Augustine was a missionary to Kent and had a profound impact
As early as the 6th century, Canterbury in England was given an important task - to indoctrinate the Anglo-Saxon pagan kingdom of Kent**. And the person who carried out this task was Augustine, who was revered as the "Apostle of England" and the founder of the Church of England, and was also the first Archbishop of Canterbury.
As the vice-rector of the Roman monastery, Augustine was sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great in 595 AD to lead a missionary group, which we often refer to as the Gregorian Mission.
Their mission was to build the British faith from scratch. So, what did Augustine do when he went to Kent? He not only spread the ** religion, but also founded many monasteries that laid the foundation for the Church in England.
In addition, he established a good relationship with the local ruler Etherbert, which was instrumental in promoting the spread of ** religion in Britain. Overall, Augustine's activities had a profound impact on Kent.
His arrival not only changed Kent's religious beliefs, but also had an important impact on Kent's culture and society. He was an important figure in British history, and his deeds are still widely celebrated and commemorated.
The reason why Kent was chosen as the place for the spread of the **religion may be because their king Etherbert married a **religious princess, Bertha, the daughter of King Charles I of Paris, who had some influence over her husband.
Although the missionaries had plans to return before arriving in Kent, Gregory strongly advised them to continue. In 597, Augustine landed on Tanet Island and continued his march towards Canterbury, the main town of Ethelbert.
King Lubran accepted the religion and agreed to allow the missionaries to preach freely, giving them land to establish monasteries outside the city walls. Augustine was consecrated as bishop and succeeded in converting many of the king's subjects, including thousands at the time of the mass baptism on Christmas Day in 597.
In 601 A.D., Pope Gregory sent more missionaries and letters and gifts to the church in an effort to persuade the native bishops of England to submit to Augustine's authority.
However, this effort was unsuccessful. Then, in 604 AD, the Bishops of Rome established churches in London and Rochester and founded a school for the purpose of training priests and missionaries in the Anglo-Saxon region.
In addition, Augustine arranged the dedication ceremony of his successor, Lawrence of Canterbury. Sadly, the archbishop may have died in 604 AD, but he was soon revered as a saint.
In 410 AD, the Roman legions withdrew from Britain, and the inhabitants faced the Saxon attack alone. Before the retreat of Rome, Britannia had begun to believe in ** religion, and the famous ascetic Pelagius was born.
In 314, England sent three bishops to the Council of Arles, and three years later another Gallic bishop came to the island to help with church discipline. By around 360 AD, more and more relics witnessed the existence of ** cultists.
After the withdrawal of the Roman legions, pagan tribes began to settle in the southern part of the island, while the western regions of Britain outside the Anglo-Saxon kingdom still adhered to the ** religious faith.
Due to the influence of the Irish missionaries, the ** Church in England gradually developed independently of Rome, and its center of development was the monastery rather than the bishopric. There are also two notable features of the English religion of this period, namely the calculation of the date of Easter and the hairstyle of the clergy.
As for the surviving evidence of the Christianity in the East of England, we can find it in the surviving Rite of St. Alban's Rite and the toponymous churches, whose names mean "churches".
However, there is no evidence that these native** disciples tried to convert the Anglo-Saxons. The invasion destroyed most of the remains of Roman civilization, including economic and religious structures, in areas controlled by the Saxons and related tribes.
Against this background, Pope Gregory I decided to send a mission, commonly known as the Gregorian Mission, to urge the Anglo-Saxons to accept the ** religion in 595.
The kingdom of Kent was ruled by Etherbert, who had married a **religious princess named Bertha 588 years ago, and even earlier in 560. Bertha was the daughter of Charibert I, one of the Melovinga kings of the Franks.
As one of the conditions of her marriage, she brought a bishop named Lyudhard to Kent. In Canterbury, they worked together to restore a Romanesque church – probably St Martin's Church today.
Although Lubran was a pagan religion, he respected and allowed his wife to freely believe. According to biographers, under the influence of his wife, Bertha asked Pope Gregory to send missionaries.
Historian Wood believes that the initiative may have originated with the support of the Kent County Court and the Queen, while others believe that Gregory initiated the mission, for reasons that have not yet been clarified.
In the 8th century, Bede recorded a well-known story in which Gregory saw a blonde Saxon slave from England at a slave market in Rome, which inspired him to try to change their national beliefs.
Practical actions, such as gaining recognition for new regions to strengthen the papacy, and influencing the power of the Kingdom of Kent under Lybran, may need to be undertaken.
