THE INCREDIBLE HISTORY OF GOD’S TRUE CHURCH – (5) (The End)
CHAPTER FIVE (The End) – THE UTMOST BOUNDS OF THE WEST
Perhaps the strangest and most interesting story to come from the records of the early British Church concerns Claudia and Pudens.
The tale of this enigmatic pair has been classified as legend by some but thought by others, noted scholars among them, to have been based on historical fact.
Their story has all the elements of a fairy tale romance. Claudia, the beautiful and talented British princess, meets and falls in love with Pudens, wealthy young Roman aristocrat and officer in the Roman army, during the invasion of Britain. The happy couple marry and move to Rome where they become Christians and close friends of the apostle Paul. Sadly, the story ends with their children all dying as Christian martyrs.
In 1723 a remarkable inscription was discovered at Chichester which mentioned one “Pudens.” The inscription which dated to about A.D. 50, was at one time part of a Roman building, and later became known as “the Chichester stone.” It reads as follows:
“The College of Engineers, and ministers of religion attached to it, by permission of Tiberius Claudius Cogidunus, the king, legate of Augustus in Britain, have dedicated at their own expense, in honour of thedivine family this temple to Neptune and Minerva. The site was given by Pudens, Son of Pudentinus.”
This Pudens has been identified as the second in command of the Roman forces in Britain, under Aulus Plautius. It was quite a common occurrence for high ranking officers to be present at the dedication of public buildings, including, as in this case, a pagan temple.
“Here, then, we have a Pudens connected with Britain and joining with a Romanized British prince in forwarding the erection of a public building in that province, and at the same time a British prince, whose Roman name of Claudius would, according to Roman custom, necessitate the adoption of the name Claudia by his daughter. “(24)
Other sources indicate the more probable view that Claudia was the daughter not of Claudius Cogidunus, but of Caractacus. As these two British princes were probably related it is likely that she at least knew Cogidunus, even if not being directly related to him.
Pudens could well have been present at the wedding of his commanding officer Plautius and Pomponia Graecina. Claudia, as daughter of Caractacus and niece of Pomponia, was most likely present at the same event; although probably being no more than a young girl or teenager at the time.
Tacitus, although mentioning this event, gives no details regarding the location of the wedding. This marriage, which took place around A.D. 45, could wellhave had some political significance. Pomponia was a princess of the Silures, a tribe which controlled a part of South Wales. A peace treaty was signed at about the time of the wedding between the Silures and the Romans; peace treaties in ancient times were often accompanied by a marriage between the leader of one side in the conflict (Plautius) and the daughter, or in this case, the sister, of the opposing military leader.
Gloucester, which stood at the border between Siluria and Roman-occupied Britain, could well have been the location where the wedding took place.
“While much has been said of Claudius founding Gloucester, it has been confirmed by the discoveries made of recent years at that town, and the greater abundance of the coins of Claudius discovered there, than at almost any other town in Britain.”(25)
Lysons speculates that the apostle Paul visited Gloucester and preached there. Although there is no clear evidence of this, it is reasonable to assume that because of the political and military significance of the town during the reigns of Claudius and Nero, Paul could well have at least heard of it.
Pompania has been seen by some as the source of Claudia’s introduction to Christianity.
Several writers on the subject of British history have seen Pomponia and Claudia as the first Christian converts in Britain. It should be noted that these names came from their associations with the Romans; among their own people both ladies were known by the name of Gladys; this was quite appropriate as the name, in the Celtic or Welsh language, means princess and both were indeed princesses in the royal family of Siluria. In a recent trip to Cwmbran the writer noticed that a modern road has been named “Caradoc’s Way” after the famous Caradoc (known to Tacitus and other Roman writers as Caractacus), of the first century A.D.
These people were probably the remote ancestors of the Tudor kings of England who also came from Wales, and as such were probably related to the present Queen, Elizabeth the Second.
