Christianity in Wales

Nearly 200 years before Constantine, Saint Lucius, a legendary 2nd-century King of the Britons (or Silures[1]) is traditionally credited with introducing Christianity into Britain in the tenure of Pope Eleutherius (c. 180), although this is disputed.

[3] As the Roman legions garrisoned in Wales withdrew in the early 5th century, Britain was invaded by tribes including the Angles and Saxons who later became the Anglo-Saxons.

They were unable to make inroads into Wales except possibly along the Severn Valley as far as Llanidloes, but they gradually conquered eastern and southern Britain, which would eventually become known as England.

[3] The Age of the Saints in the 6th and 7th centuries was marked by the establishment of monastic settlements throughout the country, by religious leaders such as David, Illtud, Padarn, and Teilo.

Some books of the Bible and of the Apocrypha had been translated in the Middle Ages, but the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 passed under Henry VIII effectively banned the Welsh language from official use.

This had a significant role in its continued use as a means of everyday communication and as a literary language down to the present day despite the increasing use of English.

Bishop Richard Davies and dissident Protestant cleric John Penry introduced Calvinist theology to Wales.

Calvinism developed through the Puritan period, following the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II, and within Wales' Methodist movement.

[7]In 1766, the churchwardens of the parish of St Beuno, Trefdraeth on Anglesey, supported by the Cymmrodorion, began a test case against the English clergyman Thomas Bowles, who could not conduct services in Welsh and whose attempt to do so had ended in ridicule.

[6] In its verdict in 1773 the Court of Arches refused to deprive Dr Bowles of his living, but did lay down the principle that clergy should be examined and found proficient in Welsh in order to be considered for Welsh-speaking parishes.

[8] The Welsh Methodist revival also had an influence on the older nonconformist churches, or dissenters – the Baptists and the Congregationalists – who in turn also experienced growth and renewal.