Augustine of Canterbury

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This article is about St Augustine of Canterbury. For other saints with the same name, see St. Augustine.
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 Roman Catholic
28 May (Roman Catholic in the past)
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"[1] and a founder of the English Church.

Contents

[edit] Background to the mission

Augustine 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.[2] The Kingdom of Kent was targeted by the pope because its king, Æthelbert, before 588 had married a Christian Frankish princess named Bertha.[3] 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.[4] Together, in Canterbury, they restored a church that dated from Roman times[5] - 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. Some sources say that under influence of his wife, Æthelbert asked Pope Gregory to send missionaries.[4] Other historians, however, state that it was Gregory that initiated the mission, although the exact reasons remain unclear. It may be that the famous story of Gregory having seen fair-haired slaves in the Roman slave market was an influence.[6] More practical matters involving the gaining of new provinces that acknowledged the primacy of the papacy as well as influencing the emerging power of the Kentish kingdom under Æthelbert probably had as much influence in the decision.[5] The mission may also have been an outgrowth of the missionary efforts against the Lombards, who had recently overrun northern Italy.[7]

The choice of Kent and Æthelbert probably was dictated by a number of factors, including the fact that his wife was Christian and he had allowed her to freely worship for a number of years. Trade between the Franks and Æthelbert's kingdom was well established, as the presence of Frankish goods in graves in Kent attests. It also appears that there was not a serious language difficulty between the two regions, as the recruiting of interpreters for the mission amongst the Franks shows. Another reason was the growing power of the Kentish kingdom; since the eclipse of King Ceawlin of Wessex in 592, Æthelbert had become the leading Anglo-Saxon ruler. Bede even refers to him as having imperium south of the Humber River. Lastly, the location of Kent near to the Franks would allow support from an already Christian area.[8] Support from the Frankish kingdom for the mission included more than the fact that Æthelbert's queen was a Frankish princess. Gregory wrote to a number of Frankish bishops on Augustine's behalf, introducing the mission and asking that Augustine and his companions be made welcome. Copies of letters to some of these bishops survive in Rome. The pope also 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 also thanked King Chlothar II of Neustria for aiding Augustine. Besides hospitality, the Frankish bishops and kings provided interpreters for the mission, and they were asked to allow some Frankish priests to accompany the mission as well.[9] By staying with and soliciting help from the Frankish kings and bishops, Gregory helped to assure a friendly reception for Augustine in England, as Æthelbert was unlikely to mistreat a party of co-religionists of his wife who visibly had the support of her relatives and people.[8]

As to why Pope Gregory chose a monk to head the mission, there is nothing explicit in any of the sources that give a reason why. Pope Gregory once wrote to Æthelbert complimenting Augustine's knowledge of Scripture, which testifies to Augustine's education. Regarding other qualifications, Gregory was the pope as well as the abbot of St Anthony, so the day to day running of the abbey would have fallen to the prior, who was Augustine. Given Augustine's duties as prior in Rome, he would also have been skilled in administration and well suited to lead a important mission.[10]

[edit] Arrival and first efforts

Augustine was accompanied by Laurence of Canterbury, who later became the second archbishop, and a group of about forty companions, some of them monks. After the mission turned back to Rome before reaching its destination, Gregory insisted on its completion and Augustine landed in Kent in 597.[3] They achieved some initial success shortly after their arrival.[7][10] Æthelbert permitted the missionaries to settle and preach in his town of Canterbury where they used the church of St. Martin's for their services. The exact date if Æthelbert's conversion is not attested in either Bede or by Gregory, but it was likely sometime in 597. In the early medieval period, large scale conversions of people required the conversion of the ruler first, and Augustine is recorded as having made a large number of converts within the year of his landing. Also, by 601, Gregory was writing to both Æthelbert and Bertha, on the one hand calling the king his son and referring to the grace the king had received, and on the other hand comparing Bertha to Helena, mother of Constantine. A late medieval tradition from Thomas of Elmham gives the date of the king's conversion as Whit Sunday 597, or June 2, 597, but while there is nothing to dispute this date, there is also nothing to recommend it.[11]

Augustine established his episcopal see at Canterbury.[7] Exactly when Augustine was consecrated is unclear. Bede states that Augustine was consecrated by Archbishop Ætherius of Arles after the conversion of Æthelbert. Contemporary letters from Pope Gregory, however, call Augustine a bishop before he arrived in England. A letter of Gregory's from September 597 calls Augustine a bishop, and one ten months later says that Augustine had been consecrated by Gregory's command by bishops of the Germanies.[12]

