XII. THE ROYAL BRITISH FOUNDERS OF THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH AT ROME, A.D. 58
Channel: Anne
Date: 2018-12-28

THE DRAMA OF THE LOST DISCIPLES BY GEORGE F. JOWETT 
Eyes fascinated by the splendour of the Vatican Palace and other sumptuous buildings, not one Christian stops to view this hallowed place which played such a majestic part in making the faith they profess theirs to enjoy. All the riches combined in the Vatican cannot equal one iota of the wealth of devotion and sacrifice made for us within these time-weathered walls. Within its sacred precincts trod two of the greatest of Christ’s Apostles, Peter and Paul; this the first Christian church at Rome to be established and the second church built above the ground to be created by the British and the Apostles of Christ. They represent the greatest gifts of the British to mankind and to posterity. Unlike the Josephian church erected at Glastonbury (Avalon), the church at Rome is drenched with the blood of martyrs. The valour of the British arms prevented the Roman or any other foreign invader from violation of the Glastonbury sanctuary. This protection was denied, by understandable circumstances, to the church at Rome. They could only die. Theirs is the greatest treasure in blood and sacrifice the British race gave to the people of the world - their cross for Christ that preserved the Word that set men free and saved their soul. 

How little do modem Christians realize that it was the Royal House of Britain, united with the noble Pudens, that actually made it possible for St. Paul to accomplish his mission, fulfilling the destiny Jesus ordained for him in establishing the faith permanently among the Gentiles? How few know of those gentle women, Claudia, Pudentiana and Praxedes, who gave their all for Christ, their beauty, their talents, their fortunes and their lives. What courage! No wonder the Romans proclaimed in awe: ‘What women these British Christians have-what women!’ Those gentle hands alone had laid at rest the staggering total of three thousand butchered martyrs within the precincts of their church, the old Palace of the British at Rome. How many more they secreted and buried within the underground catacombs is not known. As one ponders on this dreadful tragedy the soul is shocked.

Now only crumbling, uncared-for walls remain to remind us of its triumph and tragedy yet the modem Christian by-passes it without a look, without a twinge of gratitude or admiration, or a prayer, to be thrilled by the glamour of the Vatican and its cathedrals, basking in wealth and luxury, which had no part in the original planting of the faith, or in establishing and preserving our democratic freedoms.