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February
2005 marks the 450th anniversary of one of the bloodiest chapters
in Gloucester's history, the martyrdom of Bishop John Hooper.
Bishop
Hooper, who was the second Bishop of Gloucester, was burned to death
just outside the cathedral gates in 1555 during the reign of 'Bloody'
Mary for being an "unrepentant heretic".
Deeply
disappointed
He
was made Bishop of Gloucester in 1550. On arriving in the diocese,
he was deeply disappointed with the local clergy. He found that
168 of them could not even repeat the Ten Commandments and that
41 couldn't find the Lord's Prayer in the Bible.
The
Bishop was also an outspoken critic of many church practices in
general including the veneration of the saints and the church hierarchy.
Burned
alive
He
was burned alive on February 9th 1555 while his colleagues from
the Cathedral were forced to watch. Before his death he was held
prisoner in the building in Westgate Street, which is now the Folk
Museum.
Gloucester
Cathedral will be marking this important event in the history of
the city in three ways:
Tuesday,
February 8th 2005
On
the day Bishop Hooper was held prisoner in Westgate Street, there
will be a service of Evening Prayer at 5.30pm in Gloucester Cathedral,
using the 1552 Prayer book, on which Bishop Hooper had a great influence.
The
1552 Prayer Book was a revision of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's 1549
Prayer Book which Bishop Hooper found "very defective and of
doubtful construction, and, in some respects, indeed manifestly
impious."
The
current Bishop of Gloucester, the Right Revd Michael Perham will
give an address and prayers will be said at Bishop Hooper's Memorial
in St Mary's Square next to the Cathedral - this was the place where
he was burned.
The
emphasis will be on praying for reconciliation between the Christian
churches today and giving thanks for the progress made in reconciling
the Christian churches.
Wednesday,
February 9th 2005
On
the day Bishop Hooper was killed, Professor Paul Bradshaw will give
a lecture in the Chapter House at 6.30pm on "Bishop Hooper
and the 1552 Prayer Book".
This
event will follow the Ash Wednesday Sung Eucharist at the Cathedral
at 5.30 pm
Thursday,
February 10th 2005
At
7.30 PM, Canon David Hoyle will give the opening lecture of the
Gloucester Cathedral Lent Series entitled "Reformation and
Reconciliation". Canon Hoyle's lecture is on "Bishop Hooper
and the Reformation."
There
will also be a Requiem Eucharist at St Mary de Lode Church, the
parish church next to the Hooper Memorial, at 7.30pm.
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Bishop
Hooper met a horrible end in 1555 when he was burned alive at the
stake in Gloucester for the crime of being a "unrepentant heretic"...
