On 31 December the church remembers John Wyclif, Priest, Reformer, Theologian and Translator of the Scriptures, 1330 – 1384.

But who was John Wycliffe?

Because of the far-reaching effects on the Church of the sixteenth century Reformation, it is easy to forget that there were those, both in England and in Europe, who had previously expressed their disquiet with the doctrine and practice of the medieval Church and unsuccessfully sought to reform it. One of these was John Wycliffe, sometimes referred to as the ‘Morning Star of the Reformation’.

Born at Hipswell in Yorkshire c.1330, Wycliffe was educated at Oxford. Though he held the livings of Fillingham, Ludgershall and Lutterworth, he remained for most of his life at Oxford where he taught philosophy and theology. He quickly rose in the academic hierarchy from Fellow of Merton to Master of Balliol and Warden of Canterbury Hall.

Wycliffe came to prominence in 1374 when he took the king’s side in a financial dispute with the Pope. Wycliffe soon found himself backed by two powerful patrons – John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and the Black Prince – and as he began to develop unconventional theological views, they were able to protect him from the persecution that would normally have followed from his criticisms of the doctrine and practice of the medieval Church.

In what ways did Wycliffe anticipate the Reformation?

  • First he upheld the idea of a national Church over and against the international use (or abuse) of papal authority.
  • Second, he believed in a direct relationship between humanity and God, without priestly mediation.
  • Third, reacting against the speculations of medieval scholasticism, Wycliffe sought inspiration and authority in the Scriptures and the Fathers and he initiated a translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible into English.
  • Fourth, he repudiated the doctrine of transubstantiation as philosophically unsound and liable to cause superstition.

The inevitable condemnation of his eucharistic views came in 1381, the same year as the Peasants’ Revolt, for which he was unfairly blamed. He left Oxford and retired to Lutterworth in Leicestershire, where he died three years later.

Wycliffe’s followers became known as ‘Lollards’ and despite attempts to stamp them out, they remained as small illicit groups of Christian worshippers in southern England until the sixteenth-century Reformation. Wycliffe’s writings strongly influenced the Bohemian Reformer John Hus. After Hus’s condemnation by the Council of Constance in 1415 the Council reviewed Wycliffe’s heresies and ordered his body to be disinterred and burned. Martin Luther later acknowledged his debt to Wycliffe.

A Prayer

God our Father,
who desires that all may come to know you
and Jesus Christ whom you have sent:
grant that, like your servant John,
we may be untiring in spreading the good news of your Word made fl esh;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be all honour and glory,
now and ever.
Amen.

Revd Paul A. Carr and extract from ‘Saints on Earth: A biographical companion to Common Worship’ by John H Darch and Stuart K Burns