1583 Edition | Book 9 | Page 1400 
Close(fl. 1532 - 1580 [ODNB; Venn]
Roman Catholic priest and writer; fellow of St John's College Cambridge 1534; BD 1544; DD 1554; parson of Buxted, Sussex; chaplain to Lord Montague
In the disputation at Cambridge in 1549, John Madew answered the first disputation, opposed by William Glyn, Alban Langdale, Thomas Sedgewick and John Young. 1570, pp. 1556-57; 1576, pp. 1326-28; 1583, pp. 1376-82.
Close(d. 1555) [Venn & Venn]
Doctor of divinity, Master of Clare College, Cambridge (1549 - 53; deprived for being married); king's commissioner
John Madew was a member of the king's commission that attempted to administer an oath to Bishop Bonner and the clergy of St Paul's and that gave Bonner a list of injunctions. 1563, p. 689; 1570, p. 1501; 1576, pp. 1272-73; 1583, p. 1309.
In the disputation at Cambridge in 1549, John Madew answered the first disputation, opposed by William Glyn, Alban Langdale, Thomas Sedgewick and John Young. 1570, pp. 1556-57; 1576, pp. 1326-28; 1583, pp. 1376-82.
Close(1514 - 1581/2) [ODNB]
College head; BA Cambridge 1535; MA 1539; BTh 1546; DTh 1553; vice-chancellor of Cambridge (1553 - 55); regius professor of divinity (1555/6); imprisoned 1558
Young was present at the deathbed of John Redman and discussed matters of religion with him. 1563, pp. 867-70; 1570, pp. 1537-39; 1576, pp. 1310-12; 1583, pp. 1360-62.
After John Redman's death, John Young sent a testimonial letter to John Cheke, praising Redman and his thoughts on religion. 1563, pp. 870-74; 1570, pp. 1539-41; 1576, pp. 1312-14; 1583, pp. 1362-64.
In the disputation at Cambridge in 1549, John Madew answered the first disputation, opposed by William Glyn, Alban Langdale, Thomas Sedgewick and John Young. 1570, pp. 1556-57; 1576, pp. 1326-28; 1583, pp. 1376-82.
In the same disputation at Cambridge in 1549, Andrew Perne answered the third disputation, opposed by Thomas Parker, Leonard Pollard, Thomas Vavasour and John Young. 1570, pp. 1556-57; 1576, pp. 1326-28; 1583, pp. 1385-88.
John Young was a deponent in the case of Stephen Gardiner. 1563, p. 846.
Doctors Smyth, Chedsey, Standish, Young and Oglethorpe recanted their earlier conservative positions by the last year of the reign of King Edward VI. 1570, p. 1522; 1576, p. 1323; 1583, p. 1373.
Close(c. 1502 - 1555) [ODNB]
Protestant martyr; BA Cambridge 1522, MA 1525, BTh 1537, DTh 1541; master of Pembroke (1540 - 53)
Bishop of Rochester (1547 - 53); bishop of London (1550 - 03) [licence to hold both]
When Nicholas Ridley visited Princess Mary at Hunsdon, she recalled the sermon he preached at the marriage of Elizabeth and Anthony Browne in the presence of King Henry. Ridley offered to preach before her, but she refused. 1570, pp. 1565-66; 1576, pp. 1335-36; 1583, p. 1396.
Charles V requested of Edward VI that his cousin Mary Tudor be allowed to have the mass said in her house. The request was denied, in spite of the strong urgings of Thomas Cranmer and Nicholas Ridley. 1563, p. 884; 1570, p. 1484; 1576, p. 1258; 1583, p. 1295.
Stephen Gardiner wrote to Thomas Cranmer and Nicholas Ridley while imprisoned in the Fleet. 1563, pp. 732-54; 1570, p. 1522; 1576, p. 1297; 1583, pp. 1340, 1348-50.
