The Legacy of Saint Alban

"I worship and adore the true and living God, who created all things." --Alban, First Martyr of Britain (3rd Century A.D.)

A third of the way around the world and over seventeen centuries ago, in a town about an hour's drive north of London, there lived a Roman Briton named Alban. This was in the latter days of the pagan Roman empire, and the church was still living under persecution. One day an itinerant Christian priest, on the run from the imperial troopers, came to Alban's door seeking shelter. A hospitable and courageous man - not to say a curious one - Alban let him in. They began to talk. Alban was so impressed with what the priest had to say about this newfound faith that it became his own faith too.

When the knock on the door came, as inevitably it would, Alban answered the door - in the priest's clothes. He was arrested and hauled before the magistrate, who demanded to know his name, his origins, and what he believed. My name is known to you as is my family, Alban replied, and I worship the living and true God who made all things. That was enough for the magistrate. Take him away! They led him across the river and up to the top of a hill, where they beheaded him with a sword.

For his faith, his courage, his charity, and the hospitable abundance of God he showed in his witness, Alban is remembered to this day in that town, once called Verulamium, now renamed Saint Albans in his memory.

Alban, by turning from pagan idols to the Christian faith, embrace a complete change of worldview. He let it cost him something precious: the life he knew. He did not, however, cling to his life when he was called upon to lay it down in service to Christ.

Alban extended hospitality to a stranger, and in so doing allowed his guest to challenge and change him. Later, on the strength of his new faith and his own charism of courage, he faced down the empire's representatives. He knew his allegiance to the one true living God mattered more than pleasing the court. He knew that life in abundance, eternal life, meant more than grasping onto his place in the world.

And so his life, a witness to all, inspires us - as an example, a model, and a sign pointing beyond itself to the One he worshiped: the living God whose love is ultimately revealed to us in his son Jesus Christ, and whose inspiration comes to us all through the holy Spirit.

This is the legacy of Saint Alban. May hospitality, courage, faith, and an eagerness for the abundance of life everlasting, show forth in our lives as well, as a church dedicated to God's glory, and the memory of Alban, first martyr of Britain.




THE ALBAN PRAYER

Almighty God,
We thank you for this place built to your glory
and in memory of Alban, first martyr of Britain.
Following his example in the fellowship of the saints,
may we worship and adore the true and living God,
and be faithful witnesses to the Christ,
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

AMEN


May we live by faith, walk in hope and be renewed in love, until the world reflects your glory and you are all in all. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, Church of Ireland, 2004)

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Sources
Cathedral and Abbey Church of Saint Alban
http://www.stalbanscathedral.org/history/story-of-st-alban

Bede, Ecclesiastical History ("In Britain's isle was holy Alban born.")
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book1.html
http://www.sobornost.org/alban.html

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For the Gospel Grapevine (June/July 2010), parish newsletter of Saint Alban's Episcopal Church, Edmonds, Wash.

JRL+