Stone & Incense Search
Start hereCurious, or no faithEvangelical, Pentecostal or ProtestantFrom another faithSomeone I love is CatholicBecoming CatholicI was Catholic once Today in the ChurchLibraryHard questionsVoices of the revivalTake the next stepAboutSources & methodSupport the site
The saints

St. Augustine of Canterbury

A Roman monk sent to convert the English, who almost turned back.

Feast: 27 May · died 604 or 605 · The early Church · Rome and Canterbury, England

Read the story 1 min read
Icon of St. Augustine of Canterbury, blessing and holding a model of a church.

NN. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St. Augustine of Canterbury

Canterbury, Kent, 597

Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine, the prior of his monastery, with about forty monks to England.1

Partway there they heard frightening stories about the English, and Augustine went back to ask to be excused.1

Gregory sent him back with encouragement.

Patron of England1

01St. Augustine of Canterbury

Kent

King Ethelbert of Kent had a Christian wife and received them; he was later baptized.1

Augustine became the first archbishop of Canterbury.1

Live it this week

Go anyway, scared

Augustine wanted to turn back, and Gregory sent him on. This week, do the one thing you’ve been afraid to do for God (an invitation, a confession, a hard call). Ask a friend to encourage you.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Augustine of Canterbury”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.