Deacon Susan Erickson

Dear Siblings in Christ,

Today the Church recognizes St. Augustine. Not the 4th-century theologian Augustine of Hippo, but the 6th-century bishop, who died on this day in 605.

Augustine of Canterbury is known as the “Apostle to the English.” Although Christianity had been established in parts of the British Isles under the Romans, Anglo-Saxon invasions left only pockets of Christianity. Moreover, British Christianity in these early centuries was characterized by Celtic influences; it was primarily monastic in character, rather than the Roman regional-diocesan model.

Pope Gregory sent then-monk Augustine, together with other monks, as a missionary to the English. Augustine’s destination was Canterbury in Kent, the kingdom of the pagan king Ethelbert and his Christian wife Bertha.

We might say that Augustine was part of a power-play by the Roman pontiff to erase the indigenous character of Celtic Christianity (which has renewed popularity in our day), homogenizing Christian practice. But just as saints are often complicated individuals, so, too, is history complicated.

And Augustine’s story seems to have been one in which faith, courage, politics and perseverance all figure.

On the way to Britain, Augustine’s travel companions heard tales of how savage the Anglo-Saxons were; they began to lose their nerve and sent Augustine back to Rome to beg the Pope to let them turn back. Gregory didn’t relent, however, although he did provide the missionaries with some additional support.

Fortunately, Ethelbert was a relatively tolerant ruler for his day. He didn’t interfere with his wife’s religious practices, and he agreed to hear Augustine out. He eventually converted, paving the way for a mass conversion among his subjects (which appears not to have been forced, though that would not have been unusual).

Augustine worked to reconcile the Celtic practices of the indigenous Christian church with the Roman church. At one point Gregory wrote to Augustine that he should observe which customs “whether in the Roman, Gallican, or any other churches,” might be “more acceptable to God.” He was to teach those customs to the young church, for “things should not be loved for the sake of places, but places for the sake of good things.”

Thus, even Pope Gregory seems to have appreciated that our faith can sometimes be strengthened by innovation and adaptation. In only eight years Augustine anchored the Christian Church more firmly in England. And 1400 years later the Archbishop of Canterbury heads the Anglican Communion of which we are part.

Faithfully,

—Deacon Susan