The establishment, continuity, and subsequent canonical validation of the Apostolic Succession within the Church of England involves early missionary history, Reformation-era turbulence, and modern ecumenical resolutions. The intersection of these historical events forms the basis for understanding the validity of Anglican Holy Orders today.
The Arrival of Christianity in England
Christianity arrived in Britain through two distinct historical streams. The earliest evidence traces back to the Romano-British period in the first to third centuries, producing figures like St. Alban, who was martyred during Roman persecutions. However, the formal structural foundation of the English Church occurred in 597 AD when Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine of Canterbury to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons. Augustine established the See of Canterbury, while a parallel Celtic Christian movement—led by figures like Columba and Aidan—evangelized the north from Iona and Lindisfarne. These two traditions formally reconciled their liturgical and canonical differences at the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD, establishing a unified English Church firmly rooted in the Catholic Apostolic Succession.
The Consecration of Matthew Parker (1559)
The central historical pivot for the validity of Anglican orders rests on the consecration of Matthew Parker as the first Archbishop of Canterbury under Queen Elizabeth I. On December 17, 1559, Parker was consecrated at Lambeth Palace by four bishops: William Barlow, John Scory, Miles Coverdale, and John Hodgkins.
Because Barlow and Hodgkins had been consecrated under the traditional Latin Sarum Pontifical, while Scory and Coverdale were consecrated using the 1550 Edwardine Ordinal, the tactile laying on of hands by all four bishops ensured unbroken physical succession. All four bishops recited the ancient formula, Accipe Spiritum Sanctum (Receive the Holy Spirit), firmly securing the transmission of the Apostolic ministry for the post-Reformation Anglican Church.
Apostolicae Curae (1896)
Despite the historical reality of Parker’s consecration, Pope Leo XIII issued the papal bull Apostolicae Curae in September 1896, declaring Anglican orders to be "absolutely null and utterly void". The Roman Catholic argument did not rely on the physical break of succession but on two theological deficiencies:
Defect of Form: Leo XIII argued that the Edwardine Ordinal used for Parker's consecration (and subsequent ordinations until 1662) lacked explicit language identifying the specific order being conferred (Bishop or Priest) and failed to explicitly convey the power to offer the Eucharistic sacrifice (the sacerdotium).
Defect of Intention: The Bull asserted that the English Reformers deliberately excised sacrificial language from the inherited Catholic rite to reject the theology of the Mass. Therefore, Rome concluded the Church of England did not intend to "do what the Church does" in ordination.
Saepius Officio (1897)
In 1897, Archbishops Frederick Temple of Canterbury and William Maclagan of York issued the official Anglican response, Saepius Officio. This scholarly encyclical systematically dismantled the arguments of Apostolicae Curae:
They demonstrated that the earliest Roman sacramentaries (which Rome unequivocally accepts as valid) were equally lacking in the specific explicit sacrificial language demanded by Leo XIII. If the Edwardine Ordinal was invalid due to a "defect of form," early Roman ordinations would retroactively be rendered invalid by the same standard.
They argued that the intention of the English Church was explicitly stated in the Preface to the Ordinal: to continue the ancient orders of Bishop, Priest, and Deacon as they existed from the Apostles' time. The removal of medieval accretions did not constitute a rejection of the primitive Catholic intention.
The Definitive Resolution: The 1931 Bonn Agreement and Co-Consecrations
While Saepius Officio provided a robust theological defense, the definitive canonical resolution to the debate over Anglican orders emerged in the 20th century. The 1931 Bonn Agreement established full communion between the Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht. This agreement served as a watershed moment in modern ecclesiology, fundamentally altering the canonical landscape of the Anglican Communion and establishing a durable framework for international Catholic ecumenism.
Following this agreement, Old Catholic bishops began regularly participating as co-consecrators in Anglican episcopal ordinations. Because the Roman Catholic Church universally recognizes the validity of Old Catholic Holy Orders, the physical participation of Old Catholic bishops injected an unquestionable line of Apostolic Succession into the Anglican episcopate. This historical mechanism creates a canonical reality where modern Anglican bishops—and by extension, the priests and deacons they ordain—possess lines of succession traceable through unquestioned Old Catholic lineage. The tactile succession is canonically complete, affirming the absolute validity of contemporary Anglican Holy Orders from both an Anglican and strict Roman Catholic sacramental perspective, rendering the arguments of Apostolicae Curae obsolete for the modern communion.
Theological Implications
Sacramental Validation and Canonical Security: By infusing an indisputable line of tactile succession into the Anglican episcopate, the Old Catholic co-consecrations neutralized future Roman Catholic challenges regarding a "defect of form or intention," as the modern succession now incorporates lines independent of the English Reformation.
The Principle of "Unity Without Absorption": The agreement formalized a sophisticated ecclesiological model explicitly stating that neither communion is required to accept all doctrinal opinions or liturgical practices characteristic of the other. It established that true Catholic unity rests on shared adherence to the historic episcopate, the dominical sacraments, and the ancient creeds, rather than jurisdictional submission.
Eucharistic and Christological Alignment: Both bodies mutually affirmed the objective reality of the Eucharistic presence and the sacrificial nature of the priesthood without demanding strict adherence to specific medieval scholastic definitions (such as transubstantiation), representing a theological return to the patristic consensus.
Ecumenical Implications
The Blueprint for Modern "Full Communion": Bonn provided a template where distinct ecclesial bodies could retain their canonical autonomy and historical identities while fully recognizing each other’s ministries. This enabled the Anglican Communion to forge similar global agreements, such as the Porvoo Communion with Nordic/Baltic Lutheran churches.
Strategic Positioning with Eastern Orthodoxy: By aligning sacramentally with the Old Catholics—a body the Orthodox already respected—the Anglican Communion indirectly strengthened its own theological standing in dialogues with the East, demonstrating a commitment to historic Catholic order.
Vindication of the "Via Media": The agreement operationalized the classic Anglican self-understanding as a bridge church. It proved that a church born of the Reformation could maintain absolute fidelity to Protestant theological insights while successfully integrating with a continental Catholic tradition, positioning Anglicanism as a central, mediating force in the 20th-century ecumenical movement.
References
Primary Sources
Leo XIII, Pope. (1896). Apostolicae Curae [Papal Bull on the Nullity of Anglican Orders]. Vatican City: Typographia Polyglotta.
Temple, F., & Maclagan, W. (1897). Saepius Officio: Answer of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the Bull Apostolicae Curae of H. H. Leo XIII. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
The Bonn Agreement. (1931). Report of the Conference Between Representatives of the Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Churches. London: SPCK.
Secondary Scholarly Literature
Avis, P. (2007). Anglicanism and the Christian Church: Theological Resources in Historical Perspective (2nd ed.). London: T&T Clark.
Bradshaw, P. F. (1971). The Anglican Ordinal: Its History and Development from the Reformation to the Present Day. London: SPCK.
Franklin, R. W. (Ed.). (1996). Anglican Orders: Essays on the Centenary of Apostolicae Curae 1896–1996. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing.
Hughes, J. J. (1970). Stewards of the Lord: A Reappraisal of Anglican Orders. London: Sheed and Ward. (A critical Roman Catholic historical reassessment of the 1896 papal bull in light of modern canonical theology).
MacCulloch, D. (1990). The Later Reformation in England, 1547–1603. London: Macmillan.
Wright, J. R. (2001). "Anglican Orders and Theology." In The Study of Anglicanism (Rev. ed., S. Sykes, J. Booty, & J. Knight, Eds.). London: SPCK.
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