Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: credmond@watmath.waterloo.edu (Chris Redmond) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Question re Book of Common Prayer circa 1900 Message-ID: Date: 29 Oct 90 07:19:48 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of Waterloo Lines: 26 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article <1053@halley.UUCP> kidd@halley.UUCP (Dave Kidd) writes: >I recently acquired my grandmother's Anglican (CofE) Book of Common Prayer. >It'd be circa 1900, since the prayer for the sovereign was for VICTORIA. >However, the last signature of pages is missing, from about psalm 105 on. >My question is about a service which occurs in the table of contents, >about a form of prayer to be used on June 20th. My question: what's so special >about June 20th? June 20 was the anniversary of the day on which Victoria became queen (in 1837). According to my Annotated Book of Common Prayer (fourth edition, 1869), "The Form of Prayer for the Accession of the Sovereign" was one of four "state services" that had formerly been prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer. (The other three were for November 5, the date of the Gunpowder Plot; January 30, the anniversary of the beheading of Charles I; and May 29, the day of the restoration of Charles II.) After 1859, only the Accession service continued to appear in the prayer book, and it was somewhat modified. Unfortunately my Annotated does not include the text of the relevant "form of prayer", only a note casting serious doubt on its legal status after the 1859 reforms. CAR credmond@watmath