Augustine, St (d.
c.604). Augustine was chosen by Gregory the Great to lead an evangelistic mission to the Anglo‐Saxons. 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. Impressed by their sincerity, he supplied them with food, a house in Canterbury, use of an old Roman church, and permission to preach.
Bede records that 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 is perhaps overshadowed by Gregory, 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. Augustine established Christianity, and introduced to an illiterate Germanic society the influence of Mediterranean civilization, through Latin learning and classical architecture. With Æthelbert's 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.