Gardiner was released out of the Fleet by a general pardon, but was placed under house arrest for failure to conform. Nicholas Ridley, Thomas Smith and William Cecil were sent to him. He was called before the council. 1563, p. 755; 1570, pp. 1525-26; 1576, p. 1301; 1583, p. 1351.
Nicholas Ridley, Thomas Goodrich, Sir John Cheke, William May and Thomas Wendy, king's visitors, attended the disputation at Cambridge in 1549. Ridley took part in the disputation and made the determination. 1570, pp. 1555-57; 1576, pp. 1326-28; 1583, pp. 1376-88.
Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, Nicholas Ridley, bishop of Rochester, Sir William Petre, Sir Thomas Smith and William May, dean of St Paul's, were commissioned to examine Edmund Bonner. 1563, p. 697; 1570, p. 1504; 1576, p. 1275; 1583, p. 1312.
Bonner was summoned to appear before the commissioners. He behaved haughtily, ridiculing his accusers and the commissioners, and spoke in favour of the mass. He appeared first on 10 September 1549 before Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Sir William Petre and William May. Sir Thomas Smith was absent. 1563, pp. 698-99; 1570, pp. 1504-06; 1576, pp. 1275-77; 1583, pp. 1312-14.
[Back to Top]Bonner appeared for the second time on 13 September before Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Sir William Petre, Sir Thomas Smith and William May and was further examined. 1563, pp. 699-704; 1570, pp. 1506-08; 1576, pp. 1277-79; 1583, pp. 1314-17.
Bonner appeared for the third time on 16 September before Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Sir Thomas Smith and William May to answer the articles put to him at the previous session. John Hooper and William Latymer also appeared in order to purge themselves against the slanders of Bonner. 1563, pp. 704-709; 1570, pp. 1508-11; 1576, pp. 1279-80; 1583, pp. 1317-22.
[Back to Top]Bonner appeared before the commissioners for the fourth time on 18 September, at which session new articles were drawn up and new witnesses received. 1563, pp. 704-710; 1570, pp. 1508-12; 1576, pp. 1279-81; 1583, pp. 1317-22.
Bonner appeared for the fifth time before the commissioners on 20 September. During an interval, he instructed Gilbert Bourne, his chaplain, Robert Warnington, his commissary, and Robert Johnson, his registrar, to tell the mayor and aldermen of London to avoid reformed preachers. Bonner made his first appellation to the king. As a result of his behaviour during the proceedings, he was committed to the Marshalsea. 1563, pp. 713-717; 1570, pp. 1513-16; 1576, pp. 1282-85; 1583, pp. 1324-26.
[Back to Top]Bonner appeared for the sixth time before the commissioners on 23 September, when he presented a general recusation against all the commissioners and a second appellation to the king. A letter was read from Bonner to the mayor of London, Henry Amcottes, and aldermen. 1563, pp. 717-18; 1570, p. 1516; 1576, p. 1285; 1583, pp. 1326-27.
[Back to Top]Bonner' seventh appearance before the commissioners took place on 1 October. He presented a declaration, an appellation and a supplication to the king. The commissioners pronounced their sentence definitive. Bonner was imprisoned and deprived of his office. 1563, pp. 718-26; 1570, pp. 1516-19; 1576, pp. 1285-88; 1583, pp. 1327-30.
[Back to Top]Ridley replaced Bonner as bishop of London in 1550. He received a letter from the king and privy council directing him to remove and destroy all altars within the churches of his diocese and install communion tables. He carried out a visitation to ensure that churches were conforming to the directive and broke down the wall next to the altar in St Paul's. 1563, pp. 727-28; 1570, pp. 1519-21; 1576, pp. 1288-89; 1583, pp. 1331-32.
[Back to Top]When Sir William Herbert and Sir William Petre went to Stephen Gardiner in the Tower with new articles, they took with them a canon and a civil lawyer: Nicholas Ridley and Richard Goodrich. 1563, p. 768; 1570, p. 1534; 1576, p. 1307; 1583, p. 1357.