“Whether it was by the piety of these ladies, or other individuals, that the doctrine of Christianity was first introduced among the Britons, it proceeded with a silent but steady pace towards the extremity of the island.”(26)
During this period the Christian Church in Britain was small, consisting of scattered individuals and perhaps a few congregations.
“But though the name of Christ was not altogether unknown in Britain, in this very early period, yet the number of Christians in this island was then certainly very small. “(27)
Although the Roman writers Tacitus and Martial mention that these ladies both went to Rome, and as the chronology of the period would place their arrival shortly before Paul’s arrival, as recorded in Acts, the Welsh records imply that they could well have been converted to Christianity prior to leaving Britain.
Llan Ilid in Glamorganshire (Gwent) is the site, according to the Welsh Triads, of the first Christian church in Wales. This place name means “consecrated enclosure” or “church of Ilid.” It is located within the ancient territory of Sauria where Pomponia and Claudia spent the early years of their lives.
It was said that Princess Eurgain, known in some sources as the eldest daughter of Caractacus (which would make her a sister of Claudia, or perhaps this is simply another name for Claudia), “founded and endowed the first Christian Cor,” or choir in Britain. From this Cor-Eurgain issued many of the most eminent teachers and missionaries of Christianity
down to the tenth century. Of the saints of this Cor, from Ilid in succession, there are catalogues in the Genealogies of the Saints of Britain. (28)
Claudia was a woman of considerable literary ability and culture, several volumes of her poetry and hymns were still extant as late as the thirteenth century. The Iolo M.S. describes Ilid as a man “of the land of Israel.” “This Ilid is called in the lections of his life Joseph. He became principal teacher of the Christian faith to the Welsh, and introduced good order into Cor-Eurgain, which Eurgain had established for 12 Saints near the church now called Llantwit.”
Some identify Llid as Joseph of Arimathea. The M.S. relates that after working in Wales for a time he went to Glastonbury “where he died and was buried, and Ina, king of that country raised a large church over his grave. “(29)
As intimate contact existed at this time between Somerset, where Glastonbury is located, and South Wales, it does seem probable that the first churches in Wales were established by men from Glastonbury.
The family records of the eleventh century Prince of Glamorgan, Jestyn ap Gwrgant, speaking of this period, mention: “Cyllin ab Caradog, a wise and just king. In his days many of the Cymry embraced the faith in Christ through the teaching of the saints of Cor-Eurgain, and many godly men from the countries of Greece and Rome were in Cambria.”(30)
One of these “godly men … from Rome” was almost certainly the apostle Paul; Theodoret in the fifth. century mentions his association with Wales: “There are six years of St. Paul’s life to be accounted for, between his liberation from his first imprisonment and his martyrdom at Aquae Salviae in the Ostian Road, near Rome. Part certainly, the greater part perhaps, of this period, was spent in Britain – in Siluria or Cambria, beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire; and hence the silence of the Greek and Latin writers upon it.”(31)
A collection of writings in the ancient British language have been handed down which may relate to Paul’s preaching in Britain and have always been known as “the Triads of Paul the Apostle.”
A Triad was the traditional style of writing and public speaking in Britain in ancient times and probably could be defined as “three main points.”
Ministers and other speakers in the British Churches of God to this day often arrange their sermons or other lectures around three main points. Perhaps Paul, wishing to be “all things to all men” used the traditional style of public speaking in Britain, and that form has been handed down through the generations since that time.
These Triads of Paul are based almost entirely upon the principles that are expounded in his New Testament epistles. A few, taken at random, are reproduced as follows:
“Three kinds of men are the delights of God: the meek; the lovers of peace: the lovers of mercy.”
“The three chief considerations of a Christian: lest he should displease God; lest he should be a stumbling block to man; lest his love to all that is good should wax cold.”
“Three persons have the claims and privileges of brothers and sisters: the widow; the orphan; the stranger.”
As there is no attempt made to introduce false doctrine or superstition in these writings and the style is simple and direct, they could well be what the title suggests: “the Triads of Paul the Apostle.”
