DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61904#0031
GLASTONBURY ABBEY. 19
of Aminadab, and fo in fucceflion followed Caftellors,
Manuel, Lambord, and a fon not named, who was the father
of Ygernam, who was the father of Uther Pendragon, the
father of the renowned king Arthur.
A hundred years had pafled over, and paganifm ftill covered
the kingdom of Britain, when king Lucius fent to Eleu-
therius, the thirteenth pope from St. Peter, defiring him to
fend Chriftian preachers. Eleutherius accordingly fent two
holy men, Phaganus and Diruvianus, who arrived juft one
hundred and three years after the coming of Jofeph and his com-
panions. Led by God, they entered the wildernefs of Avalon,
and difcovered the remains of a crofs and other figns identifying
the place which God had chofen to be the firft church of his
Son Jefus and of the mother of Jefus in thefe realms. With
much joy they rebuilt the oratory, and twelve brethren con-
tinued to live there; their places at their death being filled up
by fucceflbrs, till St. Patrick, the apoftle of Ireland, became the
firft abbot of Glaftonbury : and thirty years’ indulgence was
granted by pope Eleutherius to all Chriftians from other parts
of Britain who vifited Glaftonbury ; thus confirming the faith
amongft the Britons. Phaganus and Diruvianus had built
a new oratory of ftone, which they dedicated to Chrift and the
apoftles Peter and Paul; and, by direction of the Lord, they
alfo eredted an oratory to St. Michael on the top of the hill in
the ifland, to the laft of which thofe feeking the grand indul-
gence had to make their pilgrimage.
Such is the ftory of the founding of the mother church of
England according to John of Glaftonbury. Such were the
legends by which the earlier Roman Catholics fatisfied the
fimple faith of the people great and fmall. We are afraid that
the narrative will not agree very well with the hiftory of the
early Britifli church, which admitted no claims of Rome at
of Aminadab, and fo in fucceflion followed Caftellors,
Manuel, Lambord, and a fon not named, who was the father
of Ygernam, who was the father of Uther Pendragon, the
father of the renowned king Arthur.
A hundred years had pafled over, and paganifm ftill covered
the kingdom of Britain, when king Lucius fent to Eleu-
therius, the thirteenth pope from St. Peter, defiring him to
fend Chriftian preachers. Eleutherius accordingly fent two
holy men, Phaganus and Diruvianus, who arrived juft one
hundred and three years after the coming of Jofeph and his com-
panions. Led by God, they entered the wildernefs of Avalon,
and difcovered the remains of a crofs and other figns identifying
the place which God had chofen to be the firft church of his
Son Jefus and of the mother of Jefus in thefe realms. With
much joy they rebuilt the oratory, and twelve brethren con-
tinued to live there; their places at their death being filled up
by fucceflbrs, till St. Patrick, the apoftle of Ireland, became the
firft abbot of Glaftonbury : and thirty years’ indulgence was
granted by pope Eleutherius to all Chriftians from other parts
of Britain who vifited Glaftonbury ; thus confirming the faith
amongft the Britons. Phaganus and Diruvianus had built
a new oratory of ftone, which they dedicated to Chrift and the
apoftles Peter and Paul; and, by direction of the Lord, they
alfo eredted an oratory to St. Michael on the top of the hill in
the ifland, to the laft of which thofe feeking the grand indul-
gence had to make their pilgrimage.
Such is the ftory of the founding of the mother church of
England according to John of Glaftonbury. Such were the
legends by which the earlier Roman Catholics fatisfied the
fimple faith of the people great and fmall. We are afraid that
the narrative will not agree very well with the hiftory of the
early Britifli church, which admitted no claims of Rome at