Devin on Earth

Today commemorates the burning at the stake of Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII and Edward VI, at the hands of the court of Mary I. Cranmer was influential in guiding the reformation of the churches in England as they broke (over several issues, not just divorce) with Rome and became the Church of England. He was opposed to the practice of clerical celibacy and penned the first two revisions of the Book of Common Prayer, the key liturgies of the CoE.

Cranmer was convicted of treason for his support of the Lady Jane Grey, and spent two years in prison until Mary completed negotiations with the Roman Catholic Church and was able to appoint a new archbishop in Canterbury. During this time, Cranmer had signed several recantations that, according to laws Mary had enacted, should have spared his life. Instead, she charged him with heresy in February of 1556 and burned him at the stake on March 21 of the same year.

No matter how you look at him, Cranmer was a man of rare talent, and he faithfully executed what he saw as his duties to the Church (even when they brought him in conflict with his patrons). He is still remembered and honored for the strong imprint he placed on the CoE and, by extension, the churches of the Anglican Communion.

Thanks to TNH for the reminder.

While Steph and I were getting our Battlestar Galactica[1] fix last night, I did something I haven’t done since mid-December 1992: have a shoe-shine party. I’ve got four pairs of nice black shoes that were in various states of repair, but before we figured out which ones were worth keeping and which ones need a new home, they all needed polishing. I used to be pretty good at shining shoes. I still am, once I got back into it. The only problem is that my right shoulder and arm have been aching all day today because of the non-typical exercise. That wouldn’t be so bad, but work recently got a foosball table and the shoulder screwed up my game today. Not like my game needs the help; I pretty much suck.

The key to putting a good shine on a shoe? Don’t stint on the polish, use your fingers to apply it (wrap a cloth around them first, of course), and don’t use plain water when you go to buff the excess polish off. We always used Listerine. You can use other things, but the point is to use something that evaporates fairly quickly (which is what leaves a good shine) without evaporating so quickly that the polish develops cracks. Listerine is a good balance. I’ve still got the glass bottle I bought after getting out of boot camp; apparently, they don’t sell Listerine in glass bottles anymore.

The combined smell of shoe polish and Listerine really did a head trip on me. My dreams last night were far more nostalgic than I’m used to. I remembered a lot of stuff I thought I’d forgotten, or at least had forgotten to think about. As crummy as my life was back in those days, it wasn’t all bad; there were some good times, too. It’s nice to remember that every now and then. Life was not all bad before I got married.

[1] Insert obligatory “BSG is the best show on television!” plug here. I keep lending out my DVD boxed sets.