27 May - Augustine is a Benedictine monk. Prior in an abbey in Rome, he is chosen by Pope Gregory the Great to head the Gregorian mission. In 595, Gregory the Great chooses the monks who are to be part of the mission in Kent and asks Augustine, the prior of St. Andrew's Abbey in Rome, to lead them.
Gregory also sends letters to the Merovingian sovereigns Thierry II of Burgundy and Thibert II of Austrasia, as well as to their grandmother Brunehaut, asking them to support the mission; later, he also sends a letter of thanks to the king of Neustrasia Clotaire II for his help. The bishops and Frankish kings grant hospitality to the missionaries during their journey; they also provide interpreters and priests to accompany them.
Augustine is followed by about forty companions, including several monks. Shortly after their departure from Rome, the missionaries stop, frightened by the magnitude of the task imposed on them. They sent Augustine back to the Pope, asking him to allow them to return. Gregory refuses and sends Augustine back to his companions with letters urging them to continue.
The Gregorian mission arrives in Kent in 597. King Æthelberht allows them to settle in his capital of Canterbury and preach there, before converting himself to Christianity. Indeed, in June of the following year, Gregory wrote to the Patriarch of Alexandria Euloge to congratulate himself on Augustine's success in converting 10,000 pagans. Although Gregory does not mention the baptism of Æthelberht, such a massive conversion could not have taken place without that of the king. A later tradition, reported by the 15th century chronicler Thomas Elmham, places it on June 2, 597, the day of Pentecost. This date is not corroborated by any other source, but it is quite plausible. In any case, the baptism of Æthelberht necessarily took place before 601 anyway.
Augustine established his episcopal see in Canterbury. It is not known exactly when or where he was made bishop. According to Bède, it was the Archbishop of Arles Virgil who crowned him after the conversion of Æthelberht. Augustine founded the Abbey of St. Peter and Paul shortly after his arrival, on land donated by the king.
Quite quickly, Augustine sends two monks from the mission to Rome: Laurent and Peter are charged with informing the Pope of the first conversions and asking his advice on various points of doctrine and administration of the Church. In 601, Gregory sends a new wave of missionaries to England, loaded with sacred vessels, relics and books, as well as a pallium for Augustine. A symbol of metropolitan authority, this pallium conferred on Augustine the status of archbishop.
Augustine was unable to extend his authority over the Christians of Wales and Domonia. Christians in Celtic countries regarded Augustine with suspicion. On his death, which occurred on 26 May between 604 and 609, Augustine's body was first buried in the portico of the abbey he founded in Canterbury, which later took his name. His cult was ardently promoted after the Norman conquest of England, and on 13 September 1091, his remains were moved to a new tomb, located in an axial chapel of the abbey.
