Biography of saint augustine of canterbury catholic church

The sixth-century bishop St. Augustine of Canterbury d.

When was st augustine of canterbury born

He is not to be confused with St. Augustine of Hippo, the great Church thinker of the fourth century. Augustine was the prior or abbot of a monastery in Rome. In the Pope, St. Gregory the Great, chose him to lead a group of thirty monks on a missionary journey to England. There were some scattered Christian communities there, but the land as a whole was still predominantly Anglo-Saxon and pagan.

Augustine hurried back to confer with the pope, but Gregory reassured him that his fears were groundless, and sent him back on his way. The missionaries arrived in England in King Ethelbert, a pagan married to a Christian, received them kindly, and their work flourished. On Pentecost Sunday the king was baptized, along with many of his subjects.