Abstract: The essay argues that a text first printed in English in 1651 must date from about 1610, and that it preserves a first-hand account of previously unsuspected theological discussions, arranged by Archbishop Whitgift in late 1595, that eventuated in the Lambeth Articles. The doctrinal positions advanced in these discussions – and in the several written responses to the Articles that Whitgift also solicited – clarify the archbishop's handling of this early predestinarian controversy but also complicate in fundamental ways the received picture of the late Elizabethan doctrinal landscape.

Abstract: Ireland in the mid-1560s and 1570s was a contested kingdom strained by Tudor governmental and spiritual reformist efforts. Having lost considerable ground, in 1564, the Roman church sent Richard Creagh, now archbishop of Armagh, on a mission back to his native country to roll back the effects of Tudor policy. Creagh followed unconditionally neither pope nor prince, however, but his conscience, which became a fulcrum of relations between subject and sovereign, human and God, and the spiritual and temporal realms that followed a single divine command: to give Caesar his own and Christ his own. Assessing his theology and politics against the divergent yet overlapping worlds in which they unfolded, this thesis explores how Creagh’s conscientious form of life coalesced at the juncture of two historico-ontological problems: government (order) and sovereignty (metaphysical, unitary, and layered). In a world of nascent empires and increasingly global encounters, Creagh’s absolute submission to God and Christ, and his steadfast, yet conditional, sense of duty to pope and prince, raises important questions about Irish sovereignty, for his very life constituted a commentary on European debates over rights ofimperium (sovereignty) and dominion (property), on reform and conquest, and on the boundaries and status of ecclesiastical and secular jurisdictions on the one hand, and of law and grace, on the other. Tugging at itself from multiple directions, his form of life perennially risked its own undoing in a world redrawn by the pervasive, yet punctured, structuring force of a sovereignty increasingly indistinguishable from colonial power.

Abstract: The question of clerical exemption from secular judgment was a core constituent of the fierce dispute that set King Henry II of England against Archbishop Thomas Becket of Canterbury in 1163 and culminated in the latter’s murder in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. This paper traces the Roman origin of immunity, its confused treatment in Gratian’s Decretum, and the working out of a reasonable modus vivendi through episcopal-papal consultation in the following eighty or so years.

Abstract: This paper focuses on discussions of Christian kingship in 1163, a critical year in the relationship between King Henry II of England and Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. On the basis of the revised Lives of Anselm (by John of Salisbury) and Edward the Confessor (by Aelred of Rievaulx), it is clear that traditional views of a symbiotic relationship were still very much to the fore, even though the quarrel between king and archbishop was to lead ultimately to a clearer separation of secular and ecclesiastical jurisdictions.

Abstract: In recent decades, the history of the Anglo-Saxon coronation ordines has become clearer as part of a general lifting of fog in the Channel.1 Liturgy’s supra-regnal character, and the consequently frequent crossing of liturgical books from Francia to England and vice versa, no longer need to be insisted on as providing the context for ritual developments. So far, so good. Key points have remained debatable, though; and among these is the question of the occasion on which the Second Ordo was first used. I argued nearly 20 years ago that that occasion was the inauguration of Edward the Elder at Pentecost 900. There were two main reasons for that view: one was the presence in the consecration prayer of references to two peoples, to paternal glory and to unity, which seemed to me then to fit the political circumstances of 899-900 better than 924-925; the other was the presence of a queen’s ordo alongside the king’s and that accorded with Edward’s married situation rather than AEthelstan’s unmarried one.2 Patrick Wormald never was persuaded by what amount to no more than circumstantial arguments. He remained convinced that the inauguration of AEthelstan in 925 was the likeliest occasion for the Second Ordo’s first use.3 He thought the theme of a union of two peoples peculiarly apt for AEthelstan ‘in the aftermath of Edward’s vigorous suppression of Mercian (semi)-independence’. He pointed out, further, that the provision of a queen’s ordo to follow the king’s ‘could just as well be another addition to the base-text … in which case it could have been revised for the returning Louis IV in 936’. Nicholas Brooks has left the question open: ‘it was … either Archbishop Plegmund or Archbishop Athelm who introduced into English royal ritual the ring, the crown itself, and much liturgical ceremony1 I use the term ‘coronation’ ordo/ordines simply because it is in general use, although Anglo-Saxon liturgical books usually named the rite a benediction (or benedictions), or consecration. Coronation in the modern sense, meaning the whole inauguration-rite, did not become common usage until the eleventh century and later, see J.L. Nelson, Politics and Ritual in Early Medieval Europe (London, 1986), 295, 388 n. 58.

