HISTORY

OF THE

CATHOLIC CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

CHAPTER I.

THE EARLY MISSIONARIES UP TO THE TIME

OF ST COLUMBA.

(A.D. 400-563.)

1

tion of

ity into

THE most ancient traditions respecting the intro- Introduc duction of Christianity into Britain stretch back Christianto the first century of the Christian era. It is Britain. true that the conjecture of Venantius Fortunatus 1 that the Apostle St Paul visited our shores has no historical foundation; for it may be taken for granted that between the periods of his first and second captivity at Rome the Apostle of the

1 In Vita S. Martini, 1. iii.

"Transit et oceanum, vel qua facit insula portum,

Quasque Britannus habet terras, quasque ultima Thule."

According to Lingard, however (Anglo-Saxon Church, vol. i. p. 355), Venantius is not speaking here of St Paul personally, but of his epistles.-TRANSLATOR.

VOL. I.

Α

Gentiles penetrated only as far as the "western limits" of Europe—that is, in all probability, to Spain. At the same time it cannot be doubted that, even as early as the first century after Christ, there were adherents of the Christian religion in Britain. Among the Roman legions which occupied the country, there would naturally be found a certain number of Christians; and it may well be conceived that the fervour which animated these early professors of the faith would be largely instrumental in gaining fresh adherents to their creed among the natives. Recent archæological researches have indeed conclusively proved that the Christians, not only as to numbers, but also with regard to their social position, were of considerable mark at this period in the metropolis of Britain. Prominent among them was Pomponia Græcina, wife of the proconsul Plautius, who led the Roman eagles into Britain. This lady, whose identity with St Lucina has been practically demonstrated by De Rossi,2 was accused, we are told, of having embraced Christianity; for we can refer to nothing else the statement of Tacitus that a charge of "foreign superstition "3 was brought against her. Pomponia was tried by her husband, in presence of her kinsmen, but was acquitted. The historian relates that she after

1 Clem. Rom., Ep. ad Corinth., c. V.—T TÒ TÉP qua Tây Bures. 2 De Rossi, Roma Sotteranea, vol. ii. p. 361.

3 Tacitus, Annal., 1. xiii. cap. 32.

'Superstitionis externæ ream."

FIRST CONVERTS IN BRITAIN.

3

wards led a life of the strictest retirement for forty years; and she appears during the reign of Claudius not only to have suffered no molestation on account of her faith, but to have been held in high esteem. It would seem that some of her kindred were likewise Christian; for De Rossi has discovered in the sepulchre of St Lucina, in the Catacomb of S. Callisto, an epitaph recording the name of one of her relations.1 Claudia, the wife of Pudens, who is mentioned by St Paul in his Epistle to Timothy, is supposed also to have been of British origin. These few facts are sufficient testimony to the existence of a Christian community in Britain at a very early period.

As to the country now known as Scotland, the Christianity in arms and civilisation of Rome had not of course Scotland penetrated into the northern parts of our island as they had done in the south. We have, however, the evidence of Tertullian, writing at the close of the second century, that portions of Britain which the Romans had never reached were by that time "subject to Christ."2 Whether these words have reference to Scotland or not we have no means of ascertaining. The story first told in definite shape by Fordun,3 and amplified by Boece,1 of Pope Vic

1 Kraus, Roma Sotteranea, pp. 44, 45.

2 Tertullian, Adv. Judæos, c. vii. "Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo vere subdita."

3 Scotichronicon, lib. ii. c. 35.

4 Scotorum Historia (ed. princ.), l. v. fol. 89. Bishop Leslie (De Rebus Gestis Scotorum, ed. 1675, p. 108) repeats Boece's narrative,

St Ninian.

tor sending Mark and Dionysius as missionaries to the north, at the instance of Donald, King of Scotland, although unquestionably based on very ancient tradition, belongs rather to the domain of legend than of solid history.

At whatever date Christianity was introduced into Britain, it seems to have enjoyed a long period of peace, which was not disturbed until the outbreak of the Dioclesian persecution in 303. In pursuance of the edicts of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, the churches were plundered and destroyed, and the Christians were compelled to seek shelter from their persecutors in the mountainous districts of the west. Among the illustrious martyrs of this time we find the names of Aaron and Julius, citizens of Caerlyon, and St Alban.1 To the latter was afterwards dedicated the great Benedictine abbey of St Albans, which preserved the martyr's relics in a magnificent shrine.2 In 314, a few years after the Dioclesian persecution, two British bishops, Eborius of York and Restitutus of London, were present at the Council of Arles.3

The first authentic personage that meets us in

and Buchanan (Rerum Scoticarum, ed. 1582, fol. xl) also alludes to the conversion of King Donald.-Translator.

1 Bede, Hist. Eccles., lib. i. c. 7; Gildas, Hist., 9, 12.

2 St Alban's relics were destroyed at the Reformation, and the shrine almost demolished. A few fragments are all that remain of it. The Abbey church itself has recently been restored.

3 Labb., Concil., i. 1430; Hardouin, Concil., i. 269, &c.

the succession of Scottish missionaries is St Ninian. His biographer, Aelred, abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Rievaulx in Yorkshire,1 belongs unfortunately to a very much later period.2. Venerable Bede, however, had long before made honourable mention of Ninian,3 and Alcuin had addressed to the brothers of St Ninian at Candida Casa the beautiful letter in which he recommends himself to their prayers in the church of the holy father Ninian, illustrious for his many virtues ; and in order that the saint might be mindful of him at the throne of God, he sent together with the letter a vestment of silk, to be used in the church where reposed the relics of the saint. Ac

1 Aelred was born in 1109, entered the abbey of Rievaulx in 1133, became Abbot of Revesly in 1142, and of Rievaulx in 1143. He was in high esteem both at the Court of David I. of Scotland (whose subject he was, owing to Northumberland and Cumberland being under Scottish dominion), and also with Henry II. of England, whom he prevailed upon to acknowledge Pope Alexander III. He died in 1166. As early as 1260 his name was inserted in the Cistercian Martyrology. His principal work is the biography of St Ninian, which he wrote at the desire of his brethren. His remaining writings are to be found in Migne, xcv. 209. They are partly ascetical, partly historical.

2 His materials, however, as he himself tells us, are drawn from a book barbario (sic) scriptus, presumably of a much earlier date.— TRANSLATOR.

3 Bed., Hist. Eccles., lib. iii. c. 4. "For the southern Picts who dwelt on this side of those mountains had long before, as they relate, forsaken the errors of idolatry, and embraced the true faith, at the preaching of Ninias, a most reverend bishop and holy man of the nation of the Britons, who at Rome had been regularly instructed in the faith and mysteries of the truth."

4 Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, vol. ii. p. 8.