Tacitus relates that for nine years, the Britons, under the leadership of Caractacus (Caradoc), bravely resisted the Roman advance in Britain. One Roman division which penetrated as far west as Caerleon was cut to pieces. In A.D. 52, however, the British leader was betrayed and along with his family (including Claudia) was captured by the Romans in Shropshire.
Some three million citizens of Rome thronged the streets of the capital when this great warrior king was brought in chains to appear before the emperor Claudius. Perhaps in recogmtion of his outstanding military leadership Caractacus was pardoned by the emperor, although he was required to remain in Rome, under a sort of “house arrest,” in order that he would cause the Romans no further trouble.
Summing up the situation following the arrest of Caractacus and his family, Tacitus records that:
“In Britain, after the captivity of Caractacus, the Romans were repeatedly conquered and put to the rout by the single state of the Silures alone. “(32)
Had the various tribes in Britain set aside their own differences and presented a united front against the Romans, there can be little doubt that the Roman occupation would have been very short lived.
Caractacus and his family took up residence in the Palatium Britannicum (Palace of the British) at Rome. As a hostage of the state he was required to remain at Rome for seven years.
Pudens, the Roman Senator and former aide-de-camp to Aulus Plautius, commander of the Roman forces in Britain, completed his army service at about this time and returned to Rome.
It seems that Pudens and Claudia had met in Britain, as Claudia’s aunt Pomponia had married Pudens’ commanding officer Plautius. They, Pudens and Claudia, married in about A.D. 53.
The Roman poet Martial, a friend of the couple, wrote some poetry on the occasion of the wedding. He also makes it evident that Pudens had served in Britain prior to his marriage. He speaks of Pudens suffering from the cold of “the Scythian (North) pole.” A clear indication of his army service in Britain.
The poetry also strongly suggests that the couple were both converted Christians at the time of their marriage. Martial describes Pudens as the “sainted husband” of Claudia whom he writes of as having “sprung from the painted Britons.”(33) Elsewhere he asks, “Since Claudia wife of Rufus (Pudens) comes from the blue-set Britons, how is it that she has won the hearts of the Latin people.”
The bright blue eyes of the Britons is also noted by Seneca. “The British lady, Claudia, to whom Martial addressed two or three of his epigrams, and others to Linus and Pudens, is supposed to be the very Claudia mentioned with Pudens and Linus, in Paul’s second Epistle to Timothy. She is believed by Cambrian writers to be of the family of Caractacus, and, perhaps the first British Christian. “(34)
Llin, described in Welsh records as a son of Caractacus, is thought by some to be the Linus mentioned by Martial and Paul, the brother of Claudia.
Roman writers mention the fact that Linus was ordained by Paul as the first bishop of Rome in A.D. 68. The significance of this event will be discussed in a later chapter.
“And he (Martial) addresses two or three of his epigrams to Linus, proving the connection of the three.”(35)
The connection between the Pudens, Linus and Claudia mentioned by Martial, with their links with Britain, and a group of three related individuals having the same names described by Paul (II Timothy 4:21) has been noted by several authorities on the subject of church history.
“That there was a Pudens and Claudia living at Rome, both Christians we have it from … St. Paul himself. That this Claudia mentioned by St. Paul, then living at Rome, was the same Claudia, a Briton born, mentioned by Martial is the opinion and probable conjecture of many modern writers.”(36)
We learn from Monocaxius: “That Claudia, mentioned by St. Paul, was Caractacus’s daughter, and turned Christian, and after married to Pudens, a Roman Senator; whose marriage is celebrated by Martial in his noted epigrams to that purpose.”(37)
There are several indications in the epigrams of Martial that the lifestyles of Pudens and Claudia were Christian rather than pagan. The poet, who seems to have been a family friend of the couple, does not mention their religion directly, and with good reason; during the later part of Nero’s reign a Christian could be arrested and executed as an enemy of the state.
Roman poets often used the occasion of a wedding as an excuse for coarse jesting but Martial’s poems relating to this couple are lacking in this type of humour.
