Augustine of Canterbury

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Not to be confused with Doctor of the Church, St Augustine of Hippo.
Saint Augustine of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury
Augustine in Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin in 1882.
Birth name Augustine
Enthroned 597
Ended 26 May 604
Predecessor None
Successor Laurence of Canterbury
Born unknown
Died 26 May 604

Sainthood
Venerated in Eastern Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion
Commemorated 26 May (Anglican), 27 May,[1] 28 May (Others)
Saints Portal

Augustine of Canterbury (birth unknown, died May 26, c. 604) was a Benedictine monk and the first Archbishop of Canterbury. He is considered the "Apostle to the English"[2] and a founder of the English Church.

Contents

He was the prior of the abbey of St Anthony in Rome when he was sent by Pope Gregory the Great to convert the Anglo-Saxon tribes in 596.[1][3] The Kingdom of Kent was targeted by the pope because its king, Æthelbert, before 588 had married a Christian Frankish princess named Bertha.[1][4][5] Bertha was the daughter of Charibert, one of the Merovingian kings of the Franks. As one of the conditions of her marriage she had brought a bishop named Liudhard with her to Kent.[6] Together, in Canterbury, they restored a church that dated from Roman times[7] - dedicating it to St Martin of Tours (possibly St Martin's). St Martin was a major patron saint for the Merovingian royal family. Æthelbert himself was a pagan at this point, but allowed his wife freedom of worship.[6] Probably under influence of his wife, Æthelbert asked Pope Gregory to send missionaries.

Saint Æthelbert of Kent pictured in a statue from Rochester Cathedral.
Saint Æthelbert of Kent pictured in a statue from Rochester Cathedral.

Augustine was accompanied by Laurence of Canterbury, who later became the second archbishop, and a group of forty other monks. After the mission turned back to Rome before reaching its destination, Gregory insisted on its completion and Augustine landed in Kent in 597.[5] They achieved some initial success shortly after their arrival.[2][8] Æthelbert permitted the missionaries to settle and preach in his town of Canterbury and before the end of the year he was converted and Augustine was consecrated archbishop at Arles.[1][5] He returned to establish his episcopal see at Canterbury. At the same time, he founded the monastery of saints Peter and Paul, which would later become St Augustine's Abbey.[8] That Christmas, 10,000 of the king's subjects were baptised in what is now referred to as the 'Miracle at Canterbury' or the 'Baptismal miracle at Canterbury'.[5] After his death, the king would become known as St Æthelbert.[9] However, there were probably some Christians already in Kent before Augustine arrived.[10] There is no evidence that they tried to convert the pagans who were descendants of the tribes that had invaded after the end of the Roman Empire.[11]

Augustine sent a report of his success to Gregory with questions concerning his work along with Laurence.[12] In 601 Mellitus, Justus and others brought the pope's replies, with a pallium for Augustine and a present of sacred vessels, vestments, relics, books, and the like. Gregory directed the new archbishop to ordain as soon as possible twelve suffragan bishops and to send a bishop to York, who should also have twelve suffragans — a plan which was not carried out, nor was the primatial see established at London as Gregory intended.[10] Probably the reason that the archbishopric was set up in Canterbury instead of London was that London was not part of Æthelbert's domains. Instead, London was part of the domain of Saebert of Essex, who was Æthelbert's nephew and converted to Christianity in 604.[7]

Map from the University of Texas at Austin Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection showing the kingdoms of the British Isles around 600.
Map from the University of Texas at Austin Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection showing the kingdoms of the British Isles around 600.

Augustine continued to meet success in his efforts, and founded two other episcopal sees in England when he consecrated Mellitus as Bishop of London and Justus as Bishop of Rochester.[7] Augustine was however unsuccessful in extending his authority to the Christians in Wales and Dumnonia. The Britons in those areas were suspicious of the newly arrived Augustine, and he seems to have been insufficiently conciliatory for them to agree to recognize him as the local archbishop.[2] In 601, Augustine was formally given jurisdiction over Britain as its archbishop by Gregory.[1] While working toward Christian unity, Augustine tried to reach an agreement with the Celtic bishops. These bishops did not cooperate with Augustine, and refused to give up their existiing traditions regarding tonsure and the dating of Easter.[1] Æthelbert summoned the British bishops to meet with Augustine in 603, and Augustine met with them twice, the first time the bishops asked to be allowed to return to their people and confer before returning. At the second meeting, Augustine was said to have not risen from his seat when the bishops arrived, and this, along with other issues, led the bishops to refuse to recognize Augustine as archbishop.[13] However, it was more probably the deep differences between the two churches that kept Augustine from reaching an agreement with the Celtic bishops. Besides the issues of Easter observance and the tonsure were more practical and deep rooted differences in approach to asceticism, missionary endeavours, and how the church itself was organized.[14]

