Augustine of Canterbury
Overview
St. Augustine of Canterbury, also known as Augustine the Lesser, should not be confused with St. Augustine of Hippo. St. Augustine of Canterbury established the English Church. Christianity had already been introduced sometime before Augustine was sent on his mission by Pope Gregory the Great in 596 C.E. We know this because of the writings of St. Gildas and St. Patrick that have survived from the 5th and 6th centuries. However, it was apparent to the papacy that Christianity was not taking root, and so they took action.
Before England
Not much is known of the early life of St. Augustine. Much of what we do know comes from the letters of Pope Gregory and Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, written around 731 C.E. In his letter to Eulogius, bishop of Alexandria, Pope Gregory writes about the paganism of the English and that he had chosen a monk from his monastery to send to them. Gregory had converted his familial home on the Caelian Hill into a monastery, and Augustine was the prior of the monastery before his mission. He would have had direct contact and supervision of Augustine and witnessed his piety. Gregory knew that Augustine was the right man to send to England.
Line engraving of St. Augustine of Canterbury by A. Lommelin
The Mission
In 596. C.E., Gregory sent a group of forty monks, led by Augustine to travel to England. As Bede records, when the band entered Gaul, they became discouraged and weary, and decided to send Augustine back to Gregory with the hope of abandoning the mission. However, Gregory sent him back with a letter, encouraging them to pursue their mission. Another letter the pope sent with Augustine was for Etherius, the Bishop of Lyons. This letter contains instructions for Etherius to provide help and give anything that was required by Augustine to be successful on his mission. With the encouragement and support of Gregory and Etherius, Augustine and his group set off and landed in the Kingdom of Kent.
Arrival
The arrival of Augustine and his monks was met with hesitation by King Aethelberht of Kent. Bede describes their meeting on the Isle of Thanet and how Augustine had brought Frankish translators by the request of Pope Gregory, to help with the language barrier. They greeted the king and told him of their mission and of the true God. Aethelberht did not quite know what to do and made them stay on the isle while he contemplated what to do. Bede records that the king ‘provided all things necessary for them’ while they waited. After a few days, Aethelberht returned and talked with them in the open, because he was worried that they would use Christian magic on him and did not want to be surprised. It is interesting, as Bede points out, that Aethelberht was married to a Christian Frankish princess, Bertha. He would have been aware of Christianity and understood at least some aspects of it. His apparent fear when meeting Augustine would seem unlikely.
As Augustine and his companions met with the king and his retinue, they preached the Gospel and sang songs. At the end of their meeting, Aethelberht told Augustine that he was not ready to give up his pagan beliefs; however, he did permit them to proselytize in his kingdom. He then granted them a land in his town of Canterbury. Augustine and his monks sang litanies, carried a silver cross, and an image of Christ as they made their way towards Canterbury.
Establishment
Once they reached Canterbury, they began worshipping in an old Roman church that was built in honor of St. Martin. It is believed that this was the church that Aethelberht’s wife, Bertha, used for worship. Not long after, Bede writes, the king himself converted to Christianity. With the early success of his mission, Augustine went back to Lyon and was consecrated as archbishop. There is some debate on Bede’s account here. Some historians do not agree that Augustine went back to Gaul to be consecrated after the conversion of Aetheberht, but rather was consecrated during his stop in Lyon on his initial mission. The problem with this line of thinking is that Augustine had not accomplished his mission, nor had he established himself in England. What merit would he have had to be consecrated before he landed in England? Either way, he was consecrated and became Augustine of Canterbury – the first archbishop of the English Church.
The Problem of Easter
A problem arose within the bishops in England about the customs surrounding Easter. Bede describes that the British and Irish bishops celebrated Easter on a day that was contrary to what the Church in Rome practiced. They also practiced different customs when it came to baptism and proselytizing. As Augustine heard of these issues, he called all the English bishops to a meeting near the border of Hwicce and the West Saxons. The bishops failed to come to an agreement until Augustine performed the miracle of healing a blind man. The British and Irish bishops were then convinced, but needed time to convince their people of the changes. They met a second time and brought more learned men to discuss the issues, however, nothing was resolved. The British and Irish monks refused to acknowledge Augustine as their archbishop and left. Bede describes the anger and frustration that Augustine felt and how he threatened them that trouble would come there way. The issue of Easter, baptism, and proselytizing would not be solved during Augustine’s lifetime.
Death
“Here lies the most reverend Augustine, first archbishop of Canterbury, who was formerly sent hither by St. Gregory, bishop of Rome; being supported by God in the working of miracles, he led King Aethelberht and his nation from the worship of idols to faith in Christ and ended the days of his office in peace; he died on the twenty-sixth day of May during the reign of the same king.”
It is generally accepted the St. Augustine of Canterbury died some time between 604-610 C.E. He was buried outside of the church of St. Peter & St. Paul in Canterbury.
Legacy
The life of St. Augustine of Canterbury is firmly cemented in history. He effectively established the English Church and all subsequent archbishops share in his legacy. He rose from a meek prior of Pope Gregory’s familial monastery to become the “Apostle to the English.” While Augustine was able to reach the Saxon kingdoms — where the British and Irish bishops had no success — he was never able to solve the Easter disputes, but his successors would. There is no doubt that his legacy will live on and continue to impact every new member of the English Church. Today, a small gravesite with a stone marker (pictured right) indicates his burial.
Grave of St. Augustine of Canterbury
Related Topics
Further Research & Sources
Bettenson, Henry, ed. Documents of the Christian Church. 2nd ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1967, 151-152.
Bede. The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Translated by Leo Sherley-Price, Penguin Books, 1991.
Latourette, Kenneth Scott. A History of Christianity. Vol. 1, Beginnings to 1500. New York City, NY: Harper & Row Publishers Inc., 1975, 345-346.
Wood, Ian. “The Mission of Augustine of Canterbury to the English.” Speculum 69, no. 1 (1994).
Pope Gregory I. The Letters of Gregory the Great. Translated by John R.C. Martyn, 3 vols., Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2004.
The Kentish Royal Legend. Edited and translated by Michael Winterbottom, Oxford University Press, 1990.
Photos:
Line Engraving of Augustine:
Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org Saint Augustine of Canterbury. Line engraving by A. Lommelin. Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Statue of BerthaDennis3333, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Grave of St. AugustineRob Farrow / St Augustine’s Abbey – Site of St Augustine’s grave / CC BY-SA 2.0