August 2026 Reading on St. Augustine
This month I decided to present a beautiful poem instead of a selection from St.
Augustine.
“Love” by George Herbert
Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lacked anything.
A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:
Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?
Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, says Love, who bored the blame?
My dear, then I will serve.
You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat.
The Protestant Reformation in England, unlike some areas in continental Europe, was a top-down affair. Between 1529 and 1536 King Henry VIII’s henchman Thomas Cromwell disbanded religious orders, stole Church property, changed the mass, and broke off union with the Church of Rome. While King Henry VIII was very close to Catholicism in his views of the hierarchy, the sacraments and the role of tradition, Cromwell was a passionate Protestant. In October 1536 a spontaneous mass protest, the Pilgrimage of Grace, tried to restore Catholicism, arranging for expelled monks and nuns to return to their monasteries, preserving the Catholic mass and other Catholic observances. When King Henry heard that monks had restored Sawley Abbey, he ordered the Earl of Derby to “take the said abbot and monks forth with violence and have them hanged without delay in their monks’ apparel.” What is evident in the English Reformation is that the people, as opposed to the political leadership, had deep Catholic instincts.
The character of the Church of England slowly evolved towards Protestantism but there were holdouts, especially in the North. One of the interesting things about the Church of England is that many members retained strong Catholic sensibilities, as can be seen in the rich Eucharist poem of George Herbert, “Love,” first published in 1633.
Matthew Briel
Head of School