Abstract: Amid the range of concerns that fill his De consideratione (c. 1150)- the rising influx of litigation appealed to the papal court, bribery, the threat of envy and ambition throughout the ecclesiastical hierarchy- bernard of clairvaux took time to look back to the council of Reims that had taken place in 1148. the council, called by Pope eugenius iii (1145- 53), had issued reforming canons, debated episcopal primacy, resolved disputed marriages, and addressed cases of heresy (see figure 1). but bernard did not cast it-or eugenius's role in it-in a positive light:Did you not promulgate with your own mouth the laws proposed at the council of Reims? who keeps them? who has kept them? you deceive yourself if you think they are observed. if you do not think this, then you have sinned either by decreeing what cannot be observed or by neglecting the fact that your decrees are not observed. . . . these are your words, you have sanctioned them. what effect have they had?"1This retrospective assessment of the council paints a bleak picture of its importance: it is depicted as a failure on eugenius's part to translate reform from page to practice.Yhe actual impact of the council of Reims in 1148 was not as minimal as bernard suggested.2 yet that bernard chose to focus on this tension between the aspirations of the council and its tangible accomplishments raises a series of questions concerning the development of the twelfth-century church and the papacy at its head. the council of Reims illustrates the contradictions that defined papal authority in the twelfth century, and an illustration of the limitations of the term "papal monarchy." eugenius's role at Reims placed him at the forefront of the church: he led grand processions, clarified canons, and settled disputes over ecclesiastical discipline. but Reims also demonstrates the limits and constraints placed on this power. for every instance that eugenius stood at the forefront of the church, there is another instance of him being constrained by the web of concurrent powers and influences that surrounded him. the council of Reims is a valuable example of the exercise of ecclesiastical authority in the twelfth century. it addressed issues of ecclesiastical primacy, marriage, heresy, and reform. it was attended by some of the most prominent clerics of the age. and it demonstrates the balancing act of papal authority: eugenius iii did not act like a papal monarch but a careful diplomat, steadying the swirl of factions and often-contradicting authorities that defined the twelfth century.Uhe Council of ReimsIn october 1147-seven months into his fourteen-month itineration through the kingdom of france-Pope eugenius iii sent out letters to prelates from "diverse parts of the world" summoning them to the council that would ultimately be held in Reims.3 the letter that survives opens with an arenga that underlined the fundamental importance of papal authority. Having received its authority from christ and from Peter, the church, "rising up just like a remarkable structure on the most solid foundation," directed its efforts towards reform. eugenius declared this to be his own responsibility, and called the council based upon the "obligation of his apostolic authority."4 the arenga is a strong assertion of eugenius's vision for the council and his own position within the church. as outlined in eugenius's summons, the council aimed at ecclesiastical reform and unity, objectives that were to be translated into reality by papal authority derived from christ himself.Eugenius's summons also demonstrated that he took attendance at the council seriously: he ordered recipients of his letters to attend.5 as was common for councils of the period, those absent were suspended from their offices, a fate that awaited a range of prelates. despite a sizeable contingent of iberian clergy-including archbishop Raimundo of toledo, archbishop bernat tort of tarragona, and the bishops of coria, segovia, and oviedo-alfonso Vii of leon-castile had to appeal to the pope to liftthe suspension from the bishops who did not attend. …

Abstract: This paper aims at investigating the concept of originality and how it can be applied today to the surviving different versions of a fundamental document in the history of Seville’s Church: the Constituciones (Statutes) of Don Remondo’s, first archbishop of the diocese, consecrated after the Christian reconquest, that promulgated them in 1261. The Constitutiones laid the legal and economic foundations of the Sevillian restored Church and established its legal pillars, that survived until the 19th century. The first version of these statutes is not kept anymore but a number of copies of them were preserved in different pragmatic codices. Did a document translated and updated in 1411 have the same legality and authenticity as its model? It seemed so, as this new version is placed in one of the codices of greatest value to the institution at the time it was created. To conclude, the complete edition of this re-enactment of the text is provided.

