St. Augustine of Canterbury
Died 604
Feast: May 27
This monk was prior of a monastery in Rome until 596, when Pope St. Gregory the Great sent him and 30 other monks to evangelize England. They landed in Kent, where they got permission to preach because the king’s wife had been a Christian before her marriage. Augustine’s preaching won over King Ethelbert, who became a Christian and gave the monks a house and church in Canterbury. Augustine built England’s first cathedral there; from this see, missionaries and bishops were sent around England. He is known as “the apostle of England.”
Northwest Catholic - May 2021