F. R. Montgomery Hitchcock D.D.
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Total Pages: 120
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IT is uncertain when Christianity was introduced into Ireland. We know that the Britons were converted very early and that there was a Church in Britain in the fourth century which was in constant touch with the Church of Gaul. For the Council of Arles (A.D. 314) was attended by three British Bishops—Eborius of York, Restitutus of London, Adelphius of Lincoln, with Sacerdos, a presbyter, and Arminius, a deacon; and in the Council of Ariminium (A.D. 359) more than three British Bishops also took part. There is a statement in Eusebius that the Apostles went so far as the so-called British Islands, and Chrysostom says “the British Isles felt the power of the Word.” and “if you go to the British Isles you will hear men discussing the Scriptures.” Gildas mentions three British martyrs—Albanus, Aaron, and Julius—who suffered martyrdom with many others in the persecution of Diocletian (303–311). It is hardly credible, then, that this ancient British Church, which was in existence and fully organized at least three hundred years before the landing of Augustine in the Isle of Thanet (A.D. 597), would have left Ireland neglected until A.D. 432, when Patrick landed at Inverdea by the mouth of the present River Vartry, then the Dee. Aeterna Press
