The Anglican church from Henry VIII through St Patrick's time

Anglican Church

It is commonly believed that the country of England was a solely Catholic nation until Henry VIII's abrupt break from Catholicism so that they might marry Anne Boleyn. The king was already married and under Catholic law, the only way to end a marriage was through the death of a spouse or through annulment. Henry attempted to annul his first marriage, but the presence of a daughter Mary, showed that his claims that the marriage went unconsummated proved to be completely false. The Catholic Church refused to grant Henry a divorce and vowed to excommunicate him from the church if he went through with it (Dixon 1878,-page 3). In retaliation, King Henry of England decided that, rather than have to obey a religious person in a position of power, he would break off from the Catholic Church entirely and place himself at the head of his new religion. Doing so would ensure that no question of religion or ethics could be answered in a way as would displease him. Although the royals may have still practiced Catholicism, at least in name, there were many people in the country who began to participate in the Protestant religion. This was particularly true in the neighboring island of Ireland where debates over religious differences led to infighting and a great deal of bloodshed. The Anglican Church, also known as the Church of England actually has its founding as far back as the era of St. Patrick.

The Church of England, as far as written documentation can show, dates back to approximately 600 AD when Pope Gregory sent Saint Augustine of Hippo to convert people in Rome. Even before a fully developed nation, the land that would be England was in a religious turmoil to match the political ones. A religious system, which in later times would be referred to as Protestant was a part of the sociological landscape (Spence-Jones 1897,-page 10). Until the political scene was established wherein the country was controlled by a singular government and with it a singular acceptable religion, people who lived in the area were allowed to hold onto any system of beliefs that they chose. When a government did begin to form, they were dominated religiously by the Catholic Church, partly due to the expansion of the Roman Empire into Europe and across the known world (Patterson 1909,-page 2). Before the Christians came to England, the lands were ruled religiously by various different groups including the Druids who were believed to have constructed the landmark of Stonehenge. The invasion of England by strong armies not only affected how the governments would be set up and what languages would be spoken, but also concluded which religions would take hold and be dominating forces in the forming nations.

The Roman church, because it was so powerful in the rest of Europe, became the preeminent religion in England. Even from the beginning though, there were people who did not prescribe to the Catholic dogma and chose other religions. However, these people being in the minority, they would have to keep their religious beliefs more or less to themselves for fear of reprisal from the religious people in power around them. Members of the clergy had a great deal of power politically and a different religious view could lead to accusations of disloyalty to the political power.

The reason so many people associate the change from Catholicism to the Church of England with King Henry VIII was that his removal from the Catholic Church changed the official ruling religion of the nation. The population who were in the former majority, that is to say Catholics, were then put in the position to either relinquish their traditional religious beliefs or to grow out of favor with the king. Moderate pockets of dissention and a small percentage of people that were already practicing Anglicanism were suddenly in the popular opinion of the people in power and thus they became more powerful. To appease the king, a great deal of people followed his suit and relinquished their Catholic beliefs (David 2011). Henry not only made himself the political leader of the nation, but the religious one as well which established himself doubly powerful.