Augustine, St

Augustine, St (d. c.604). Prior in the pope's own monastery, Augustine was chosen by Gregory the Great to lead an evangelistic mission to the Anglo-Saxons. On the journey, his companions sent Augustine back to Rome to express their growing apprehension. Gregory returned him with messages of encouragement, and his authority confirmed as their abbot. In 597 they landed on Thanet in Kent, where Æthelbert was the most powerful king south of the Humber, and his Frankish wife Bertha was a Christian. Fearing witchcraft, the superstitious Æthelbert received the monks outdoors. Impressed by their sincerity, he supplied them with food, a house in Canterbury, shared use of an old Roman church with Bertha, and permission to preach. Bede records that the simplicity of their lives and their comforting heavenly message led some to conversion, and Æthelbert himself was ultimately baptized. Augustine returned to Arles, in Gaul, for episcopal consecration, after which he is said to have converted thousands. He established his see in Canterbury, where he built his church, and outside the walls founded the monastery of SS Peter and Paul (St Augustine's).

Augustine turned to Gregory for instructions on organization, management, and discipline. Gregory advised tolerance of irregularities committed in ignorance, recognized the difficulty of eradicating old customs immediately, and suggested adapting existing festivals and temples for Christian worship. He supplied more personnel, books, relics, and furnishings for the churches, sent an archbishop's pallium for Augustine, and a plan for the organization of all England.

Augustine is perhaps overshadowed by Gregory, perceived apostle of the English, who conceived and directed the mission. Yet Gregory's letters reveal a diligent servant who faced enormous difficulties in securing a new church based on orthodox Roman lines. Although he failed to win the co-operation of British clergy in his few available years, Augustine established Christianity, and introduced to an illiterate Germanic society the influence of Mediterranean civilization, through Latin learning and classical architecture. With him, Æthelbert produced the first written law code, providing for matters secular and ecclesiastical. With Æthelbert's crucial support, he consecrated two bishops, establishing sees at Rochester in Kent and in East Saxon London. To secure continuity, he consecrated his successor, Laurentius, before he died. Although the church suffered early set-backs, it was rooted in Kent where Augustine, first archbishop of Canterbury, established his see and provided training for those who would continue his work.

Audrey MacDonald