Hugh Latimer (From Wikipedia) Hugh Latimer (c.1487 – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester before the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under Queen Mary he was burned at the stake, becoming one of the three Oxford Martyrs of Anglicanism. Latimer was born into a family of farmers in Thurcaston, Leicestershire. His birthdate is unknown. Contemporary biographers including John Foxe placed the date somewhere between 1480 and 1494. He started his studies in Latin grammar at the age of four, but not much else is known of his childhood. He attended Cambridge University and was elected a fellow of Clare College on 2 February 1510. He received the Master of Arts degree in April 1514 and he was ordained a priest on 15 July 1515. In 1522, Latimer was nominated to the positions of university preacher and university chaplain. While carrying out his official duties, he continued with theological studies and received the Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1524. The subject of his disputation for the degree was a refutation of the new ideas of the Reformation emerging from the Continent, in particular the doctrines of the Lutheran, Philipp Melanchthon. Up to this time, Latimer described himself as "obstinate a papist as any was in England." A recent convert to the new teachings, Thomas Bilney, heard his disputation, and later came to him to give his confession. Bilney's words had a great impact on Latimer, and from that day forward, he accepted the reformed doctrines. Latimer joined a group of reformers, including Bilney and Robert Barnes, that met regularly at the White Horse Tavern. He began to preach publicly on the need for the translation of the Bible into English. This was a dangerous move, as the first translation of the New Testament by William Tyndale had recently been banned. In early 1528, Latimer was called before Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and he was given an admonition and a warning. The following year, Wolsey fell from Henry VIII's favour when he failed to expedite the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. In 1535, he was appointed Bishop of Worcester, in succession to an Italian absentee, and promoted reformed teachings and iconoclasm [removal of images] in his diocese. In 1539, he opposed Henry VIII's Six Articles, with the result that he was forced to resign his bishopric and imprisoned in the Tower of London (where he was again in 1546). 1 During the reign of Henry's son Edward VI, he was restored to favour, as the English church moved in a more Protestant direction, becoming court preacher until 1550. He then served as chaplain to Katherine, Duchess of Suffolk. However, when Edward VI's sister Mary I came to the throne, he was tried for his beliefs and teachings in Oxford and imprisoned. In October 1555 he was burned at the stake outside Balliol College, Oxford. Trial On 14 April 1554, commissioners from the papal party (including Edmund Bonner and Stephen Gardiner) began an examination of Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer. Latimer, hardly able to sustain a debate at his age, responded to the council in writing. He argued that the doctrines of the real presence of Christ in the mass, transubstantiation, and the propitiatory merit of the mass were unbiblical. The commissioners tried to demonstrate that Latimer didn't share the same faith as eminent Fathers, to which Latimer replied, "I am of their faith when they say well... I have said, when they say well, and bring Scripture for them, I am of their faith; and further Augustine requireth not to be believed." Latimer believed that the welfare of souls demanded he stand for the Protestant understanding of the gospel. The commissioners also understood that the debate involved the very message of salvation itself, by which souls would be saved or damned: After the sentence had been pronounced, Latimer added, 'I thank God most heartily that He hath prolonged my life to this end, that I may in this case glorify God by that kind of death'; to which the prolocutor replied, 'If you go to heaven in this faith, then I will never come hither, as I am thus persuaded.' Latimer was burned at the stake with Nicholas Ridley. He is quoted as having said to Ridley: Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out. The deaths of Latimer, Ridley and later Cranmer — now known as the Oxford Martyrs — are commemorated in Oxford by the Victorian Martyrs' Memorial which is located near the actual execution site which is marked by a cross in Broad Street (then the ditch outside the city's North Gate). The Latimer room in Clare College, Cambridge is named after him. Hugh Latimer said, "It may come in my days, old as I am, or in my children's days, the saints shall be taken up to meet Christ in the air, and so shall come down with Him again" 2 (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4). Latimer is honoured together with Nicholas Ridley in the Church of England and in the Episcopal Church (USA) on 16 October. Nicholas Ridley (From Wikipedia) Nicholas Ridley (c. 1500–16 October 1555) was an English Bishop of London. Ridley was burned at the stake, as one of the Oxford Martyrs, during the Marian Persecutions, for his teachings and his support of Lady Jane Grey. Ridley is remembered with a commemoration in the calendar of saints in some parts of the Anglican Communion on 16 October. Ridley came from a prominent family in Tynedale, Northumberland, and was born c.1500. The boy was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he proceeded to Master of Arts in 1525. Soon afterward, he was ordained as a priest and went to the Sorbonne, in Paris, for further education. After returning to England around 1529, he became the senior proctor of Cambridge University in 1534. Around that time there was significant debate about the Pope's supremacy. Ridley was well versed on Biblical hermeneutics [principles of interpretation], and through his arguments, the university came up with the following resolution: "That the Bishop of Rome had no more authority and jurisdiction derived to him from God, in this kingdom of England, than any other foreign bishop." He graduated B.D. in 1537, and was then appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, to serve as one of his chaplains. In April 1538, Cranmer made him vicar of Herne, in Kent. In 1540-1, he was made one of the King's Chaplains, and was also presented with a prebendal stall in Canterbury Cathedral. He was also made Master of Pembroke College. In 1543 he was accused of heresy, but he was able to beat the charge. Cranmer had resolved to support the English Reformation by gradually replacing the old guard in his ecclesiastical province with men who followed the new thinking. Ridley was made the Bishop of Rochester in 1547, and shortly after coming to office, directed that the altars in 3 the churches of his diocese should be removed, and tables put in their place to celebrate the Lord's Supper. In 1548 he helped Cranmer compile the Book of Common Prayer and in 1549 he was one of the commissioners who investigated Bishops Stephen Gardiner and Edmund Bonner. He concurred that they should be removed. John Ponet took Ridley’s former position. Incumbent conservatives were uprooted and replaced with reformers. On 2 February 1553 Cranmer was ordered to appoint John Knox [the Scottish Protestant reformer] as vicar of Allhallows Church in London, placing him under the authority of Ridley. Knox returned to London in order to deliver a sermon before the king and the court during Lent, after which he refused to take his assigned post. That same year, Ridley pleaded with Edward VI to give some of his empty palaces over to the city to house homeless women and children. Edward VI became seriously ill from tuberculosis, and in mid-June the councillors were told that he did not have long to live. They set to work to convince several judges to put on the throne Lady Jane Grey, Edward's cousin, instead of Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, and a Roman Catholic. On 17 June 1553 the king made his will noting Jane would succeed him, contravening the Third Succession Act. Ridley signed the letters patent giving the English throne to Lady Jane Grey. On 9 July 1553 he preached a sermon at St Paul's cross in which he affirmed that the princesses Mary and Elizabeth were bastards. By mid-July, there were serious provincial revolts in Mary’s favour and support for Jane in the council fell. Mary was proclaimed queen. Ridley, Jane’s father, the Duke of Suffolk, and others were imprisoned. Ridley was sent to the Tower of London. Throughout February 1554, the political leaders of the supporters of Jane were executed, including Jane herself. After that, there was time to deal with the religious leaders of the English Reformation, and so on 8 March 1554, the Privy Council ordered Cranmer, Ridley, and Hugh Latimer to be transferred to Bocardo prison in Oxford to await trial for heresy. The trial of Latimer and Ridley started shortly after Cranmer's. Their verdicts came almost immediately; they were to be burned at the stake. The sentence was carried out on 16 October 1555 in Oxford.