Reformation Remembered in Cambridge

On 16 November, a special Evensong at St Edward’s, Cambridge marked the 500th anniversary of Robert Barnes’ “Reformation Sermon”, bringing Catholics and Anglicans together in prayer for Christian unity.

Five hundred years ago this Christmas Eve, an Augustinian friar named Robert Barnes climbed the pulpit of St Edward’s Church in the centre of Cambridge. With passion and conviction, he denounced the shortcomings of the clergy of his day, including those of Cardinal Wolsey. He did not speak of doctrine, yet his bold address would later be remembered as the “Reformation Sermon”. It launched his role as a Protestant reformer, established a friendship with Martin Luther, and set him on a path that would shape English church history until his death.

On 16 November, that momentous sermon was remembered not with division but with prayer for unity. Inspired by Gerard Banaszkiewicz and Dominic McDermott, two Catholics with a deep desire for reconciliation, the Vicar-Chaplain of St Edward’s, Revd Mark Scarlata, and the Catholic Chaplain to the University of Cambridge, Fr Paul Keane, came together to organise a special Evensong at St Edward’s.

Supported by the Choir of Fisher House, the Catholic Chaplaincy of the University, both Anglicans and Catholics gathered, from town and university alike, committing themselves anew to Christ’s call for unity. Bishop Peter Collins joined the ecumenical celebration and preached from the very same pulpit that once held Robert Barnes.

It was an extraordinary moment. One imagines that Barnes himself, a figure of reform in his time, could never have foreseen such a gathering: Christians united in prayer, sharing a vision of reconciliation in the very place where he had once challenged the Church.

Five centuries on, that Cambridge pulpit continues to speak, not with the language of division but with the hope of Christian unity.

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