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CHAPTER 12
AIDAN AND THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND
Not Augustine at Canterbury, but devoted Irish Gaels in every valley of
the Heptarchy - Aidan, Finan, Colman, Maeldubh, Diuma and the others - first
carried the evangel of Christian culture to the savage English tribes.1
PATRICK in Ireland, Columba in Scotland, and Dinooth in Wales were
apostles to a people using the Celtic tongue. Aidan, on the other hand, a
disciple of Columba's Celtic school, was called to be an apostle to a different
race - the pagan Anglo-Saxons of England. During its six-hundred- year
Anglo-Saxon period, the conversion of England stood as a monument to the
missionary, zeal of Aidan.
The pagans in conquering Britain by the sword had all but destroyed the
primitive British Church. Nearly two hundred years later this same evangelical
church not connected with Rome, through Aidan and his successors, subdued
practically two thirds of their heathen conquerors by the power of the gospel.2
The seven kingdoms, the Heptarchy, into which England was divided in
Aidan's days, were as jealous of one another as are the Balkan States today.
Mercia in the center was the largest. The next largest, occupying the northeast
portion of the realm, was Northumbria, where Aidan began his great work. South
of Northumbria along the coast were (in succession) East Anglia; Essex, the
kingdom of the East Saxons; Kent; and Sussex, the kingdom of the South Saxons.
To the southwest of these lay the seventh member of the Heptarchy, Wessex, the
kingdom of the West Saxons. The Character And Education Of Aidan
To the west and north of these seven pagan Anglo-Saxon kingdoms lay
the Celtic Christian lands of Wales, Ireland, and Scotland; and to the southeast
across the English Channel was the kingdom of the Franks which was ruled over by
papal sovereigns.
Aidan came from Iona, which had grown into a well-equipped university.3
Scholars of renown filled its chairs of instruction. This fact so impressed Dr.
Samuel Johnson, the interesting figure in English literature, that he wrote:
"We were now treading that illustrious island, which was once the luminary
of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the
benefits of knowledge, and the blessings of religion."4 Many travelers of
the high seas occupied the guesthouse at Iona during the student life of Aidan,
so that he devoured eagerly the knowledge imparted by the navigators from
Iceland in the north, from the Holy Land in the south, and from other distant
parts of the world.5 He must also have known considerable about the seven
kingdoms of pagan England, since many Angles came into Caledonia, either as
fugitives or as captives taken by the warring Scots.
Two events occurred which singled out the call of Aidan as one of an
unusual nature. The assembly of Iona selected one of their students to go in
answer to the request from King Oswald of Northumbria for an evangelist. Though
distinguished for the austerity of his life and for his learning, the one
selected quickly returned home, complaining, like the ten spies of old, of the
fierce people and the great obstacles to overcome. He lacked the faith to serve,
however much he loved to shine. Another student in the assembly, who advocated
love, gentleness, and patience in winning the Anglo-Saxons, was chosen. This was
the youthful Aidan.
The second unusual factor in the case was the remarkable career of
Oswald, ruler of the land to which Aidan was called. In early youth Oswald knew
of the national hatred of his pagan people for the Britons which led to the
slaughter of the twelve hundred students.6 He had also witnessed the conversion
of his pagan father to the superficial Christianity advocated by Paulinus, a
priest sent from Kent. Later the priest fled when, at the death of Oswald's
father, the Northumbrians lapsed into idolatry. Oswald himself was compelled to
flee his own land and find an asylum at Iona. Then the love of his countrymen
for his family revived, and Oswald was summoned to the throne. Paulinus, the
Roman bishop, was still alive and near at hand, but Oswald wanted his people in
Northumbria to walk in the ways of Columba, so he passed this priest by and sent
to Iona for a leader. Rome's Mission to the Kingdom of Kent
Northumbria was not the only Anglo-Saxon kingdom which, after it had
lapsed from Romanism into idolatry, was won to Christ by the Celtic Church. In
fact, the history of the whole 1260-year period reveals that it was the Church
in the Wilderness in papal lands that helped, by virtue of its competition, to
keep Roman Catholicism alive. When it was removed or destroyed in certain areas,
the standards of Christianity began quickly to fall. Such was the case in Essex,
Mercia, East Anglia, and Kent. To understand this and to follow the great work
of Aidan and his successors, consideration should be given to the labors of
Augustine and his forty monks who came from Rome to Canterbury in 597.
