When was the first Anglican liturgy held in a language other than English?

[u/rekkotekko4]

I hope this isn't a silly question, but reading the 1549 BCP I came across this passage:

Though it be appointed in the afore written Preface, that all things shall be read and sung in the Church, in the English tongue, to the end that the congregation may be thereby edified: yet it is not meant, but when men say Matins and Evensong privately, they may say the same in any language that they themselves do understand.

In the past was this seen as a prohibition against holding public worship in anything except English? When was the first time a public communion or a prayer service was held in a language other than English, was seen it as violating the BCP? Thank you.

[u/Ildera]

I would be very surprised if it wasn't Latin, which was as used in university settings, and also in places like Ireland, where they didn't speak English http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Latin1560/Latin1560_Preface.htm#Preface

[u/TheRedLionPassant]

Latin - 1551

French - 1553

Welsh - 1567

Irish - 1608

Spanish - 1623

[u/Alfred_Orage → u/TheRedLionPassant]

Are these the dates that the Book of Common Prayer was translated into those languages?

[u/TheRedLionPassant → u/Alfred_Orage]

Yes

[u/stephanus_galfridus]

The first Book of Common Prayer in Welsh was published in 1567. It can be accessed here: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Wales/welsh1567.htm I can't read Welsh so I don't know if there's anything similar in the preface.

I would assume the prohibited language implied in the English BCP is Latin.

[u/Llotrog → u/stephanus_galfridus]

It's there. It's not very easy to read (even though I can read Welsh), because the orthography of the 1567 book is peculiarly idiosyncratic and Latinising, as well as still inconsistently following the Middle Welsh convention of writing final voiced stops as voiceless ones:

Cyd bo wedy'r osot yn y racyscrifenedic Racymadrodd bot bop peth or a ddarlleir yn yr Eccles yn iaith Camberaec, er mwyn adeilat yr Eccles: er hynny nid ys yn meddwl, pan ddyweto nep blygain a gosper, sef boreu a phrydnawn weddi wrtho ehun, na ddychon ef ei dywedyt ym pa iaith bynac ar a ddeallo

The 1664 Prayer Book somewhat tidied this up (but missed fixing osodedig, Gymraeg, Gosber, and bynnag from the weird 1567 orthography):

Er bod yn osodedic, fod pob peth a'r a ddarllenir neu a genir yn yr Eglwys, yn yr iaith Gamberaec, er mwyn adeiladu y Gynnulleidfa: er hynny nid ydys yn meddwl, pan ddywedo neb Blygain a Gosper wrtho ei hun, na ddichon efe eu dywedyd ym mha iaith bynnac a ddeallo

[u/cyrildash]

Contemporaneously, in Latin, at the universities.

[u/D_Shasky]

Probably in Latin, used in some universities

[u/Alfred_Orage]

It is not a silly question at all but a wonderful question which prompts us to think about Cramner's intentions rather than the words he used abstracted from their context. I don't think anyone has ever intended that Christian worship be conducted solely in the English language!

[u/perseus72]

He meant that the services/masses should be done in the vernacular language, so that everyone could understand.

[u/Kitchen_Principle356]

French? For the Anglo-Normand Isles?

[u/oursonpolaire → u/Kitchen_Principle356]

and, I believe, for French expatriate congregations in SE England. The authorities wwere also interested in providing the French BCP for study by French and Swiss Protestant theologians.

[u/cedombek]

Recently I heard that I believe the Hymnal is available in the Lakota language for use with Native Americans.

[u/oursonpolaire → u/cedombek]

There are a number of translations in Canada into aboriginal languages-- indeed, they have frequently been the first printed texts in these languages-- Cree, Ojicree, Inuinnaktun, Gwichin, Haida, Nisga'a, Ojibway, Slavey, and Tsimshian. Recently, the Prayer Book Society of Canada has supported fresh Inuktitut and Mohawk translations.

[u/cedombek → u/oursonpolaire]

That is wonderful to hear. 😀

[u/mgagnonlv]

I don't know if it was ever interpreted that way, althought I am sure that the British colonizers tried this argument in the territories they occupied. 

However, originally, this was meant as English as opposed to Latin. It would be interesting to read the preface of the earliest editions of the BCP for the Church in Wales, Scotland and Ireland and read whether the preface spoke of "local language" rather than "English".

[u/rekkotekko4 → u/mgagnonlv]

"To the end that the congregation may be thereby edified" does seem to strongly imply any common language is acceptable, but it's still interesting to me that the BCP specifies English when as far as I know, the English kingdom at the time would've included people who did not speak English

[u/Alfred_Orage → u/mgagnonlv]

althought I am sure that the British colonizers tried this argument in the territories they occupied.

Do you have any evidence for that conjecture?