Augustine of Canterbury

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Augustine of Hippo.

Gregory the Great.[a]
DioceseCanterbury
SeeCanterbury
Appointedbefore 601
Term endedprobably 26 May 604
Predecessornone
SuccessorLaurence of Canterbury
Other post(s)Prior of Abbey of St Andrew's
Orders
Consecrationc. 597
Personal details
Bornearly 6th century, probably in Italy
Diedprobably 26 May 604
Canterbury, Kent, England
BuriedSt Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury
Sainthood
Feast day
26 May (Anglican,[3]
Eastern Orthodox, and Catholic Extraordinary Form calendar in Great Britain)
27 May (Catholic Ordinary Form calendar)
28 May (Catholic Extraordinary Form calendar outside Great Britain)
Venerated in
Anglicanism
Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
Canonized
Pre-congregation
Shrines
St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury (destroyed)
St Augustine's, Ramsgate

Augustine of Canterbury (early 6th century – probably 26 May 604) was a monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founding figure of the Church of England.[4]

Augustine was the prior of a monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory the Great chose him in 595 to lead a mission, usually known as the Gregorian mission, to Britain to Christianize King Æthelberht and his Kingdom of Kent from Anglo-Saxon paganism. Kent was probably chosen because Æthelberht had married a Christian princess, Bertha, daughter of Charibert I the King of Paris, who was expected to exert some influence over her husband. Before reaching Kent, the missionaries had considered turning back, but Gregory urged them on, and in 597, Augustine landed on the Isle of Thanet and proceeded to Æthelberht's main town of Canterbury.

King Æthelberht converted to Christianity and allowed the missionaries to preach freely, giving them land to found a monastery outside the city walls. Augustine was consecrated as a bishop and converted many of the king's subjects, including thousands during a mass baptism on Christmas Day in 597. Pope Gregory sent more missionaries in 601, along with encouraging letters and gifts for the churches, although attempts to persuade the native British bishops to submit to Augustine's authority failed. Roman bishops were established at London, and Rochester in 604, and a school was founded to train Anglo-Saxon priests and missionaries. Augustine also arranged the consecration of his successor, Laurence of Canterbury. The archbishop probably died in 604 and was soon revered as a saint.

Background to the mission

After the withdrawal of the

Council of Arles in 314, and a Gaulish bishop went to the island in 396 to help settle disciplinary matters.[7] Material remains testify to a growing presence of Christians, at least until around 360.[8] After the Roman legions departed, pagan tribes settled the southern parts of the island while western Britain, beyond the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, remained Christian. This native British Church developed in isolation from Rome under the influence of missionaries from Ireland[5][6] and was centred on monasteries instead of bishoprics. Other distinguishing characteristics were its calculation of the date of Easter and the style of the tonsure haircut that clerics wore.[6][9] Evidence for the survival of Christianity in the eastern part of Britain during this time includes the survival of the cult of Saint Alban and the occurrence in place names of eccles, derived from the Latin ecclesia, meaning "church".[10] There is no evidence that these native Christians tried to convert the Anglo-Saxons.[11][12] The invasions destroyed most remnants of Roman civilisation in the areas held by the Saxons and related tribes, including the economic and religious structures.[13]

It was against this background that Pope Gregory I decided to send a mission, often called the Gregorian mission, to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity in 595.

Arian Christians, were not on good relations with the Catholic church in Rome.[23]

Aside from Æthelberht's granting of freedom of worship to his wife, the choice of Kent was probably dictated by a number of other factors. Kent was the dominant power in southeastern Britain. Since the eclipse of King Ceawlin of Wessex in 592, Æthelberht was the bretwalda, or leading Anglo-Saxon ruler; Bede refers to Æthelberht as having imperium (overlordship) south of the River Humber. Trade between the Franks and Æthelberht's kingdom was well established, and the language barrier between the two regions was apparently only a minor obstacle, as the interpreters for the mission came from the Franks. Lastly, Kent's proximity to the Franks allowed support from a Christian area.[24] There is some evidence, including Gregory's letters to Frankish kings in support of the mission, that some of the Franks felt that they had a claim to overlordship over some of the southern British kingdoms at this time. The presence of a Frankish bishop could also have lent credence to claims of overlordship, if Bertha's Bishop Liudhard was felt to be acting as a representative of the Frankish church and not merely as a spiritual advisor to the queen. Frankish influence was not merely political; archaeological remains attest to a cultural influence as well.[25]

