors, most notably Pusey, Henry Parry Liddon and Richard Meux Benson explicitly rejected extreme ritualism, stating the reservation of the sacrament for any other reason than for the sick, the use of a monstrance and the benediction of the sacrament to be unsafe and discordant with the doctrine of the Church of England.<ref>Staley, Vernon, and editor Cambridge Camden Society. ''Hierurgia Anglicana : Documents and Extracts Illustrative of the Ceremonial of the Anglican Church after the Reformation''. Edited by Vernon Staley, New edition / revised and Considerably enlarged ., Alexander Moring, 1904. Volume 3, p. 341-346</ref>

The ecclesiological questions gave rise to an interest in giving liturgical expression to the theological conviction that the Church of England had sustained a fundamentally Catholic character after the [[English Reformation]]. In some circles, the shift of focus to the question of liturgy proved as provocative as had been the theological assertions of the first generation of Anglo-Catholicism.

The clearest illustration of the shift that took place within Anglo-Catholicism from theological to liturgical questions is to be found in Pusey's attitude towards ritualism. Pusey, the only pre-eminent first-generation leader of Anglo-Catholicism to survive into the second generation, had no sympathy with the preoccupation with ritual. However, when priests started to be prosecuted and imprisoned as a result of the [[Public Worship Regulation Act 1874]], Pusey was quick to show his support for those who were prosecuted.

===Early controversies in the 19th century===
[[File:Monstrans.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|[[Neo-Gothic]] "solar" [[monstrance]] used for [[Benediction]].]]

===="Bells and smells": the controversial ritual practices====
From the 1850s to the 1890s, several [[liturgical]] practices espoused by many ritualists led to some occasional and intense local controversies, some of which led to prosecutions (most notably as a result of the [[Public Worship Regulation Act 1874]]). Those considered most important by adherents of the Catholic movement were known as the "six points":
* the use of Eucharistic [[vestments]] such as the [[chasuble]], [[Stole (vestment)|stole]], [[alb]] and [[Maniple (vestment)|maniple]]
* the use of a [[thurible]] and [[incense]]
* the use of "lights" (especially the practice of putting six candles on the high [[altar]])
* the use of unleavened (wafer) bread in [[Eucharist|communion]]
* eastward facing celebration of the [[Eucharist]] (when the priest celebrates facing the altar from the same side as the people (i.e., the priest faces east with the people instead of standing at the "north side" of the "table" as required by the [[Book of Common Prayer (1662)|1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'']]))
* the mixing of sacramental wine with water

Other contentious practices included:
* the use of Catholic terminology such as describing the Eucharist as the "[[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]]"
* the use of [[Altar bell|bell]]s at the [[Elevation (Liturgy)|elevation]] of the [[Host (Holy Communion)|host]]
* making the [[sign of the cross]]
* the use of liturgical [[processions]]
* the decoration of churches with statues of saints, pictures of religious scenes, and [[icons]]
* the veneration of the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]] and the practice of the invocation of the [[saints]]
* the practice of [[Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament]]
* the use of the words of Benedictus at the end of the [[Sanctus]] in the eucharistic prayer
* the use of the words of the [[Agnus Dei]] in the Eucharist

In regards to the "north side" celebration, at the time of the Reformation, altars were fixed against the east end of the church, and the priests would celebrate the Mass standing at the front of the altar.  Beginning with the [[rubric]]s of the Second Prayer Book of [[Edward VI]] published in 1552, and through the 1662 [[Book of Common Prayer]] (which prevailed for almost 300 years), the priest is directed to stand "at the north syde of the Table."  This was variously interpreted over the years to mean the north side of the front of a fixed communion table, the north end of a fixed table (i.e., facing south), the north side of a free-standing table (presumably facing those intending to receive the Elements who would be sitting in the quire stalls opposite), or at the north end of a free-standing table lengthwise in the chancel (facing a congregation seated in the [[nave]]). The last option copies the practice of the Early Church when the celebrant stood before a small stone or marble table, usually rectangular, facing the nave.

