Some aspects of the Romano-British Church of the fourth and fifth centuries

Abstract

Evidence for the Baptismal and Eucharistic liturgies used by the Romano-British Church of the fourth and fifth centuries is at the moment confined to a few incidental references in the writings of St. Patrick and of fEastidiusf - in so far as these relate to the practice of Britain - and a small number of archaeological finds. This evidence, however, has to be interpreted in the light of the fuller records available for other Churches of the Late Empire; in particular, the Church of Jerusalem, which became a centre of pilgrimage in the fourth century, thanks largely to the example of the Empress Helena and the munificent building programme carried out by her son Constantine; the Church of Rome, because its foundation could be traced back on the authority of the New Testament to the first century A.D. and to the apostles Peter and Paul, and because Rome from its history had a unique position in the Western Empire; the Church of Milan, which attained a place of eminence in the latter part of the fourth century under its distinguished author-bishop Ambrose during a period when the city was the seat of the Imperial government; the Church of Hippo in N. Africa, which is well-documented in the writings of its early fifth century bishop Augustine; and the Churches of Gaul as Britain1s nearest neighbour. The written records relating to these churches, together with the remains of their fourth/ fifth century buildings which have been subjected to archaeological research, allow us with some degree of probability to fill out the slender evidence provided by the Romano- British Church and to recapture the general character of its practice. Such findings in their turn hare a bearing on the understanding of present archaeological evidence in Britain and indicate the type of Christian structures ne might expect to find in the future.