In 595, Gregory chose Augustine, who was the prior of the Abbey of St Andrew in Rome, to head the mission to Kent.[14] The pope selected monks to accompany Augustine and sought support from the Frankish royalty and clergy in a series of letters, of which some copies survive in Rome. He wrote to King Theuderic II of Burgundy and to King Theudebert II of Austrasia, as well as their grandmother Brunhild, seeking aid for the mission. Gregory thanked King Chlothar II of Neustria for aiding Augustine. Besides hospitality, the Frankish bishops and kings provided interpreters and Frankish priests to accompany the mission.[26] By soliciting help from the Frankish kings and bishops, Gregory helped to assure a friendly reception for Augustine in Kent, as Æthelbert was unlikely to mistreat a mission which visibly had the support of his wife's relatives and people.[27] Moreover, the Franks appreciated the chance to participate in mission that would extend their influence in Kent. Chlothar, in particular, needed a friendly realm across the Channel to help guard his kingdom's flanks against his fellow Frankish kings.[28]

Sources make no mention of why Pope Gregory chose a monk to head the mission. Pope Gregory once wrote to Æthelberht complimenting Augustine's knowledge of the Bible, so Augustine was evidently well educated. Other qualifications included administrative ability, for Gregory was the abbot of St Andrews as well as being pope, which left the day-to-day running of the abbey to Augustine, the prior.[29]

Arrival and first efforts

Map showing the kingdoms of Dyfed, Powys, and Gwynedd in the west central part of the island of Great Britain. Dumnonia is below those kingdoms. Mercia, Middle Anglia and East Anglia run across the middle of the island from west to east. Below those kingdoms are Wessex, Sussex and Kent, also from west to east. The northern kingdoms are Elmet, Deira, and Bernicia.
Map of the general outlines of some of the British kingdoms in about 600

Augustine was accompanied by Laurence of Canterbury, his eventual successor to the archbishopric, and a group of about 40 companions, some of whom were monks.[16] Soon after leaving Rome, the missionaries halted, daunted by the nature of the task before them. They sent Augustine back to Rome to request papal permission to return. Gregory refused and sent Augustine back with letters encouraging the missionaries to persevere.[30] In 597, Augustine and his companions landed in Kent.[16] They achieved some initial success soon after their arrival:[23][29] Æthelberht permitted the missionaries to settle and preach in his capital of Canterbury where they used the church of St Martin's for services.[31] Neither Bede nor Gregory mentions the date of Æthelberht's conversion,[32] but it probably took place in 597.[31][c] In the early medieval period, large-scale conversions required the ruler's conversion first, and Augustine is recorded as making large numbers of converts within a year of his arrival in Kent.[31] Also, by 601, Gregory was writing to both Æthelberht and Bertha, calling the king his son and referring to his baptism.[d] A late medieval tradition, recorded by the 15th-century chronicler Thomas Elmham, gives the date of the king's conversion as Whit Sunday, or 2 June 597; there is no reason to doubt this date, although there is no other evidence for it.[31] Against a date in 597 is a letter of Gregory's to Patriarch Eulogius of Alexandria in June 598, which mentions the number of converts made by Augustine, but does not mention any baptism of the king. However, it is clear that by 601 the king had been converted.[33] His baptism likely took place at Canterbury.[34]

Augustine established his episcopal see at Canterbury.[23] It is not clear when and where Augustine was consecrated as a bishop. Bede, writing about a century later, states that Augustine was consecrated by the Frankish Archbishop Ætherius of Arles, Gaul (France) after the conversion of Æthelberht. Contemporary letters from Pope Gregory, however, refer to Augustine as a bishop before he arrived in England. A letter of Gregory's from September 597 calls Augustine a bishop, and one dated ten months later says Augustine had been consecrated on Gregory's command by bishops of the German lands.[35] The historian R. A. Markus discusses the various theories of when and where Augustine was consecrated, and suggests he was consecrated before arriving in England, but argues the evidence does not permit deciding exactly where this took place.[36]

Soon after his arrival, Augustine founded the monastery of Saints Peter and Paul, which later became St Augustine's Abbey,[23] on land donated by the king.[37] In a letter Gregory wrote to the patriarch of Alexandria in 598, he claimed that more than 10,000 Christians had been baptised; the number may be exaggerated but there is no reason to doubt that a mass conversion took place.[16][29] However, there were probably some Christians already in Kent before Augustine arrived, remnants of the Christians who lived in Britain in the later Roman Empire.[12] Little literary traces remain of them, however.[38] One other effect of the king's conversion by Augustine's mission was that the Frankish influence on the southern kingdoms of Britain was decreased.[39]

After these conversions, Augustine sent Laurence back to Rome with a report of his success, along with questions about the mission.

Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum; this section of the History is usually known as the Libellus responsionum.[41][42] Augustine asked for Gregory's advice on a number of issues, including how to organise the church, the punishment for church robbers, guidance on who was allowed to marry whom, and the consecration of bishops. Other topics were relations between the churches of Britain and Gaul, childbirth and baptism, and when it was lawful for people to receive communion and for a priest to celebrate mass.[42]

Further missionaries were sent from Rome in 601. They brought a

Saebert of Essex, who converted to Christianity in 604.[19][47] The historian S. Brechter has suggested that the metropolitan see was indeed moved to London, and that it was only with the abandonment of London as a see after the death of Æthelberht that Canterbury became the archiepiscopal see. This theory contradicts Bede's version of events, however.[48]

Additional work

Stone statue of a crowned man holding a sceptre.
Æthelberht of Kent imagined in a statue at Canterbury Cathedral

In 604, Augustine founded two more bishoprics in Britain. Two men who had come to Britain with him in 601 were consecrated,

Romano-British period were uncovered just south of the present Canterbury Cathedral.[51] The historian Ian Wood argues that the existence of the Libellus points to more contact between Augustine and the native Christians because the topics covered in the work are not restricted to conversion from paganism, but also dealt with relations between differing styles of Christianity.[54]

Augustine failed to extend his authority to the Christians in Wales and Dumnonia to the west. Gregory had decreed that these Christians should submit to Augustine and that their bishops should obey him,[55] apparently believing that more of the Roman governmental and ecclesiastical organisation survived in Britain than was actually the case.[56] According to the narrative of Bede, the Britons in these regions viewed Augustine with uncertainty, and their suspicion was compounded by a diplomatic misjudgement on Augustine's part.[57] In 603, Augustine and Æthelberht summoned the British bishops to a meeting south of the Severn. These guests retired early to confer with their people,[58] who, according to Bede, advised them to judge Augustine based upon the respect he displayed at their next meeting. When Augustine failed to rise from his seat on the entrance of the British bishops,[59] they refused to recognise him as their archbishop.[58][60] There were, however, deep differences between Augustine and the British church that perhaps played a more significant role in preventing an agreement. At issue were the tonsure, the observance of Easter, and practical and deep-rooted differences in approach to asceticism, missionary endeavours, and how the church itself was organised.[57] Some historians believe that Augustine had no real understanding of the history and traditions of the British church, damaging his relations with their bishops.[60] Also, there were political dimensions involved, as Augustine's efforts were sponsored by the Kentish king, and at this period the Wessex and Mercian kingdoms were expanding to the west, into areas held by the Britons.[61]

Further success

Gregory also instructed Augustine on other matters. Temples were to be consecrated for Christian use,[62] and feasts, if possible, moved to days celebrating Christian martyrs. One religious site was revealed to be a shrine of a local St Sixtus, whose worshippers were unaware of details of the martyr's life or death. They may have been native Christians, but Augustine did not treat them as such. When Gregory was informed, he told Augustine to stop the cult and use the shrine for the Roman St Sixtus.[63]

Gregory legislated on the behaviour of the laity and the clergy. He placed the new mission directly under papal authority and made it clear that English bishops would have no authority over Frankish counterparts nor vice versa. Other directives dealt with the training of native clergy and the missionaries' conduct.[64]

The King's School, Canterbury claims Augustine as its founder, which would make it the world's oldest existing school, but the first documentary records of the school date from the 16th century.[65] Augustine did establish a school, and soon after his death Canterbury was able to send teachers out to support the East Anglian mission.[66] Augustine received liturgical books from the pope, but their exact contents are unknown. They may have been some of the new mass books that were being written at this time. The exact liturgy that Augustine introduced to England remains unknown, but it would have been a form of the Latin language liturgy in use at Rome.[67]

Death and legacy

Pile of stones marked with a tag reading "St. Augustine, Site of Grave, First Archbishop of Canterbury"
Augustine's gravesite at Canterbury

Before his death, Augustine consecrated Laurence of Canterbury as his successor to the archbishopric, probably to ensure an orderly transfer of office.[68] Although at the time of Augustine's death, 26 May 604,[23] the mission barely extended beyond Kent, his undertaking introduced a more active missionary style into the British Isles. Despite the earlier presence of Christians in Ireland and Wales, no efforts had been made to try to convert the Saxon invaders. Augustine was sent to convert the descendants of those invaders, and eventually became the decisive influence in Christianity in most of the British Isles.[57][69] Much of his success came about because of Augustine's close relationship with Æthelberht, which gave the archbishop time to establish himself.[70] Augustine's example also influenced the great missionary efforts of the Anglo-Saxon Church.[71][72]

Augustine's body was originally buried in the portico of what is now St Augustine's, Canterbury,

translated to his new shrine, from 8 September through 13 September.[74]

A life of Augustine was written by

romances.[79] Another problem with investigating Augustine's saintly cult is the confusion resulting because most medieval liturgical documents mentioning Augustine do not distinguish between Augustine of Canterbury and Augustine of Hippo, a fourth-century saint. Medieval Scandinavian liturgies feature Augustine of Canterbury quite often, however.[80] During the English Reformation
, Augustine's shrine was destroyed and his relics were lost.

