July 5, 2017
Devotions: Timeline of the Reformation: Dissolution of the Monasteries 1536 – 40

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 whereby king Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents, and friaries throughout England, Wales and Ireland. Henry the VIII not only closed them, he took their money and disposed of their assets. Much of the property was sold by Henry to finance his military campaigns. It was through his Act of Supremacy that allowed him, in his mind, to take these steps. Of course, when you make yourself the Supreme Head of the Church of England, you give yourself that authority.
The First Suppression Act of 1536 and the Second Suppression Act of 1539 spurned what Professor George W. Bernard argues:

The dissolution of the monasteries in the late 1530s was one of the most revolutionary events in English history. There were nearly 900 religious houses in England, around 260 for monks, 300 for regular canons, 142 nunneries and 183 friaries; some 12,000 people in total, 4,000 monks, 3,000 canons, 3,000 friars and 2,000 nuns. If the adult male population was 500,000, that meant that one adult man in fifty was in religious orders. (wikipedia)

By the end of the 16th Century, monasticism had almost entirely disappeared from those European states whose rulers had adopted the Lutheran or Reformed Confessions of Faith (Ireland being the only major exception); while some monasteries remained in those states that continued in the Catholic tradition. However, the religious changes in England under Henry VIII were of a different nature from those taking place in Germany, Bohemia, France, Scotland and Geneva. Across much of continental Europe the seizure of monastic property was associated with discontent among the common people, the clergy, and secular society against the powerful and the wealthy church institutions. Of course, from Henry’s perspective, he just wanted to get his own way, which was to divorce his current wife, and to be able to dispose of the next five wives, and still have a church to call home.

Today we struggle to get men and women to attend seminary in order to follow the ordained track and become ministers of Word and Sacrament, or to become consecrated to service the church in Word and Service. Henry VIII’s Act of Supremacy made him the supreme head of the Church of England and allowed him to make decrees that disbanded the Catholic Church and to strengthen his own church. In the Lutheran Church, we need to find ways to consolidate our churches to strengthen them and give the pastors who serve them hope for the future. Right now, coming out of seminary means plenty of opportunity, but not much ecclesial power to make positive change, because we are congregational churches. It will take all of us working together, and that is hard work, but with the power of the Holy Spirit behind us, it will bear much fruit in the years to come.

Pastor Dave

Please collect toilet tissue and facial tissues for Trinity’s Table.