" The Apostle of England"- St. Augustine of Canterbury

Not much is known of St. Augustine before 596,his origins are obscure. In the year 596, from Rome a party of 40 Benedictine monks set out to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons in England. They were sent by Pope Gregory the Greaat. They crossed the English Channel and landed in the territory of Kent.This area was ruled by King Ethelbert, a pagan married to a Christian. He received them kindly, set up a residence for them in Canterbury and within one year, on Pentecost Sunday, of 576 was himslelf baptized. Augustine was consecrated a Bishop in France, and returned to Canterbury, where he founded his see. He constructed a church and a monastery near where the present cathedral, begun in 1070, now stands.

As the faith spread, additional sees were founded in London and Rochester.
Laboring patiently, Augustine heeded the wise missionary principles--suggested by the Pope: purify rather than destroy pagan temples and customs, let pagan rites and festivals be taken over into Christian feasts; retain local customs as far as possible. The limited success Augustine achieved in England before his death in 605, a short eight years after he arrived in England, would eventually bear fruit long after in the conversion of England. Truly Augustine of Canterbury can be called the "Apostle of England."

This blogger has been to Canterbury, England on an Easter pilgrimage in May 1974,and returned to visit relatives in May of 2007, visiting London, Greenwich, Cambridge,Chelmsford, Colchester, Brentwood, and other family villages in Essex County, Norfolk County and the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. I did not go to Walsingham in 1974, but have since sensed a call to return to England and visit the Shrine at Walsingham. Much suffering occurred in the Roman Church in the 16th and 17th centuries, with many English Martyrs, of whom were canonized by the late Pope Leo and Pope John Paul II.

Pray for the conversion of England, and the intercession of the English Martyrs!