St Alban, the first martyr in Britain

The Roman legions left this island in the year 401 AD, but long before that Britain had already had her first martyr.  This was St Alban, a Roman soldier who was beheaded for the Faith at the Roman town of Verulamium, which is today called St Albans in his memory.  The date of his martyrdom was once believed to be 304 AD, but now it is thought to be earlier, round about 250 AD according to the Common Worship Lectionary. (4)

So you can see that we have now gone back more than 1,700 years, but we know that the Christian Faith must have already been planted here some years before the martyrdom of St Alban.

St Irenaeus, St Polycarp and St John

Let’s go back further still to the year 202 AD which was when the Bishop of Lyons in France died as a martyr.  His name was Irenaeus and he had been taught the Faith by Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna.  And Polycarp in his turn had been taught it by St John the Apostle himself, who had received the Holy Spirit with the rest of the Apostles on the first Pentecost; who found Our Lord’s empty tomb on Easter Day; and who stood with Our Lady at the foot of the Cross on Good Friday.  So you see that these three alone, St John, St Polycarp and St Irenaeus, take us from 30 AD to 202 AD, at which time it is quite likely that the first Christians were arriving in Britain.