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named Thorneye (Isle of Thorns), covered with thickets, and sur- 
rounded by marshes. It was on this island that Sebert bulit his 
church. But tradition speaks of earlier churches even than his. 
There is a story that Lucius, the first Christian British King, 
sent a request to Pope Eleutherius for two missionaries, and that 
as the result of their labours, two heathen temples, one dedicated 
to Diana, and one to Apollo, were demolished, and that two 
churches were erected, and dedicated to the two great Apostles— 
St. Paul, on the site of the temple of Diana, in the city, and 
St. Peter, on the site of that of Apollo, in the Isle of Thorns. 
During the stormy times of the Saxon invasion this church was 
destroyed, but Sebert having been converted to Christianity, 
founded and built his church on this earlier foundation. With 
regard to this church, a Monkish legend declares that the great 
apostle to whom it was dedicated, himself consecrated the 
building. Mellitus, Bishop of London, came one Sunday to con- 
secrate the Church, but he was informed by an awe-stricken 
fisherman that on the previous night a stranger, who turned out 
to be none other than ‘‘ The Fisherman of the Lake of Galilee,” 
came and requested to be rowed over to the island. The fisher- 
man was presently astonished to see the church brilliantly 
illuminated, and to hear angelic singing. On his return the 
stranger revealed to the fisherman who he was, and bade him tell 
Mellitus that St. Peter had consecrated his own church. Mellitus 
refused to believe the story until he arrived at the church and 
found the lingering fragrance of the incense, and on the Altar 
the wax droppings of the angelic candles. Of course he could no 
longer doubt, though he might wonder where the candles came 
from ! 
At a very early period a community of Benedictine Monks 
settled here, hence the name Westminster—that is, West 
Monastery—to distinguish it from another monastery, evidently 
in the city. The Church of St. Peter became their church. Its 
early legal title was Kcclesia Abbatie Westmonasteriensis (the 
Church of the Abbey of Westminster). A monastery ruled by an 
Abbot was called an Abbey. This Monastery or Abbey, at first 
small, by means of royal charters and grants, became very 
wealthy and powerful until the time of Henry VIII., when, with 
exception of the Church (which we call the Abbey), the Deanery, 
the Jerusalem Chamber, and the Chapter-house, the buildings of 
the Abbey, or Monastery, disappeared. 
Both Church and Monastery were destroyed by the Danes. 
When Edward the Confessor came to the throne he was under a 
vow to make a pilgrimage to Rome. His counsellors pointed out 
the dangers and disadvantages of the journey to his kingdom, 
and a dispensation was obtained from the Pope on condition that 