The following instruction from Pope Gregory to Augustine after the latter
through the efforts of Bertha, the Catholic wife of the pagan king, Ethelbert,
had secured for him and his monks a footing in Kent, is worthy of notice: At
first it was Gregory's intention, which he intimated, indeed, to King Ethelbert,
to have all the temples of idolatry destroyed; but on maturer reflection, he
altered his mind, and dispatched a letter after the abbot Mellitus, in which he
declared, that the idol temples, if well built, ought not to be destroyed but,
sprinkled with holy water and sanctified by holy relics, should be converted
into temples of the living God; so that the people might be more easily induced
to assemble in their accustomed places. Moreover, the festivals in honor of the
idols, of which the rode people had been deprived, should be replaced by others,
either on the anniversaries of the consecration of churches, or on days devoted
to the memory of the saints whose relics were deposited in them. On such days,
the people should be taught to erect arbors around the churches, in which to
celebrate their festive meals, and thus be holden to thank the giver of all good
for these temporal gifts. Being thus allowed to indulge in some sensual
enjoyments, they could be the more easily led to those which are inward and
spiritual.7
As to the methods Augustine employed, the following is from the historian
Albert Henry Newman: By
making a parade of ascetical life, by pretended miracles, and by promises of
earthly advantages, they succeeded in converting Ethelbert, king of the Saxons,
who with about ten thousand followers received baptism in a river at the hands
of the missionaries. A firm alliance having been formed between the king and the
Roman See, the missionaries addressed themselves to the far more difficult task
of subjecting the British Christians to Rome. When all other means proved
unavailing, they persuaded the Saxon king to make an expedition against them.
Three thousand of the British Christians were slaughtered on one occasion. For
centuries the Christians of the old British type, in Wales, Scotland, and
Ireland, as well as in various parts of Germany, resisted with all their might
the encroachment of Rome, and it is probable that Christianity of this type was
never wholly exterminated.8 Aidan's Missionary Labors
In direct contrast to the method employed by Augustine in Kent stands
the manner in which Aidan labored for Northumbria. John Lingard, a defender of
the Papacy, writes: As
soon as he had received the episcopal ordination, he repaired to the court of
Oswald. His arrival was a subject of general exultation; and the king
condescended to explain in Saxon the instructions which the missionary delivered
in his native tongue. But the success of Aidan was owing no less to his virtues
than to his preaching. The severe austerity of his life, his profound contempt
of riches, and his unwearied application to the duties of his profession, won
the esteem, while his arguments convinced the understanding of his hearers. Each
day the number of proselytes increased; and, within a few years, the church of
Northumbria was fixed on a solid and permanent foundation.9
The character of Aidan was well balanced. In religious fervor he was
second to none of the great church leaders. His industry was amazing. He was
never idle. In him was that flame of living fire which blazed forth so
gloriously in many of the young missionaries sent from the schools of Patrick
and Columba. Of him Bede says: It
was the highest commendation of his doctrine, with all men, that he taught no
otherwise than he and his followers had lived; for he neither sought nor loved
anything of this world, but delighted in distributing immediately among the poor
whatever was given him by the kings or rich men of the world. He was wont to
traverse both town and country on foot, never on horseback, unless compelled by
some urgent necessity; and wherever in his way he saw any, either rich or poor,
he invited them, if infidels, to embrace the mystery of the faith; or if they
were believers, to strengthen them in the faith, and to stir them up by words
and actions to alms and good works.10
The good work spread to the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. What thrilling
encouragement this evangelical movement among these pagan neighbors must have
given to those of like faith who in Persia and the Far East were laboring for
the conversion of the heathen! One medieval historian breaks forth in admiration
as he attempts to tell what God had done for King Oswald. He enumerates all the
nations - the Britons, the Scots, the Picts, and the English - and the provinces
of Britain that were brought under Oswald's dominion.11
Aidan was a man of prayer. He withdrew into his closet and shut the door.
On bended knees he poured forth his fervent supplications to God. He had a clear
perception of truth and duty, and he exercised a saving, transforming influence
upon all who were about him.