More practicable than the other instructions from Rome were Rome's mandates concerning pagan temples and usages: the former were to be consecrated for Christian use[15] and the latter, so far as possible, to be transformed into dedication ceremonies or feasts of martyrs, since 'he who would climb to a lofty height must go up by steps, not leaps.'[16] Gregory also legislated on the behavior of the laypeople and the clergy by setting out rules for marriage, what to do when church property was stolen, and how to consecrate bishops. Gregory also placed the new mission directly under papal authority, and that the English bishops would have no authority over the Gaulish bishops, nor would the Gaulish bishops have authority over the English. Other rules dealt with the training of a native clergy and how the mission was to live.[17]

Augustine reconsecrated and rebuilt the church at Canterbury as his cathedral and founded a monastery in connection with it. The chair of St. Augustine was established. He also restored a church and founded the monastery of St Peter and St Paul outside the walls, where the monks that had accompanied him resided.[18] He is claimed to have founded The King's School, Canterbury, which would make it the world's oldest school; however there may be little more to this than the fact that some teaching took place at the monastery.

Before his death, Augustine consecrated his successor, Laurence of Canterbury as archbishop.[19] At the time of Augustine's death, on May 26, 604,[2] his mission barely extended beyond Kent. Augustine's mission introduced a more active missionary style into the British Isles. Before this, while there were Christians in Ireland and Wales, they had yet to try to convert the Saxon invaders. Augustine's mission was sent to convert the descendants of those invaders, and eventually became the decisive influence in Christianity in the British Isles.[18][14]

Augustine's body was originally buried, but later exhumed and placed in a tomb within the abbey church where it became a place of pilgrimage and veneration. After the Norman Conquest the cult of St Augustine was actively promoted.[8] During the Reformation, the shrine was destroyed and the relics were lost. Today a Celtic cross marks the area that Augustine first landed. It is situated near Pegwell village on the Isle of Thanet in East Kent.

  1. ^ a b c d e f Encyclopedia Americana, v.2, p. 685. Danbury, CT: Grolier Incorporated, 1997. ISBN 0-7172-0129-5.
  2. ^ a b c d Delaney, John J. Dictionary of Saints Second Edition Doubleday: New York 2003 ISBN 0-385-13594-7 p. 67-68
  3. ^ Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 104-105
  4. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Queen Bertha of Kent
  5. ^ a b c d Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 105-106
  6. ^ a b Nelson, Janet L. "Bertha (b. c.565, d. in or after 601)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press, Sept 2004 Online Edition revised May 2006 accessed November 17, 2007
  7. ^ a b c Hindley, Geoffrey A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The beginnings of the English nation New York: Carrol & Graf Publishers 2006 ISBN 978-0-78671738-5 p. 33-36
  8. ^ a b c Mayr-Harting, Henry "Augustine [St Augustine] (d. 604)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press, 2004 Online Edition accessed November 17, 2007
  9. ^ Delaney, John J. Dictionary of Saints Second Edition Doubleday: New York 2003 ISBN 0-385-13594-7 p. 205
  10. ^ a b Collins, Roger Early Medieval Europe 300-1000 Second Edition New York: St. Martin's Press 1999 ISBN 0-312-21886-9 p. 182-183
  11. ^ Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 102
  12. ^ Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 106
  13. ^ Hindley, Geoffrey A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The beginnings of the English nation New York: Carrol & Graf Publishers 2006 ISBN 978-0-78671738-5 p. 8-9
  14. ^ a b Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 110-111
  15. ^ Thomson, John A. F. The Western Church in the Middle Ages London:Arnold 1998 ISBN 0-340-60118-3 p. 8
  16. ^ letter of Gregory to Mellitus, in Bede, i, 30)
  17. ^ Stenton, F. M. Anglo-Saxon England Third Edition Oxford:Oxford University Press 1971 ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5 p. 107-108
  18. ^ a b Collins, Roger Early Medieval Europe 300-1000 Second Edition New York: St. Martin's Press 1999 ISBN 0-312-21886-9 p. 185
  19. ^ Hindley, Geoffrey A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The beginnings of the English nation New York: Carrol & Graf Publishers 2006 ISBN 978-0-78671738-5 p. 43

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
None		 Archbishop of Canterbury
597–604		 Succeeded by
Laurence of Canterbury


Persondata
NAME Augustine of Canterbury
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Saint Augustine of Canterbury
SHORT DESCRIPTION Christian saint, first Archbishop of Canterbury
DATE OF BIRTH unknown
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH May 26, 604
PLACE OF DEATH
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Canterbury"
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