After Gardiner's sequestration, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Thomas Goodrich, Henry Holbeach, Sir William Petre, Sir James Hales, Griffith Leyson, John Oliver and John Gosnold were commissioned to examine him. 1563, p. 776; 1570, p. 1535; 1576, p. 1309; 1583, p. 1358.
Close(1514 - 1557) [ODNB; Bindoff]
BA Cambridge 1530; MA 1533; 1st regius professor of Greek (1540 - 51)
Humanist, royal tutor, administrator
Edward VI agreed with Sir John Cheke that clemency should be shown towards heretics. 1563, p. 884; 1570, p. 1484; 1576, p. 1258; 1583, p. 1295.
Nicholas Ridley, Thomas Goodrich, Sir John Cheke, William May and Thomas Wendy, king's visitors, attended the disputation at Cambridge in 1549. 1570, p. 1555; 1576, p. 1326; 1583, p. 1376.
A king's commission examined Edmund Bonner in 1549. Finding Bonner's answers to the articles put to him to be unsatisfactory, the commissioners received witnesses against him: John Cheke, Henry Markham, John Joseph, John Douglas and Richard Chambers.. 1563, p. 707; 1570, p. 1510; 1576, p. 1280; 1583, p. 1320.
[Back to Top]Cheke was a deponent in the case of Stephen Gardiner. 1563, pp. 807-8
John Cheke was a witness in 1551 to the sentence against Stephen Gardiner and his appellation. 1563, p. 867.
After John Redman's death, John Young sent a testimonial letter to John Cheke, praising Redman and his thoughts on religion. 1563, pp. 870-74; 1570, pp. 1539-41; 1576, pp. 1312-14; 1583, pp. 1362-64.
Close(1494 - 1554) [ODNB]
BA Cambridge 1510; MA 1514; DCL 1520s
Bishop of Ely (1534 - 54); lord chancellor (1552 - 53)
Goodrich was one of the subscribers to the Bishops' Book. 1570, p. 1211; 1576, p. 1037; 1583, p. 1064.
Goodrich attended a synod in 1537 with other bishops and learned men and with Thomas Cromwell as vicar-general. Goodrich opposed retaining the seven sacraments. 1563, p. 594; 1570, p. 1351; 1576, p. 1153; 1583, p. 1182.
John Marbeck's fourth examination was conducted by John Capon, John Skip, Thomas Goodrich, Robert Oking and William May. 1570, pp. 1393-94; 1576, pp. 1188-89; 1583, pp. 1216-17.
Goodrich recommended Richard Coxe to Henry VIII. 1563, p. 497; 1570, p. 1174; 1576, p. 1004; 1583, p. 1032.
Goodrich was a signatory to a letter from the king and privy council to Nicholas Ridley, directing him to remove and destroy all altars within the churches of his diocese and install communion tables. 1563, p. 727; 1570, pp. 1519-20; 1576, p. 1288; 1583, p. 1331.
Nicholas Ridley, Thomas Goodrich, Sir John Cheke, William May and Thomas Wendy, king's visitors, attended the disputation at Cambridge in 1549. 1570, p. 1555; 1576, p. 1326; 1583, p. 1376.
After Edmund Bonner was sentenced to prison and deprived of his bishopric, the king appointed Richard Rich, Henry marquess of Dorset, Thomas Goodrich, Lord Wentworth, Sir Anthony Wingfield, Sir William Herbert, Nicholas Wotton, Edward Montague, Sir John Baker, Judge Hales, John Gosnold, John Oliver and Griffith Leyson to examine his documents. They confirmed the sentence against him. 1563, p. 725; 1570, p. 1519; 1576, pp. 1287-88; 1583, p. 1330.
[Back to Top]After Stephen Gardiner's sequestration, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Thomas Goodrich, Henry Holbeach, Sir William Petre, Sir James Hales, Griffith Leyson, John Oliver and John Gosnold were commissioned to examine him. 1563, p. 776; 1570, p. 1535; 1576, p. 1309; 1583, p. 1358.
