500 years on: the Cambridge sermon that sparked the English Reformation

Posted:

10 Dec 2025

Written by:

Paul Holland

On the night before Christmas, 500 years ago, the fire of the English Reformation was lit in Cambridge.

When Robert Barnes delivered his Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve 1525, he attracted the attention, and anger, of one of the most powerful men in England: Cardinal Wolsey.

The action taken against Barnes, and the notoriety of the sermon, fed the flames of anti-Catholic sentiment in England.

Set against the backdrop of increasing criticism of the Catholic Church, Barnes’ sermon is viewed as a crucial moment in the sparking of the English Reformation which saw the Church of England, and King Henry VIII, break away from the Pope.

To mark this defining moment in English and world history, a lecture was held on 6 December in the Cambridge Church the sermon was delivered in – St Edward King and Martyr Church.

The image shows a man dressed in black stood by a dais with a Christmas tree in the background. He is The Revd Dr Mark Scarlata, Vicar-Chaplain of St Edward’s and he is introducing a talk about Robert Barnes' revolutionary sermon that sparked the Reformation in England

The Revd Dr Mark Scarlata, Vicar-Chaplain of St Edward’s

The Revd Dr Mark Scarlata (pictured), Vicar-Chaplain of St Edward’s, said: “We were honoured to remember such a significant moment in the life of St Edward’s and its historic connection to Trinity Hall and to the English Reformation. The Reformers sought to kindle a fire in the life of the 16th-century English church, and we hope that we might continue to play our part 500 years later.”

Professor Alec Ryrie of Durham University delivered the lecture celebrating the sermon and music from the period was performed by members of the Chapel Choir of Trinity Hall, directed by Fellow and Director of Music, Andrew Arthur.

Professor Ryrie (pictured top), an alumnus of Trinity Hall, told the audience that in an age when churchgoers were used to robust rhetoric Barnes’ sermon still contained “eye-poppingly offensive” parts: “On Christmas Eve Robert Barnes stood up to preach and he did so with one target in mind: he was launching a broadside attack on the bishops of the English Church.” He especially targeted Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the man who most embodied the English Church.

“There is no doubt that Barnes knew he was stirring up trouble,” said Professor Ryrie, though he added Barnes might have started “more than he intended.”

Ultimately, Barnes would pay a heavy price for his beliefs and become a martyr as he foreshadowed in his Christmas Eve sermon: “We make nowadays many martyrs,” he told his congregation. “I trust we shall have many more.”

St Edward’s continues its links with the University of Cambridge to this day: it is unique in that it remains under the authority of the Master of Trinity Hall, rather than the Bishop of Ely. Due to this arrangement, St Edward’s became a church of safe harbour for priests during the Reformation period who wanted to preach reformed ideas that were filtering through the University in the 16th century.

View the recording of the lecture on the St Edward's Church's YouTube channel

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