Weekly Reflections

Patrick was sent as a missionary, probably from Britain, to Ireland in the early 5^th century.  This church which was outside the boundaries of the Roman Empire had developed in a different way to the western church and its strength was in the scattered monasteries that could be found in all the tribal centres. In the century or so after the Romans left Britain, around 410, and the Anglo-Saxons held power, Irish missionaries took the gospel to Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Europe.

Thus a church which was mainly Celtic in culture and origin developed in Britain without the help of the church of Rome.

In 597 Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory I as a missionary to Britain from Rome. He established a mission in the south east and built a cathedral at Canterbury where he became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Augustine’s mission had great success with the Anglo-Saxon pagan kingdoms. The church became strong enough to be a centre of mission to central Europe.

It took some time for the churches from the Celtic tradition and those from the Roman tradition to find a way to work together. In 663 a conference at Whitby resolved the disagreements. After this the church in England was under the authority of Rome.  [to be continued...]

Dale