Close(d. 1573) [ODNB]
Roman Catholic theologian; BA Cambridge 1530; MA 1533; BTh 1545; DTh 1554; deacon in Lincoln 1537; Lady Margaret professor of divinity (1554 - 58); regius professor of divinity (1557 - 61); refused the oath of supremacy in 1559, deprived; imprisoned 1569
In the disputation at Cambridge in 1549, John Madew answered the first disputation, opposed by William Glyn, Alban Langdale, Thomas Sedgewick and John Young. 1570, pp. 1556-57; 1576, pp. 1326-28; 1583, pp. 1376-82.
Close(1499/1500 - 1560) [ODNB; Bindoff]
BA Cambridge 1519; MA 1522; MD Ferrara; JP Cambridge 1547; attended Cromwell in his last illness; physician to Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary; fellow of the College of Physicians 1551; MP St Albans 1554; MP Cambridgeshire 1555
Henry VIII told one of his physicians of the charges against Katherine Parr; the physician was then sent to treat her when she fell ill, and he divulged the charges to her. 1570, p. 1423; 1576, p. 1213; 1583, p. 1243.
[NB: Foxe says this was Wendy, but it was possibly Robert Huicke, physician to both the king and queen. (ODNB sub Katherine Parr)]
Nicholas Ridley, Thomas Goodrich, Sir John Cheke, William May and Thomas Wendy, king's visitors, attended the disputation at Cambridge in 1549. 1570, p. 1555; 1576, p. 1326; 1583, p. 1376.
Thomas Wendy was one of those with Edward VI when he died. 1563, p. 900.
Close(1504x10 - 1558) [ODNB]
BA Cambridge 1527; MA 1530; BD 1538; DD 1544; Lady Margaret professor of theology (1544 - 49); chaplain to Thomas Thirlby
Bishop of Bangor (1555 - 58)
In the disputation at Cambridge in 1549, John Madew answered the first disputation, opposed by William Glyn, Alban Langdale, Thomas Sedgewick and John Young. 1570, pp. 1556-57; 1576, pp. 1326-28; 1583, pp. 1376-82.
In the same disputation at Cambridge in 1549, William Glyn answered the second disputation, opposed by Andrew Perne, Edmund Grindal, Edmund Guest and James Pilkington. 1570, pp. 1556-57; 1576, pp. 1326-28; 1583, pp. 1382-85.
William Glyn was a deponent in the case of Stephen Gardiner. 1563, p. 856.
Close(c. 1505 - 1560) [ODNB]
BCL 1526 Cambridge; DCL 1531; president of Queens' College (c. 1540 - 1554, 1559 - death)
Dean of St Paul's (1546 - 54, 1559 - 60); archbishop-elect of York 1560
William May was one of the subscribers to the Bishops' Book. 1570, p. 1212; 1576, p. 1037; 1583, p. 1064.
John Marbeck's fourth examination was conducted by John Capon, John Skip, Thomas Goodrich, Robert Oking and William May. 1570, pp. 1393-94; 1576, pp. 1188-89; 1583, pp. 1216-17.
Bonner continued to hold private masses in St Paul's, and the king's council ordered these to be stopped. Bonner then wrote to the dean and chapter to that effect. 1563, p. 693; 1570, pp. 1492-93; 1576, p. 1265; 1583, p. 1302.
Another letter was sent by the king and council to Bonner, rebuking him and urging him to use the Book of Common Prayer. Bonner again wrote to the dean and chapter. 1563, pp. 693-94; 1570, p. 1494; 1576, p. 1266; 1583, p. 1303.
Nicholas Ridley, Thomas Goodrich, Sir John Cheke, William May and Thomas Wendy, king's visitors, attended the disputation at Cambridge in 1549. 1570, p. 1555; 1576, p. 1326; 1583, p. 1376.
Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, Nicholas Ridley, bishop of Rochester, Sir William Petre, Sir Thomas Smith and William May, dean of St Paul's, were commissioned to examine Edmund Bonner. 1563, p. 697; 1570, p. 1504; 1576, p. 1275; 1583, p. 1312.
