Bishop EDMUND BONNER OF LONDON, 1569

POVERTY PREFERRED

Biography

SUMMONED by the Council and requested to resign, with the assurance of a good pension if he would do so, he replied that he preferred death. "How then," they asked, "will you live?" "Nothing indeed remains to me; but I hope in God, who will not fail me, and in my friends, the more that I may be able to gain my livelihood by teaching children, which profession I did not disdain to exercise although I was a bishop. And should no one be found willing to accept my teaching, I am a doctor of law and will resume the study of what I have forgotten, and will thus gain my bread. And should this not succeed, I know how to labour with my hands in gardens and orchards, as planting, grafting, sowing, etc. as well as any gardener in the Kingdom. And should this also be insufficient, I desire no other grace, favour, or privilege from Her Majesty than what she grants to the mendicants who go through London from door to door begging, that I may do the like if necessary." When the Council heard this, his final denunciation, they said, "We have nothing more to do with you at present. Her Majesty then will provide herself with another bishop."

" Hath not God chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love him?"— JAS. ii. 5.

Bishop EDMUND BONNER OF LONDON, 1569

FAITHFUL IN THE END

Biography

HE was a native of Worcestershire, educated at Broadgates Hall, Oxford (very long pdf file, page 50 onwards for the history of Broadgates Hall, 102 onwards for the times of Bishop Bonner), became chaplain to Henry VIII, was very zealous in promoting the divorce, and behaved, as he tells us himself, insolently to the Pope. He accepted the Bishopric of London from the King, and was consecrated April 4, 1540, but never received the necessary Bull from Rome. For refusing to accept Edward VI's changes in religion he was deposed and imprisoned. He was set free by Mary, and canonically reinstated. Under Elizabeth he was the first to whom the oath was proffered, and had the honour of being the first to refuse it. He was specially detested by the Protestants on account of his supposed severity to heretics, but Mr. Gairdner expressly states that to the prisoners in his hands he was kind, gentle, and considerate, and always strove by gentle suasion to reconcile them to the Church before handing them over to the civil power. When ordered by the Council to remove the service of the Mass and the Divine office from St. Paul's, the one church where the Catholic rites still existed, he replied, " I possess three things—soul, body, and property. Of the two last you can dispose at your pleasure."

" Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit."—Ps. l.14.