In the footsteps of John Wycliffe

Over my first term break, I was able to visit the town of Lutterworth in Leicestershire.

This was where John Wycliffe lived and where he became the first person to translate the Bible into English.

John Wycliffe was born in 1324 near the village with the name Wycliffe in Yorkshire. At the age of 16, he enrolled at Oxford University and studied philosophy and Christianity. He was ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church at the age of 37 and ministered in Lutterworth. But he questioned some of the Church's doctrines and criticised the corruption of the clergy. He wanted to make the Bible understandable to all those who did not know Latin or the original biblical languages, so he translated the Bible into English for the first time, some 200 years before the time of the Reformation. John Wycliffe thus later became known as the "Morning Star of the Reformation." Wycliffe and his followers, known as the "Lollards", preached the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins by faith in Christ's substitutionary death on the cross throughout England. Wycliffe said: "The gospel alone is sufficient to rule the lives of Christians everywhere...any additional rules made to govern men's conduct added nothing to the perfection already found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

In Lutterworth, you can still see the church where Wycliffe preached, the Parish Church of St. Mary:

This is what it looks like from the inside:

And this is the pulpit Wycliffe is said to have preached from:

The church also has a Wycliffe memorial, which shows Wycliffe preaching:

The inscription below reads as follows:

SACRED TO TE MEMORY OF

JOHN WICLIF

EARLIEST CHAMPION OF ECCLESIASTICAL REFORMATION IN ENGLAND;

HE WAS BORN IN YORKSHIRE IN THE YEAR 1324;

IN THE YEAR 1375 HE WAS PRESENTED TO THE RECTORY OF LUTTERWORTH:

WHERE HE DIED ON THE 31ST DECEMBER 1384;

AT OXFORD HE ACQUIRED NOT ONLY THE RENOWN OF A CONSUMMATE SCHOOLMAN;

BUT THE FAR MORE GLORIOUS TITLE OF THE EVANGELIC DOCTOR

HIS WHOLE LIFE WAS ONE IMPETUOUS STRUGGLE AGAINST THE CORRUPTIONS

AND ENCROACHMENTS OF THE PAPAL COURT;

AND THE IMPOSTURES OF ITS DEVOTED AUXILIARIES; THE MENDICANT FRATERNITIES,

HIS LABOURS IN THE CAUSE OF SCRIPTURAL TRUTH WERE CROWNED BY ONE IMMORTAL ACHIEVEMENT,

HIS TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE INTO THE ENGLISH TONGUE.

THIS MIGHTY WORK DREW ON HIM, INDEED, THE BITTER HATRED
OF ALL WHO WERE MAKING MERCHANIDISE OF THE POPULAR CREDULITY AND IGNORANCE:

BUT HE FOUND AN ABUNDANT REWARD IN THE BLESSING OF HIS COUNTRYMEN, OF EVERY RANK AND AGE,

TO WHOM HE UNFOLDED THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE.

HIS MORTAL REMAINS WERE INTERRED NEAR THIS SPOT: BUT THEY WERE NOT ALLOWED TO REST IN PEACE.

AFTER THE LAPSE OF MANY YEARS, HIS BONES WERE DRAGGED FROM THE GRAVE, AND CONSIGNED TO THE FLAMES:

AND HIS ASHES WERE CAST INTO THE WATERS OF THE ADJOIINING STREAM.

Although John Wycliffe heavily criticised the Catholic Church and sought to show the people that the truth is to be found in Scripture and not in any church tradition, he was never excommunicated nor did he ever leave the Church. In 1428, 44 years after Wycliffe's death, Pope Martin V had his remains dug out of the grave, burnt and thrown into the river Swift, hoping to erase the memory of Wycliffe from history. But instead, a chonicler by the name of Fuller observed: "They burnt his bones to ashes and cast them into the Swift, a neighbouring brook running hard by. Thus the brook hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn; Severn into the narrow seas; and they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of his doctrine which now is dispersed the world over."

Today, there is a Wycliffe Memorial in Lutterworth, which was erected in June 1987 and displays the following Bible verses:

"Search the scriptures." (Jn. 5:39)
"The entrance of thy words giveth light." (Ps. 119:130)
"Be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Heb. 6:12)
"Be thou faithful unto death." (Rev. 2:10)

Today, there are over 100 English translations of the Bible. The town of Lutterworth is also home to the British headquarters of the Gideons International, and thus a centre for Bible distribution around the world.