He exhibited great tenderness in his labors for the sinner and in his
effort to relieve the poor and afflicted. "He is said to have been deeply
concerned for the welfare of the poor and to have devoted much attention to
ransoming slaves."12 Bede, while expressing plainly his disapproval of
Aidan's refusal to accept papal doctrines, takes great pleasure in saying that
this missionary was careful to omit none of the things which he found in the
apostolic and prophetic writings, but that to the utmost of his power he
endeavored to perform them all.13
Aidan was also a founder of church schools and training colleges. At the
beginning of his ministry, King Oswald assigned to him the island of Lindisfarne.
This was situated on the eastern coast of Northumbria near to the capital of the
kingdom, but sufficiently off the main thoroughfare to give the proper
surroundings to an educational center. Taking Iona as a model, Aidan did for
England through this mother college what Columba had done for Scotland. The
fields were used to give work to support the students, as well as to furnish the
food for faculty and pupils. It was the purpose of the Celtic Church to plant
many centers rather than to concentrate numbers and wealth in some
ecclesiastical capital. Aidan and his followers limited the buildings to the
necessities of the school.
Of the location of Lindisfarne and its influence in creating similar
institutions, John Lingard says that in all his toil, Aidan kept his eyes fixed
on his patron, Columba.14 From Aidan's first institution, similar training
centers were established in the kingdoms of Bernicia, Deira, Mercia, and East
Anglia. Aidan's work was a triumph for truth. First, paganism was swept away and
replaced by religion founded on New Testament doctrines.
Only thirty years was spanned by Aidan and his immediate successors,
Finan and Colman. In apportioning these years, Bede gives seventeen to Aidan,
ten to Finan, and three to Colman.15 And yet in that brief period the Celtic
Church grew and prospered so that John Meissner says, "The original Celtic
Christianity had thus a very powerful hold on the country at the time when the
first Roman emissary landed in Kent."16 Edward Hulme writes that
"Aidan was the apostle of England."17 Celtic Church Training Centers
The chief instrument of Aidan's success was the training school. In
naming these evangelical colleges, many writers call them
"monasteries," using the term in its ancient sense. W. M. Hetherington
presents as additional proof that the East was the homeland of early British
Christianity, that the terms "monk" and "monastery" as used
by the ecclesiastical writers of that age did not mean segregated congregations
of unmarried men as writers generally now use the expressions. These words
meant, rather, that the pupils of the British theological seminaries were
married men and were frequently succeeded in their offices and duties by their
own sons. This author further claims that wherever the Culdees or Celtic
Christians founded new settlements, the presiding officer of the board of
directors was chosen by election, not appointed by some foreign superior.
"He was, in fact, nothing more than 'the first among equals.'"18
Archbishop James Ussher writes that "our monasteries in ancient
times were the seminaries of the ministry: being as it were, so many colleges of
learned divines, whereunto the people did usually resort for instruction, and
from whence the church was wont continually to be supplied with able
ministers."19 Furthermore, the learned Joseph Bingham takes considerable
pains to prove by past authorities that "monk" and
"monastery" originally had different meanings from those usually given
to the words now.20
Soon after the establishment of Lindisfarne, Aidan founded Melrose on the
Tweed River as a second training field. Although for centuries since then the
shadows have daily crept across the vacant fields where once stood this Columban
college, yet splendid memorials still remain to show its noble contribution to
civilization.21 Whitby as a Training Center
Another such institute, probably the most famous of all Columban
spiritual headquarters in England, was Whitby in the kingdom of Northumbria. Two
celebrated names - Hilda and Caedmon - are connected with this history-making
center. Whitby is remembered particularly because of the celebrated abbess
Hilda. She was of royal descent, and from the age of thirteen was well known for
her piety and consecration to the Christian faith. When pagamsm again arose in
Northumbria after the superficial work done by Augustine, Hilda left the country
and went to the south, probably to East Anglia. Then came the great news that
King Oswald was on the throne of her native land. Having distinguished herself
by a noble work in two training centers, she returned to Northumbria and
undertook either to build or to arrange a Bible seminary at Whitby. Bede relates
that Aidan and other religious men knew her and honored her work. Because of her
innate wisdom and inclination to the service of God, they frequently visited
with her and diligently instructed her in the doctrines. Even kings and princes
asked and received her advice.22 She put the seminary at Whitby under efficient
and scholarly discipline. This establishment was very large, having two separate
divisions, one for each sex. This latter arrangement was unusual. She obliged
all those who were under her direction to attend much to the reading of the
Bible and to learn how to teach scriptural truths.
