IT MAY SAFELY BE CONCLUDED from the silence of Gildas that the British Church of the first half of the sixth century possessed no knowledge or tradition respecting the introduction of Christianity. into Britain. An apostle to the Saxons had arisen in Augustine of Canterbury (A.D. 597), and the feud between the Celtic Church of Britain and the newly founded Anglo-Roman Church had lasted for a century before we meet with the Lucius fable in Bede. To quote his own words : ” In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 156, Marcus Antoninus Verus, the four-teenth from Augustus, was made emperor together with his brother Aurelius Commodus. In their time, whilst Eleutherus, a holy man, presided over the Roman Church, Lucius, king of the Britons, sent a letter to him, entreating that by his command he might be made a Christian. He soon obtained his pious request, and the Britons preserved the faith which they had received, uncorrupted and entire, in peace and tranquillity until the time of the Emperor Diocletian.”[1Lucius, king of the Britons, sent a letter to him, entreating that by his command he might be made a Christian. He soon obtained his pious request, and the Britons preserved the faith which they had received, uncorrupted and entire, in peace and tranquillity until the time of the Emperor Diocletian.”
The Celtic Church in Britain and Ireland
The Celtic Church in Britain and Ireland
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