This behavior may have been due to the missionary movement against the Lombards, who, as pagans and Arians, did not have a harmonious relationship with the Roman Catholic Church.
In addition to the freedom of faith granted to his wife by Lubran, the choice of Kent may have been influenced by other factors. Kent is a major power in the south-east of England. After the abdication of King Seorin of Wessex in 592, Celt became Brevalda, the main Anglo-Saxon ruler.
Bede claimed that "Lybran" had dominion south of the Humber River. ** had been established between the Franks and the Kingdom of Lybran, and the language barrier between the two regions was apparently only a minor one, since the translation of the mission came from the Franks.
Kent shares a border with the Franks, which gives it the support of the Church region. There is some evidence that some Franks believed they had the right to rule over some of the southern kingdoms of England at that time, including a letter from Gregory to the Frankish king's support mission.
If Bishop Liudhard was considered a representative of the Frankish Church, and not just a spiritual advisor to the Queen, then the appearance of the Bishop of Frankish could increase the credibility of the lordship.
The influence of the Franks was not only on a political level, archaeological remains also testify to their influence on culture. In 1595, Gregory chose Augustine, vice-rector of St. Andrew's Abbey in Rome, to lead the mission to Kent.
The pope selected a number of monks to accompany Augustine and sought the support of the Frankish crown and clergy in a series of letters, some copies of which have been preserved in Rome.
These letters demonstrate the close ties and mutual support between Rome and the Franks.
Gregory sent letters to King Sedrek II of Burgundy and King Sedbert II of Australia, as well as to their grandmother Berenheed, requesting their assistance in the mission.
He thanked King Clotal II of Neustria for the support he provided to Augustine. With their help, Gregory ensured that Augustine was warmly received in Kent, as Selbert was unlikely to inflict mistreatment on a mission that was supported by his wife's relatives and people.
In addition, participation in missionary activities allowed the Franks to expand their influence in Kent. Klossa, in particular, needs a friendly kingdom to assist him in defending the kingdom against his fellow Frankish kings across the English Channel.
Thus, Gregory realized his plan by enlisting the help of the Frankish king and the bishop.
Why Pope Gregory chose the monks to lead this important task is not mentioned in the message. Gregory praised Augustine for his deep understanding of the Bible, which he mentioned in his letter as an indication that Augustine was well educated.
Augustine also had excellent administrative skills, as evidenced by the fact that he was both abbot and pope of St. Andrews' monastery, when the day-to-day management of the abbey was entrusted to him.
Core idea: Pope Gregory's choice of Augustine to lead the mission.
Lawrence of Canterbury, one of Augustine's original companions, and a group of about 40 companions, including some monks, began their missionary journey with Augustine.
However, shortly after leaving Rome, they were frightened by the task they were about to face, so they asked Augustine to return to Rome to ask for permission from the Pope. Pope Gregory rejected the request and encouraged Augustine and his companions to persevere.
In 597, Augustine and his companions landed in Kent and achieved some initial success. Pentart allowed them to settle and preach in the capital city of Canterbury, where they used St. Martin's Church for worship.
Although neither Bede nor Gregory mentions the date of the conversion of "Lubran", it is speculated that this may have occurred in 597. In the early Middle Ages, mass conversions first required the conversion of rulers, and Augustine succeeded in converting large numbers of people within a year of his arrival in Kent.
Gregory wrote to Ter and Bertha at the same time in 601, declaring the king his son and mentioning the king's baptism. A tradition of the late Middle Ages, recorded by the 15th-century chronicler Thomas Elm, dates the conversion of kings on Pentecost, June 2, 597.
Although there is no other evidence, there is nothing to question about this date. However, although Gregory wrote to Bishop Eulogius in June 598 mentioning Augustine's conversion, he did not mention the baptism of the king.
However, apparently by 601, the king had completed his conversion. The baptism of the king may have taken place in Canterbury.
Augustine established his cathedral in Canterbury. Although there are many controversies about the place and time of Augustine's consecration, according to the historian R. R a.According to Marcus's research, Augustine had been ordained a bishop before he left for England.
Although Bede mentions in his writings that Augustine was ordained by the Frankish archbishop of Arles in Gaul after the conversion of Lubren, letters from contemporary Pope Gregory show that Augustine was a bishop before his arrival in England and was ordained by bishops in German land on Gregory's orders.
However, there is no conclusive evidence as to where he was consecrated as bishop.
