Prayer of Consecration in the 1549 Communion Office
The Prayer of Consecration in the 1549 Communion Office was the central eucharistic prayer in the first English Book of Common Prayer. It formed part of the order titled the Supper of the Lord and the Holy Communion, commonly called the Mass, and stands at an important point in the history of Anglicanism. The prayer retained several elements familiar from medieval Western liturgy while setting them within an English vernacular service shaped by Reformation concerns. For later Anglican liturgical history, it is especially significant because it included both an offering of the consecrated gifts and an explicit invocation of divine blessing, themes later revised in the 1552 and 1662 prayer books.[1]
Liturgical Context
In the 1549 Communion Office, the Prayer of Consecration followed the eucharistic dialogue, the Sursum Corda in Anglican Liturgy, the Proper Preface where appointed, and the Sanctus in Anglican Eucharistic Liturgy. It therefore stood within the classical shape of the eucharistic action: thanksgiving, remembrance of Christ's saving work, consecration of bread and wine, and reception of communion. The prayer was said by the priest at the Lord's Table, with rubrical directions connected to the bread and cup during the words of institution.
The 1549 rite did not simply translate the medieval Mass into English. It simplified the service, removed some late medieval devotional accretions, and made the action audible and intelligible to the congregation. At the same time, it preserved a more continuous eucharistic prayer than the form that appeared in the 1552 Book of Common Prayer. In this respect the 1549 prayer is often discussed alongside the Sarum Use in Anglican Liturgy, not because it was identical to the Sarum rite, but because it represented an early Anglican reform of worship that still stood close to inherited Western patterns.
Theological Features
The prayer's theology was expressed through thanksgiving for redemption, the recital of Christ's institution of the sacrament, and a petition that God would bless and sanctify the bread and wine for holy use. This invocation has made the 1549 text important in discussions of the Epiclesis in Anglican Eucharistic Prayer. Unlike later English prayer books, the 1549 office included language that more directly associated consecration with divine action upon the gifts.
The prayer also contained an oblationary element, presenting the memorial of Christ's passion, resurrection, and ascension before God. This has made it relevant to the study of the Prayer of Oblation in Anglican Eucharistic Liturgy. Anglican writers have interpreted the feature in different ways. Some have seen it as evidence of continuity with ancient eucharistic prayers, while others have emphasized that Anglican eucharistic doctrine rests on Christ's once-for-all sacrifice and does not require a repeated propitiatory sacrifice by the priest.
The 1549 prayer therefore occupies a middle position in Anglican theology. It is more explicit than the later 1552 form in its language of sanctification and offering, but it also belongs to a reformed vernacular rite in which congregational reception of communion was central. Its theological importance lies partly in that combination.
Later Reception
The 1552 Communion Office substantially rearranged and revised the eucharistic material. The prayer over the bread and wine was shortened, the oblationary material was displaced, and the rite placed stronger emphasis on reception by the faithful. The 1662 prayer book retained the basic shape of the later English tradition, so comparison with the Prayer of Consecration in the 1662 Communion Office shows how far the official English rite had moved from the 1549 form.[2][3]
Nevertheless, the 1549 prayer continued to influence Anglican liturgical thought. Later Anglican revisions, especially in traditions that restored fuller eucharistic prayers, often gave renewed attention to thanksgiving, memorial, oblation, and invocation. In modern Anglican liturgies, these elements are commonly found together, though not always in the same order or with the same doctrinal emphasis as in 1549.
The prayer remains a key text for understanding early Anglican eucharistic doctrine. It shows that the first prayer book was neither a simple continuation of the medieval Mass nor a complete break from earlier liturgical forms. Instead, it was a formative attempt to order the Holy Communion in English according to Scripture, inherited catholic worship, and the doctrinal concerns of the English Reformation.