Saint Augustine of Canterbury, Bishop & Confessor
S. Augustini Episcopi et Confessoris
Saint Augustine of Canterbury, sent from Rome by Pope Saint Gregory the Great, is honoured as the Apostle of the English and the first Archbishop of Canterbury.
Saint Augustine was a monk of Rome, prior of the monastery of Saint Andrew on the Cælian Hill, when Pope Saint Gregory the Great chose him to lead a mission to bring the Gospel to the English people. With a band of fellow monks he set out, and in the year 597 he and his companions arrived in the kingdom of Kent.
The mission to the English
King Æthelberht of Kent received the missionaries and granted them leave to preach. Augustine and his monks entered Canterbury in procession, singing the litanies and bearing the cross and the image of Christ, and there they preached, prayed, and lived a life of such evident holiness that many were moved to embrace the faith. Before long the king himself was baptised, and great numbers of his people with him. Augustine was consecrated bishop for the English, and so became the first Archbishop of Canterbury, the mother see of the Church in England.
He laboured to establish the Church on firm foundations: founding churches, ordaining clergy, and seeking, with the counsel of Pope Saint Gregory, to plant Catholic faith and worship among a people newly come to Christ. Saint Gregory’s letters to him, preserved by Saint Bede, show the care and wisdom with which the young Church was guided. Augustine died at Canterbury early in the seventh century, about the year 604 or 605.
His witness today
The Church venerates Saint Augustine of Canterbury as a bishop and confessor, the apostle through whom the light of the Gospel was carried anew to the English. The collect of his Mass recalls that God enlightened the English peoples through Augustine’s preaching, and prays that the hearts of those who have strayed may return to the unity of the true faith. His feast on the twenty-eighth of May honours the missionary charity that crosses every distance to bring souls to Christ.
The Collect
O God, who didst vouchsafe to enlighten the English peoples with the light of the true faith by the preaching and miracles of blessed Augustine, Thy Confessor and Bishop: grant that, by his intercession, the hearts of those who have strayed may return to the unity of Thy truth, and that we may be of one mind in doing Thy will.
Deus, qui Anglórum gentes, prædicatióne et miráculis beáti Augustíni Confessóris tui atque Pontíficis, veræ fídei luce illustráre dignátus es: concéde; ut, ipso interveniénte, errántium corda ad veritátis tuæ rédeant unitátem, et nos in tua simus voluntáte concórdes.
Patronage
He is venerated as the Apostle of the English and is honoured as a patron of England and of the see of Canterbury.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar his feast is observed on 27 May as an optional memorial (in England, as a feast).
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Augustine of Canterbury?
In the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal his feast is kept on 28 May as a Third Class feast. In the modern calendar it is observed on 27 May.
Who was Saint Augustine of Canterbury?
He was a Roman monk sent by Pope Saint Gregory the Great to evangelise the English. Arriving in Kent in 597, he preached the Gospel, baptised King Æthelberht, and became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. He is honoured as the Apostle of the English.
Is he the same as Saint Augustine of Hippo?
No. Saint Augustine of Canterbury was a sixth- and seventh-century missionary to England. Saint Augustine of Hippo was the great Doctor of the Church who lived in North Africa some two centuries earlier. They share only the name.
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