Miles Coverdale was Bishop of Exeter from 1551-53 and Rector of St Magnus the Martyr from 1564-66. He completed the first printed translation into English of the whole Bible in 1535.
The 300th anniversary in 1835 generated considerable interest and a large stone tablet was affixed to the wall in St Magnus the Martyr in his memory in 1837. At the top is a depiction of an open Bible with the words “Romans Chap. XVI. Verse XVII. The Holy Bible” (“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.”) followed by the following text:
To the memory of Miles Coverdale who convinced that the pure Word of God ought to be the sole rule of our faith and guide of our practice laboured earnestly for its diffusion and with a view of affording the meaning of reading and hearing in their own tongue the wonderful works of God not only to his own countrymen but to the nations that sit in darkness and to every church wheresoever the English language might be spoken he spent many years of his life preparing a translation of the Scriptures. On the IV of October MDXXXV the first complete English printed version of the Bible was published under his direction. The parishioners of St Magnus Martyr, desirous of acknowledging the mercy of God and calling to mind that Miles Coverdale was once Rector of their parish, erected this monument to his memory A.D. MDCCCXXXVII. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Isaiah LII chap. VII
An account of Coverdale’s life was published in 1838 by J.J. Lowndes. Coverdale had been buried in the Church of Saint Bartholomew’s by the Exchange, but when that church was demolished in 1840, his remains were exhumed and reinterred at Saint Magnus the Martyr on 4 October 1840 – the anniversary of the publication of his translation of the Bible – in a vault at the east end of the south aisle of the church.
On a separate smaller tablet, executed by the sculptor Samuel Nixon and erected in 1843, are the following words:
Near this tablet in a vault made for that purpose are deposited the bones of Miles Coverdale, formerly Bishop of Exeter and Rector of the parish of St Magnus the Martyr in the year of our Lord 1564. His remains were interred in the first instance in the chancel of the Church of St Bartholomew, Exchange: but on the occasion of that church being taken down they were brought here on the fourth of October 1840 in compliance with the wishes and at the request of the Rector the Revd. Thos. Leigh A.M. and parishioners of St Magnus the Martyr.
John Robinson (1682–1762) was the first organist of St Magnus, who served in that role for fifty years (1712-62) and in addition was organist of Westminster Abbey from 1727
The vault in St Magnus containing the coffin with the remains of Bishop Coverdale were located in 1893 when the human remains in the crypt were being reinterred. The Judge of the Consistory Court was consulted who ordered that the coffin should not be removed, but that the vault should be concreted over.
When the Book of Common Prayer was first introduced in 1549 it contained an instruction that “the Psalter shall be read through once every month” as part of Mattins and Evensong. The version of the psalms used was Coverdale’s translation from the Great Bible of 1538. When the Psalter was official incorporated in the 1662 revision of the Book of Common Prayer it was Coverdale’s long-established Psalter that was selected, even though all other biblical passages were revised to correspond to the Authorized Version. Coverdale’s translation of the Psalter was quoted by Shakespeare, used by Handel in The Messiah, and remains the most familiar translation of the psalms in the Anglican Communion. Coverdale also produced the first English hymn book, Goostly psalmes and spirituall songes drawen out of the holy Scripture, as well as a translation of the Roman Canon, which is still used today.
Psalm 116 (Psalms 114/115 in the Vulgate numbering) is a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord and is appointed in the lectionary for use on Maundy Thursday:
I AM well pleased : that the Lord hath heard the voice of my prayer;
2 That he hath inclined his ear unto me : therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
3 The snares of death compassed me round about : and the pains of hell gat hold upon me.
4 I shall find trouble and heaviness, and I will call upon the Name of the Lord : O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous : yea, our God is merciful.
6 The Lord preserveth the simple : I was in misery, and he helped me.
7 Turn again then unto thy rest, O my soul : for the Lord hath rewarded thee.
8 And why? thou hast delivered my soul from death : mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
9 I will walk before the Lord : in the land of the living.
10 I believed, and therefore will I speak; but I was sore troubled : I said in my haste, All men are liars.
11 What reward shall I give unto the Lord : for all the benefits that he hath done unto me?
12 I will receive the cup of salvation : and call upon the Name of the Lord.
13 I will pay my vows now in the presence of all his people : right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
14 Behold, O Lord, how that I am thy servant : I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid; thou hast broken my bonds in sunder.
15 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving : and will call upon the Name of the Lord.
16 I will pay my vows unto the Lord, in the sight of all his people : in the courts of the Lord’s house, even in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord.