The Christian Church in These Islands before the Coming of Augustine Part 6

A. D. 406. The Roman army restored.

A. D. 407. Constantine the usurper again withdraws the army.

A. D. 409. Termination of the Roman empire in Britain.

The last troops no doubt sailed from Richborough, the ma.s.sive Roman walls of which have defied the ravages of time. Since these lectures were delivered, an interesting token of the presence of the Romans has been found there, a gold coin of Honorius, who was emperor of the West at the time of the final withdrawal. It has evidently not been in circulation for more than at most a very short time. Richborough has now been purchased at the instance of the Archbishop of Canterbury and placed under trustees, and all treasures found there will be carefully preserved. The great bulk of the coins and other relics found in recent years was acquired some time ago for the Liverpool Museum.

[32] Haddan and Stubbs, i. 121. The British were not driven from these parts much before 652-658. Hence, perhaps, the preservation of the old wattle church, the conquerors being now Christians.

[33] The list of sixteen Archbishops is given by Sir T. D. Hardy in his edition (1854) of Le Neve's _Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae_, on the ground that he did not wish to omit a list given by G.o.dwin; he adds that Wharton (_de episcopis Londin_.) believed Rest.i.tutus and Fastidius to be the only names of Bishops of London contained in the list. The names of the so-called Archbishops are:--1. Thea.n.u.s; 2. Elua.n.u.s; 3. Cadar; 4. Obinus; 5. Cona.n.u.s; 6. Palladius; 7. Stepha.n.u.s; 8. Iltutus; 9. Theodwinus, or Dewynus; 10. Theodredus; 11. Hilarius; 12. Rest.i.tutus; 13. Guitelinus; 14.

Fastidius; 15. Vodinus; 16. Theonus. The first on the list is said to have been made archbishop by King Lucius. The date of the twelfth is of course 314. The fifteenth is said to have been murdered by Hengist for protesting against the unlawful marriage of Vortigern with Hengist's daughter Rowena, about 455; this date of the last but one on the list is consistent with a view held by some chroniclers that there were no bishops of London between the beginning of the Saxon invasion and the coming of Augustine.

It is evident that when the masquerading dress of Latin is taken off the names, some of them are British.

[34] It is unnecessary to say that some writers in the past have a.s.sumed that a metropolitan bishop in early times was of course an archbishop. It was not so.

[35] Augustine does not appear to have been called Archbishop of Canterbury in his lifetime. He was called Bishop of the English, and sometimes Archbishop. His epitaph, as given by Bede (ii. 3), described him as _dominus Augustinus Dorovernensis Archiepiscopus primus_, "the Lord Augustine, first Archbishop of Dorovernium" (Canterbury).

[36] Bede, i. 29.

[37] If, indeed, he is certainly speaking of the same Picts.

[38] See page 96.

[39] On one stone,--? et O, hic iacent sancti et praecipui sacerdotes id est Viventius et Mavorius; on the other,--[Piu]s et Florentius.

[40] It has been said confidently that the Alpha and Omega is not found in Ireland. I found, however, an early stone in the churchyard at Kells with the Alpha and Omega, the Chi Rho, and the I H S. This is the only case in which I have seen all three on one monument.

[41] In a field near the Almond, at Kirkliston. The inscription is In oc tumulo iacit Vetta f Victi ... If we take the form used by Bede (i. 15) _Victi_ would stand for Victigilsi.

[42] See page 11.

[43] Tacitus, _Life of Julius Agricola_, ch. 24.

[44] See page 59.

[45] See page 58.

[46] Almost the same details, however, appear in the treatment of Wilfrid by his fellow-Anglians (Eddi, ch. 49). His opponents so entirely execrated his fellows.h.i.+p, that if any abbat or priest of his party, bidden by a faithful layman, made the sign of the cross over the meat, it was cast out as a thing offered to idols; and any vessel they used was washed before one of the other side would touch it. Theological differences are a competent subst.i.tute for difference of race.

[47] The general idea of the "cycle of years" is that after such-and-such a number of years the sun and moon and earth return to the same relative positions. This is fairly true of nineteen years; more closely true of ninety-five.

[48] Ad.a.m.nan, who tells us this, tells us also that the prophecy was fulfilled. Lugbe Moc.u.mmin was at Cantyre with the Saint some months after, and found there a s.h.i.+p whose captain told them of the destruction of the city (now called Citta Nuova). _Life of Columba_, i. 22.

[49] St. Oliver, formed from Santo Liverio (St. Liberius, the Swiss St.

Livres), and San Todo, from St. Odo, are similar cases.

[50] One has recently been found at Silchester, much further east than any other known example.

[51] In modern phrase, the Goidelic, not the Brythonic branch of the Celtic race.

[52] Thus on the famous stone at St. Dogmael's, near Cardigan, the first bilingual inscription of this kind found, the Ogam is _sagramni maqi cunatami_, the Latin, _sagrani fili cunotami_.

[53] It is unnecessary to explain that _Missa_, the Latin equivalent of Ma.s.s, was of course used in Augustine's time. It was not for centuries after this that a narrow meaning came to be attached to the words Missa and Ma.s.s, by the introduction and prevalence of the doctrine of Transubstantiation.

[54] Those who desire information on these points will find it in the Rev.

F. E. Warren's _Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church_.