‘Claudia, the fair one from a foreign shore,
Is with my Pudens joined in wedlock’s band. (38)
O Concord, bless their couch for evermore,
Be with them in thy snow-white purity.
Let Venus grant, from her choicest store,
All gifts that suit their married unity,
When he is old may she be fond and true,
And she in age the charms of youth renew.'(39)
A little later, when children had been born to Claudia, he wrote:
‘Grant, O ye gods, that she may ever prove
The bliss of mother over girl and boy,
Still gladdened by her pious husband’s love,
And in her children find perpetual joy’.(40)
Martial, although perhaps having several friends amongst the Christians of Rome, was not himself of this faith, as is clearly demonstrated by his use of pagan terminology in his writings.
“But without insisting strongly on this argument, we may be able to infer, that the Claudia of Martial was connected with a circle at Rome, the members of which were imbued with Christian, rather than Roman principles.” (41)
The epithet “Sanctus” or sainted applied by Martial to Pudens is much more likely to have been used in relation to a Christian than a non-Christian. The Apostle Paul uses similar terminology in his epistle to the Romans, written only a short time before Martial’s epigrams, when he speaks of Christians at Rome “called to be saints” (Romans 1:7).
Some have objected that because the epigrams were published during -the reign of Domitian, who became emperor in A.D. 83, they could not have been related to individuals who were prominent during Nero’s time some twenty to thirty years earlier.
“There is however reason to believe, as was remarked by Ussher, Collier and others, that many of the epigrams were written long before they were published, and consequently that the publication of the book was no test of the age of the epigrarns.(42)
Martial took up residence in Rome in A.D. 49 and left the city for Spain in A.D. 86. He would have been about thirty-eight years old when Paul wrote his second epistle to Timothy. There is nothing in the chronology of the period to indicate that the Claudia, Pudens and Linus of Martial were not the same individuals mentioned by Paul in his epistle.
Both writers were writing at about the same time, of individuals living in the same city. It is hardly likely that more than one group of three individuals having a close relationship with each other and having these names would have been living in the same city at the same time.
J. Williams in his comprehensive thesis on this subject remarks that: “It is therefore possible that the first Epigram to which I have alluded might have been written by Martial in the year 67, eighteen years after his arrival in Rome; being the same year in which the Apostle is generally supposed to have written the second Epistle to Timothy. And a broad margin of two or three years, on either side, may be allowed without interfering with the argurnent”.(43)
Bale, and later Camden, identify Pudens and Claudia of II Timothy with the writings of Martial. The writings of the poet reveal that he had an intimate knowledge of events that took place in Nero’s reign.
Williams also makes the point that: “If the Pudens of St. Paul was the Pudens of Martial, and since the Pudens of Martial had married a British maiden, also called Claudia, it seems to me something more thanprobable that the Pudens of the inscription (Chichester Stone) was also the same identical person.” (44)
“…there is no doubt that Pudens the husband of Claudia is mentioned in the Scriptures, for both are there, together with Linus, the brother of Claudia, in one sentence in II Timothy 4:21. The odds against the three being mentioned together, if they were not the members of the exiled family of Caractacus, must be very great. “(45)
The residence of the couple at Rome, known as the Palatium Britannicum, seems to have been a regular meeting place for Christians. The high political and social status of Pudens and Claudia seems to have given them, for a time at least, a measure of freedom from persecution.
A series of Christian churches later occupied this site. The first was known as Titulus, the next Hospitium Apostolorum and finally St. Pudentiana, so named in honour of the martyred daughter of Claudia.
According to Cardinal Baronius: “It is delivered to us by the firm tradition of our forefathers that the house of Pudens was the first that entertained St. Peter at Rome, and that the Christians assembling formed the Church, and that of all our churches the oldest is that which is called after the name Pudens”:(46)
The Jesuit Robert Parsons in The Three Conversions of England mentions that “Claudia was the first hostess or harbourer both of St. Peter and St. Paul at the time of their coming to Rome.”
