If you’re a Catholic, and you speak English as your primary language, then you have a special heritage you may not even be aware of. The English Patrimony, lost in the Protestant world for centuries, has now been restored to the Catholic Church. I’m talking about the English spiritual heritage that was originally Catholic, from about AD 600 to 1535, but continued after the English Reformation under Anglicanism for five more centuries, before it was reunited with Rome in 1980 under Pope Saint John Paul II’s “Anglican Use Pastoral Provision” and then expanded under Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Constitution entitled Anglicanorum Coetibus (Latin: Groups of Anglicans). Today, this English Patrimony, now fully readopted back into the Catholic Church, is manifested in three personal ordinariates around the world, a fully developed Missal and Office, along with an accompanying spirituality that is deep in English heritage. Any Catholic may be enriched by this, especially English-speaking Catholics, and it was Pope Benedict XVI’s expressed will that the English Patrimony be returned to the Catholic Church as a spiritual gift for all Catholics.

The English Patrimony is not Anglicanism or Anglican spirituality exclusively. Granted, Anglicanism and Anglican spirituality drew from the English Patrimony for centuries, but the English Patrimony is bigger than that, and it’s much older. It began in about AD 600 when St. Augustine of Canterbury was sent by Pope St. Gregory the Great to evangelize the English Pagans, who had driven back the Celtic Christians of the British Isles and were causing all sorts of problems for them. These English Pagans (Angles, Saxons and Jutes) were Germanic people who worshiped the Heathen gods of Woden (Odin), Thunor (Thor) and Frige (Frigg). Yes, these were identical to the Nordic gods because they all come from the same Germanic people in northern Europe. Upon St. Augustine’s successful mission to convert the English king, he was made the first Archbishop of Canterbury. The Synod of Whitby (AD 664) saw the full integration of British Catholicism thereafter. It was here, in the 7th century, that the English Patrimony was born.

As the English nation developed, the language was heavily influenced by Catholic religion. Known as “Mary’s Dowry,” England itself became the most Catholic country in all of Europe, second only to Italy for a time. The English language evolved simultaneously along two paths, eventually resulting in two forms of English — Secular (or “Common”) and Religious (“Sacral” or “Sacred”). Common English evolved along secular lines, as in what people use in everyday speech, eventually adopted by the state for legal matters. Sacred English evolved along religious lines, keeping connection to the Latin, Greek and Hebrew texts of the Bible and other religious documents, insuring proper translations into the English language, and providing a means to offer a prayer language that is “set apart” from common life. This involves the use of specific pronouns for the second-person singular case (thou, thee, thy, thine), and specific suffixes for verbs (-est and -ith) that indicates who is doing the action. These things may seem small and unnecessary to the average English-speaker, but when translating Latin, Greek and Hebrew text into English, they’re vitally important. They’re small changes, but they’re enough to mark a slightly different dialect of English that’s easy for average English-speakers to quickly decipher and understand. The Catholic Church has always recognized this aspect of the English Patrimony, which is why (even to this day) Sacred English is used for the Our Father prayer during Mass…

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day, our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

As you can see, with the change of just five words in the “Our Father” prayer, the entire “feel” of the payer is changed. Not only is this a more faithful translation of the original Greek text from Scripture, but it also gives us a sense that what we’re doing is different. When we pray this prayer in this way, we enter into a manner of speech that is not common or ordinary. It’s something set apart for God. The modern 1970, New Order of the Mass (Novus Ordo or Missal of Pope Paul VI), when translated into Common English vernacular, gives a nod to the English Patrimony by translating the Our Father prayer into Sacred English instead. If you happen to be a Latin Mass Catholic, and you own a 1962 Latin Mass Missal, there’s a good chance that the one you own translates the Latin text of the Mass into Sacred English in the left-hand column. This is an even bigger nod to the English Patrimony in the pre-conciliar Church.

Most Catholics are familiar with Sacred English for the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be prayers. Older Catholics may remember that older Catholic prayer books and missals where translated almost entirely into Sacred English. Why is this? Because it was once well understood by the Church that there is an English Patrimony, which has served Christians as far back as the 7th century, and this Patrimony manifests itself (partially) in the use of Sacred English.

Obviously, there’s a lot more to the English Patrimony than just language. Specific prayers play into this as well. These are prayers that were common to English-speaking Catholics before the English Reformation (AD 1535) but have fallen into disuse thereafter, due to the schism between Rome and Canterbury. Those prayers have now been restored to the Catholic Church; in the Divine Worship Missal, in the Divine Worship Office, and in the St. Gregory’s Prayer Book. There are also liturgical actions unique to the English Patrimony, which can only be seen in a Divine Worship Mass (DWM). This carries on in the form of parish administration, particular to the English Patrimony, as well as a number of other things.

The point I’m making here is that the English Patrimony is a particularly English way of being Catholic. Most English-speaking Catholics have been robbed of the full package, due to the unfortunate schism between Rome and Canterbury in AD 1535, but those days came to an end in AD 1980, and now in the second decade of this third millennium, we have seen the full restoration of the English Patrimony to the Catholic Church. It’s available to all Catholics who speak English as their primary language. While it is true that the English Patrimony extends into other languages and cultures as well (due to the spread of Anglicanism over the last five centuries), the primary beneficiaries are English-speaking Catholics. If you’re Catholic, and you speak English as your primary language, you’re already touching on the English Patrimony every time you go to a regular Mass.

Many of my readers have expressed to me a desire to return to the traditional Catholic spirituality of the English Patrimony. I have provided below everything one needs to accomplish a deeper connection to that heritage, regardless if one is eligible for ordinariate membership or not. To connect, and rediscover this element of traditional English-Catholic devotion, I recommend you follow these steps in this order…

The English Patrimony is in the Catholic Church to stay. It’s not going anywhere, and it’s for every English-speaking Catholic to enjoy and cherish as part of one’s spiritual heritage, at whatever level one prefers. Perhaps Step 1 (above) will be enough for you. Maybe, you’ll be one of those Catholics who’s intrigued by step 1 and move on to Step 2 and 3. Maybe that will be enough. Or maybe, you’ll be the type who moves on to Step 4 and 5. Not everyone can move on to Step 6, due to canonical limitations, but if you can, give it some prayer and thought. I’ve been a member of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter (North America) for years now. I love it and have no regrets. In fact, I’ve never met an ordinariate member who did have regrets. As they say: “come on in, the water is fine.” However, for those who can’t be part of the ordinariate, that should in no way exclude them from the English Patrimony. On the contrary, Pope Benedict XVI insisted that the English Patrimony was for the whole Catholic Church! This would especially be the case for all English-speaking Catholics. If you can’t be an ordinariate member, no worries. Just consider steps one through five above. They’re all available to you.