Saint of the day May 27: Saint Augustine of Canterbury. Catholic Saints

Every May 27, the Church celebrates Saint Augustine of Canterbury, monk of the Order of Saint Benedict (Benedictines), who was the first archbishop of Canterbury (England).

Saint Augustine is considered one of the greatest evangelizers in Europe, along with Saint Patrick of Ireland and Saint Boniface of Mainz (Germany).

Make faith reborn

The exact date of Augustine’s birth is unknown; However, it is known that he began his apostolic and missionary life in the year 597, when he left the city of Rome, where he lived, and headed to the island of Great Britain. The saint left in the company of 39 other monks by order of Pope Gregory the Great, who wanted the European island territory to be evangelized.

Great Britain had received evangelizers since apostolic times, however, after some centuries, the Church had not managed to take root sufficiently, and gradually the ancient pagan cults were becoming stronger, especially after the Saxon invasion of the 5th and 6th centuries.

Accompanied by Providence

This situation would take an important turn when King Ethelbert of Kent (560-616) – the region of Kent was located in the southeast of medieval England – granted permission for the arrival of missionaries and evangelizers, especially Benedictines. Ethelbert, being a pagan, wanted with this opening to please his Catholic wife, the queen consort Adalberta – later, Saint Bertha of Kent -. In time, the king himself would convert, ask for baptism, and die holy like his wife.

Before the missionaries arrived in the town of Thanet, in Kent, and were received by Ethelbert, Pope Saint Gregory the Great had already appointed Augustine abbot and appointed bishop. After the meeting between the monarch and the new bishop, the king granted permission to the monks to preach and gave them custody of the church of San Martín. Liturgical celebrations and public preaching were resumed, and with this many conversions began to occur. As a corollary of that rebirth of faith, the king and the members of his court were baptized on the day of Pentecost in the year 597.

“The apostle of the English”

The affability of the missionaries, their simplicity, generosity and strength against any test, made a deep impression on the king. Agustín, furthermore, stood out in the middle of the group. With this, Ethelberto was impressed, and became more and more involved with the doctrine that the saint taught, explained with clarity and eloquence.

Then, Augustine made the decision to send two of his monks to Rome to inform the Supreme Pontiff what was happening. The Pope in response named him Archbishop of Canterbury and exhorted him to maintain the king’s favor through humility and gratitude. Augustine thus became the first Archbishop of Canterbury, the famous cathedral city in the southeast of England, which would return to its Christian roots, until, unfortunately, centuries later, it ended up becoming the center of Anglicanism.

Catholic England

Augustine would carry out, without being entirely aware of it, a task of historical importance: following the Pope’s instructions, he carried out the distribution of ecclesiastical territories. The saint erected several episcopal sees that remain to this day, one in London and another in Rochester, consecrating bishops to Melito and Justo.

After having worked tirelessly for the conversion of England, Saint Augustine of Canterbury died on May 26, 604.

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If you want to know more about Saint Augustine of Canterbury, we recommend that you read this article from the Catholic Encyclopedia: https://ec.aciprensa.com/wiki/San_Agustín_de_Canterbury.

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