THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY IN BRITAIN

EARLY ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND

Germanic Tribes

5th Century

The Writer and

Historian Bede

8th century

English descendants of

three Germanic tribes

VIDEO – The

“Venerable” Bede

EARLY ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND

Angles Came from parts of Germany

Angle-land – Leaves nation empty

Saxons Lower Saxony in modern

Germany

Jutes Jutland peninsula in modern

Denmark

CHRISTIANITY VS. PAGANISM

British/Celtic Religion

Pagan

Polytheistic

Very different from monotheistic Christianity

What is “Paganism?”

Pagan “Foundation”

Roman “Building”

CHRISTIANITY ARRIVES

Unclear When or How

200 AD

Begins during the Roman Empire

Constantine

313 AD – Legalize Christianity

Theodosius I

391 AD – State Religion

ST. PATRICK (385 AD – 461 AD)

VIDEO – St. Patrick

Born in Roman Britain

Religious upbringing

Reckless childhood

Slavery

16 years old – Ireland

Herdsman – 6 years (Hears voices…)

ST. PATRICK

Visions

I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His

name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters,

and he gave me one of them. I read the heading:

"The Voice of the Irish". As I began the letter, I

imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of

those very people who were near the wood of

Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they

cried out, as with one voice: “We appeal to you, holy

servant boy, to come and walk among us.”

ST. PATRICK’S TEACHINGS

Patrick Uses Pagan

Foundation to Build

Christian Structure

Holy Trinity and the

Shamrock

The Color Green

The Number 3

HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS

Feasts and Festivals Pagans!

Halloween (Samhain) Celtic, altered by the Romans

All Saints Day

Christmas (Yule) Pagan Midwinter celebration of Geol (pronounced Yule)

Easter (Ostara) Saxon goddess Eostre/Ostara

ST. PATRICK AND THE SNAKES

Banishing Snakes

Attacked him – 40-day

fast

Into sea

Ireland, New Zealand,

Iceland, Greenland

and Antarctica

No snakes!

ST. COLUMBA(521 AD - 597 AD)

VIDEO – St. Columba

Born In Ireland Baptized as a Christian

Monastic School Called one of the “Twelve

Apostles of Ireland”

Starts a Battle Exile to Scotland

Missionary to the Picts

VITA COLUMBAE

Book 1: Columba’s Prophecies

Book 3: Columba’s Apparitions

Book 2: Columba’s Miracles

Loch Ness Monster

ST. AUGUSTINE

Augustine of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury

Founder of the English Church

Pope Gregory the Great

Sends Augustine to English king Æthelberht and his Kingdom of Kent

Converted Thousands

Mass baptism Christmas Day