Soon after his arrival, Augustine founded the monastery of saints Peter and Paul, which would later become St Augustine's Abbey,[7] on land donated by the king.[13] 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'.[3][10] After his death, the king would become known as St Æthelbert.[14] 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.[15] 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.[16][15]

Map of the general outlines of the British kingdoms about 600
Map of the general outlines of the British kingdoms about 600

Augustine sent a report of his success to Gregory with questions concerning his work along with Laurence.[17] 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. The pallium was the symbol of metropolitan status, and signified that Augustine was now an archbishop. Along with the pallium, a letter from Gregory directed the new archbishop to ordain as soon as possible twelve suffragan bishops and to send a bishop to York. The plan that Gregory set forth was that there would be two metropolitans, one at York, and one at London, and each metropolitan should have twelve suffragan bishops underneath them. Under this plan, Augustine was expected to move his archiepiscopal see to London from Canterbury. However, this movement from Canterbury to London never happened, although the reason why is not given in any contemporary records.[18] 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.[5][19] A theory by the historian S. Brechter that the metropolitan see was indeed moved to London, and that it was only after the abandonment of London as a see after the death of Æthelbert that Canterbury became the archiepiscopal see. However, this theory requires that Bede's information be considered wrong, and there is as yet no evidence to support such a view.[20]

[edit] Additional work

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

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.[5] A late tradition at Canterbury, related by Eadmer after the Norman Conquest in 1066, held that the cathedral in Eadmer's day was the same church that Augustine had used. Bede described this church as one that Augustine "recovered" with the aid of the king, and that had been built by the Roman Christians. It is not clear whether what Bede meant by "recovered" is that Augustine rebuilt the church or if Bede meant that Augustine merely reconsecrated a building that had been used for pagan worship. Archaeological evidence seems to support the later usage, as in 1973 remains of a aisled building dating from the Romano-British timeframe were uncovered just south of the present Canterbury Cathedral. Also, at St. Martin's in Canterbury, evidence points to the incorporation of a Roman Christian building into the parts of the abbey, which are now the parish church.[21]

Augustine was however unsuccessful in extending his authority to the Christians in Wales and Dumnonia. Gregory had decreed that these Christians should submit to Augustine and that their bishops should obey Augustine.[22] 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.[23] 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.[24] 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.[23] Augustine appears to have had no real understanding of the history and traditions of the Celtic church, which did not help relations with the Celtic bishops.[25]

[edit] Further success

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[26] and the latter, so far as possible, to be transformed into dedication ceremonies or feasts of martyrs, since "whoever wishes to climb to a mountain top climbs gradually step by step, and not in one leap."[27] One such site turned out to be a shrine of a local Saint Sixtus that was being worshiped without the local people being aware of the details of the martyr's life or death. The worshipers may have been native Christians, but Augustine treated them more as pagans. Gregory, when informed of this worship, told Augustine to stop the cult and use the shrine for the Roman Saint Sixtus.[28]

Other instructions from Gregory 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.[29]

Augustine 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 teaching took place at the monastery.[citation needed] Augustine would have made establishing a school a high priority, and by 631 Canterbury was able to send teachers out to support the East Anglian mission.[30] Augustine received liturgical books from the pope, but the exact contents of these books is unknown. They may have been some of the new mass-books that were just starting to be written in Rome at about this time, but it is not clear if they were or not. The exact liturgy that Augustine introduced into England remains unknown, but it would have been some form of the Roman liturgy in use at that time, and would have been in the Latin language.[31]

[edit] Death and legacy

Before his death, Augustine consecrated his successor, Laurence of Canterbury as archbishop.[32] At the time of Augustine's death, on May 26, 604,[7] 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.[33][23] Much of Augustine's success came about because of Augustine's close relationship with Æthelbert, which granted the archbishop time to establish his mission.[34] The example of Augustine's mission also influenced the great missionary efforts that the Anglo-Saxon Church later undertook.[35]

