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When Did Christians First Land In Britain?
Topic Started: Sunday, 15. July 2007, 08:50 (189 Views)
Eve
Former Admin/Moderator
When did Christians first land in Britain?

Wikepedia
 
St Martin's Church, Canterbury

The Church of St Martin in Canterbury, situated slightly beyond the town centre, is England's oldest parish church in continuous use.

St Martin's was the private chapel of Queen Bertha of Kent in the 6th Century before Augustine arrived from Rome. Queen Bertha was a Christian when she arrived in England with her Chaplain, Bishop Liudhard, and King Ethelbert, her husband, allowed her to continue to practise her religion in an existing church which the Venerable Bede says had been in use in the late Roman period but fallen into disuse. There is a strong possibility that the church is that church. Local finds prove that Christianity did exist in this area of the city at the time, and the church contains many reused Roman bricks or spolia. However, its design is not specifically Roman and as such may have been built just after the Roman occupation and at the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon migration in the mid 4th century.



According to this, Venerable Bede says Church of St Martin in Canterbury was in use in Roman times.

It would be interesting to collect information about Christians in the British Isles before St Augustine landed in Thanet in 597.
Howdy Folks. Has anybody seen my husband lately?
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Em.

I don't know much about this. However, I once bought a thin book that was going cheap from an antiques shop and if I am not mistaaken it was Portabello Road. If my memery still serves me, Christianity in England dates back to the 4th century when a group of French established themselves in London.
I also have an idea that they were tailors by trade.
Beyond that, I know no more and even what I have stated, is from memory.
Divine Mercy
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Rose of York
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This is an interesting site:

The First Christians in Britain, by Michael Wilson

It mentions archaeological evidence of Christians in Roman Villas, and of three English Bishops being present at the Council of Arles.

Quote:
 
At the Council of Churches in Arles in 314 AD it is recorded that the bishops of London, York and Lincoln attended. The British Church affirmed the Council of Nicaea in 325. British bishops were present at the Council of Rimini in 359 AD. Britons also made pilgrimages to Rome and Palestine. Some worked with St. Martin of Tours, among whom was St. Ninian who preached to the southern Picts and founded a stone church at Wigtown Bay in about 400 AD. St. Patrick, a Briton, preached and converted the Irish. The saint’s father is believed to have been a deacon. British refugees from Saxon invaders founded a British church in Western Amorica, which is now named Brittany and British monks preached in Ireland. The Scots, the dominant people of Northern Ireland (!), developed their church along similar British lines. About 565 St Columba founded the monastic community on Iona and spread the gospel to the Scots of Dalriada in southern Scotland and to the northern Picts. He later preached to the heathen Teutonic invaders.


Text reproduced with permission


Why would the Pope have sent St Augustine to convert England, if England already had three bishops?
Keep the Faith!

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MickCook
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Let's not forget Manchester. A sator square found in Manchester is considered by some authorities to be the earliest evidence of Christianity in Britain. Here's a neat explanation of the Sator or Rotas square:
Rotas Sator Square

It may be a coded message to show membership of a Christian community in Manchester at a time during the later 2nd century AD when Christianity was being persecuted by the Roman authorities.

More information on Roman Manchester and the square:
Roman Manchester

:)
Mick
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Quicunque vult

Rose wrote:

Quote:
 
Why would the Pope have sent St Augustine to convert England, if England already had three bishops?


Because they would have been BRITISH (ie Celtic) not English bishops. There is considerable evidence of Christianity having got a foothold in Roman Britain in the early centuries, long before the arrival of St Augustine. The Anglo-Saxon invaders (the English) brought in pagan beliefs - Thor, Woden etc, and it was necessary to convert them. Eventually the two sets of Christians met up, and there were tensions between them, notably over the date of Easter, resolved at the Synod of Whitby in the 7th Century.

QV
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MickCook
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Quicunque vult
Jul 15 2007, 02:25 PM
Rose wrote:

Quote:
 
Why would the Pope have sent St Augustine to convert England, if England already had three bishops?


Because they would have been BRITISH (ie Celtic) not English bishops. There is considerable evidence of Christianity having got a foothold in Roman Britain in the early centuries, long before the arrival of St Augustine. The Anglo-Saxon invaders (the English) brought in pagan beliefs - Thor, Woden etc, and it was necessary to convert them. Eventually the two sets of Christians met up, and there were tensions between them, notably over the date of Easter, resolved at the Synod of Whitby in the 7th Century.

QV

This is true. However, the Synod of Whitby did not bring about an end to the Celtic Church as some have argued. This suggests that the Celtic Church was "different" from the rest of Christianity - which it was not. At the time the Church in Britain was using a formula for calculating Easter that had been used throughout the Church until it was discovered that it contained an error. The Synod of Whitby was called to explain this and provide a new formula that did not contain an error. This is the same formula that we use to this day.
:)
Mick
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Rose of York
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Quicunque vult
Jul 15 2007, 03:25 PM
Rose wrote:

Quote:
 
Why would the Pope have sent St Augustine to convert England, if England already had three bishops?


Because they would have been BRITISH (ie Celtic) not English bishops. There is considerable evidence of Christianity having got a foothold in Roman Britain in the early centuries, long before the arrival of St Augustine.

QV

Interesting. Romans had their administrative centre in London. York and Lincoln had important Roman garrisons. Perhaps that sheds some light on why there were bishops of London, York and Lincoln before Augustine landed in Kent.
Keep the Faith!

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Ned

Britain's first martyr is believed to be Saint Alban - at the town of Veralum, nowadays known as St Albans, probably in the 3rd Century.

Regards

Ned
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