The mission of Jesus Christ lasted three years. One of the first things that Jesus did was call twelve disciples to live and travel with him. The gospels of Matthew chapter 10 and Luke chapter 9 describe the sending out of the twelve disciples to towns in Judea. In addition to this, later on, Jesus chose seventy (or seventy two) other disciples and sent them out in pairs to announce the coming of the Messiah. The seventy two appear in Luke 10:1-20.
Bishop Aristobulus
Church fathers affirm that one of the 70 disciples sent out by Jesus was Aristobulus and he brought Christianity to Britain. Aristobulus became the first bishop in Roman Britain. The 70 went out to the Roman Province of Palestine which included Judea and returned to Jesus to recount their experiences. It was probably after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus that these disciples travelled further afield on mission to bring the good news, and that Aristobulus arrived in England.
Joseph of Arimathea
Joseph of Arimathea, the uncle of Jesus Christ on his mother’s side is said to have gone to Cornwall as he was a tin trader. He was a member of the Sanhedrin – the Jewish religious authorities in Jerusalem and a secret follower of Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea appears in the gospels as he supplied a newly-cut tomb in a garden where Jesus was buried before he was resurrected from the dead. Joseph of Arimathea with the help of Nicodemus buried Jesus: Matt. 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; and John 19:38-42. The two men rolled a large stone over the entrance to the cave tomb so that no one could get in very easily.
One legend is that Joseph of Arimathea brought the child Jesus, his nephew, with him to visit England on a business trip buying tin. This legend was kept alive by monks at Glastonbury Abbey in the Middle Ages. Much later William Blake (1757-1827) referred to this legend in the poem And did those feet in ancient time (1804) with the line: “And did those feet in ancient time walk upon England’s pastures green?”
Joseph of Arimathea is described as a rich man. It was tin trading that made him rich. Even before the Roman Empire came to Britain in 43 AD, Phoenician ships were carrying tin from Cornwall to the Levant or Near East. The Romans came to England to exploit the rich mineral resources of tin in Cornwall and other metals especially in Wales.
After the death and resurrection of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea returned to England with a group of disciples to evangelize the Ancient Britons. He arrived from Judea at Glastonbury in Somerset feeling weary. There is a curious on-going miracle tree at Glastonbury: the Glastonbury Thorn or Holy Thorn. It is a hawthorn that flowers twice a year at Christmas time and in May instead of the usual once a year in the month of May. According to legend this hawthorn tree sprouted from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea which he thrust into the ground upon arriving at Wearyall Hill near Glastonbury.
Joseph’s son Josephus was also a missionary in England. Thus, the disciple of Jesus, Aristobulus and the relative of Jesus Joseph of Arimathea and his son are named as the first witnesses to bring faith in Jesus to the Ancient Britons of Britain.
The Brittonic-Speaking Church
Welsh is the modern name for the Brittonic language spoken by the Ancient Britons in Wales. Ancient Britons also lived in England: Cornwall and Cumbria, as well as Ireland and Scotland in the 1st century AD when the first church was formed in Britain.
In Wales the Ancient Britons had constructed a church at Llandoff by 162 AD. This is the oldest known site of a Christian church in Wales. Christianity grew up in Gwent in the 3rd century. The Kingdom of Gwent which became the County of Monmouthshire is in south east Wales.
Saint Ninian
In Scotland Saint Ninian established a Christian mission at Whithorn near Wigtown, Dumfries & Galloway in 397 AD. Saint Ninian was known as the Apostle of the Southern Picts. The Picts whose original tribal name was the Caledonians spoke Brittonic.
Saint David
Between 500 and 589 AD Dewiapsanctus became bishop of Mynyw. The place is now called St David’s in Pembrokeshire. Dewi became Saint David patron saint of Wales. In 1123 Saint David was canonized by the Holy See of Rome.
Thus, the Ancient Britons living on the west side of England in Cornwall and Wales became Christians. The legendary King Arthur of the 6th century is reputed as being one of these.
Saint Columba (521-597), a Gael from Ireland who evangelized Scotland and led the Celtic Church from the abbey he founded on the island of Iona, was instructed in his early years by priests of the Brittonic church. When Columba was young he was instructed by Saint Ninian, the Apostle of the Southern Picts. He entered the monastery of Clonard, in County Meath, Ireland which was governed by Saint Finnian. Finnian had been instructed in the school of David, Bishop of Mynyw who became Saint David, the patron saint of Wales.
Saint Petroc
Saint Petroc introduced Christianity to Cornwall in 520. He was the son of a Welsh chieftain from south east Wales and a Brython, in the Brittonic dialect of Cornwall. He based himself in a place that became known as Petroc’s Stow and later Padstow.
