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This thesis argues that the origins and evolution of Christian communities in Northern Italy between c. 250 and 381 are comprehensible only within the region's social environment. Whereas previous studies of early Christianity in Italy have sought to explain its origins in terms of modern diocesan structures, this thesis shows that the evidence for this view is untrustworthy and that a new methodology is needed to explain the rise of the church. To this end, the thesis describes the 'north Italian human environment', which consists not just of the physical landscape, but of the social networks within it. This environment allows an understanding of why Christian communities had developed in some places and not in others by c. 300. The development of the church continued to be influenced by this human environment in the fourth century. Christian diffusion remained a partial and variable phenomenon. In the cities Christians found themselves confronted by the adherents of other religions, notably Judaism. Thus, in the fourth century, Christians did not yet dominate the communities in which they lived. Moreover, the active participation in ecclesiastical affairs of emperors after Constantine - particularly the intervention of Constantius II in Italy during the 350s - added a new dimension to the human environment. Such interventions defined how north Italian Christianity came into contact with ecclesiastical and theological affairs throughout the empire. In sum, the history of early Christianity in northern Italy is circumscribed by the social environment within which it developed. This thesis argues that for northern Italy - indeed for the rest of the Mediterranean - a proper understanding of Christian growth can only come from an appreciation of the particular social context of the region within which it occurred.

In this study it is not the author's aim to attempt to cover the field pertaining to the origin and development of the Eucharist. A vast number of competent works have been vrritten on the subject, but the primary purpose here is to examine the Eucharistic teachings of the Didache in the light of Canonical, early Christian, and non-Christian literature, in an effort to determine if the Didache presents the Eucharist (or Lord's Supper) in its original form as practiced in the primitive Christian Church of the first century. Further, we propose to show how the simplicity of the act was developed into a crystallized rite, or sacrament, by the time of the second century Church.

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Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

In the late antique West, every individual becoming Christian first entered the community as a catechumen (catechumenus). Many spent several years in this status called the catechumenate, only ending with baptism and the acquisition of the membership of the faithful (fideles). This thesis considers the catechumenate not only as an initiation but as a peculiar way of being Christian. It demonstrates the fluid nature of Christian membership and shows how clerics strove to develop their authority over catechumens to build a cohesive community in a context of rivalry between churches and polemical controversies. The catechumenate both enabled converts to adhere progressively to the community and constituted an opportunity for clerics to set a standard path of progression, enforce discipline and define what it meant to be a Christian. This thesis opens up new avenues to study the process of Christianisation by stressing the continuous significance of the catechumenate for the formation of Christian communities in late antiquity. After an introduction, Chapter Two focuses on Augustine's recollections of his time as a catechumen. Chapter Three looks at Augustine to investigate more broadly the practices of catechumeni, shedding light on the pervasive polemical context in which they are discussed. Chapter Four provides case studies on the cross put on the forehead to manifest Christian membership and the treatise De fide et operibus, exploring how Augustine aimed at shaping practices and ideas. Chapter Five investigates contemporary evidence: first an African canon regulating the ritual participation of catechumeni, then sermons describing unique rituals of the baptismal preparation and demonstrating that practices often varied locally. Chapter Six compares the sixth-century letter exchanges between Ferrandus and Fulgentius with John the Deacon's letter to Senarius, showing the enduring importance of the catechumenate in the West and the creative reception of earlier African sources addressing recurrent pastoral problems.

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The thesis examines the evidence for migration from Northern Britain to Ireland associated with the activity of the Church. It has a particular focus on British and Pictish individuals. Making use of a wide range of sources from the early medieval period onwards, detailed case-studies consider individual men and women whose activities can be discerned. They assess how the movements of these individuals contributed towards wider trends in the dynamics of migration between Northern Britain and Ireland from the coming of Christianity until the close of the eighth century. The investigation also charts the manner in which such migration was perceived in later centuries and how these perceptions changed as time progressed. A picture emerges of how the ‘migration narrative’ was developed and engaged with in both Ireland and Scotland. This was to have a significant effect on how the character of the early Church was understood.