E02973: Gildas, in his treatise On the Destruction of Britain, names *Albanus/Alban (martyr of Verulamium, Britain, S01364), and *Aaron and Julius (martyrs of Britain, S01361), as martyrs who suffered in Britain, and states that Britons were unable to visit the tombs of the martyrs or the places of their martyrdom because of the Anglo-Saxon occupation. Written in Latin in Britain, c. 480/c. 550.

Gildas, On the Destruction of Britain 10

After describing the suffering of the church in the time of persecution under the emperor Diocletian, Gildas names those he believes were martyred in Britain in those years.

Magnificavit igitur misericordiam suam nobiscum deus volens omnes homines salvos fieri et vocans non minus peccatores quam eos qui se putant iustos. Qui gratuito munere, supra dicto ut conicimus persecutionis tempore, ne penitus crassa atrae noctis caligine Britannia obfuscaretur, clarissimos lampades sanctorum martyrum nobis accendit, quorum nunc corporum sepulturae et passionum loca, si non lugubri divortio barbarorum quam plurima ob scelera nostra civibus adimerentur, non minimum intuentium mentibus ardorem divinae caritatis incuterent: sanctum Albanum Verolamiensem, Aaron et Iulium Legionum urbis cives ceterosque utriusque sexus diversis in locis summa magnanimitate in acie Christi perstantes dico.

'God therefore increased his pity for us; for he wishes all men to be saved and calls sinners no less than those who think themselves just. As a free gift to us, in the time (as I conjecture) of this same persecution, he acted to save Britain from being plunged deep in the thick darkness of black night; for he lit for us the lamps of holy martyrs. Their graves and the places where they suffered would now have the greatest effect in instilling the blaze of divine charity in the minds of the beholders, were it not that our citizens, on account of our sins, have been deprived of many of them by the unhappy partition with the barbarians. I refer to St Alban of Verulamium, Aaron and Julius, citizens of the city of the legions, and the others of both sexes who, in different places, displayed the highest spirit in the battle-line of Christ.'

Text and translation: Winterbottom 1978; translation slightly adapted.