Fidei Defensor.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20238, 23 February 1934, Page 6

Fidei Defensor.

Dear Sir, —After reading your note on this title in Wednesday’s “ Star.’’ I picked up the book which I am perusing and, quite as a coincidence, came across the following passage: “Henry VIII., who took the first step towards the Reformation in England, was, at the beginning of his reign, so zealous against it that he wrote a book, which he dedicated to Pope Leo X., in opposition to it and in return obtained from this Pontiff for himself and successors the title of Defender of the Faith. Becoming afterwards enamoured Qf Anne Bolcyn, one of the maids of honour to the Queen, and the reigning Pope having refused to sanction an adulterous marriage with her, he caused a statute to' be passed abrogating the Pope’s supremacy and declaring himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Thus he plunged the .nation into schism and opened a way for every kind of heresy and impiety. In short, nothing is more evident than that the King's inordinate passion and not the Word of God, was the rule followed in this first important change of our national religion. The unprincipled Duke of Somerset, who next succeeded to supreme power in the Church and State, under the shadow of his youthful nephew, Edward VI., pushed on the Reformation, so-called, much farther than it had yet been carried, with a view to the gratification of his own ambitions and avaricious purposes.” It would be interesting to know if the details contained in the source of your information conform to the opinions expressed above for, according to thi* outline, it would seem that sheer hpmbug. in the name of religion, held full sway in those days and, to say the least, the title “ Fidei Defensor ” might have been buried with those around whom it actually centred. —1 am, etc., READER. February 22, 1934.