There is ample evidence that this was the type of training center
established throughout the world by the Church in the Wilderness. A specialty
was made of studying and copying the Holy Scriptures. Farming and other trades
were taught. To the girls instruction was given suitable to their later life.
Whitby became the nursery of eminent men, graduating five who became provincial
directors, and giving to the world Caedmon, the first of English religious
poets. Dugdale says that Hilda "was a professed enemy to the extension of
the papal jurisdiction in this country, and opposed with all her might the
tonsure of priests and the celebration of Easter according to the Roman
ritual."23 In the crisis precipitated in the national convocation, when the
contending papal and the British delegates met at Whitby in 664, Hilda was found
on the side of the successor of Aidan. Many other training centers besides
Whitby were established by the Scots in Great Britain and Ireland. Caedmon
The grace of the Lord made use of a simple custom in one of these
training centers to bring forth a leader. It seems that at certain
entertainments a harp would be passed around from one individual to another and
each was expected to compose an impromptu poem and play the harp in
accompaniment. Caedmon, being a simple cowherd, felt so deeply his inferiority
that one night when the harp was passed to him he refused to make an attempt,
and retired to the stable where he had charge of the cattle. It seemed that a
man appeared to him in his sleep and greeted him, saying, "Sing, Caedmon,
some song to me." He answered that he could not, and it was because of this
that he had left the feast. The visitor answered him, "However, you will
sing to me." "What shall I sing?" asked the humble youth.
"The beginning of created things," commanded the voice. Immediately he
began to sing and compose to the praise of God. When this was reported, Hilda,
always seeking for gifts among her students, requested him to relate the dream
and repeat the words he had heard. Bede says, "They all concluded, that
heavenly grace had been conferred upon him by our Lord."
The students of the abbey delighted themselves in exercising the gift
they had discovered in Caedmon. They gave him passages from the Holy Scriptures
which, when translated into English, he immediately converted into harmonious
verse and sweetly repeated to his masters. Bede writes: He
sang the creation of the world, the origin of man, and all the history of
Genesis: and made many verses on the departure of the children of Israel out of
Egypt, and their entering into the Land of Promise, with many other histories
from Holy Writ; the incarnation, passion, resurrection of our Lord, and His
ascension into heaven; the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the preaching of the
apostles; also the terror of future judgment, the horror of the pains of hell,
and the delights of heaven; besides many more about the Divine benefits and
judgments, by which He endeavored to turn away all men from the love of vice,
and to excite in them the love of, and application to, good actions.24
The sermons wrought into verse by Caedmon captured the hearts of England.
Caedmon loved sacred subjects. Composed in the people's language, these
elevating themes could be sung by all circles. For the first time the common
people enjoyed the wonderful words of life in hymns they could understand. In
those days when there was no printing press, Caedmon, through singing, gave the
message that Aidan and his disciples set forth by preaching. Finan
At Aidan's death Finan was chosen in his place. He carried forward
the work ably begun by his predecessor.
When Finan evangelized the kingdom of Mercia, it held a dominant position
in the Heptarchy, for it was located in the center of England and was inhabited
by a brave, warlike people. Through the influence of the warlike ruler, Penda,
the kingdom was given to idolatry. Now, Penda's son, Peada, - a most exemplary
young man, open-minded and resourceful, - was in love with Elfleda, the daughter
of King Oswy of Northumbria, who was brother of Oswald. When he sought the hand
of the girl in marriage, the father refused on the basis that he was not a
Christian; but he requested Peada to receive instructions in the teachings of
Christ and to work for the conversion of the southern part of Mercia over which
his father had set him as ruler. When he learned of the gospel and was taught
concerning the resurrection and the future immortal life, he rejoiced in his
new-found light and informed Elfleda's father that it was his great desire to
become a Christian whether he secured the girl or not. Thereupon Finan was sent
to Peada with a large retinue of earls, soldiers, and servants. After Finan had
baptized the young prince, he left behind to further instruct him and his
people, four pastors of the Celtic Church - Cedd, Adda, Betti, and Diuma. The
last-named minister was of Scottish blood while the others were English. When
these pastors arrived in the province of the prince, they preached the word of
God, which was gladly received by many of the nobility as well as by the common
people. Many renounced their idolatry and were baptized. The East Saxons
From the kingdom of Mercia we turn to Essex. A study of the religion
of the East Saxons reveals again the superficial work of papal missionaries.