Abstract: The article gives examples of obtaining new information about martyrs in the 20th century, namely the clergymen and parishioners of the Vysokopetrovsky Monastery in Moscow, including its abbot Archbishop Bartholomew (Remov). The new data are obtained by researching the newly discovered documents in private and foreign archives, a more thorough critical and comparative analysis of the already well-known sources, and interviewing individuals who personally knew those people, who were repressed and lived up to the second half of the twentieth century. The sources introduced into the scientifi c activities come from the private archive of his-torian Sergey Belyaev, as well as from the archives of the General Curia of the Assumptionist Congregation in Rome (the letters from Bishop Pie Eugene Neveu, apostolic administrator in Moscow in 1926-1936) and the Historic archives of the Secretariat of State. There are subjected to critical examination the investigative materials against Archbishop Bar-tholomew (Remov) and the members of the community, who in the investigation case were named members of the “Catholic group of the counter-revolutionary organization under the illegal “Petrovsky monastery”. The author refutes the conclusions made earlier by the researchers on the existence of a Catholic group in the Vysokopetrovsky Monastery, as well as casts doubt on the hypothesis on the adherence of the monastery abbot Archbishop Bartholomew (Remov) to Catholicism.

Abstract: The paper offers the materials of Lazar Baranovych’s embassy to Moscow in 1684. This is the first publication of the documents. They include three letters of Baranovych to tsars Ivan and Peter Alekseyevich, the regent Sophia Alekseyevna and Prince Vasilii Vasil’evich Golitsyn; their replies; records of expenditures, and the record of a court case about the robbery of the envoys. The letters mostly concern themselves with books that Baranovych’s envoys brought to Moscow and some favors that the archbishop expected in return. The material informs us about the circulation of books in the early 1680, diplomatic gift-giving and networking. The documents also serve as a fine example of office administration concerning Moscow-Ukrainian relations.

Abstract: The funerary objects of the archbishop and patron of the arts Alonso de Aragon (1470-1520), illegitimate son of Fernando el Catolico, allow for the consideration of this prelate’s concerns and interests. His treasures, discovered in 1994 during the restoration of the Catedral del Salvador, on the one hand demonstrate the international nature of the archbishop’s relations, and on the other, confirm the artistic connections of the Kingdom of Aragon in the late Middle Ages.

Abstract: This year (2017) we remember 500 years since Martin Luther wrote to Archbishop Albrecht citing 95 reasons why change was needed within the Catholic Church. The stimulation of the spirit of reform, ...

Abstract: The Nidaros province, founded in 1152–1153 with Nidaros/Trondheim in Norway as its metropolitan see, was a wide-spanning unit encompassing the episcopal sees in Norway, Iceland, Greenland, The Faeroes, Orkney, and The Isle of Man. This article discusses a period in the history of the province which has attracted little scholarly attention to date. The point of departure is the archbishop’s apparent disappearance from the Icelandic scene in the 1240s, and the author addresses the question of ecclesiastical integration by examining the Nidaros metropolitan’s authority in the mid-13th century. The subject is approached from three perspectives: the archbishop’s relationship with the pope; the struggle for power between the archbishop and the Norwegian king; and the archbishop’s executive authority within his province, exemplified by the Icelandic Church. The article reveals that in the mid-13th century the archbishop was facing several challenges to his authority. The analysis also provides compelling insight...

