... is normally said to have been founded by St. Aidan, an Irish monk from the monastery of Iona (founded in AD 563 by Columba of the Irish Church). But Aidan was 'sponsored' by King Oswald – who is also regarded as a saint (getting a very good write–up from the Venerable Bede, almost 100 years after his death).
Christianity had been propagated throughout Britain by the Roman Empire, but in the early 7th century it was being largely displaced by Anglo–Saxon paganism. Born in about 604, Oswald was a noble youth who had been baptised as a Christian and raised at the monastery of Iona, as a king in exile, since 616. The young king vowed to bring Christianity back to his people – an opportunity that presented itself in 634, when he gained the crown of Northumbria.
King Oswald asked for missionaries to be sent from Iona rather than the Roman–sponsored monasteries of Southern England. The first bishop they sent him, Cormán, alienated many people by his harshness, and returned to Iona in failure – reporting that the Northumbrians were too stubborn to be converted. Aidan criticised Cormán's methods, and was soon sent as his replacement. He became bishop in 635.
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