Bonner was summoned to appear before the commissioners. He behaved haughtily, ridiculing his accusers and the commissioners, and spoke in favour of the mass. He appeared first on 10 September 1549 before Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Sir William Petre and William May. Sir Thomas Smith was absent. 1563, pp. 698-99; 1570, pp. 1504-06; 1576, pp. 1275-77; 1583, pp. 1312-14.
[Back to Top]Bonner appeared for the second time on 13 September before Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Sir William Petre, Sir Thomas Smith and William May and was further examined. 1563, pp. 699-704; 1570, pp. 1506-08; 1576, pp. 1277-79; 1583, pp. 1314-17.
Bonner appeared for the third time on 16 September before Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Sir Thomas Smith and William May to answer the articles put to him at the previous session. John Hooper and William Latymer also appeared in order to purge themselves against the slanders of Bonner. 1563, pp. 704-709; 1570, pp. 1508-11; 1576, pp. 1279-80; 1583, pp. 1317-22.
[Back to Top]Bonner appeared before the commissioners for the fourth time on 18 September, at which session new articles were drawn up and new witnesses received. 1563, pp. 704-710; 1570, pp. 1508-12; 1576, pp. 1279-81; 1583, pp. 1317-22.
Bonner appeared for the fifth time before the commissioners on 20 September. During an interval, he instructed Gilbert Bourne, his chaplain, Robert Warnington, his commissary, and Robert Johnson, his registrar, to tell the mayor and aldermen of London to avoid reformed preachers. Bonner made his first appellation to the king. As a result of his behaviour during the proceedings, he was committed to the Marshalsea. 1563, pp. 713-717; 1570, pp. 1513-16; 1576, pp. 1282-85; 1583, pp. 1324-26.
[Back to Top]Bonner appeared for the sixth time before the commissioners on 23 September, when he presented a general recusation against all the commissioners and a second appellation to the king. A letter was read from Bonner to the mayor of London, Henry Amcottes, and aldermen. 1563, pp. 717-18; 1570, p. 1516; 1576, p. 1285; 1583, pp. 1326-27.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaAnno 1552.Moreouer: And therefore (sayth hee) doing this we whet not our teeth to bite, but with pure faith we breake the holy bread, and distribute it, &c.
MarginaliaAugust. De Ciuit. Lib 21. cap. 25.It may not be sayde, that any suche doe eate the body of Christ, because they are accompted amongst the members of Christ. Neither can they be both members of Christ, and members of an harlot, &c. Furthermore, when Christ sayeth: MarginaliaIohn. 6.He that eateth my fleshe, and drinketh my bloud, dwelleth in me, and I in him: hee sheweth what it is, not Sacramentally
'[N]ot sacramentally': the point at issue continues to be whether grave sinners and non-believers receive the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist if given the opportunity to consume as food. Martyr states that only believers receive the sacrament; Catholics theologians say all receive it, but grave sinners and nonbelievers receive no benefit from it - in fact they receive only condemnation from God and the Church. Their reception does no harm to Christ in his glorified, risen body.
Close
Also in other places the sayde Austen affirmeth, that, to drinke is to liue: And sayeth moreouer: Why preparest thou thy belly and thy teeth? beleeue and thou hast eaten, &c.
All which kindes of eating can not be sayd of the wicked and infidels, but only of the godly and faithfull.
And thus briefly we haue runne ouer all the arguments and authorities of Peter Martyr in that disputation at Oxford with Doctour Tresham, Chadsey, and Morgan, before the Kings visitours aboue named. an. 1549.
Furthermore, who so listeth more fully to be satisfied and resolued in all the occurrents touching the matter of thys Sacrament, let him reade the bookes first of the Archbishop Cranmer against Winchester: Secondly, the tractation of Peter Martyr made in Oxford, translated and extant in English: and thirdly the booke of Bishop Ridley made in prison, called A brief declaration of the Lordes Supper.
