The Italian Job
Back in 2007, Jackie, my wife, and I embarked on a coach tour of Italy, crossing the English Channel by ferry. Apart from the usual stops at Como, Venice, Florence etc., we had a two-night stay in Rome. On the only full day, most of the party boarded the tour coach, heading for a visit to the Vatican. We had seated ourselves near the door as we had no intention of doing this. We hopped off with the driver’s blessing and beaded for a nearby” underground” station which was above ground. Having bought tickets, we stayed on the train until the stop nearest the “Via Urbana” and alighted.
The Via Urbana is the street in central Rome where is sited Saint Pudenziana’s Basilica, which in the time of Our Lord was called the Palace of the British. It is constructed on two levels, one underground with related tunnels and baths, the other on the ground floor being concerned with its function as a church. It was largely restored in 1588 AD (when the Spaniards were attempting to conquer Britain) by Francesco Capriani da Volterra. There are many wonderful paintings and frescoes dating from this period, including the most ancient mosaic in existence in the vaulted ceiling. In it is shown Our Lord holding a manuscript which bears the inscription (in Latin) “The Lorde, protector of Pudenziana’s church”.
Going back to the betrayal of the mighty British King Caradoc (in 51 AD), this had not intimidated but infuriated the Britons (shame we are so pliant today!) and roused them to greater efforts. The Silures elected his cousin Arviragus to be his successor. The Roman forces were beaten back across the Severn. Disaster followed disaster. Tacitus, loath to expand on the Imperial army’s misfortune, summed up the reverses thus, “In Britain after the capture of Caratacus, the Romans were repeatedly conquered and put to the route, by the single state of the Silures alone.”
Strange as it may seem, the families of the combatants, General Aulis Plautius and King Caradoc (Caratacus) were already connected, and an engagement existed between the daughter of Caradoc, Gladys and the young senator Aulus Rufus, Pudens, Pudentius. Caradoc’s father (Bran the Blessed) was however like Caradoc, a hostage in Rome, but still had the revenues of the royal Silurian domains, forwarded to him by his subjects and council.
Caradoc took up residence in the Palatium Britannicum, on the side of the Mons sacer, which was converted afterwards by his grand daughter, Claudia Pudentiana, into the first Christian church in Rome, known first as the “Titulus” and now At Pudentiana. The nuptials of Claudia (originally Gladys) and Rufus Pudens were celebrated in AD 53. Incidentally the father of Bran Blessed mentioned above was King Llyr (King Lear of Shakespeare’s fame.,)
Thus we can how much the history of Rome and Britain intertwined. If we go back further to the time of the founding of Rome in 754 BC, the settlement of London (ium), originally Troiae Novantum (New Troy) was already well established, having been consecrated by none other than Brutus and his Trojan assembly who landed in Totnes, Devon around 1103 BC, having been ejected from their homeland.
It should be no surprise then that Our Lord Jesus Christ could have visited the West Country of England in His early life and that the western confines of our land remained Christian British lands up to and beyond the later invasion of the by now pagan Saxons, who of course were themselves descended from the lost tribes of the Northern Kingdoms of Biblical Israel.
Nor should it be surprising that St Joseph of Arimathea should be buried in these same western lands and was indeed the uncle of the blessed virgin Mary, whose mother is thought by some to have been a Cornish Princess. This is perhaps why Cornwall has always exerted a fascination for people from all over the world and why so many of its place names are named after saints.
To return to our present date, confusion reigns and all are bewildered. The Vatican is in the hands of some one who even the Roman Catholics do not regard as a proper Catholic, to the consternation of many if not most supplicants of that church. Meanwhile in Canterbury, also resides an archbishop, not considered (by his own utterances) as a proper Anglican or Protestant leader. These two, it could be said, are seeking to unite in secular atheism (shall we call it Babylon?).
In this country (Britain) we shall soon have a new Prime Minister as Boris Johnson has been pushed out by his own colleagues. Not for his serious defects such as perpetuating the false notion of manmade climate change but because he upset people by not being totally honest! He has wasted the 2 years since being elected by joining in with the insane lockdown measures and unconstitutional involvement in a foreign war.
If God is going to use our country again for His purposes, all the dross both in government and the civil service needs removing from their offices and sinecures.
