Evening star., 1909-06-01

of Roman highways. not on the eastern
shore. but in the western part of Britain
in places inaccessible to the Roman
arms
'.The names of 400 villages of Wales
contain as an affiX or suffiX the
syllable Liam tsignifying church,.
coupled with word descriptive of some
natural surrounding. as falls = Falls
the name of the saint is always a Welsh,
Celtic, Greek Hebrew name, never q
Saxon or Roman name, except in the case
of offshoots from older parishes or vii
lagos.
apparently, these names go back to
the early missiona ries: certainly they
point to the general Chris;ianizauon %
Wales at an early date.
The conversion of ST. -AlDan. the first
recorded Christian martyr of Britain, in
:;o4. by the British priest Amphibalus. is
a case in point. 1t was ,he large exten-
sion OF the Christian community In Corn
wall and Wales that suffered most Sc
verely in the Diocletian perse ,utions, and
1t was a Christian priest from that per
secuted community to = ON Alban owed
his conversion.
Story of st. Piran.
Among the early Christians celebrated
in story and tradition was st. Piran. For
centuries the tales of this man, rife on
every Cornish tongue. savored only of
leSeHudTN lCtFO1i- bul III JsIc 1iS diiS'C'fI
Church of st. Piran was found, where
for centuries IL had stood buried in the
sand It's unpretending simplicity, its
rude but solid workmanship, testify
silently TO the truth of the legend.
The fact that history includes Adelfius,
provincial Bishop of Caerleon. among
the three British bishops present at the
council Of Aries in :s14. the history Of
Pelagius the British Christian. and his
world wide heresy, the history OF st. Pat
~, conversion of Ireland
81. Germanus and the Synod of st. Al
bans in 423. and numberless other well
authenticated facts, including the stories
of King Arthur and his stubborn hght
against the Saxon invaders, all bear testi-
mony to the Christianization of the west
ern part of Britain during the -lrst three
centuries Of the Christian era.
whence came this Christian mission?
Some say ST Paul preached i'll Britain.
Some say unknown missionaries from
GauI brought the Gospel
Points to Support Legend.
The explanations of the origin OF
Christianity among the Britons are mani
fold, and among them is this story OF
Joseph Of .armathea. There are several
points worthy Of consideration:
First. The persistence of the iengend
of Joseph The story is found not only
in England, but also in France. 1t is en-
bodied in the folklore of the German,
whence il has been taken and presented
TO music-loving public in Wagner's
opera of Parsifal.
Second Careful as the early Chris
tians were TO cherish the early traditions
Of the disciples of our Lord. no other
church has laid claim to have been found
ed by Joseph of Arimathea. That honor
belongs to Glastonbury alone.
Third. In early days all articles asso
ciated with our Lord were greatly priced
of which the enormous growth of spuri-
Gus relics is a witness. However that
may be- no church ever claimed to be
the repository of the Holy Grail. the
bowl or cup used at the last supper but
tradition continuously pointed to its hav-
ing been carried to Britain by Joseph of
Arimathea.
Fourth The story is reasonable. Jo-
seph of Arimathea was a rich man, and
as such he presumably had merchant
friends in the wealthy trading city of
Tyre What is more natural than when
the prosecutions arose after Stephens s
death lie should escape TO his friends III
Tyre, and thence by boat along the regu
lar trade route to Marseile.
Fifth Secular history tells us that for
almost century before Christ the mer-
chants of Marseille. in rivalry with those
of Carthage had established a trade with
the tin mines OF Britain. and what more
natural than that Joseph of Arimathea
should press oil along their route, and
recommended by his merchant friends
Avisarus, whom the Roman poet Martial
mentioned by the name as q king not
yet subject to the Roman arms.
Thorn Tree Grows Again.
AS marking these events. tie thorn