Abstract: Archbischop Wladyslaw Zaleski the missionary of the East Indies The author of the article is presenting the figure of Wladyslaw Michal Bonifacy Zaleski (1852 – 1925), who was a Catholic archbishop, Apostolic Delegate to the East Indies and Latin Patriarch of Antioch, as a missionary. Archbishop Zaleski was born on 26 May 1852 in Wielona, presently Lithuania, in a noble Polish family. He was the son of Leon Zaleski and Gabriela of Dombrowicz. In 1880 he joined the Warsaw Theological Seminary, and in 1881 he moved for further studies to the Pontifical Academy of Ecclesiastical Nobles, where he received diplomatic training, and contemporary to the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he obtained a doctorate in Theology. He received the priestly ordination in 1882 in Florence. In 1885 he was sent on a diplomatic mission to Spain, and a year later for the first time he went to the East Indies, accompanying Archbishop Antonio Agliardi, the first Apostolic Delegate to India. In 1887, Pope Leo XIII appointed him as his personal representative to the 50th anniversary of the reign of Queen Victoria. For a time, he remained employed in the Roman Curia, as consulter for Eastern affairs at the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide). From 1889 to 1890 Msgr. Zaleski worked at the Apostolic Nunciature in Paris. In 1890 he returned to India, where on 5 March 1892, he replaced Archbishop Andrea Aiuti as the Apostolic Delegate of the East Indies. Along with the nomination for the Apostolic Delegate in the East Indies, Msgr. Zaleski was elevated to the dignity of Archbishop and was appointed as the Titular Archbishop of Thebes. Archbishop Zaleski ended his mission in India in 1916. After returning to Rome he was nominated as the Patriarch of Antioch by Pope Benedict XV. Archbishop Zaleski was in Rome for the rest of his life, where he died on 5 October 1925. In India, he was engaged in promoting the local hierarchy and clergy, he personally consecrated many local bishops, created new dioceses and apostolic vicariates. He sought to give a local character of the Church in India, while at the same time ensuring that the unity of the Church was not compromised. He was very open to meeting people belonging to other cultures and religions, always remembering what is most important in the priest's mission, namely the salvation of souls. He was a perpetual traveler, traveling constantly on his territories as well as outside. He also visited China, Japan, Indo-China, Java and the Philippines. Patriarch Zaleski's missionary vocation was particularly discovered and realized in India. Not only did he consider himself a missionary, but he emphasized the importance of mission at every step and specifically supported them. He also personally engaged in the preaching of the Gospel and baptized those who wished to become Christians. In his numerous publications he tried to mobilize the faithful to help the missions. Upon his return to Rome, his missionary nature was inactive. He even wanted to go to Africa for missions, and he asked the Holy Father for it, however, because of his age, his request was not taken into account. In his many missionary writings, he emphasized that the duty of evangelization is the very nature of the Church.

Abstract: The career of Archbishop Wulfred (805–32) is summarized and his series of charters to Christ Church is discussed in relation to the light they throw on his building activities, which apparently included a rebuilding of the cathedral church c. 813. This rebuilding is identified here with remains excavated below the present nave in 1993. The analysis of these remains presented in the 1997 excavation report is reassessed and an alternative reconstruction is proposed. The early-9th-century cathedral is seen as an important architectural and liturgical model within Anglo-Saxon England, parallel to contemporary Carolingian developments on the continent.

Abstract: Warsaw Archbishop Vincent Teofil Chosciak-Popiel left numerous traces of contact with the reading in the correspondence from the years 1846–1853 and in the memoirs published for the period from 1862 to 1875. That is, until taking the bishopric of the Kujawy and Kalisz. Also the notary act of Julian Samkowski preserved inventory of bishop’s private library, which included 2198 works in 4170 volumes and it was written at the time of sale of the library in 1880 to Konstanty Popiel. Multifaceted material will be used to analyze personal commitment to book of this significant person in the 19th and early 20th century.

Abstract: The correspondence of William Laud, archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645, provides revealing insights into his mind, methods and activities, especially in the 1630s, as he sought to remodel the church and the clerical estate in the three kingdoms.