Following his first success in Kent, Augustine ordained Mellitus as bishop to
Sabert, king of the East Saxons. Many were baptized, and it looked as if
Mellitus had done a good work. Upon the death of Sabert, however, his three
pagan sons immediately made an open profession of idolatry which previously they
had renounced. They granted liberty to the people to serve idols. And when they
saw the Roman bishop celebrating mass and giving the wafer to the people, they
argued with the priest. Finally, they forced the bishop and his followers to
depart from the kingdom of Kent. All three agreed it would be best for them to
leave England, so they withdrew into France.
Under Finan the Christian faith was again established among the East
Saxons, and this time the Celtic Church brought the message. The Essex king,
Sigebert, and his friends were baptized. After his baptism, the king called
Celtic missionaries to his kingdom. Thus the Celtic Church was the instrument in
God's hand of making Christianity prevail over idolatry in the kingdom of Essex.
Finan recognized how God was working with the church missionaries in
Essex. Following the example of Columba and Aidan before him, he established a
theological training center at Tillbery.
It has been shown how the three kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, and
Essex were brought back from their idolatry to the faith of the Celtic Church
through the consecrated labors of the Scots. Speaking of the magnificent work
done by the Celtic Church in these kingdoms, the historian Rapin de Thoyras
writes: Austin
[Augustine] has had the honor of converting the English, when in the main the
progress he made was not very considerable. 'Tis true he preached to the Saxons
of Kent, as Mellitus did to those of Essex, and that with good success.... Augustine
in the height of his success, for which he is so greatly honored, established
but two bishops only, Justus at Rochester (in his own Kent), and Mellitus at
London, though the pope had expressly ordered him to settle bishops wherever
there should be occasion.... This is clear evidence, that the progress ascribed
to him was not so considerable as Gregory imagines.... It is therefore
surprisingly strange that the conversion of the English should be ascribed to
Augustine, rather than to Aidan, to Finan, to Colman, to Cedd, to Diuma, and the
other Scotch monks, who undoubtedly labored much more abundantly than he. But
here lies the case. These last had not their orders from Rome, and therefore
must not be allowed any share in the glory of the work.25
The historian Henry Soames writes upon the same theme: Only
two counties, therefore, north of the Thames... were ever under Roman
superintendence during their transition from paganism to Christianity, and these
two were largely indebted to domestic [Scottish] zeal for their conversion.
Every other county, from London to Edinburgh, has the full gratification of
pointing to the ancient church of Britain as its nursing mother in Christ's holy
faith.26 The Church in Kent, Wessex, East Anglia, and Sussex
What now should be said of the four other kingdoms - Kent, East
Anglia, Sussex, and Wessex? Kent, being the kingdom in the southeastern part of
the island and farthest away from the missionary advance of the Scots, had early
been entered by Augustine. The Christianity which prevailed in this province,
therefore, was of the papal type. Wessex, kingdom of the West Saxons, was
farthest away from either the Scottish or the papal advance; therefore it long
resisted any profession of Christianity.
As to the country of the East Angles, here again it was the influence of
Scottish missionaries which reclaimed it to Christianity when, after the
departure of the Roman monks, it had fallen into idolatry. A few years after
this lapse into paganism a Scottish pastor labored so diligently among them that
great numbers of the apostates were led to renounce their errors and return to
the faith.27 As for Sussex, kingdom of the South Saxons, it was greatly indebted
to the Celtic Church for the knowledge of Christ. Their king had been baptized
in the province of the Mercians by the evangelical Scots. Even in the Roman
Catholic province of the West Saxons it was the labors of Scottish missionaries
which efficiently helped the Anglo-Saxons there to depart from their paganism
and embrace the gospel.
