First
Archbishop of Canterbury
died. 604 or
605
Feast Day: 26th
May
In 596
Augustine was sent from Rome (where he was prior of St Andrew's on the
Coelian) by Pope Gregory I to undertake the conversion of the English. With
40 monks he landed in the Isle of Thanet, and through the influence of Queen
Bertha (already a Christian) was well received by King Ethelbert of Kent,
who, however, would not at first receive the mission within doors for fear
of magical arts.
Augustine
gradually won his confidence, and within a year or two Ethelbert and his
people were converted. The chief seat of worship was at Canterbury, and the
first regular services were held at the church of St Martin, a relic of
Roman Christianity. Other churches rapidly arose, and in 601 Augustine
received from Gregory the pallium as archbishop of Canterbury and primate of
Britain.
There was
already a Celtic Christian community in the West country, founded by the
disciples of St. Columba, their principal church being at Bangor, on the
Dee. These people declined to acknowledge Augustine's authority, and a
conference held at Augustine's Oak (somewhere near the Severn) failed to
convince them; but only a few years later the settlement at Bangor was
utterly destroyed by the pagan Ethelred.
Please click
here to continue to the History of Even
Swindon.
St
Augustine