ST. LUCIUS, KING, C.
WE are informed by Bede,1 that in the reign of
Marcus Antoninus Verus, and Aurelius Commodus, a British king, named
Lucius, sent a letter to pope Eleutherius, entreating, that by his
direction he might be made a Christian. This must have happened about
the year 182. Lucius must have reigned in some part of Britain which
was subject to the Romans, as his name indicates. Tacitus,2 mentions
Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire,
and Huntingdonshire, who at his death made the emperor Nero his heir,
hoping by that means his people would be secured from injuries,
whereas the contrary fell out; for the country was plundered by
centurions and slaves. The same historian mentions,3 that certain
cities were given to Codigunus, “according to the ancient and
received custom of the Roman people, to make even kings the
instruments of the slavery of nations,” as he observes. That
Lucius was a Christian king in Britain is proved by two medals
mentioned by Usher,4 and one by Bouteru. Bede tells us, that by his
embassy to Eleutherius he obtained the effect of his pious request;
and that the Britons enjoyed the hight of faith in peace all the
reign of Dioclesian. Lucius therefore was the first Christian king in
Europe, it nowhere appears in what part of Britain he reigned. The
records of Glastenbury abbey, quoted by Malmesbury, and others, and
mentioned by Usher,5 tell us that St. Eleutherius sent over to
Britain SS. Fugatius and Damianus, (rather Dumianus or Duvianus,) who
baptized King Lucius, and many others, and were buried at
Glastenbury. In Somersetshire, in the deanery of Dunstor, there is a
parish church which bears the name of St. Deruvian, as Stow
testifies. This saint is called by the Welch, Duvian or Dwywan, says
Usher. The Christian faith had reached Britain in the times of the
apostles. St. Clement I., pope, affirms, that St. Paul preached to
the utmost bounds of the West. Gildas says,6 the first dawn of the
evangelical light appeared in this island about the eighth year of
Nero. Theodoret names the Britons as a nation in which St. Paul sowed
the seeds of faith and in another place says, that this apostle
brought salvation to the islands that lie in the ocean. Three British
bishops assisted at the council of Arles, in 314, namely, Eborius of
York, Restitutus of London, and Adelfius, who is styled De
civitate Coloniæ Londinensium; which bishop Usher takes to
have been Colchester; but many more probably understand by a Lincoln,
anciently called Lindum Colonia. Also certain British bishops
subscribed the council of Nice against the Arians. The testimonies of
St. Justin.7 St. Irenus,8 Tertullian,9 Eusebius,10 St. Chrysostom,11
and Theodoret,12 demonstrate that Christianity had got footing in
Britain very soon after Christ. We cannot, therefore, wonder that a
prince should have embraced the faith in this island in the second
century: nor do the objections which some have raised, deserve
notice. Schelstrate, the learned prefect of the Vatican library, in
his dissertation on the patriarchal authority, transcribes the
following words from an ancient manuscript history of the kings of
England, kept in the Vatican library: “Lucius sent a letter to
pope Eleutherius that he might be made a Christian, and he obtained
his request.” The same learned author copies the following
testimony from an ancient catalogue of the popes, written in the time
of the emperor Justinian, as we are assured by the title, found in
the library of Christina, queen of Sweden; “Eleutherius
received a letter from Lucius, king of Britain, who desired to be
made a Christian by his command.”*
We are told by most Bavarian and German historians
that king Lucius resigning his kingdom, preached the faith first in
Noricum and Vindelicia, a principally at Ausburg, and, being banished
thence, in Rhœtia, especially at Coire. But Bruschius
confesses. that it is uncertain who that Lucius was, who preached the
faith in those parts, and founded the church of Coire, where he has
been honored among the first apostles of that church from its
infancy. While he preached among the Grisons, storms raised by the
infidels obliged him to fly into the desert, and there lie concealed
in a place which is called to this day Sanct Lucis Steig, or the Hill
of St. Lucius. He afterwards retired into a cavern a mile distant,
which retains the name of Sanct Lucis Lochlin. At length he is said
to have fallen into the hands of the persecutors, and been condemned
to death by the Roman lieutenant of the province, and beheaded in the
fortress of Martiola towards the latter end of the second century.
There stands an ancient monastery near Coire, which bears the name of
St. Lucius, and his feast is kept in that diocese with great
solemnity. Portions of his relics are preserved in the church of St.
Francis, and in that of the Jesuits at Ausburg. See on the conversion
of the British king, Usher, Antiq. Brit. c. 3; Stillingfleet, Orig.
c. 11; Selden, Analect. Anglo-Britan. c. 6, t. 2, p. 895; Alford,
Annal. Britan. ad an. 182; Baron ad an. 183; Collier, Hist. Eccl.
Brit. t. 1; Tillemont, t. 3, pp. 62 and 615; Annotationes in ed.
Roman. Anastasij Bibl. t. 1, p. 15, et t. 3, p. 139; Guthrie, Hist.
of England, t. 1. On St. Lucius, who is honored as the first apostle
of Noricum, Vindelicia, and Rhœtia, that is, of Bavaria, the
Grisons, and part of Austria, see F. Sprecher, Palladis Rhœticæ.1.
2; F. Rader, Bavaria Sancta, t. 1, p. 14, and the Breviary of Coire.