Desiring to convert England, which at the time was dominated by pagans, St. Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine, an abbot of a monastery in Rome who would later become Bishop of Canterbury.
Newsroom (11/01/2022 14:20, Gaudium Press) At the beginning of the fifth century, the Romans had withdrawn from Great Britain but were then followed by an invasion of Anglo-Saxons from Germany who began to massacre the Catholics. A certain number fled to France and settled in a place called Brittany, on the shores of the English Channel.
By the end of the sixth century, Britain was divided into seven kingdoms, led by Ethelbert, King of Kent. In early 596, Pope St. Gregory the Great ordered St. Augustine, abbot of a monastery in Rome, to evangelize the country.
Accompanied by 39 monks, he set out on his long journey. Upon reaching the monastery of Lérins, in the southeast of France, they heard stories about the cruelties of the Anglo-Saxons and lost heart to continue the journey.
St. Augustine returned to Rome and explained the matter to St. Gregory, who wrote letters to the King of Kent and his Catholic wife, Berta, asking them to receive St. Augustine. He ordered Augustine to travel immediately to Great Britain with his monks.
Augustine obeyed and on his arrival at the monastery of Lérins, gathered his religious and together left for England where they arrived in the year 597. He sent a message to King Ehtelbert, asking him to receive them. The sovereign was a pagan, but he had been wisely influenced by his wife, the daughter of the King of Paris, and wished to meet them in a public interview.
Prophecy of St. Augustine of Canterbury
Walking in procession, carrying a silver cross and a picture of Our Lord, and chanting litanies imploring God for their salvation and that of the people, the monks arrived at the place indicated.
The King invited them to sit and they began to announce the Catholic Doctrine to him. Ethelbert welcomed the teachings with sympathy and declared that he would think about them. He gave the monks a place to reside and the means to subsist.
Augustine’s holiness and the miracles that occurred led to numerous conversions: on Christmas Day of 597, Ethelbert, most of the nobility, and about 10,000 subjects were baptized.
This wonderful fact reminds us of the Baptism of the King of France, Clovis, on Christmas Day of 496, when that nation became the “Firstborn Daughter of the Church“.
St. Augustine was named Bishop of Canterbury in South-East England, and Ethelbert gave him his palace to reside in, which was then transformed into a monastery.
At the same time, there was in Bangor, in present-day Northern Ireland, an abbey with many monks. The Bishop of Canterbury proposed that they help him in the evangelization of the pagans, but they refused.
Thus, St. Augustine prophesied that because they refused to bring life to the Anglo-Saxons, they would instead bring death to them. Nine years later, these pagans razed Bangor Abbey and killed 1,200 monks.
Throughout the following twenty years of his life, Ethelbert devoted himself to the propagation of the Faith: he built churches, made wise laws, and managed the conversion of two kings from regions neighbouring Kent. He sanctified himself and died in 616.
His excellent example was so impressive that in years to come, England would provide the Church with numerous monarchs raised to the honour of the altars.
Reception in a forest clearing
Following are some comments on the subject by Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira:
“There appear to us here two great figures of influence of the Middle Ages. By this brief and beautiful narration, we can conceive the encounter of an outstanding missionary, that is St. Augustine of Canterbury, with an extraordinary founding monarch, St. Ethelbert.
“I refer to him as founder because, of England before the conversion, it may be said that it was but a nation still in its infancy. There was no British civilization, no England proper. There were only the germs of a future England which, in contact with St. Augustine, blossomed and grew into the nation it subsequently became.
“The solemnity which the historian describes this to us is indeed wonderful. We can imagine that the king and his semi-barbarian warriors congregated in the clearing of a forest, and, to their astonished and perhaps skeptical eyes, they see arriving in the distance, chanting hymns and litanies, St. Augustine with his monks and followers. The envoys of Pope St. Gregory the Great approach, greet each other, are invited to sit down, and the conversations between apostles and future converts begin.
Model of a Christian sovereign
“One clearly perceives the attitude of King Ethelbert, which is both wise and sympathetic. Indeed, although one sees his heart touched by the doctrine and examples of St. Augustine, he responds with great freedom of movement and words, saying: ‘Everything you tell us is very beautiful, but I cannot change my mind so quickly, abandoning the beliefs I inherited from my elders. I wish to study better these novelties you bring us.’
“Yet he said this with remarkable benevolence and inclination to accept the Gospel, for he then thanks St. Augustine and those who accompanied him for coming from so far away to speak to them. He offers them good shelter and grants them liberty to preach and convert to their Religion as many as they would.
“That is, his position towards St. Augustine reveals a first step of his soul towards that truth whose precursor he was hearing at that moment.
“Confirming this intention of his, he makes all things easy for the apostolic mission of St. Augustine, and he soon begins the task of evangelizing the people and establishing the Catholic Religion in England.
“Saint Ethelbert, after duly examining the new Doctrine, like the conscientious man that he was, embraced it wholeheartedly. He converted, became a model Christian sovereign, built churches, brought other English princes to Catholicism, and protected subjects who were welcomed into the guild of the Holy Catholic Church.”
Today, the Gnostic and egalitarian Revolution is causing the world to rush into horrors worse than those practiced by the barbarians.
Let us, therefore, ask St. Augustine of Canterbury and St. Ethelbert to assist us in the struggle for the crushing of the Revolution and the establishment of Mary’s Kingdom.
By Paul Francis Martos
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