[Back to Top]The lyke disputation also about the same time was appointed and commensed at Cambridge
CloseAnother disputation regarding the Eucharist was held under royal auspices at Cambridge University in June 1549, the same month in which the first Book of Common Prayer became the official form of worship for the Church of England, and the Mass became proscribed. Bishop Nicholas Ridley was the leading Protestant speaker in these meetings, and he gives several lucid expositions of his, Thomas Cranmer's and the other English Reformers' understanding of Christ's presence in the Eucharist. William Glyn, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity in the early years of Edward's reign, was the leading advocate of Catholic doctrine in Cambridge, and according to Foxe's account he seems to have given the Catholic position with clarity and vigour. In fact Glyn, along with the other Catholic theologians, seem to have been so capable that Ridley, who should have served as one of the arbitrators for the debate as a Royal Commissioner, kept entering into the arguments, rather than letting the appointed advocate for the Protestant doctrine, Dr Madew, speak.
[Back to Top]William Wizeman, SJCorpus Christi Church,New York CityUSA
CloseThe leading Royal commissioners were Nicholas Ridley, bishop of Rochester, who would be burned alive for his Protestant faith at Oxford under Mary I in 1555; Thomas Thirlby, bishop of Ely, was largely a diplomat under Edward and Mary, but seemed convinced by the renewal of Catholicism under the latter, and died incarcerated for rejecting the 1559 Elizabethan Religious Settlement; John Cheke, a layman and one of the great English humanists of the period, who recanted his Protestantism under Mary.
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CloseThe first issue under dispute was whether the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation, that is the bread and wine consecrated at Mass are transformed completely into Christ's true, corporeal, risen and glorified body and blood, so that only the outward signs of bread and wine appear, have any warrant in scripture and in the writings of the ancient teachers or doctors (the 'Fathers') of The Church, in the first 1000 years of the history of Christianity. The chief Protestant speaker, John Madew, begins with a long disquisition on the perceived evils of the Catholic Eucharistic doctrine of Transubstantiation, to which his Catholic opponents for some reason do not respond.
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CloseThe leading Catholic theologians in this disputation were William Glyn, a distinguished humanist, one of the first fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge and Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity there until after the disputation, when he lost his professorship, but under Mary he became Bishop of Bangor, Wales; Alban Langdale was a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge and would die in prison for his Catholic faith under Elizabeth; Thomas Sedgewick was also Lady Margaret Professor, but during Mary's reign, and when Elizabeth came to the throne he became a recusant; John Young was another of the first fellows of Trinity, and under Mary became first Vice-Chancellor of the Cambridge and then Regius Professor of Divinity, but would die in prison for his Catholic faith under Elizabeth.
[Back to Top]FIrst of all (quoth he) I am very sory, and do not a little lament the shortnes of time, to declare and discusse such waighty matters of Religion in, as these be. But that notwithstāding, if I had had more plenty of time indeede: yet you shall vnderstande, how that I haue euer both in hart and mind (if otherwise I could haue auoided it) abhorred all scholasticall
Close'Scholastical': a derogatory reference to the theological method of scholasticism, which was the main form of theological inquiry in the high and late Middle Ages (1200-1500). In the scholastic method, conclusions regarding Christian doctrine were drawn from disputations, oral or written, in the theological schools (hence the name) of European Universities. In the Sixteenth Century scholasticism fell into disrepute because many perceived that it had fallen into debates about religious minutiae based on uncritical use of Biblical and other sources. Humanism, a method of intellectual inquiry using literary and historical analyses of critical editions of religious texts, made headway in replacing the scholastic method in the first half of the Sixteenth Century, but afterwards both methods became combined by both Protestants and Catholics in the religious debates between them.
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Close'Curteled': Madew decries using citations taken out of the historical and literary contexts of their sources to prove a theological point, and so depriving texts of their original meaning. This was a common accusation against scholasticism made by both Protestants and Catholics in the sixteenth century; however both groups practised this method with aplomb as a strategy in the doctrinal debates of the Reformation period.
