Augustine

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House Colour: Red

Feast day: 26th May

Christianity had died out in the parts of Britain which had been conquered by the Saxons. When Pope Gregory saw a group of fair haired Angles from Britain being sold as slaves in Rome, he described them as “angels”. He sent Augustine, a monk, to convert Britain to Christianity.

After turning back in fear on his first journey, Augustine eventually landed on the Isle of Thanet in Kent in AD 596. King Ethelbert allowed Augustine and his small group of monks to settle at Canterbury. He was later baptised by Augustine. Augustine then arranged a meeting with the leaders of the British church which had survived in Western Britain and Ireland. However, the Celtic bishops refused to accept Augustine as their Archbishop. The Christian church in Britain was not united until half a century later. Augustine died on the 26th of May AD 604 and was buried in Canterbury.