Saint Augustine of Canterbury

In 596 Pope Gregory the Great sent a group of monks from his Roman monastery to Britain, led by a man named Augustine. It was a journey into the unknown: after the Saxons arrived, the island had largely gone back to paganism. Halfway there, in Gaul, the monks took fright at what was said about the peoples across the sea, and sent Augustine back to Rome to ask to turn around. Gregory said no and sent them on. There was an open door, though, and Gregory knew it: Ethelbert, king of Kent, was a pagan but had married Bertha, the Christian daughter of the king of Paris, and had let her keep her chaplain and a church in Canterbury, dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. The king received the monks in the open air — out of caution, says Bede, because he was afraid of magic — and let them preach. He converted, and many with him. Augustine became the first archbishop of Canterbury. The instructions Gregory sent him are a small masterpiece of common sense: don’t destroy the temples, adapt them; don’t erase the feasts, change their meaning; go slowly, because whoever climbs a mountain doesn’t reach the top in a single leap. He died in Canterbury on May 26, 604. His see is still the first in England today, for Anglicans and Catholics alike. If your name is Augustine, today is your name day — though many wait for the twenty-eighth of August.