IN response to the interest of M Burcher (You Say, September 6) please allow me to inform readers about John Wycliffe.

Wycliffe was an Oxford scholar who preceded the Reformation by over 200 years.

He opposed many Roman Catholic teachings, such as the sale of Indulgences (pardons) for Sin.

It was his desire to return to the simple teachings of Jesus.

His greatest achievement was providing an English translation of the Bible, something then forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church, which used the Bible only sparsely in the Latin tongue.

Though Wycliffe died of natural causes before he could be tried, his English followers, known as the Lollards, were mainly executed.

One of his followers, Jon Huss, began the similar Hussite movement in his native Bohemia.

John Wycliffe was a great Bible-believing Christian and a vital part of British religious history.

MATTHEW A CLARKE,

Worcester.