The ritualist movement (see [[Cambridge Camden Society]]) also played a substantial role in promoting:
* the restoration of [[chancel]]s in [[parish church]]es; and
* the use of robed [[choir]]s seated in the [[chancel]] accompanied by a [[pipe organ]] rather than by a [[Anglican church music|Church band]] and seated in a [[West gallery music|west gallery]] at the back of the church.

[[Image:FatherTooth.jpeg|thumb|right|Father [[Arthur Tooth]] [[Society of the Holy Cross|SSC]] who was prosecuted for ritualist practices]]
The prosecution and conviction of [[Arthur Tooth]] in 1876, [[Sidney Faithorn Green]] in 1879, and [[Richard William Enraght]] in 1880, illustrate the controversies caused by these liturgical practices. The prosecutions, which were often instigated by the [[Church Association]], gave considerable impetus to the foundation and work of the [[English Church Union]]. The [[Society of the Holy Cross]] (SSC) played a crucial role in championing and developing the use of elements of proscribed Catholic [[ritual]] in [[Anglicanism]].

====Perception of ritualism as a threat to English identity====
For many who opposed ritualism, the key concern was to defend what they saw as the fundamentally [[Protestant]] identity of the Church of England. This was also not just a matter of an [[ecclesiological]] argument; for many, there was a sense that [[Catholic]] worship was somehow "un-English". Catholicism was deeply associated with cultural identities that historically had been treated with suspicion by many English people, especially the Spanish, French, and Irish.

For an ideological defence of this position, it was argued that English identity was closely linked with England's history as a Protestant country that, after the [[English Reformation|Reformation]], had played a key role in opposing Catholic powers in Continental Europe, especially Spain and then France. In the minds of such people, Protestantism was inextricably identified with anti-[[despotic]] values and Catholicism with [[autocracy]] that, in the religious arena, hid behind the "disguise" of complicated rituals whose meaning deliberately lacked transparency. The opposition to ritualism, therefore, had a deeply cultural and [[symbol]]ic significance that extended far beyond purely [[theological]] concerns.

Ritualists themselves were often eager to try and present the "Englishness" of the ritual they championed by predominantly keeping English as the language of the liturgy and reconstructing [[Anglo-Catholicism]] as a recovery of pre-Reformation Catholic forms that were specifically English; a revival of interest in the [[Sarum Rite]] (the pre-Reformation Catholic liturgy of [[Salisbury]]) was sparked off by the Ritualist movement. This tendency was also often expressed as the revival in the use of the pre-Reformation [[Gothic Revival architecture|Gothic]] forms rather than the [[Baroque]], the latter of which was more closely linked in the minds of many with specifically continental and [[Counter Reformation]] forms.

====Ritualism and Christian socialism====
Although ritualism had an aesthetic and ideological appeal for many in the cultural elite, as well as a cognate relationship with the [[Gothic Revival]], the idea that it was inextricably linked with an inclination towards political despotism was a misapprehension. Ritualism had an appeal for many who were politically [[Conservatism|conservative]] and had supporters highly placed in the establishment (i.e., [[Charles Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax|Viscount Halifax]] and [[John Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath|the 4th Marquess of Bath]]). However, the outlook of many of the ritualist [[clergy]] themselves, many of whom inevitably operated in some of the most deprived communities in England, resulted in them becoming politically radicalised, with some becoming ardent [[Christian socialists]].

====Anti-ritualism and "muscular Christianity"====
In the spectrum of hostility that it aroused, ritualism also provoked in some of its opponents a reaction that saw its theatricality and its aestheticism as symptoms of "[[effeminacy]]".<ref>David Hilliard: "UnEnglish and Unmanly: Anglo-Catholicism and Homosexuality": Victorian Studies: (Winter 1982): 181–210.</ref> A typical charge was that ritualistic clergy were "man milliners",<ref>Thomas Hughes, ''Tom Brown at Oxford'' (Cambridge, 1861), ch. 9.</ref> who were more concerned with lace and brocade than doctrine. Adverse reaction to this played a significant role in the evolution of the [[Broad Church|Broad]] and [[Low Church]] enthusiasm for [[muscular Christianity]].