Augustine's body was originally buried in the portico of what is now St. Augustine's, Canterbury,[13] but was 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.[7] During the Reformation, the shrine was destroyed and the relics were lost.[36] 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.[37]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Delaney, John P. (1980). Dictionary of Saints, Second Edition, Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, p. 67-68. ISBN 0-385-13594-7. 
  2. ^ Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England, Third Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 104-105. ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5. 
  3. ^ a b c Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England, Third Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 105-106. ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5. 
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d Hindley, Geoffrey (2006). A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, p. 33-36. ISBN 978-0-78671-738-5. 
  6. ^ Mayr-Harting, Henry (1991). The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, p. 57-59. ISBN 0-271-00769-9. 
  7. ^ a b c d e f Mayr-Harting, Henry "Augustine [St Augustine] (d. 604)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press, 2004 Online Edition accessed November 17, 2007
  8. ^ a b Brooks, Nicholas (1984). The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066. London: Leicester University Press, p. 6-7. ISBN 0-7185-0041-5. 
  9. ^ Brooks, Nicholas (1984). The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066. London: Leicester University Press, p. 4-5. ISBN 0-7185-0041-5. 
  10. ^ a b c Fletcher, R. A. (1998). The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity. New York: H. Holt and Co, p. 116-117. ISBN 0-8050-2763-7. 
  11. ^ Brooks, Nicholas (1984). The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066. London: Leicester University Press, p. 8-9. ISBN 0-7185-0041-5. 
  12. ^ Brooks, Nicholas (1984). The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066. London: Leicester University Press, p. 5. ISBN 0-7185-0041-5. 
  13. ^ a b Blair, John P. (2005). The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 61-62. ISBN 0-19-921117-5. 
  14. ^ Delaney, John P. (1980). Dictionary of Saints, Second Edition, Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, p. 205. ISBN 0-385-13594-7. 
  15. ^ a b Mayr-Harting, Henry (1991). The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, p. 32-33. ISBN 0-271-00769-9. 
  16. ^ Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England, Third Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 102. ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5. 
  17. ^ Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England, Third Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 106. ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5. 
  18. ^ Brooks, Nicholas (1984). The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066. London: Leicester University Press, p. 9-11. ISBN 0-7185-0041-5. 
  19. ^ Fletcher, R. A. (1998). The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity. New York: H. Holt and Co, p. 453. ISBN 0-8050-2763-7. 
  20. ^ Brooks, Nicholas (1984). The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066. London: Leicester University Press, p. 11-14. ISBN 0-7185-0041-5. 
  21. ^ Brooks, Nicholas (1984). The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066. London: Leicester University Press, p. 50. ISBN 0-7185-0041-5. 
  22. ^ Mayr-Harting, Henry (1991). The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, p. 70-72. ISBN 0-271-00769-9. 
  23. ^ a b c Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England, Third Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 110-111. ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5. 
  24. ^ Hindley, Geoffrey (2006). A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, p. 8-9. ISBN 978-0-78671-738-5. 
  25. ^ Mayr-Harting, Henry (1991). The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, p. 72-73. ISBN 0-271-00769-9. 
  26. ^ Thomson, John A. F. (1998). The Western Church in the Middle Ages. London: Arnold, p. 8. ISBN 0-340-60118-3. 
  27. ^ letter of Gregory to Mellitus, quoted in Bede Venerablis; translated by Leo Sherley-Price (1988). A History of the English Church and People. Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044042-9. 
  28. ^ Blair, John P. (2005). The Church in Anglo-Saxon Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-921117-5. 
  29. ^ Stenton, F. M. (1971). Anglo-Saxon England, Third Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 107-108. ISBN 978-0-19-280139-5. 
  30. ^ Brooks, Nicholas (1984). The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066. London: Leicester University Press, p. 94-95. ISBN 0-7185-0041-5. 
  31. ^ Mayr-Harting, Henry (1991). The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, p. 173-174. ISBN 0-271-00769-9. 
  32. ^ Hindley, Geoffrey (2006). A Brief History of the Anglo-Saxons: The Beginnings of the English Nation. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, p. 43. ISBN 978-0-78671-738-5. 
  33. ^ Collins, Roger (1999). Early Medieval Europe: 300-1000, Second Edition, New York: St. Martin's Press, p. 185. ISBN 0-312-21886-9. 
  34. ^ Mayr-Harting, Henry (1991). The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, p. 249. ISBN 0-271-00769-9. 
  35. ^ Mayr-Harting, Henry (1991). The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, p. 265-266. ISBN 0-271-00769-9. 
  36. ^ Smith, Adam (1978). "St Augustine of Canterbury in History and Tradition". Folklore 89 (1): 23-28. 
  37. ^ Ramsgate information from TravelUK accessed on February 1, 2008

[edit] Further reading

  • Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.

[edit] External links

Roman 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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