Prince Charles has paid tribute to the "power and majesty" of the 'Book of Common Prayer' during the 450th anniversary of the death and martyrdom of the book's author, Thomas Cranmer, according to the BBC.
Speaking during a visit to the Prayer Book Society, of which he is patron, he told how the work had put "the essential virtues of resilience and balance" into English culture as we know it today.
Indeed, he even went as far as saying that had the book not been created, English would have been very different to what we see today. For instance, it would be deprived of such words as resurrection and crucified, the prince testified.
Prince Charles said, "The prayer book largely created and spread standard English across the country in the 16th century as a result of Sunday worship in the parish church - when week after week millions would assemble to hear the power and majesty of the Book of Common Prayer.The prayer book largely created and spread standard English across the country in the 16th century as a result of Sunday worship in the parish church.
Prince Charles
"And how lucky they were, and we are, that the prayer book was composed by Thomas Cranmer who had such an ear for formal prose, for its sonorities and structure."
120 members of the Prayer Book Society had gathered at their annual conference in Lady Margaret Hall's College in Oxford to hear the prince's speech.
Gathering meaningfully at the same city that Archbishop Cranmer was executed in under the reign of Queen Mary, the society heard the Prince of Wales praise the work of the organisation, which has endured in its mission to promote and preserve the use of the Book of Common Prayer.
In particular, the society has continued its efforts to introduce the book to young people, trainee priests, as well as church councils.
Its work created a vital "generational link" by adopting traditional values central in modern Anglican worship, the prince said.