"It is no exaggeration to say that, with the exception of Kent and
Sussex, the whole English race received the foundation of their faith from
Celtic missionaries, and even in Sussex it is known that Irish missionaries were
at work before the arrival of Wilfrid."28 As the celebrated Count de
Montalembert, French Catholic scholar wrote, "Northumbrian Christianity
spread over the southern kingdoms."29 Colman
At the death of Finan, Colman was chosen as his successor to lead the
Celtic Church. Bede says that he was sent from Scotland.30 Colman came to preach
the word of God to the English nation.31 The Scots sent him to Lindisfarne,
therefore his consecration and his field of labor were identical with those of
Aidan and Finan - the kingdom of Northumbria. Since, however, at that time Oswy,
king of Northumbria, was a leader among other kingdoms of England, Colman would
naturally be a leader of leaders. He possessed the meekness of Christ. Step by
step British Christianity successfully met entrenched paganism and decadent
Romanism and advanced into province after province.
Suddenly the wind changed; the intrigues of the Roman Catholic queen of
Oswy succeeded. When Colman had been in office only three years, the actions of
the queen precipitated the Council of Whitby. Three things were against Colman:
first, the short time in which he had been in office; secondly, the fact that
his antagonist, Wilfrid, had been drilled in the ways of the Papacy; and lastly,
the intrigue of the Roman Catholic queen.
The main question in dispute was the same as that between Augustine and
Dinooth, the same which had led Victor I, the Roman bishop, to excommunicate the
clergy of the East - the date of the observance of Easter. In other lands the
sword was used against those who refused to accept the practices of Rome.32
Eanfled, the Roman Catholic queen of Oswy, was determined to bend the king to
the practices of Rome.
The queen's chaplain, Wilfrid, was one of the most determined opponents
of the Celtic Church. He had been sent to Rome where for four years he had
looked upon the gorgeous rites and temples of the Papacy. During this time he
had been drilled in the arguments and traditions designed to spread Rome's
authority, and he returned to Northumbria with the purpose of forcing the Celtic
Church to come into line with papal practices.33 Public debate is exactly what
Wilfrid sought, in order that a decision might be proclaimed in favor of the
Papacy. The weakness of the king assured this victory in advance. Oswy decreed
that both parties should meet in open forum. The place chosen was Whitby. Oswy
presided over the council. Colman, his Scottish clerks, the abbess Hilda and her
followers, and Bishop Cedd were on the side of the Scots. The king, his son,
Prince Alchfrid, the queen, and two able Roman priests besides Wilfrid were on
the side of Rome.34
None can read the report of the discussion as handed down by the papal
historian Bede without realizing how skillfully Colman answered the arguments in
the case. However, Wilfrid artfully brought the debate around to the supremacy
of Peter. It is informing to know that, although this question was in nowise the
real point at issue, the Roman divines heaped derision on the great Columba as
Wilfrid shouted: As
for you and your companions, you certainly sin, in having heard the decrees of
the apostolic see and of the universal church, you refuse to follow them; for
though your fathers were holy, do you think their small number, in a corner of
the remotest island, is to be preferred before the universal church of Christ?
And if that Columba of yours was a holy man and powerful in miracles, yet, could
he be preferred before the most blessed prince of the apostles, to whom our Lord
said, 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it; and to thee I will give the keys of the
kingdom of heaven?'35
Immediately the king broke in: "Is it true, Colman, that these words
were spoken to Peter by our Lord?" When Colman replied in the affirmative,
endeavoring at the same time to show the fallacy and weakness of using the
incident of the keys as a basis for church supremacy, his remarks were
considered beside the point. The king led the audience to increasing indecision,
until they finally renounced their former custom and decided to conform to the
pretended superiority of the papal Easter.36
It is not difficult to see why King Oswy surrendered to the pressure of
the queen and her chaplain. Through alliance with the kings of Europe, Rome was
laying broad and deep the foundations of her theocracy. The new line of kings,
descendants of Charlemagne, was rising to dominance on the Continent and
carrying the Papacy along with them. The decrees of the general councils of the
Papacy were supreme. Kings of even greater resolution than Oswy would have
weakened before the pressure. The Four Centuries Following Whitby
Some have asked why Colman and his accompanying workers immediately
left for the island of Iona. How could he have done otherwise? If he had rallied
his forces to fight the king and the foreign priests, such a plan might have
torn down the church organization which had been so ably built up by Aidan and
Finan. He remembered that when the first fierce persecutions fell upon the
infant church in Jerusalem the apostles left the city, so that the assaulting
opposition was turned aside from the church. Thus, we can see the wisdom of
Colman in departing immediately with his co-workers.