Roman Empire Christians
Gaelic-speaking Gaels started arriving in Britain after Caesar’s Gallic Wars in 58-50 BC, or maybe even during the 500 years before this time. One Gaelic tribe was called the Celtae. The Romans themselves arrived in 43 AD and were met with hostility by the Ancient Britons and Gaelic Druids. Ancient Britons inhabited most of England at this time so the Romans had to live in fortified towns with walls to keep the local tribesmen out. The Gaels were pushed westwards, and from the last stronghold of the Druids in Anglesey, migrated to Ireland and took up residence there.
Roman Christian converts started arriving in Britain from Rome, although they were not welcomed by their fellow Roman citizens. Christians were persecuted and martyred in the Roman Empire prior to the conversion of the Emperor Constantine to Christianity and the Edict of Milan in 313 which proclaimed tolerance for Christians.
Christians enraged the Roman authorities by refusing to observe the rituals considered due to Roman gods and goddesses. The disobedience was serious as a lot of commerce in towns was based on the sale of merchandise to devotees at pagan temples. Craftsmen made figurines of the local god or goddess for sale and various amulets to ward off evil, so any opposition to the cult had the tradesmen up in arms as it would damage their business and the local economy.
St Alban
Alban was a pagan Roman citizen living near Londinium who got caught up in the Roman authorities’ pursuit of a Christian priest. The Roman town was called Verulanium and the year was about 300 AD.
Verulamium had a temple with a triangular floor plan dedicated to the goddess Cybele and her consort Attis. Alban, as a pagan, would have been a worshipper in this temple.
Alban helped out a Christian priest who was being pursued by the Roman authorities by hiding him in his house. The priest sheltered by Alban was called Amphibalus. Venerable Bede relates that he stayed several days at Alban’s house before the authorities located him. During this time Alban became a Christian.
When Roman soldiers came to the house, Alban dressed as the priest and was caught while the Christian priest escaped. Alban offered to die in the place of the priest. Since he had become a Christian, he was put on trial by the Roman authorities. Alban was sentenced and martyred by beheading. His head is said to have rolled down Holywell Hill outside Verulanium. It is written that a miraculous spring with healing waters sprang up at the bottom of the hill. The church canonized Alban and his name was later given to the town. So Verulanium became Saint Albans.
When persecution of Christians ended at the time of the Emperor Constantine, a shrine was built where Alban died. Five hundred years later in the 8th century King Offa of Mercia had Alban’s bones dug up after being told in a dream where to find them. Offa founded an abbey on the site and this became the current cathedral.
When the Romans left Britain, Verulamium fell into ruin, but later the town of St Albans grew up around the pilgrimage to the shrine of St Alban set in place by the Saxon king.
The shrine at St Alban’s cathedral today dates from the 14th century and is made of marble. At the Reformation it was smashed into 2000 pieces. But in 1872 the remains were found and pieced together to rebuild the shrine. The relics of St Alban had been lost, but in 2002 a shoulder blade of St Alban was given to the cathedral by St Pantaleon Roman Catholic church in Cologne.
The name Alban came from the root Alba or Albion. Albion was the name of the whole of Britain at one time, and the Kingdom of Alba was the name for Scotland at one time. Thus, he had a very British name.
The martyrdom of St Alban caused Christianity to spread among Roman citizens. Some Roman churches have been found in excavation.
St Patrick
Patrick’s father was a ‘decurion’ which was a Roman senator and tax collector living in a Roman city in England. He was also a deacon in the church. Patrick’s grandfather called Potitus was a Christian priest living in Bonaven Tabernia. This may have been a fortified Roman town in Northamptonshire on Watling Street.
It is not known where in England Patrick was brought up, except that he lived in a villa with his family. In his autobiography Confessio, he calls himself Patricius and wrote in Latin. He was a Roman Christian at the time of the breakup of the Roman Empire in Britain. Patrick did not believe in the Christian faith when at age 16 he was captured by Irish pirates and taken to Ireland.
The Irish raiders came from the Gaelic kingdom of Dal Riata that ruled over the western isles of Scotland and north east Ireland. He was made to serve four houses of Druids. Patrick spent six years as a slave guarding swine. During the lonely time in the fields with the pigs he found faith in God. He then hatched a plan to escape. Managing to board a ship to England, he returned home to his family villa.
Aged 22 when he was free again, Patrick decided to train as a priest in France. In 431 Palladius was sent by Rome to become the first bishop of Ireland. Patrick decided to return to the country of his enslavement to evangelize the people. According to the Irish Annals Patrick returned to Ireland as a priest in 432. This was 22 years after the retreat of Roman citizens from Britain, so his family may have left by this time too.
Patrick evangelized the north and west of Ireland, and in later life was made a bishop. He became the Apostle of Ireland. After he died he was made patron saint of Ireland by popular demand, but was never formally canonized. Saint Patrick took the shamrock (triple lobed clover leaf) to illustrate belief in the Trinity: three persons, one God.
Thus, the symbol of Irish culture was not Ancient Briton, nor Celtic, nor Gaelic, but a Roman citizen who wrote in Latin, but no doubt spoke fluent Gaelic.
Merry and True 