SAINT AUGUSTINE
Bishop and Apostle of England
(† 605)

        Saint Augustine was the prior of St. Andrew's Monastery on the Cœlian Hill when St. Gregory appointed him to lead the missionaries sent to England. Hearing reports of Anglo-Saxon barbarity, St. Augustine's companions wanted to turn back. St. Gregory replied, "Push forward in God's name. The greater your hardships, the greater your crown. If I cannot share your toil, I shall yet share the harvest, for God knows it is not good will that is wanting." Obediently, the band pushed forward.

        After landing in Ebbsfleet, between Sandwich and Ramsgate, the party met King Ethelbert and his thanes under a great oak-tree in Minster and announced the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Instant and complete success attended their preaching. On Whit-Sunday, 596, King Ethelbert was baptized; and his example was followed by the greater number of his nobles and people.

        The Faith spread far and wide, and St. Augustine, as Papal Legate, set out on a visitation of Britain. He failed to convert the Britons of the west, but was successful and triumphant from south to north. He passed away after eight years of evangelizing. The Anglo-Saxon Church he founded is renowned for its learning, zeal and devotion to the Holy See. Its calendar commemorates no less than three hundred saints, half of whom were of royal birth.