Abstract: The reception of married convert priests in the catholic church was made possible by a set of policies and permissions established in 1980 that have come to be known as the Pastoral Provision1 the term "pastoral provision" refers to a privilege or accommodation that is made for pastoral reasons, to remove barriers to or help facilitate the spiritual growth of a person or group the accommodation for anglican converts provided for them to retain certain cultural practices, such as a traditional anglican liturgy and married clergy, to smooth their entry into the catholic faith How is it that the catholic church came to make such a generous accommodation for anglicans? and why only for anglicans, and not other christian denominations? this article recounts the events and trends that led to the 1980 decision establishing these policiesInfluences on the Pastoral ProvisionThe 1980 decision reflected a unique confluence of short and long term historical and religious trends both within and outside the catholic church it is a tale that begins in the 16th century religious division between Protestant and catholic and ends in the contemporary religious division between liberal and conservative, with attempts, ultimately futile, to heal the divisions in between conceived as an ecumenical initiative in the spirit of Vatican council ii, its establishment reflected the character of the centuries-old forces separating catholicism and anglicanism as well as the particular cultural situations of both churches in the 1970s Most of all, the Pastoral Provision was an idea whose time had comeFive elements stand out as particularly important for understanding this development: 1) the 16th century english Reformation, which separated anglicanism from catholicism in unique ways; 2) the 19th century conversion of the anglican priest John Henry Newman, which set a pattern for future clergy conversions; 3) the second Vatican council, which introduced catholics to a more open stance toward Protestants, and anglicans in particular, and to a married deaconate; 4) the failure of ecumenical engagement amid diverging cultural and religious stances of anglicanism and catholicism in the 1970s; and 5) the particular interest and force of bishop bernard law, who, long before becoming embroiled in sex abuse scandal as cardinal archbishop of boston in the 2000s, was one of the american church's most effective advocates for civil rights and ecumenical unityFrom Reformation to NewmanFew dispute that the english Reformation was more a matter of politics than of national conversion though views differ on how far Protestant ideals had taken hold among the english people prior to the 1530s, no historian goes so far as to attribute the break with Rome to this cause even aG dickens, probably the strongest proponent of the view that receptiveness to Protestantism was well advanced in the popular mind, only claims that changing religious sensibilities meant that "when the king quarreled with the Pope over his divorce, a permanent schism did not merely become conceivable; it proved actually manageable without arousing much opposition within the realm"2The Protestant religion was imposed upon, not acquired from, the english people, and was accompanied by a violent and thorough suppression of the catholic faith the 1535 oath of supremacy, requiring the submission of clergy and religious to the king as the supreme spiritual authority in england on pain of death, was hardly the sign of a popular movement under elizabeth, beginning in 1559, attending the church of england was enforced by heavy fines, and celebrating a catholic Mass was punishable by death catholic priests, and laypersons publicly affirming the catholic faith, were subject to painful and humiliating public execution, often without benefit of trial, resulting in almost 300 martyrs by 16703 as the oxford catholic historian eamon duffy has asserted in recent years,4 the catholic character and practice of english parishes was systematically dismantled in a "stripping of the altars" (the title of his study) …

Abstract: Voyno-Yasenetsky Valentin Feliksovich (Archbishop Luka) Archbishop of Crimea and Simferopol, Russian and Soviet surgeon, the author of works in anesthesiology, doctor of medical Sciences (1916), Professor (1917); doctor of theology (1959), winner of the Stalin prize, first degree (1946). F. Voino-Yasenetsky was born 27 APR 1877. After graduating from high school and Kiev art school, studied painting in Munich. In 1898 he became a student of the medical faculty of Kiev University, after which he worked as a surgeon in Chita, the town of Ardatov in Simbirsk province S. Verkhniy Lyubazh, Kursk region, town of Fatezh, Moscow. In 1915 he published in Saint Petersburg the book "Regional anesthesia", and in 1916 he defended it as his thesis and received the degree of doctor of medicine. Until 1917 the doctor in some of the provincial hospitals of Russia, and later the chief doctor of Tashkent city hospital, Professor of Central Asian state University. In 1921 he was ordained to the diaconate, a week a priest in 1923 he was tonsured a monk and consecrated a Bishop with the name Luca, a week later arrested. In 1926 V. F. Voyno-Yasenetsky returned to Tashkent, but in 1930 he was arrested again and transported to Arkhangelsk. In 1934 he published a monograph "Sketches of purulent surgery". In 1937 he was arrested for the third time. Since 1940, works as a surgeon in the link in Bolshaya Murta, 110 kilometers from Krasnoyarsk. 1941 – consultant to all hospitals in the Krasnoyarsk territory and the chief surgeon of the hospital. In 1942 was elevated to the rank of Archbishop and appointed to the chair of Krasnoyarsk. In 1944, published the monograph "On the course of chronic empyema and hundreth" and "Late resections of infected gunshot wounds of the joints." In 1944, Archbishop Luke was headed by the Department of Tambov. In 1945, awarded the Patriarch Alexy I right to wear the diamond cross, wrote the book "Spirit, soul and body." In 1946 he headed the Crimean Department in Simferopol. In 1946 he was awarded the Stalin prize. In 1955, was blind. Died V. F. Voyno-Yasenetsky June 11, 1961, Archbishop of Crimea and Simferopol. Author of 55 scientific papers on surgery and anatomy, ten volumes of sermons. His most famous book "Sketches of purulent surgery". Awarded Pointscore (1916), the diamond cross from the Patriarch of all Russia (1944), medal "For valiant labor in the great Patriotic war" (1945), Stalin prize first degree (1944). Archbishop Luka monuments in Krasnoyarsk, Tambov, and Simferopol, is an honorary citizen of Pereslavl-Zalessky (posthumously). In 1995, St Luke canonized as locally venerated saints of the Crimean diocese, in 2000, the definition of the Council of bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church glorified as a Confessor (Saint) in the Assembly of new martyrs and Confessors of Russia. His relics are installed for worship at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Simferopol.

