Augustine of Canterbury
Augustine of Canterbury (birth unknown, died
May 26,
604 (traditional) or
605 (Thorn)) was the first
Archbishop of Canterbury, sent to
Ethelbert of Kent,
Bretwalda of England by
Pope Gregory the Great in 597. He was accompanied by
Laurence of Canterbury, the second archbishop.
In
596, Augustine was
praepositus (prior) of the monastery of
Saint Andrew, founded by
Pope Gregory I, and was sent by Gregory at the head of forty monks to preach to the Anglo-Saxons. They lost heart on the way and Augustine went back to Rome from Provence and asked that the mission be given up. The pope, however, commanded and encouraged them to proceed, and they landed on the Island of Thanet in the spring of 597.
Ethelbert's wife Bertha, daughter of
Charibert, one of the
Merovingian kings of the
Franks, had brought a chaplain with her (Liudhard) and either built a church or restored a church in Canterbury from Roman times and dedicated it to
St. Martin of Tours, a major patronal saint for the Merovingian royal family. Ethelbert himself was a pagan, but allowed his wife to worship God her own way.\nProbably under influence of his wife, Ethelbert asked
Pope Gregory I to send missionaries.
Ethelbert permitted the missionaries to settle and\npreach in his town of
Canterbury and before the\nend of the year he was converted and Augustine\nwas consecrated bishop at
Arles. At Christmas\n10,000 of the king's subjects were baptized.
Augustine sent a report of his success to Gregory with\ncertain questions concerning his work. In 601 \n
Mellitus,
Justus and others brought the pope's replies,\nwith the pallium for Augustine and a present of\nsacred vessels, vestments, relics, books, and the\nlike. Gregory directed the new archbishop to \nordain as soon as possible twelve suffragan bishops\nand to send a bishop to
York, who should also have\ntwelve suffragans,- a plan which was not carried\nout, nor was the primatial see established at
London as\nGregory intended. Augustine consecrated
Mellitus Bishop of London\nand Justus Bishop of
Rochester.
More practicable were the pope's\nmandates concerning heathen temples and usages:\nthe former were to be consecrated to Christian\nservice and the latter, so far as possible, to be \ntransformed into dedication ceremonies or feasts of \nmartyrs, since "he who would climb to a lofty height\nmust go up by steps, not leaps" (letter of Gregory\nto Mellitus, in
Bede, i, 30).
Augustine reconsecrated \nand rebuilt an old church at Canterbury as\nhis cathedral and founded a monastery in connection\nwith it. He also restored a church and founded\nthe monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul outside\nthe walls.
His attempts to effect a union with the\nold British Church in
Wales failed.
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Category:Saints