===Ritualism and outreach to the unchurched urban poor===
One of the key ideological justifications used by many of the early ritualists, apart from the fact that it was a [[symbol]]ic way of affirming their belief in the essentially [[Catholic]] nature of [[Anglicanism]], was the argument that it provided a particularly effective medium for bringing Christianity to the poorest "[[slum]] parishes" of the [[Church of England]].

It was argued that [[ritual]] and [[aesthetic]]ally impressive [[liturgy]] did not only provide a powerful contrast to the drabness of the lives of the poor, but its emphasis on [[symbol]] and action rather than word was a more effective medium for spreading Christian faith in areas with poor [[literacy]] rates than the highly cerebral and [[logocentric]] worship that  focused on the [[Book of Common Prayer]]. This argument may have had some merits, but, very often, the respect that the most successful ritualists often gained in the highly impoverished communities they went to serve was based on the fact that they had expressed a genuine [[Pastoral care|pastoral]] concern for the poor among whom they lived.

The argument for ritualism in [[Anglicanism]] was also based on the analogy of the success of the Roman Catholic Church among the highly impoverished [[Irish diaspora|Irish migrant communities]] in the urban areas of England. It was argued by some that ritual played a key role in the growth of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] among the poor. However, the use of ritual probably played little more than a subsidiary role in the success of the Catholic Church in this area. Instead, its success was probably largely due to a special cultural identity that many Irish migrants felt with the Roman Catholic Church as one of the few institutions that they encountered in [[Irish diaspora|diaspora]] that was also a feature of life in their homeland.

[[File:Edward King.png|thumb|upright=0.9|[[Edward King (English bishop)|Edward King]], [[Bishop of Lincoln]], by [[Leslie Ward]] 1890. King was prosecuted for ritualist practices.]]

===Legacy of the controversies===
The ritualists' use of [[vestments]] and wafer bread have become widespread, even normative, in the Church of England for much of the 20th century.