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Close'Catholic': from the Greek word meaning 'universal', this word was claimed by both English Protestants and Catholics in their religious disputes, to demonstrate the universal nature of their doctrinal claims. By Mary's reign English Protestants lost this particular battle over nomenclature, and became known and called themselves 'Protestants'.
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CloseSee I Corinthians 10:16.
CloseMadew does not recognize the Catholic stance that the body of Christ is his corporeal, glorified, risen body that cannot be broken.
CloseMadew follows other Protestant theologians in offering a rather unsatisfactory explanation as to what 'this' means, which to Catholic minds it obviously meant the bread had been transformed into his body: 'the Lord Jesus, the same night he was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks, broke it, and said, Take and eat: this is my body' (I Corinthians 11:23-24). Madew and his fellow Protestants said that Jesus meant the bread and wine to 'signify' his body and blood, but Catholics would respond that would be putting words into his mouth; there is no such explanation of the Sacrament in the New Testament, whereas other metaphors that Jesus used are explained in the New Testament.
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Close'Austin': an English abbreviation of the name of Augustine, in this case St Augustine of Hippo, one the leading doctors or teachers and theologians of the early Church.
Close'Some papists'; a derogatory term for Catholics, implying among other things, that Catholics were mentally enslaved to the corrupt bishops of Rome. Most Catholics, not 'some', of whatever educational background or none, seemed to comprehend the Church's doctrine regarding Christ's presence in the Eucharist; this widespread knowledge helps explain the great devotion to the Eucharist among Catholics of the period, to the repugnance of Protestant reformers.
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CloseMadew offers a succinct explanation of the English Protestant understanding of Christ's presence in the Eucharist. Christ's body is present in a spiritual manner, but not in a corporeal and spiritual manner, as Catholics held. When he says it is 'an only sign', he does not mean that the bread and wine merely represent Christ's body and blood, as Zwingli's followers held. Also, when he states that 'Christ's body is there with the bread', he does not mean that Christ's body enters into the bread, which was Luther's doctrine of impanation.
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CloseMadew's claim that the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation denied the very definition of a sacrament: a visible sign of God's invisible grace. Catholics would claim there was no contradiction: the 'accidents' or outward signs of the Eucharistic elements of bread and wine are the visible signs of God's invisible grace, which are Christ's corporeal, glorified body and blood hidden by the outward signs of bread and wine. The 'substance' or inherent nature of bread and wine are no longer present, being transformed in the consecration during the Mass.
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CloseI.e., see Acts 2:42: 'the breaking of the bread'. Catholics would respond that in Scripture there were of examples of things transformed, but were still called by their original names; i.e., Exodus 12:12, when rods were transformed into serpents by Aaron and the Egyptian court magicians: 'But Aaron's rod devoured their rods.'
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Close'Proper speech': the literal understanding of a text.
Close'Mystically': spiritual, i.e., in the Protestant view of the Eucharist, Christ is made present in the understanding and feeling of the faithful believer.
CloseMaydew attempts to claim that the understanding of Transubstantiation only began with its definition in the Middle Ages. For him therre were three chief culprits in the creation of this theological 'monstrosity'. Gratian (twelfth century) was the most renowned canonist or church lawyer of that period. Peter Lombard (twelfth century) was the most renowned theologian of the pre-scholastic period, whose work, The Sentences, continued to serve as a theology textbook in sixteenth-century universities. Pope Innocent III convened the Fourth Lateran Council of the Church in 1215 (not 1315, as stated here), which in fact definitively establish the doctrine and term ('vocable') of Transubstantiation as the best means of understanding the Church's ancient belief in Christ's corporeal presence in the Eucharist, in a way not dissimilar from the Church's clarifications of the doctrine of the Trinity between three and four hundred years after Christ had been personally present on earth.
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CloseThere is no evidence that Boniface VIII tried to make Transubstantiation 'the third article of faith' (whatever that might mean) nearly 100 years after Lateran Council IV.