The Celtic Christian Church

My absence has been almost a full year. There are times in our lives when we have to take a step off to the side and look at the path we are on. Where have we been? Where are we now? Is that really where I want to go?

It’s taken me a whole year and I’ve come full circle with a determination to continue on the path I’m on, neither deviating to the right or the left. And so, to quote Samwise Gamgee, from the Lord of the Rings, “Well, I’m back.”

So, where were we? The Arthurian tales and all that. As I read books from libraries, because the internet wasn’t much to speak of then, I kept coming across the phrase, “Celtic Christian Church.” With further reading I discovered this Church had no relationship to Rome nor did it want it.

From “History of the Christian Church” by Philip Schaff, Book 2, I found this little tidbit on pg. 16. “According to Tertullian Britain also was brought under the power of the cross towards the end of the second Century. The Celtic Church existed in England, Ireland, and Scotland, and independently of Rom, long before the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons by the Roman mission of Augustine.”

Tertullian is an ancient historian, and the Augustine mentioned here is not to be confused with the famous Church Father, St. Augustine of Hippo. This Augustine conquered England for Christ and the Roman church around 600 A.D.

Schaff tells us that the Celtic Church took its origins from Gaul and Italy. However, legend traces the Celtic Church to St. Paul and other Apostolic founders. The Venerable Bede, another ancient historian, says that a British King, Lucius, knew about Christianity and applied to Rome for assistance. And in 314 A.D. at the council of Arles in Gaul (France), three bishops from Britain were in attendance.

Obviously, Christianity was thriving in the British Isles long before the church in Rome finally took over in the 7th century A.D. I truly appreciate those novelists and film makers who rightfully make Arthur and his court Christian. All the historical facts point to it. And from this rocky soil, sprang some very great holy men.

Next: Pelagius.