"During the four dark centuries that followed the Council of Whitby,
the northward extension of the Roman Church was checked by racial warfare and
pagan invasions which built up additional barriers between the north and the
south."37
In the providence of God, Colman's departure could not have been better
timed. The Papacy was not permitted a widespread enjoyment of her questionable
victory at the Council of Whitby, as many historians have stated. Before Wilfrid
and his successors could accomplish the destruction of the Celtic Church, the
design for which he had been trained at Rome, the Danes swept down upon England
bringing with them a new flood of paganism.
However, when the leaders of the British Church had departed, the
representatives of Romanism immediately seized the spiritual overlordship of the
realm. The year following Whitby, Pope Vitalian wrote a letter to King Oswy
concerning the appointment of an archbishop for Canterbury, in which he said,
"By the protecting hand of God you have been converted to the true and
apostolic faith." Pope Vitalian told the king that he would root out the
enemy tares.38 He further promised to send the relics of the apostles Peter and
Paul along with the letter. Not long afterward, the king's son, Alchfrid,
discovered and banished the Scottish sect.39 This injustice was inflicted by
King Alchfrid upon the Scottish believers with the approbation of his father,
Oswy, because the Scots refused to conform to a church which sanctioned relic
worship.
Although the Papacy had secured the ascendancy in England, God did not
permit the truth to die. The seed sown by Aidan, Finan, and Colman, though
dormant, was not lifeless. The faith represented by the Celtic leaders remained
powerful in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and the southwestern part of England.
Followers of the truth persisted down through the centuries, so that when
Wycliffe began his marvelous revival centuries later, his followers are thought
by some to have been those who had maintained from generation to generation the
doctrines of Aidan.
During the four hundred years from Whitby to the Norman conquest the
Papacy in England proper was never able to overcome totally the paganism of the
Danes or the inspiring courage of Celtic believers. Therefore, the Church of
Rome saw that if it was to win, a new plan of battle must be devised. Time and
circumstances placed in its hands a leader destined to bring about a change in
the British Isles. This champion was William of Normandy. The Papacy and William The Conqueror
The Papacy favored the conquest of England by William of Normandy.40
There were three reasons for this. The Danes in conquering Anglo-Saxon England
(c. A.D. 820) were imbued with such a pagan background that Rome could never
expect a strong ascendancy through them even though in later years they had
leanings toward that faith. This might even have meant a victory for the ancient
Celtic Church which had already shown itself spiritually able to win both
Anglo-Saxons and Danes. Therefore, the Papacy welcomed the hour when a strong
Norman leader in France had an apparent claim to the throne of England. In the
second place, something had to be done to break the power of the Celtic Church,
particularly in Scotland and Ireland. Finally, it was necessary to have a new
race upon which to build. The Normans, whose fatherland was France, were living
under the leadership of the people whom the pope had entitled "the eldest
daughter of the church." They had enthusiasm for the political combination
of colorful superstition, a tyrannical caste system, and regal pomp. If the
Normans could lay an iron hand upon Saxon and Danish England, the whole of the
British Isles might be brought fully under the papal flag.
When William of Normandy landed in England in 1066 with his warriors, the
Danish king, Harold, had just been called to fight in the north a terrific
battle with a rebellious rival. Obliged to move south by forced marches to meet
the Norman invaders, his wearied army drew up on the heights of Hastings. But it
could not withstand the invaders, and the battle was won by the Normans.
The victory at Hastings brought new leadership for the Roman Church in
England. A powerful reorganization of English life, customs, and institutions
followed. Nevertheless, three hundred years passed before the combined powers of
continental Roman Catholicism and Norman prowess could bring Ireland and
Scotland under the dominance of the Papacy. Wales was not subdued. Even then the
spiritual conquest was one of might and not of right. Swayed by fear and awed by
authority, the people accepted the customs of the Normans and made a superficial
profession of accepting the papal doctrines. The deeper convictions of truth and
liberty which prevailed in the days of the Celtic Church were smothered under
the weight of the invaders. The great work of Aidan was apparently buried in
utter darkness. Yet, centuries later when the Reformation challenged the
supremacy of Rome, the seed sown by Aidan, Finan, and Colman sprang forth to
newness of life. The Church of the Wilderness bestirred herself, and a new day
dawned not only for England, but for the world. |