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| Saint Augustine preaching to the Saxons |
St. Augustine was the agent of a greater man than himself, Pope St.
Gregory the Great. In Gregory's time, except for the Irish monks,
missionary activity was unknown in the western Church, and it is
Gregory's glory to have revived it. He decided to begin with a mission
to the pagan English, for they had cut off the Christian Celts from the
rest of Christendom. The time was favorable for a mission since the
ruler of the whole of southern England, Ethelbert of Kent, had married a
Christian wife and had received a Gaulish bishop at his court. Gregory
himself wished to come to Britain, but his election as pope put an end
to any such idea, and in 596 he decided to send an Italian monk
following the comparatively new Rule of St Benedict. Augustine set out
with some companions, but when they reached southern Gaul a crisis
occurred and Augustine was sent back to the pope for help. In reply the
pope made Augustine their abbot and subjected the rest of the party to
him in all things, and with this authority Augustine successfully
reached England in 597, landing in Kent on the Isle of Thanet. Ethelbert
and the men of Kent refused to accept Christianity at first, although
an ancient British church dedicated to St Martin was restored for
Augustine's use; but very shortly afterwards Ethelbert was baptized and,
the pope having been consulted, a plan was prepared for the removal of
the chief see from Canterbury to London and the establishment of another
province at York. Events prevented either of these projects from being
fulfilled, but the progress of the mission was continuous until
Augustine's death, somewhere between 604 and 609.
The only defeat
Augustine met with after he came to England was in his attempt to
reconcile the Welsh Christians, to persuade them to adopt the Roman
custom of reckoning the date of Easter, to correct certain minor
irregularities of rite and to submit to his authority. Augustine met the
leaders of the Welsh church in conference but he unfavorably impressed
them by remaining seated when they came into his presence — it is likely
that in this he unfavorably impressed St Bede too. Augustine was
neither the most heroic of missionaries, nor the most tactful, but he
did a great work, and he was one of the very few men in Gaul or Italy
who, at that time, was prepared to give up everything to preach the
gospel in a far country.
— Excerpted from The Saints edited by John Coulson
Patron: England.
Symbols:
Banner of the crucifixion; King Ethelbert rising out of a font (Bishop
baptizing a king); fountain; cross fitchée pastoral staff and book;
cope, mitre and pallium.
