Augustine

Also known as: Bishop Augustine / St. Augustine / the blessed Augustine / the blessed Father Augustine · Family: orthodox fathers · Role: church father · First appears: Book I · Chap. X

In Book I, Chap. X, Augustine stood with the orthodox fathers against Pelagius and Julianus of Campania, bringing many Catholic authorities against them, though they did not amend their folly. In 582, Gregory sent Augustine and other monks to preach to the English, appointed him for consecration as bishop if they were received, and constituted him their abbot, instructing the monks to obey him: “When Augustine, your Superior, returns, whom we also constitute your abbot, humbly obey him in all things.” Gregory also directed Aetherius to assist him, sent him to Britain for the good of souls, and asked Vergilius to receive him kindly if he came.

At the Isle of Thanet, Ethelbert ordered Augustine and his companions to remain and receive provisions, but declined to abandon his longstanding religion, saying, “I cannot consent to them so far as to forsake that which I have so long observed with the whole English nation.” At Canterbury, however, Ethelbert gave them lodging, sustenance, and liberty to preach; he was later baptized through Augustine’s teaching and granted his teachers a settled residence and necessary possessions. Augustine was ordained archbishop of the English nation by Aetherius at Arles, then sent Laurentius and Peter the monk to inform Gregory of England’s conversion and his episcopal appointment. Gregory placed the British bishops under Augustine’s care, sent Mellitus, Justus, Paulinus, and Rufinianus to assist him, granted him the pall and jurisdiction over bishops ordained in Britain, and instructed Mellitus to communicate his counsel concerning the English temples.

In the same period, Augustine recovered and consecrated a church in the royal city, established his episcopal residence there, and built a monastery to the east; at his advice, Ethelbert founded and endowed its church. Augustine also healed a blind Englishman, after which he was proclaimed a true herald of heavenly light, though the Britons refused his proposed reforms and would not receive him as their archbishop. In 604, he led Ethelbert and his nation from idol worship to the Christian faith, ordained Mellitus and Justus as bishops—sending Mellitus to the East-Saxons and establishing Justus at Dorubrevis—and ordained Laurentius as his successor before his death. Laurentius later succeeded him and was buried near him, while Bede recorded material from Augustine’s works; a later account also preserves Gregory’s instruction that Augustine’s clergy should follow monastic rules.