Saint Augustine of Canterbury, Bishop

Augustine was prior of Saint Andrew’s monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory the Great sent him, with about forty monks, to preach to the Anglo-Saxons. Frightened by tales of the English on the way, the monks wanted to turn back, but Gregory urged them on. In 597 they landed in Kent, where King Æthelberht had a Christian wife, the Frankish princess Bertha. The king received them, and soon was baptized.

Augustine was consecrated bishop and established his see at Canterbury, building a cathedral and a monastery. He met the bishops of the Britons, whose Church was older, but they did not agree with him. He died on 26 May, probably in 604, as the first archbishop of Canterbury.