Although many members of the Church of England today still feel uncomfortable or sceptical about certain "Catholic" or "Romish"  liturgical practices,{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}} in the late 19th century, using [[incense]], wearing [[vestments]], putting candles on the [[altar]], having the mixed cup, making the sign of the Cross over the congregation, and using unleavened (wafer) bread in the [[Eucharist]] could spark riots and lead to the prosecution and imprisonment of [[priest]]s, such as the prosecution of [[Edward King (English bishop)|Edward King]], [[Bishop of Lincoln]], between 1888 and 1890. The lasting legacy is that the Ritualists won; the current liturgical style in its various manifestations in almost all Anglican parishes worldwide is much closer to the way Mass was celebrated 500 years ago even in Low Church and "mid-range" parishes.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Christianity}}
{{columnslist|colwidth=20em|
* [[Anglicanism]]
* [[Anglo-Catholicism]]
* [[The Book of Common Prayer]]
* [[Cambridge Camden Society]]
* [[Charles Walker (liturgist)]] (Author/Editor of ''The Ritual Reason Why'')
* [[Christian Social Union (Church of England)|Christian Social Union]]
* [[Church Association]]
* [[Richard William Enraght]] (prosecuted for Ritualist practices)
* [[T. Pelham Dale]] (prosecuted for Ritualist practices)
* [[Percy Dearmer]]
* [[James DeKoven]]
* [[George Anthony Denison]]
* [[Robert William Radclyffe Dolling]]
* [[English Missal]]
* [[Charles Fuge Lowder]]
* [[Alexander Heriot Mackonochie]]
* [[English Church Union]]
* [[English Hymnal]]
* [[Legalism (theology)]]
* [[Liturgical Movement]]
* [[Gothic Revival]]
* [[William Augustus Mühlenberg]]
* [[Oxford Movement]]
* [[Public Worship Regulation Act 1874]]
* [[John Purchas]]
* [[John Charles Ryle]]
* [[Society of the Holy Cross|SSC (Society of the Holy Cross)]]
* [[Arthur Tooth]] (prosecuted for Ritualist practices)
* [[Vestments controversy]]
* [[Walsingham]]
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* James Bentley: ''Ritualism and Politics in Victorian Britain'': Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978: {{ISBN|0-19-826714-2}}
* Lida Ellsworth: ''Charles Lowder and the Ritualist Movement'': London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1982: {{ISBN|0-232-51535-2}}
* Gary Graber: ''Ritual Legislation in the Victorian Church of England: Antecedents and Passage of the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874'': San Francisco: Mellen Research University Press, 1993: {{ISBN|0-7734-2216-1}}
* David Hilliard: "[http://anglicanhistory.org/academic/hilliard_unenglish.pdf  UnEnglish and Unmanly: Anglo-Catholicism and Homosexuality]": ''Victorian Studies'': (Winter 1982): 181–210.
* Kenneth Hylson-Smith: ''High Churchmanship in the Church of England: From the Sixteenth to the Late Twentieth Centuries'': Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993: {{ISBN|0-567-09623-8}}
* John Shelton Reed: ''Glorious Battle: The Cultural Politics of Victorian Anglo-Catholicism'': Nashville & London: Vanderbilt University Press, 1996: {{ISBN|0-8265-1274-7}}
* Frank Reynolds: ''Martyr of Ritualism: Father MacKonochie of [[St Alban's, Holborn]]'': London: Faber and Faber, 1965.
* Martin Wellings, ''Evangelicals Embattled: Responses of Evangelicals in the Church of England to Ritualism, Darwinism and Theological Liberalism (1890–1930):'' Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2003: {{ISBN|1-84227-049-4}}
* James Whisenant: ''A Fragile Unity: Anti-Ritualism and the Division of Anglican Evangelicalism in the Nineteenth Century'': Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 2003: {{ISBN|1-84227-105-9}}
* Nigel Yates: ''Anglican Ritualism in Victorian Britain: (1830–1910)''.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999: {{ISBN|0-19-826989-7}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://anglicanhistory.org/ritualism/index.html Project Canterbury: Ritualism]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060620085407/http://anglicanhistory.org/misc/denison.html A contemporary view of the Ritualist controversies from one of its qualified supporters: Archdeacon Denison]
* [http://www.churchsociety.org/publications/leaflets/Leaf_ScarfStole.pdf "Scarfs or Stoles?" – An Evangelical Anglican critique of the use of vestments]
* [http://www.churchsociety.org/publications/tracts/CAT004_RyleRitualism.pdf "The Teaching of the Ritualists not the Teaching of the Church of England", by John Charles Ryle critical of Ritualism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100827095117/http://www.churchsociety.org/publications/tracts/CAT004_RyleRitualism.pdf |date=2010-08-27 }}
* [https://archive.org/details/hierurgiaanglica01stpa/page/n7/mode/2up Hierurgia anglicana; documents and extracts illustrative of the ceremonial of the Anglican church after the reformation Volume 1, by Vernon Staley defending Ritualism]   [https://archive.org/details/hierurgiaanglica02stpa/page/n7/mode/2up Hierurgia anglicana; documents and extracts illustrative of the ceremonial of the Anglican church after the reformation Volume 2] [https://archive.org/details/hierurgiaanglica03stpa/page/n7/mode/2up Hierurgia anglicana; documents and extracts illustrative of the ceremonial of the Anglican church after the reformation Volume 3]
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Ritualists}}

{{Anglican liturgy|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[index.php?title=Category:Anglo-Catholicism]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Ritual]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Anglicanism]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Cultural conventions]]
[[index.php?title=Category:History of the Church of England]]
[[index.php?title=Category:Sacraments]]