A History of Chester Cathedral / with biographical notices of the Bishops and Deans

by John Hicklin

The subject of the first introduction of Christian truth into Britain, and who was the first herald employed by Providence in proclaiming it, is one of deep interest, and has long engaged the investigation of the learned. The theories which have been offered are conflicting, as to the time, and by whom, this great boon was conferred upon our country. But as all the varied traditions seem to point to the apostolic age, we may the more readily acquiesce, in not being able to fix upon the exact period and the actual instrument; especially when we remember, how many of the world’s benefactors have been unknown to those who are most indebted to them. There is an unwritten biography of the great and the good; though their names and heroic deeds are not recorded by the pen of the historian or the chisel of the sculptor, they have not the less nobly fulfilled their mission to their age and posterity. Their record, though not with men, is “on high.” And as there is a law surrounding us, which permits no disinterested deed or true thought to perish, but immortalizes them, in their effects on the minds of men and the developments of life;—so certainly as that law governs human experience, have we reaped the advantage of many a noble life’s devotion, albeit unchronicled and unknown. The results of their achievements are nevertheless with us still.

The foundation of the Church in Britain has been ascribed, by many eminent authorities, to St. Paul; and the learned Dr. Burgess, Bishop of St. David’s, goes so far as to say, that this interesting point is established by as much substantial evidence as any historical fact can require; and he proceeds to give the testimony of the first six centuries in support of the doctrine. The first and most important testimony is that of Clemens Romanus, “the intimate friend and fellow-labourer of St. Paul,” who says, that in preaching the gospel the apostles went to the utmost bounds of the west, which seems to have been the usual designation of Britain. Theoderet speaks of the inhabitants of Spain, Gaul, and Britain, as dwelling in the utmost bounds of the west. In the second century, Irenœus speaks of Christianity as propagated to the utmost bounds of the earth by the apostles and their disciples; and Tertullian, at the beginning of the third century, gives a kindred testimony. In the fourth century, (A.D. 270–340), Eusebius says, that some of the apostles passed over the ocean to the British Isles; and Jerome, in the same century, ascribes this province to St. Paul, and says, that after his imprisonment, having been in Spain, he went from ocean to ocean, and preached the gospel in the western parts. Theodoret, in the fifth century, and Venantius Fortunatus in the sixth, are also quoted as witnesses to the same effect.

The learned bishop has conducted the argument with consummate ability; and in the judgment of many has demonstrated the point.

Gildas, a Briton, called the wise, very positively ascribes the first mission to Britain to St. Joseph of Arimathea, who, according to his account, evangelized Gaul. This opinion is supported by Bede, William of Malmesbury, and many eminent divines of the Church.

Sammes, in his ‘Antiquities of Britain,’ inclines to the same idea, and gives an illustration of the first church supposed to be built by him; but it does not appear to be based upon sufficient evidence to entitle it to acceptance.

The conversion of Britain to the Christian faith has also been ascribed to St. Peter, St. James the Great, and to Simon Zelotes. Bishop Taylor and Dr. Cox are disposed to award the honour to the latter. Southey is of opinion that the Gospel was first introduced here by the family of Caractacus, who propagated it among the British tribes; and he is certainly upheld in this by many weighty considerations.

As there is existing such contrariety of belief among those master intellects, who have deeply studied the subject, we should certainly regard it as vain presumption, to record any dogmatic judgment.

Previous to the Roman conquests, the Britons were accustomed to celebrate the rites of Druidism; but as it was the custom of the Romans to carry into the lands they conquered, not only their civil polity but also their religion, the gods of their Pantheon became consequently the gods of our ancestors. Near the existing memorials of Druidical superstition, there arose the majestic fanes of a more polished mythology. At Bath there is said to have been a temple dedicated to Minerva, while on the site now occupied by the splendid cathedral of St. Paul there was a temple to Diana. It appears from a passage in King’s Vale Royal, there was a tradition generally accepted in his day, that on the present site of Chester Cathedral, was a temple dedicated to Apollo, during the period that the city was inhabited by the Legionaries.

“I have heard it,” he says, “from a scholar, residing in the city, when I was there, anno 1653, that there was a temple dedicated to Apollo in old time, in a place adjoining to the Cathedral Church, by the constant tradition of the learned.”

We are not aware that the supposition is capable of being verified by any existing record, but when we take into consideration the policy generally pursued by the Romans in subjugating a country, it seems to be countenanced by strong probability. With this form of Paganism, however, there came zealous men, of true apostolic stamp, whose earnest inculcation of vital principles, accelerated the progress of a better faith. So conspicuous had that progress become early in the third century, that Tertullian, in his work written against the Jews, A.D. 209, states that “even those places in Britain, hitherto inaccessible to the Roman arms, have been subdued by the gospel of Christ.”