CHARLES THE MARTYR
Snt,—" The Church of England, with the sanction of the State, definitely canonised Charles the King " (W. H. Hutton, The English Saints, Bampton Lectures, 1903, p. 351): and if your correspondent, Miss Jessie S. Boyd, will examine for herself a copy of the Prayer Book of 1662, or any edition of it up to 1859, she will discover in the 'Calendar, against the date January 30th, these words, printed in red letters or the equivalent: "King Charles Martyr." Provision for the religious ot*iliance of this day was made by statute 12 Car. 11. c. 30- (confirmed by 11Car. 11. statute 1. c. 11). In the original Form of Service (1661), King Charles is explicitly described as " this thy blessed Saint and Martyr." The revised Form, incorporated in the Prayer Book, speaks of " the Martyrdom of the blessed King Charles the First." Bishop Seth Ward, writing in. 1663, describes him as "the only person canonized for a martyr " by the Church of England.
It is disputable whether the extrusion of the State Services in 1859 should have entailed the omission of the name of King Charles from the Calendar. It is quite clear that the omission of his name from the Prayer Book Calendar (to which, in the opinion of many of us, it ought to be officially restored) did not involve his expulsion from "the noble Army of -Martyrs." In the words of Bishop Creighton : " Had Charles been willing to abandon the Church, or to give up Episcopacy, he might have saved his throne and his life. But op this point Charles stood firm ; for this he died, and by dying saved it for the future."—Yours faithfully,
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