[ROLF of the HILL COUNTRY]

I have no idea whether they do or not.
However, the Anglican Church (as opposed to the Church of England) dates to the first century and was founded by Joseph of Arimathea (who owned tin mines in Cornwall). In the 15th century, the Roman Catholic Church ruled that the Anglican Church had precedence over the French and Spanish Churches for this reason.

[Ransomed]

Thanks.

Freegards

[AnAmericanMother]

Um, I used to be an Episcopalian, and that legendary origin for the Anglican church is wishful-thinking and legacy-creating, primarily political with an eye towards England's claims on the Continent.

If there was such a Christian church in England, it was long gone by the time Pope Gregory sent missionaries to the Angles. The Celts were driven out of England by successive waves of invaders.

The English claim for precedence over the French and Spanish was political in origin, and the Joseph of Arimathea legend was pressed into service of that claim. Sadly, it has no basis in fact.

[magisterium]

I am staggered by the sheer volume of hard labor that would be necessary in order to stripmine all of the historical ignorance out of this assertion!

If I can roll my eyes back down to the front again, I will try to navigate my way to bed. How tiring willfull blindness is sometimes! It is amazing to me that, in the face of similar sentiments, Jesus is recorded as having said only once: “O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” (Matthew 17:17) Indeed, the forbearance of God is sometimes necessary to wade though some of these FR religion threads! Since I certainly have no such degree of forbearance, and my eyes have, in fact, rolled back to the front, I bid you a good night.