Sometimes it is said by Roman Catholics that Anglicans have no Marian devotion. Although that may be true to say of some Anglicans, it is too broad a brush for the painting of the real picture.
A great many Anglicans love the Blessed Virgin Mary, but the devotional life of Anglicans and Roman Catholics has developed very differently since the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation.
A great many Anglicans love the Blessed Virgin Mary, but the devotional life of Anglicans and Roman Catholics has developed very differently since the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation.
As the Scottish Presbyterian theologian Elizabeth Templeton noted, Anglicanism is something of an ecclesiastical duck-billed platypus. It contains many elements and approaches that seem to belong to different groups and religious beliefs.
Among Anglicans in the period before the 1970's one could find many Anglicans who held a Marian devotion not unlike that of Roman Catholics. Others held a devotion that in some ways was more like that of the Eastern Orthodox, and others held a very limited view of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
There was no official Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Anglican national churches, but that did not mean that there were not Offices of Our Lady prayed at seminaries, certain university colleges, and in Anglican monastic communities.
One such is example is "The Office of Our Lady" from Cambridge Offices and Orisons, 1921 arranged by Eric Milner-White and BTD Smith:
THE OFFICE OF OUR LADY
V. O God, make speed to save us ;
R. O Lord, make haste to help us.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost ;
R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Alelluia.
HYMN.
O GLORIOUS Maid, exalted far
Beyond the light of burning star,
From him who made thee thou hast won
Grace to be Mother of his Son.
That which was lost in hapless Eve
Thy holy Scion did retrieve :
The tear-worn sons of Adam's race
Through thee have seen the heavenly place.
Thou wast the gate of heaven's high Lord,
The door through which the Light hath poured.
Christians rejoice, for through a Maid
To all mankind is life conveyed !
Amen.
[English Hymnal 215.]
Antiphon. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee : and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.
MAGNIFICAT.
+ MY soul doth magnify the Lord : and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded : the lowliness of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth : all generations shall call me blessèd.
For he that is mighty hath magnified me : and holy is his Name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him : throughout all generations.
He hath shewed strength with his arm : he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seat : and hath exalted the humble and meek.
He hath filled the hungry with good things : and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He remembering his mercy hath hoplen his servant Israle : as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed, for ever.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost : As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Antiphon. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee : and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.
CHAPTER. (REV. xii. 1.)
THERE appeard a great wonder in heaven ; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
R. Thanks be to God.
V. He brought me into the banqueting house : and his banner over me was love ;
R. He brought me into the banqueting house : and his banner over me was love.
V. He set the royal crown upon her head ;
R. And his banner over me was love.
V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost ;
R. He brought me into the banqueting house : and his banner over me was love.
V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord ;
R. Be it unto me according to thy Word.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost didst prepare the body and soul of the glorious Virgin-Mother Mary to be a dwelling-place for thy Son ; Grant that we who rejoice in her commemoration may at her tender intercession be kept unspottèd, and made a pure temple for his dwelling ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
V. The Lord be with you ;
R. And with thy spirit.
V. Let us bless the Lord ;
R. Thanks be to God.
