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[[Image:St Augustine of Canterbury by Karen-Cooper.gif|right|thumb|200px|St. Augustine of Canterbury]]
Our father among the saints '''Augustine of Canterbury''' (d. [[May 26]], 605) was a [[Rule of St. Benedict|Benedictine]] monk and the first [[Archbishop of Canterbury]].  His [[feast day]] is [[May 26]].

==Life==
The wife of King Ethelbert of Kent, called Bertha, daughter of Charibert, one of the Merovingian kings of the Franks, had brought a [[chaplain]] with her (Liudhard) and either built a church or restored a church in Canterbury from Roman times and dedicated it to St. [[Martin of Tours]], a major patronal saint for the Merovingian royal family.  Ethelbert himself was a pagan, but allowed his wife to worship God her own way.  Probably under influence of his wife, Ethelbert asked Pope Gregory I to send [[missionaries]].

In 596, Augustine had been prior of the [[monastery]] of Saint Andrew, founded by Pope [[Gregory the Dialogist|Gregory I]], and was sent by Gregory at the head of forty monks to preach to the Anglo-Saxons.  They lost heart on the way and Augustine went back to Rome from Provence and asked that the [[mission]] be given up.  The pope, however, commanded and encouraged them to proceed.  Thus, Augustine was sent to King Ethelbert, Bretwalda of England, by Pope [[Gregory the Dialogist|Gregory the Great]] in 597.  He was accompanied by [[Laurence of Canterbury]], the second archbishop, and other Benedictine monks, and they landed on the Island of Thanet in the spring of 597.  

Ethelbert permitted the [[missionaries]] to settle and preach in his town of Canterbury and before the end of the year he was converted and Augustine was consecrated bishop at Arles. At Christmas 10,000 of the king's subjects were [[baptism|baptized]].

Augustine sent a report of his success to Gregory with certain questions concerning his work. In 601, Mellitus, Justus and others brought the pope's replies, with the [[pallium]] for Augustine and a present of sacred vessels, [[vestments]], [[relics]], books, and the like.  Gregory directed the new archbishop to ordain as soon as possible twelve suffragan [[bishops]] and to send a bishop to York, who should also have twelve suffragans&mdash;a plan which was not carried out, nor was the primatial see established at London as Gregory intended.  Augustine consecrated Mellitus Bishop of London and Justus Bishop of Rochester.

More practicable were the pope's mandates concerning heathen temples and usages: the former were to be consecrated to Christian service and the latter, so far as possible, to be transformed into dedication ceremonies or feasts of [[martyrs]], since "he who would climb to a lofty height must go up by steps, not leaps" (''Letter of Gregory to Mellitus'', in [[Bede]], i, 30).

Augustine reconsecrated and rebuilt an old church at Canterbury as his [[cathedral]] and founded a monastery in connection with it. He also restored a church and founded the monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul outside the walls.

{{start box}}
{{succession|
before=&mdash;|
title=[[Archbishop of Canterbury]]|
years=597-604|
after=[[Laurence of Canterbury|Laurence]]}}
{{end box}}

==Sources==
* Much of this article was taken from the [[Wikipedia:Augustine of Canterbury|Wikipedia]] article of the same name, which includes content derived from the public domain ''Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge'', 1914.

==See also==
*[[Missionary]]

==External link==
*[http://aidanharticons.com/st-augustine-of-canterbury/ Icon of St Augustine of Canterbury] by the hand of Aidan Hart

[[Category:Bishops]]
[[Category:6th-7th-century bishops]]
[[Category:Bishops of Canterbury]]
[[Category:Missionaries]]
[[Category:Saints]]
[[Category:Saints of the British Isles]]
[[Category:Pre-Schism Western Saints]]
[[Category:7th-century saints]]

[[ro:Augustin din Canterbury]]