Abstract: Cardinal Aron Jean-Marie Lustiger died at the age of 80 in 2007. Archbishop of Paris from 1981 to 2005, he was a towering and controversial public figure, both within the Catholic church and in Eur...

Abstract: Author(s): Rose, Justin Richard | Advisor(s): Alexander, Michael; Johnson, Sherri F | Abstract: Descending from the Throne studies the how medieval and contemporary Byzantine bishops used thrones in monumental art, ritual and text to craft spaces of authority. Constantine the Great and his successors crafted Constantinople innovatively drawing upon the tradition of Rome and Jerusalem to make the imperial city a space of civil and sacred authority.Drawing upon the tradition of the Great Church, Hagia Sophia, in Constantinople, medieval bishops innovated art, text and ritual to stabilize authority in their local circumstances. This dissertation will consider the work of Demetrios Chomatenos, Archbishop of Ohrid and rival of the Despotate of Nicaea for the patriarchal title following the Latin occupation of the Fourth Crusade. Drawing from his years as a canon lawyer in Constantinople, he innovatively crafted a space of legal authority in the upper narthex of Sveti Sophia in Ohrid to preserve Byzantine tradition.Nikephoros Moschopoulos, Archbishop of Crete, served as proedros of Mistra because he was not able to occupy his see due to Venetian control of the island granted by imperial decree. In Mistra, Nikephoros inscribed a space of authority using art and ritual to stabilize his claims to land holdings.Symeon of Thessalonike served as Archbishop of Thessalonike in the last years of Byzantium. The medieval Thessalonians had a deep distrust of nobility and had even ruled the city democratically for a period. Symeon used an ancient liturgical form, called the “Sung Office,” to bring the authority of Constantinople to bear on his unruly flock in Thessalonike.Contemporary Byzantine bishops, with the loss of Byzantium in 1453, nevertheless continue to innovate using tradition to craft a space of shared authority as evidenced by the development of the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy.

Abstract: Manuscripts in German have formed part of the holdings of the Bodleian Library in Oxford since the 1630s. The article discusses how they came to be acquired at that time by Archbishop William Laud, and then traces further acquisitions from Germany that came with the collections of John Selden, Franciscus Junius, Elias Ashmole, Richard Rawlinson, Jacobus Philippus D'Orville, Matteo Luigi Canonici, Francis Douce, Sir William Hamilton, James P. R. Lyell, and Alfred Ehrmann's Broxbourne Library. The collection is notable for Old High German glosses, many of them from Wurzburg, for the Murbacher Hymnen, a number of significant Middle High German texts, as well as late-medieval prayer books. The finding tools for all this material consist of a series of printed catalogues from the late-seventeenth century to the present, as well as online-resources which are currently in the process of development.Deutschsprachige Handschriften waren in der Bodleian Library in Oxford seit den 1630er Jahren vertreten. Der Aufsat...

Abstract: Fifteenth-century Castile was a time of significant religious change. The issue of conversion and variance in religious praxis engendered the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition, an institution deeply opposed by some, including Hernando de Talavera, the first Archbishop of Granada. Rather than interpret this opposition as a sign of toleration for religious minorities, a close look at his writings and actions show a man reacting to the ever-shifting social, religious, and political milieu in which he lived.

Abstract: A marriage in the Church of England or the Church in Wales may take place following the publication of banns of marriage (preferably during morning service) on three Sundays, by special licence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, by common licence or on the authority of a certificate issued by a superintendent registrar. Reports of the death of the church wedding have been somewhat exaggerated: in 2014, the Church of England conducted almost 50,000 weddings, while the Church in Wales conducted just over 3,000.