How Christianity Started in the Celtic Lands

Several early Christian traditions and later medieval sources record that around 37 CE, following the martyrdom of St. Stephen by order of the Sanhedrin (cf. Acts 7:54–60), a persecution arose against the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem. According to these traditions, Joseph of Arimathea, the Apostle Philip, and a group of Jesus’ followers were forced to flee Judea by sea, embarking from the Phoenician coast, which at that time bordered Judea and Galilee.

Later ecclesiastical writers report that the Sanhedrin ordered followers of Jesus to be placed into boats without sails or oars and cast adrift, leaving their survival to divine providence. While this detail does not appear in the New Testament, it is preserved in early Christian legend and medieval hagiography, particularly in traditions associated with the Western Church. Many of those set adrift were said to have been rescued or carried by currents to islands and distant shores.

Those who escaped with Joseph and Philip came to interpret this forced exile as their first sea-borne missionary journey, trusting God rather than human navigation.

According to Rabanus Maurus (c. 766–856 CE)—Archbishop of Mainz and an influential Carolingian theologian—those who accompanied Joseph and Philip included:
Mary Magdalene; Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany; Marcella (the sisters’ maid); Eutropius; Mary Salome (identified in later Western tradition as a sister or close kinswoman of Jesus) and her maid Sara; Mary of Cleopas; Saturninus; Maximinus (a young ruler); Martial (Martral); Trophimus (or Restitutus); and others (cf. Vitae Sanctorum traditions attributed to Maurus and later Provençal sources).

The Phoenician Route and Mission to Gaul

The group departed from the Levantine coast in Phoenicia, whose seafarers were renowned throughout antiquity for their mastery of Mediterranean trade routes. Classical historians such as Herodotus and Strabo attest to Phoenician maritime networks extending across the Mediterranean and beyond. Later medieval tradition further claims Phoenician contact with the British Isles, particularly southern Britain, due to tin trade routes.

According to Western ecclesiastical tradition, the exiled disciples followed a central Mediterranean route, arriving first in Gaul (modern France) and landing near Massilia (Marseilles). There, the group separated for missionary purposes. Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, and Maximinus remained in southern Gaul, while Philip traveled further to discern additional fields for evangelization.

Later Gallican tradition holds that Lazarus became the first Bishop of Marseilles, while Maximinus accompanied Mary Magdalene throughout Provence as her protector and fellow missionary. Maximinus was later consecrated Bishop of Aix-en-Provence. Mary Magdalene is traditionally said to have died in 63 CE at the age of 72. When death approached, she traveled to Aix to make her confession to Bishop Maximinus.

Her relics are venerated at the Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. Although multiple regions later claimed her burial, Provençal tradition asserts that her tomb was identified under royal patronage during the reign of Charles II of Anjou in the 13th century. Due to wars and periods of desecration, her remains were later translated to the basilica for protection, a move recorded in medieval ecclesiastical chronicles.

Glastonbury and Joseph of Arimathea

From Marseilles, Joseph of Arimathea, the Apostle Philip, and the remaining companions are said to have sailed northward, reaching southern Britain. According to early English tradition, their vessel ran aground in the marshes near Glastonbury. Philip is said to have sent Joseph ashore with twelve companions, entrusting him with the establishment of a Christian presence.

A tradition recorded by William of Malmesbury (c. 1095–1143) and other medieval chroniclers recounts that Joseph and his companions climbed a nearby hill to survey the land and, weary from travel, rested there. This place became known as Wearyall Hill. Joseph is said to have declared the site holy and planted his walking staff—traditionally described as fashioned from Christ’s crown of thorns. The staff miraculously took root, becoming the Glastonbury Thorn, a white hawthorn that flowers twice yearly, at Christmas and Easter—a phenomenon noted in local botanical records and long associated with sacred legend.

Joseph is further credited with founding a small wattle-and-daub church known as the Vetusta Ecclesia (Old Church) and decreeing that twelve monks should continually reside there. Medieval tradition regarded this as the first Christian church in Britain, and in some accounts, the first church built after the Resurrection. The structure was destroyed in the fire of 1184.

Joseph of Arimathea is traditionally said to have died in 45 CE at the age of 86 and to have been buried near the church. After later destruction and rebuilding of the abbey, his remains were translated to a new grave within Glastonbury Abbey, where medieval monks honored him with an elaborate tomb bearing this inscription:

HERE LIES THE BODY OF THAT MOST NOBLE DISCIPLE, RECORDED IN SCRIPTURE BY THE NAME OF JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, AND NOTED BY THE FOUR EVANGELISTS, ST. MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, AND JOHN, FOR HIS BEGGING THE BODY OF OUR BLESSED SAVIOUR WHEN CRUCIFIED TO REDEEM LOST MEN FROM ETERNAL DESTRUCTION, AND BURYING IT IN A TOMB OF HIS OWN MAKING. HE DIED A.D. 45, AGED 86.