British History-6
' The Christian Churches '
RHODA POWER
Ireland was an important factor of the growth of Christianity in England. Aidan and Columba spread the faith in the North, and most of the northern and western Britons were eventually converted through Celtic influences.
Meanwhile, Rome was busy. St.
Augustine was sent to England to lead a mission, and this task he fulfilled with remarkable success. ]ndeed, it is not too much to say that this saint who later was to become the first archbishop of Canterbury, was virtually the founder of the Christian Church in Southern England.
The position developed into one in which there were two forms of Chris.tianity in Britain : the Celtic and the Roman. This afternoon Rhoda Power will tell listeners of these early missions, and explain how St. Wilfred of Ripon succeeded in reconciling the two factions and eventually persuading them to acknowledge the Pope as head of the Christian Church.