head of the roman catholic church in england
Catholic Church in England and Wales The Catholic bishops in England and Wales come together in a collaborative structure known as the Bishops' Conference. Currently the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Gerard Nichols, is the President of the Bishops' Conference. For this reason in the global Catholic Church (outside England), he is de facto Primate of England though not in the eyes of English law and the established Church of England. Historically, the avoidance of the title of "Primate" was to eschew whipping up anti-Catholic tension, in the same way the bishops of the restored hierarchy avoided using current titles of Anglican sees (Archbishop of Westminster rather than "Canterbury" or "London"). However, the Archbishop of Westminster had certain privileges: he was the only metropolitan in the country until 1911 (when the archdioceses of Birmingham and Liverpool were created) and he has always acted as leader at meetings of the English bishops.
History of Christianity in Britain The early history of Christianity in Britain is highly obscure. Medieval legends concerning the conversion of the island under King Lucius[2] or from a mission by StÂ Philip[4] or Joseph of Arimathea[6] have been discredited; they seem to have been pious forgeries introduced in attempts to establish independence[7] or seniority[5] in the ecclesiastical hierarchy formalized following the Norman conquest of England and Wales. The first archaeological evidence and credible records showing a community large enough to maintain churches and bishops dates to the 3rd and 4th centuries, but it started from a small base: the British delegation to the 353 Council of Rimini had to beg for financial assistance from its fellows in order to return home.[8] The Romano-British population seem to have been mostly Christian by the Sub-Roman period, although the Great Conspiracy in the 360s and increased raiding around the time of the Roman withdrawal from Britain saw many enslaved. The Saxon invasions of Britain destroyed most of the formal church as they progressed, replacing it with a form of Germanic polytheism. There seems to have been a lull traditionally attributed to the Battle of Badon but, following the arrival of Justinian's Plague around 547, the expansion resumed. By the time Cornwall was subjugated by Wessex at Hingston Down in 838, however, it was largely left to its native people and practices.