Roman tradition also relates that Pudens and Claudia retrieved the body of the apostle Paul following his martyrdom in about A.D. 68 and buried it in what was perhaps a family cemetery in the Via Ostiensis.
In later years the lives of this couple and their four children were clouded by sorrow. Claudia seems to have been the only member of the family to have died a natural death, in A.D. 97. Pudens and all of the children died as martyrs at various times during the closing years of the first century or the first half of the second.
A manuscript entitled “The Acts of Pastor and Timotheus,” probably dating to the second century, describes some of the sad details:
“Pudens went to his Saviour leaving his daughters strengthened with chastity and learned in all the divine law. These sold their goods and distributed the produce to the poor and persevered strictly in the love of Christ… They desired to have a baptistry in their house. Many pagans came thither to find the faith and receive baptism.” The record mentions that their house “night and day resounded with hymns of praise.”
When one of the young women was martyred, probably along with several other Christians, the manuscript relates:
“Then Pudentiana went to God. Her sister and I wrapped her in perfumes, and kept her concealed in the oratory. Then after 28 days we carried her to the Cemetery of Priscilla and laid her near her father Pudens.”
Some sources give the date of her death asA.D. 107.
Several years later, a further wave of persecution claimed many more lives. The manuscript mentions that
“That blessed Prassedis collected their bodies by night and buried them in the Cemetery of Priscilla …then the virgin of the Saviour, worn out with sorrow, only asked for death. Her tears and her prayers reached to heaven, and fifty-four days after her brethren had suffered she passed to God. And I, Pastor, the priest have buried her body near that of her father Pudens.”
The two sons of Pudens and Claudia also died as martyrs during the first half of the second century. Timotheus is said to have been named after the evangelist Timothy, to whom Paul wrote two of his epistles.
There are indications that other Apostles and members of the New Testament Church, apart from Paul, also preached in Britain, and possibly Ireland, too.
Eusebius recorded that “Some of the Apostles” (not just one single Apostle) “preached the Gospel in the British Isles.”(47)
Church leaders from Britain attended several of the church councils convened during the fourth century. Eusebius, himself a Catholic Bishop, probably found opportunities to obtain information from such men on matters relating to church history.
Much of the detail concerning the early British church does not appear in the records until quite a late date, the early Middle Ages and later, and for this reason modern scholars often reject the material as being unreliable. A fact all too often overlooked, however, is that these writers probably had access to much earlier material now no longer extant.
William Cave, quoting from the writings of Nicophorus and Dorotheus, mentions that Simon the Zealot (one of the twelve apostles) “directed his journey toward Egypt, then to Cyrene and Africa … and throughout Mauritania and all Libya, preaching the gospel… Nor could the coldness of the climate benumb his zeal, or hinder him from whipping himself and the Christian doctrine over to the Western Islands, yea, even to Britain itself. Here he preached and wrought many miracles ….”(48)
Dorotheus is said to have written that “At length he was crucified at Brittania, slain and buried.” (49)
The traditional site of his martyrdom is Caistor in Lincolnshire, where he is said to have been condemned to death in A.D. 61 during the prefecture of Catus Decianus whose atrocities were largely responsible for the Boadicean war.
A number of authorities, Roman, Greek and British, record that Aristobulus, who is mentioned by Paul in his epistle to the Romans, preached and eventually died in Britain. Hyppolytus describes him as “Bishop of the Britons.” The Greek Martyrologies speak of him converting many of the Britons to Christianity and add that “He was there martyred after he had built churches and ordained deacons and priests for the island.”
An alternative version to this is given by Cressy, who states that he died of natural causes at Glastonbury in A.D. 99.
Scotland too seems to have received the gospel at an early date.
