Part 10 (2/2)

Section 4. _Intellectual Development in the Church._

[Sidenote: Christian learning developed in peace.]

This portion of the History of the Church, comprising as it does the first period in which the master-minds within her fold were left free by the cessation of outward persecution to resist the increasing attacks of heresy, may be looked upon as offering to our view the greatest intellectual development which the Church has experienced since the times of the Apostles. [Sidenote: The Fathers.] Learned and eloquent men abounded, ”mighty in the Scriptures” and ”steadfast in the Faith,” and their commentaries and sermons have come down to us as an abiding heritage and a continual witness to the teaching of the Church in early times. St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Chrysostom, and St.

Augustine, are but a few out of many whose writings are still held in honour by our own as well as by every other branch of the Catholic Church.

[1] A General Council is the highest possible way in which the voice of the Church can be heard. But its authority is much increased by the fact that to become really a _general_ Council its decrees must be generally received by the Christian world. This was the case with the first six General Councils, but has not been entirely so with any similar gatherings of later ages.

[2] That part of the Creed which follows the words, ”I believe in the Holy Ghost,” was added later.

[3] The subsequent addition in the clause, ”Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son,” will be noticed later.

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CHAPTER VII

The Early History of Particular Churches.

A.D. 67-A.D. 500

Section 1. _The Church of England._

[Sidenote: St. Paul's visit to England.]

The CHURCH OF ENGLAND is believed, with good reason, to owe its foundation to the Apostle St. Paul, who probably came to this country after his first imprisonment at Rome. The writings of Tertullian, and others in the second and third centuries speak of Christianity as having spread as far as the islands of Britain, and a British king named Lucius is known to have embraced the Faith about the middle of the second century. [Sidenote: Martyrdom of St. Alban.] The Diocletian persecution made itself felt amongst the British Christians, the conversion of the proto-martyr St. Alban (A.D. 303) being followed by that of a large number of his countrymen, many of whom also suffered for their faith.

The persecution ceased (A.D. 305) under the influence of Constantius, who, before his accession to the imperial dignity, had been viceroy in Britain. His son and successor Constantine was, if not born in England, at any rate of English parentage on the side of his mother Helen, better known as the Saint and Empress {74} Helena. [Sidenote: English bishops at Councils.] Three English Bishops, those of York, Lincoln, and London, attended the Council summoned by Constantine at Arles, A.D. 314, a proof that at this time the Church of England was thoroughly organized and settled. English Bishops were also present at the Councils of Sardica, A.D. 347, and of Ariminium, A.D. 359.

[Sidenote: English Church depressed by Saxon invasion.]

When the Romans abandoned Britain early in the fifth century, the Saxons took advantage of the defenceless state of the inhabitants to settle in the island, at first as colonists and afterwards as conquerors. The intermingling of these fierce heathens with the Christian population had a depressing influence on the Church; and the Bishops and Clergy, belonging as they did to the weaker and conquered portion of the community, seem to have been unable to do much towards the conversion of the invaders. [Sidenote: Diminution and retreat of Clergy.] Gradually, as the Saxons became more and more powerful in the island, the number of Bishops and Clergy in the accessible portions of of England grew smaller and smaller; and such as remained were at last compelled to take refuge with their brethren, who had retired to the mountain fastnesses, rather than live in slavery. Hence the records of the Church of England in the sixth century are chiefly confined to those dioceses which were situated in what we call Wales, or in other mountainous districts.

Section 2. _The Church of Ireland._

The CHURCH OF IRELAND is said by some to have been first founded in the Apostolic age, but this seems doubtful. The first certain information which we have {75} respecting the presence of Christianity in the island, is that in A.D. 431, a Bishop named Palladius was sent thither on a mission by Pope Celestine. He appears, however, not to have met with much success, and he soon left the country and died, probably in Scotland. [Sidenote: St. Patrick the Apostle of Ireland.] A few years later, about A.D. 440, the celebrated St. Patrick began his mission in Ireland. He is generally considered to have been a native of North Britain, who, at the age of sixteen, was taken prisoner by pirates, and carried as a slave to Ireland. On regaining his liberty, he resolved to devote his life to the conversion of the country of his captivity; and having been consecrated Bishop, he returned to Ireland, and spent fifty years as a missionary in that hitherto heathen land. At the time of his death, A.D. 493, the Church was firmly rooted in Ireland, and possessed a native priesthood and a native Episcopate.

[Sidenote: Late development of dioceses and parishes in Ireland.]

It may, however, be mentioned, that neither the diocesan nor the parochial systems were developed in Ireland until a very late period, whilst, from the very large number of Bishops existing there in early times, we are led to infer that in Ireland, as before in the earliest ages of the Church, each missionary was invested with episcopal powers, and that the office of priest, separate from that of Bishop, was at first almost unknown. Gradually there sprang up Cathedral chapters, whose members acted as curates to the Bishop, and to this succeeded the parochial system.

Section 3. _The Church of Scotland._

The CHURCH OF SCOTLAND may, perhaps, like the Church of England, trace its foundation to the labours {76} of St. Paul, and seems to be included in Tertullian's mention of the far-off limits to which Christianity had reached in his days. [Sidenote: St. Ninian the first authenticated missionary in Scotland.] Little is, however, known of very early Church history in Scotland until the beginning of the fifth century, when St. Ninian, who is said to have been the son of a British chief, preached to the Southern Picts, A.D. 412-A.D. 432. We have already seen that St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, was a Scotchman, and the fruits of the benefits thus conferred on the one country were reaped by the other in the next century, when St. Columba went from Ireland and founded the celebrated monastery of Iona in one of the isles of the Hebrides. [Sidenote: Intercourse between Irish and Scotch Churches.] Iona, like the Irish monasteries of the same period, sent out many missionaries, and the monks of the two countries appear to have kept up friendly communications with each other.

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