The Book of Common Prayer (1552)
The revised English service book annexed to the second Act of Uniformity of 1552. Its communion service drops the name of Mass and changes the words said to communicants, and a declaration added late explains what kneeling at communion does not mean.
The second book of Edward VI replaced the first from 1 November 1552. The Act that authorised it says that the first book had been “explained, and made fully perfect”; the changes include a new title for the communion service and new words for the priest to say in giving the bread and wine.
It is the primary source for the worship required by law in the last months of Edward’s reign. The declaration on kneeling that closes the communion service was a late addition. The Parker Society’s editor notes that in most copies it is printed on a separate leaf, that the make-up of the book shows it was added afterwards, and that several copies lack it.
Cited in
- 1549 to 1552, firm date