Augustine founded the Monastery of St. Peter and Paul on the land provided by the king, which was later renamed the Monastery of St. Augustine. Although Gregory may have been exaggerated in a letter to Bishop Alexandria mentioning that more than 10,000 ** apostles were baptized, Augustine's arrival did cause a massive transformation in Kent.
Prior to this, Kent may have had some remnants of the Roman Empire, but there are few traces of their literature. Augustine's mission not only led to the conversion of the king, but also reduced the influence of the Franks on the southern kingdom of England.
To report on his successes and the question of his mission, Augustine sent Lawrence back to Rome. Bede records this letter and Gregory's reply in chapter 27 of his History of the Church of England, a history often referred to as a writings response.
Augustine attached great importance to Gregory's opinions, and consulted Gregory on church organization, church robbery punishment, marriage guidance, bishopric ordination, and church relations in England and Gaul, birth baptism, and the legality of the communion ritual.
In 601 A.D., Rome sent more missionaries, who brought not only coffins and sacred vessels, vestments, relics, and books that symbolized the status of the metropolis, but also a letter from Gregory, instructing the new archbishop to ordain the 12 corporal bishops as soon as possible and to send a bishop to York.
This move further confirmed Augustine's close ties with the Holy See.
Gregory's idea was to create two metropolitan hubs, one in York and one in London, with 12 bishops under each archbishop. In order to realize this idea, Augustine was expected to transfer his bishopric seat from Canterbury to London.
However, this migration never took place, and although historical sources do not clearly indicate why, it is possible that London was not part of Lybran's sphere of influence. In fact, London was part of the Kingdom of Essex and was ruled by Seibert, the nephew of Thurbert of Essex, who became a Catholic in 604.
According to the historian SAccording to Brecht's research, the Metropolitan See did move to London, but after Liebran's death, London's status as a papacy was abandoned, and Canterbury re-became the archbishopric.
However, this theory contradicts Bede's account of events.
Before Augustine's death, he appointed Lawrence of Canterbury as his heir to the archbishopric office, probably to ensure a smooth transition of the position. Although his mission was limited to Kent at the time of Augustine's death, his efforts introduced a more active style of missionary work to the British Isles.
Although there were already ** apostles in early Ireland and Wales, no one tried to convert the beliefs of the Saxon invaders. Thus, Augustine was sent to convert the descendants of those invaders and eventually became a decisive influence on the British Isles** Church.
Much of his success was due to his close relationship with Ethelbert, which gave the archbishop enough time to establish himself. In addition, the example of Augustine also had a significant impact on the missionary activities of the Anglo-Saxon Church.
Augustine's body was originally buried in the porch of present-day St. Augustine's in Canterbury, but was excavated and moved to a crypt in the abbey church, which became an object of pilgrimage and veneration.
After the Norman Conquest, the cult of St. Augustine gradually spread. After the conquest, he occupied the center of an axis chapel in the shrine of St. Augustine's Abbey, flanked by the shrines of his successors, Lawrence and Myers.
King Henry I of England approved the Abbey of St. Augustine to hold a six-day fair from September 8 to September 13, before and after the transfer of its relics to the new temple.
The Life of Augustine was written around 1090 by Gosseling, but compared to Bede's description, Gosselin presents Augustine's life from a new perspective.
Gosseling's narrative is mostly based on wonder and imagination and lacks novel historical content. Medieval writers built on this foundation by giving Augustine's life more fantastical wonders and stories, such as William of Malmesbury's claim that Augustine founded the Abbey of Seine, a late medieval chronicle of Augustine's fictional letters, and some medieval writers adding elements of Augustine to their romantic stories.
In the course of studying the history of Augustine's cult of saints, we find a problem that causes confusion. At the time, most medieval documents on the Augustinian liturgy did not make a clear distinction between Augustine of Canterbury and Augustine of Hippo, a fourth-century saint.
Despite this, medieval Scandinavian liturgies often featured Augustine of Canterbury as the protagonists. Sadly, however, during the English Reformation, Augustine's temple was destroyed and his relics were missing.
In March 2012, St Augustine's Church in Ramsgate, Kent, rebuilt the temple, located near the mission landing site. The Celtic Cross, St. Augustine's Cross, was built in 1884 and stands at Thanette Alberslet, East Kent, witnessing the history of the new Augustine first meeting King Ethelbert and preaching here.
The book "The Legendary Life of Missionary Augustine" and "History of the Church of England" depicts Augustine's prominent position and profound influence in the history of the English Church.