“The antiquity of the Irish and Scottish churchesis without question. The Scottish church claims an Apostolic foundation which would account for that branch of the Celtic Church possessing eastern traditions. In an old Scottish history entitled History of Paganism in Caledonia is the passage, ‘During the reign of Domitian, disciples of the Apostle John visited Caledonia and there preached the word of Iife’.”(50)
Some have linked this reference to a strong local tradition which relates that “the three wise men” came to Sutherland. A fact of perhaps greater significance is that the first Catholic monks to reach the islands to the North of Scotland, including Iceland and the Faroes, reported that a much earlier generation of Christians had at one time settled in
those parts and that books that had been abandoned revealed that they had adhered to “Judaisrn,” almost certainly a direct reference to the seventh day Sabbath.
James, son of Alphaeus, another of the twelve, is sometimes associated with Ireland.
“The Spanish writers generally contend, after the death of Stephen he came to these Western parts, and particularly into Spain (some add Britain and Ireland) where he planted Christianity.” (51)
As regular commercial traffic passed between Spain and Ireland in ancient times, a visit to Ireland from Spain by James is not an improbable possibility.
Although little is known of the church in Ireland during the Roman period there seems to be general acceptance among scholars that a church was established there long before the arrival of Patrick, the “Apostle of Ireland.” According to Ussher the church in Ireland was established soon after the death of Christ by disciples from the Asian churches.
FOOTNOTES – Chapter 5
1. The Ancient British Church, page 21.
2. Mosheim’s Ecclesiastical History.
3. Lives of the Apostles, William Cave, vol. 1, page 290.
4. Theodoret, De Civ. Graec. off, lib. i.x.
5. Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, 3: 12-14.
6. The Apostolic Fathers, J.B. Lightfoot, vol. i.
7. The Ancient British Church, T. Burges, pages 48,117-118.
8. Origines Celticao, E. Guest, page 121.
9. The Apostolic Fathers, J.B. Lightfoot, Vol. 2, page 31.
10. Tertullian, Def. Fidei, page 179.
11. See the marginal notes, page 7 in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of England.
12. The Ancient British Church, Burges, page 26.
13. London Through the Ages, page 13, Covenant Books.
14. Our Neglected Heritage, page 67, G. Taylor.
15. The M.S. was reproduced by kind permission of The Covenant Publishing Co. Ltd., of London.
16. The Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius, Book 2.
17. The Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius, Book 3.
18. Life of Agricola, chapter 17.
19. Annals ofTacitus, 13:32.
20. The Apostolic Fathers, Lightfoot, vol. 1, page 30.
21. Ibid., p. 128.
22. Antiquities of the British Churches, Stillingfleet, page 43.
23. The Apostolic Fathers, J.B. Lightfoot, page 30.
24. Origines Celticae, E. Guest, page 124.
25. Claudia and Pudens, Samuel Lysons, M.A.
26. Lingard’s History of England, vol. i, Chap. 1, page 65.
27. Or. Henry’s History of Great Britain, page 187.
28. St. Paul in Britain, R.W. Morgan, pages 83-84.
29.IoloM.S.S.page 7.
30. Gwehelyth lestyn ap Gwrgant.
31. St. Paul in Britain, R.W. Morgan, page 118.
32. Epig 6 v. 58.
33. Epig 11-53.
34. Claudia and Pudens, Samuel Lysons, M.A.
35. Sir Richard Phillips’ Million of Facts, pages 872, 1835.
36. Fuller’s Church History of Britain, page 9.
37. Antiquities of the British Churches, Stillingfleet.
38. Epigram 4:32.
39. Epithalamium 4: 13.
40. Epigram 11:53.
41. Claudia and Pudens, J. Williams, page 35.
42. Origines Celticae, E. Guest, page 124.
43. Claudia and Pudens, J. Williams, page 9.
44. Ibid., p. 24.
45. Our Neglected Heritage, G. Taylor, page 24.
46. Annales Ecclesias.
47. Evangelical Demonstrations, book 3, chapter 7.
48. Page 203 of Cave’s Antiq. Apost.
49. Synopsis de Apostol
50. Our Neglected Heritage, G. Taylor, page 48.
51. Cave’s Antiq. Apost. page 148.
