The
year is 634. The countryside is
littered with the remains of a legendary empire – large farmsteads and villas,
paved roads and garrison towns, some of which are still in use… as quarries for
building materials, animal shelters and refuges for vagabonds. The people have fallen back on a more
primitive way of life than the Romans brought. They live more like the ancient
people who had marked the landscape with the mighty signs of great hill-forts,
trackways and henges. They live in
farmstead communities presided over by a headman who keeps strict discipline,
is willing to fight, and pays tribute to the king. They avoid the crumbling Roman ruins which are believed to be the
homes of restless spirits.
Far
away in Rome, Pope Honorius is concerned about the increasing fragmentation of
the former empire, and the loss of the civilising force which had begun to
foster a vibrant Christianity within Roman society. He knows that parts of Britain had formerly embraced the Faith,
and that its influence, by God’s grace, has remained strong under the
protection of Irish monks. He wants to
build on Pope Gregory’s success with Augustine’s mission to Kent, and is
encouraged that the royal households of both Kent and Northumbria have chosen
to subject themselves to the Gospel.
Back
in England, King Cynegils of Wessex, residing near a ruined Roman garrison town
close to the troubled border with Mercia, is also mulling over what he knows of
Christianity. For him the memory of
Roman culture was a glorious thing to which he aspires along with many nobles
across Britain. How could he preserve
the peace of his lands so that the good things of the former civilisation could
be restored?
Meanwhile,
Honorius has made his decision, and chosen a monk known for his discipline,
intelligence and stamina. Birinus
leaves Rome immediately. He will be
made a Bishop en route in Genoa by Asterius, Archbishop of Milan, and
cross the sea to England in 635.
Heading
north into Wessex, Birinus is received by nobles and brought to King Cynegils,
who has been expecting him. He is
awarded the state honour due to an emissary of the Pope, and given a reception
and royal audience at a sacred location – the highest point on the ancient Ridgeway
thoroughfare.
Cynegils hears Birinus explain the Gospel and everything falls into place for him. The door is opened not only to the salvation of his soul, but to the means of fulfilment for his most noble aspirations: with God’s help he will surely be able to establish peace in his lands.
History
records that Cynegils was baptised and married the daughter of the powerful
Christian king of Northumbria, Oswald.
Thus sandwiched between a powerful Christian alliance, Mercia was
pacified, and peace reigned in the Wessex for the restoration of civilisation,
prosperity and a Christian culture.
Birinus
was given the ruined Roman garrison at Dorchester, and established his
Cathedral and mission at a place already hallowed by the presence of great
earthworks and processional trackways built by the ancients. From here he could extend his mission along
the Ridgeway and down the Thames – he went wherever he was invited by local
nobles.
The
network of churches he established in the 7th Century remains to
this day, bearing testimony to a great life lived in the service of Our Lord.