Augustine's shrine was re-established in March 2012 at the church of

East Kent, where the newly arrived Augustine is said to have first met and preached to the awaiting King Ethelbert.[82]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The name is in the halo, in a later hand. The figure is identified as a saint, rather than Christ, by his clerical tonsure.[1] The view that it represents Gregory is set out by Douglas Michaels in a recent article.[2]
  2. ^ Supposedly Gregory inquired about who the slaves were. He was told they were Angles from the island of Great Britain. Gregory replied that they were not Angles, but Angels.[21]
  3. ^ However, Bede's chronology may be a bit off, as he gives the king's death as occurring in February 616, and says the king died 21 years after his conversion, which would date the conversion to 595. This would be before Augustine's mission, and directly contradicts Bede's statement that the king's conversion was due to Augustine's mission.[17] However, as Gregory in his letter of 601 to the king and queen strongly implies that the queen was unable to effect the conversion of her husband, the problem of the dating is likely a chronological error on Bede's part.[33]
  4. ^ The letter, as translated in Brooks' Early History of the Church of Canterbury, p. 8, says "preserve the grace he had received". Grace in this context meant the grace of baptism.
  5. Danish attacks in the 9th and 10th centuries, hidden and lost after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, or used for the ransom of King Richard I of England in the 1190s.[43] The surviving St Augustine Gospels, (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge manuscript (MS) 286) which is a 6th-century Italian-illuminated Gospel Book, may be one of the works sent to Augustine. Traditionally, it has been associated with the Gregorian mission.[44] Another possible survival is a Gospel, in an Italian hand, and closely related to the Augustine Gospels, now MS Oxford Bodelian Auctarium D.2.14, which shows evidence of being held in Anglo-Saxon hands during the right time frame. Lastly, a fragment of a work by Gregory the Great, now held by the British Library as part of MS Cotton Titus C may have arrived with the missionaries.[45]
  6. ^ The actual Latin is from Chapter 33, Book 1 of Bede, and an online version is here. The sentence in question is "AT Augustinus, ubi in regia ciuitate sedem episcopalem, ut praediximus, accepit, recuperauit in ea, regio fultus adminiculo, ecclesiam, quam inibi antiquo Romanorum fidelium opere factam fuisse didicerat, et eam in nomine sancti Saluatoris Dei et Domini nostri Iesu Christi sacrauit, atque ibidem sibi habitationem statuit et cunctis successoribus suis."[52] The Latin word recuperauit could be translated either "repaired" or "recovered". Sherley-Price translates the sentence as "Having been granted his episcopal see in the royal capital, as already recorded, Augustine proceeded with the king's help to repair a church he was informed had been built long ago by Roman Christians."[53]

