Elvanus

CONCERNING SAINTS ELVANUS THE BISHOP AND MEDUINUS IN ENGLAND.

About the year of Christ 198.

Elvanus, Bishop in England (St.) Meduinus, in England (St.)

From various authors.

[1] The memory of SS. Meduinus and Elvanus in the Martyrologies. The English Church celebrates the feast of these apostolic men on this day: concerning whom Philip Ferrarius writes in the general catalogue of Saints: "In England, of the holy Bishops Mydwynus and Elvanius." The English Martyrology has the same, and adds that they were born of noble lineage among the Britons, and after enduring many labors for the spread of the Christian religion, distinguished for the holiness of their lives and venerable old age, they departed this life about the year of Christ 198, and were buried at Glastonbury or Avalon. Where they are buried. Concerning them, Baronius in volume 2 of the Annals, at the year 183, writes as follows from ancient documents: Baronius.

[2] Lucius, King of the Britons, never showed himself hostile or unfriendly to the Christian religion, Lucius, King of Britain, favors the Christians. but because he admired both the miracles and the integrity of life of the Christians, he appeared more inclined toward them: and he would already have embraced the Christian religion, Why he himself did not become a Christian. had he not been bound, as if by chains, to ancestral superstition; and had he not also observed that Christians were held as infamous and vile by the pagans themselves, and were constantly torn by the sword and injuries by the Romans themselves, in whose hands the supreme power seemed to reside.

[3] Pertinax and Trebellius, Christian Senators. He afterward learned and knew, however, from the Emperor's legates, that some Senators also had become Christians, and among them a certain Pertinax and Trebellius; and that the Emperor Marcus Aurelius himself, having obtained a victory through their prayers, had treated the Christians kindly. Having learned these and other things, Lucius sent an embassy to Eleutherus, the Roman Pontiff, through Elvanus and Meduinus, Britons: Lucius sends Elvanus and Meduinus to Rome. asking Eleutherus through them to open the way, by himself and through his ministers, for receiving the Christian Religion: which he obtained. For the same Pontiff sent Fugatius and Donatianus (otherwise called Damianus) to Britain, who would baptize and initiate into the sacred mysteries the King and others instructed in the Christian religion: which they also diligently carried out.

[4] For more about St. Lucius, see December 11. Some ask here how Britain, Britain then had kings tributary to the Romans. already reduced to a province, could have its own King. Just as Galilee at the time of Christ, and many other provinces, had tributary kings. But not all of Britain had come under Roman power at that time, as Tertullian, very close to those times, testifies in his book Against the Jews, chapter 7: It was never entirely under Roman power. "Places of the Britons inaccessible to the Romans, but subject to Christ." On which matter Baronius treats more fully in the cited passage, and in his Notes on the Martyrology for May 26, and Nicholas Harpsfield in book 1 of the English History, chapter 3.

[5] Concerning this embassy of King Lucius, John Pitseus writes in his book on the illustrious Writers of England: Certain sparks of the preaching of St. Joseph still remained in Britain after a hundred years from his death. For in the year 179 after Christ's birth, when Lucius Pius came to the kingship of Britain, Elvanus and Meduinus instruct King Lucius in the faith. there flourished illustrious Doctors, Elvanus of Avalon and Meduinus of Belgium, Britons. Who, perceiving the singular piety, modesty, and gentleness of King Lucius, attempted gradually to lead him to the faith of Christ. Therefore, instructed by them in the faith and taught to what fountain of religion he should have recourse, he sent these same teachers of his to Rome as ambassadors to Pope Eleutherus, He sends them to the Apostolic See. that by Apostolic authority both he and all his people might be admitted to the Christian sacraments. Eleutherus assented to his requests with the greatest joy, and treated and generously rewarded the said ambassadors of the King, and sent them back with most courteous letters to the King. And indeed Elvanus, Elvanus is made Bishop. as some write, he consecrated as Bishop. And Meduinus he appointed Doctor of the Britons. He also added to them as companions for the British journey two men from the Roman clergy, Phaganus and Deruvianus, men distinguished for piety and learning. When these came to Britain and arranged everything according to the prescriptions of Pope Eleutherus, King Lucius was initiated by them in the sacred baptism. Not long afterward, the princes and nobles of the kingdom, and finally all the people, followed his example The Britons are converted with King Lucius. and received the faith of Christ. These things were done about the year of Christ 180, under the Emperors Marcus Antoninus Verus and Aurelius Commodus * his brother. So he writes.

[6] Then the same Pitseus, further on in his catalogue of Writers, has the following about each individually: Elvanus of Avalon, a Briton by birth and the first and principal Doctor of his people in the Christian religion, a pious, serious, and learned man: educated in the school of St. Joseph of Arimathea, he learned the mysteries of the Christian faith from the very disciples of the Apostles in his youth: and becoming a man, he diligently preached to King Lucius and finally caused him along with the whole people to be baptized. In all of which he had Meduinus as companion and collaborator. Among some historians I find that this Elvanus, Elvanus of Avalon was a Christian from boyhood. at the time when he was sent as ambassador to Rome about the baptism of King Lucius and the conversion of Britain, was consecrated by Pope Eleutherus himself as Bishop of the Britons, whence he is also said to have been the second Archbishop of London. One may read about these matters in the historian Gildas, in his book On the Victory of Aurelius Ambrosius, and in Matthew of Westminster at the year 186.

Meduinus of Belgium, Doctor of the Britons. Meduinus of Belgium, that is, born in that part of Britain near Wales which was formerly called Belgica, a contemporary of Elvanus, his equal in piety and learning, similar in education, a participant and always inseparable companion in all his labors. He is said, when sent to Rome by King Lucius, to have been solemnly created Doctor of the British nation by Pope Eleutherus on account of his singular eloquence. [He wrote an account of the deeds of SS. Fugatius and Damianus. St. Patrick found that book.] When St. Patrick was repairing the ancient oratory at Avalon, he found among the ruins an old codex, corroded by worms and moths, in which the acts of the Apostles and the things which Fugatius and Damianus (others call them Phaganus and Deruvianus) had done in Britain had been written by Meduinus.

* Actually his son, for Lucius Aurelius Commodus succeeded his father in the year 180; Lucius Aelius, the brother of Aurelius Antoninus, had long since died.