Citations

  1. ^ Schapiro "Decoration of the Leningrad Manuscript of Bede" Selected Papers: Volume 3 pp. 199, 212–214
  2. ^ Dales "Apostle of the English" L'eredità spirituale di Gregorio Magno tra Occidente e Oriente p. 299
  3. ^ "The Calendar". The Church of England. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  4. ^ Delaney Dictionary of Saints pp. 67–68
  5. ^ a b Hindley Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons pp. 3–9
  6. ^ a b c Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity pp. 78–93
  7. ^ Frend "Roman Britain" Cross Goes North pp. 80–81
  8. ^ Frend "Roman Britain" Cross Goes North pp. 82–86
  9. ^ Yorke Conversion of Britain pp. 115–118 discusses the issue of the "Celtic Church" and what exactly it was.
  10. ^ Yorke Conversion of Britain p. 121
  11. ^ Stenton Anglo-Saxon England p. 102
  12. ^ a b Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity pp. 32–33
  13. ^ Kirby Earliest English Kings p. 23
  14. ^ a b Stenton Anglo-Saxon England pp. 104–105
  15. ^ Jones "Gregorian Mission" Speculum
  16. ^ a b c d Stenton Anglo-Saxon England pp. 105–106
  17. ^ a b Kirby Earliest English Kings pp. 24–25
  18. ^ a b Nelson "Bertha" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  19. ^ a b c d Hindley Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons pp. 33–36
  20. ^ Wood "Mission of Augustine of Canterbury" Speculum pp. 9–10
  21. ^ Bede History of the English Church and People pp. 99–100
  22. ^ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity pp. 57–59
  23. ^ a b c d e f Mayr-Harting "Augustine" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  24. ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury pp. 6–7
  25. ^ Kirby Earliest English Kings p. 27
  26. ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury pp. 4–5
  27. ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury p. 6
  28. ^ Wood "Mission of Augustine of Canterbury" Speculum p. 9
  29. ^ a b c Fletcher Barbarian Conversion pp. 116–117
  30. ^ Blair Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England pp. 116–117
  31. ^ a b c d Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury pp. 8–9
  32. ^ Wood "Mission of Augustine of Canterbury" Speculum p. 11
  33. ^ a b Kirby Earliest English Kings p. 28
  34. ^ Higham Convert Kings p. 56
  35. ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury p. 5
  36. ^ Markus "Chronology of the Gregorian Mission" Journal of Ecclesiastical History pp. 24–29
  37. ^ a b Blair Church in Anglo-Saxon Society pp. 61–62
  38. ^ Frend "Roman Britain" Cross Goes North p. 79
  39. ^ Kirby Earliest English Kings p. 29
  40. ^ Stenton Anglo-Saxon England p. 106
  41. ^ Lapidge "Laurentius" Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England
  42. ^ a b Bede History of the English Church and People pp. 71–83
  43. ^ Dodwell Anglo-Saxon Art p. 10
  44. ^ Dodwell Anglo-Saxon Art pp. 96 and 276 footnote 66
  45. ^ Lapidge Anglo-Saxon Library pp. 24–25
  46. ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury pp. 9–11
  47. ^ Fletcher Barbarian Conversion p. 453
  48. ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury pp. 11–14
  49. ^ Hayward "St Justus" Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England pp. 267–268
  50. ^ Lapidge "St Mellitus" Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England pp. 305–306
  51. ^ a b Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury p. 50
  52. ^ "Historiam Ecclesiasticam Gentis Anglorum: Liber Primus". The Latin Library. Ad Fontes Academy. Archived from the original on 17 March 2008. Retrieved 1 April 2008.
  53. ^ Bede History of the English Church and People p. 91
  54. ^ Wood "Augustine and Aidan" L'Église et la Mission p. 170
  55. ^ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity pp. 70–72
  56. ^ Yorke Conversion of Britain p. 118
  57. ^ a b c Stenton Anglo-Saxon England pp. 110–111
  58. ^ a b Hindley Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons pp. 8–9
  59. ^ Bede History of the English Church and People pp. 100–103
  60. ^ a b Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity pp. 72–73
  61. ^ Yorke Conversion of Britain p. 119
  62. ^ Thomson Western Church p. 8
  63. ^ Blair Church in Anglo-Saxon Society p. 24
  64. ^ Stenton Anglo-Saxon England pp. 107–108
  65. ^ "597 and all that: A Brief History of the King's School, Canterbury". The King's School, Canterbury. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
  66. ^ Brooks Early History of the Church of Canterbury pp. 94–95
  67. ^ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity pp. 173–174
  68. ^ Hindley Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons p. 43
  69. ^ Collins Early Medieval Europe p. 185
  70. ^ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity p. 249
  71. ^ Mayr-Harting Coming of Christianity pp. 265–266
  72. ^ Wood "Mission of Augustine of Canterbury" Speculum p. 8
  73. ^ Nilson Cathedral Shrines p. 67
  74. ^ Nilson Cathedral Shrines p. 93
  75. ^ Gameson and Gameson "From Augustine to Parker" Anglo-Saxons pp. 17–20
  76. ^ Gameson and Gameson "From Augustine to Parker" Anglo-Saxons p. 19
  77. ^ Gameson and Gameson "From Augustine to Parker" Anglo-Saxons p. 20
  78. ^ Gameson and Gameson "From Augustine to Parker" Anglo-Saxons p. 24
  79. ^ Gameson and Gameson "From Augustine to Parker" Anglo-Saxons pp. 22–31
  80. ^ Blair "Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints" Local Saints and Local Churches p. 513
  81. ^ "Pugin's Church becomes Official Shrine of St Augustine". Catholic Church in England and Wales. 14 March 2012. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  82. ^ English Heritage (2007). "St Augustine's Cross". Pastscape. National Monuments Records. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2011.

References

Further reading

External links

Christian titles
New title Archbishop of Canterbury
597–604 		Succeeded by
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