18. SAINTS AUGUSTINE, LAURENCE, MELLITUS, JUSTUS HONORIUS AND DEUSDEDIT, ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY

Our holy Father Augustine, who with his spiritual father Pope Gregory the Great, is accorded the title of the Apostle of the English, was prior of the monastery of St. Andrew in Rome. According to one source, he may have come from Sicily. In the summer of the year 596 he was sent by St. Gregory at the head of a party of forty monks from the same monastery to England, to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons. This had always been a cherished dream of St. Gregory, who had himself set out for England once but had been forced to return to Rome because of his election to the Papacy.

Having arrived in Aix-en-Provence, Augustine and his monks heard discouraging reports of the difficulty of the journey to England and the savagery of the islanders. Augustine was then sent back to Rome to entreat St. Gregory to abandon the project, while his monks remained at the famous monastery of Lerins. However, Gregory raised Augustine to the rank of abbot and sent him back with strict orders to proceed to England; so the monks continued on their journey north.

At the town of Ce, some women created a riot against the monks; but when a supernatural light illumined the ground where the monks slept, the townsfolk changed their minds and said that they were gods.

St. Augustine and his companions alighted in England at Ebbsfleet, Kent; the stone which first received the imprint of their feet was preserved in St. Augustinés monastery for centuries. Two monks then went with their French interpreters to King Aethelbert at Canterbury. The king, who had heard about the Christian Faith from his Christian wife Bertha, gave the messengers a favourable hearing and ordered that St. Augustinés party be honourably treated.

A few days later, the king went to see the missionaries at Richborough. The meeting took place in the open air because the king feared the influence of magicians inside. The monks came to meet the king in a procession, chanting psalms and hymns and preceded by a silver cross and an icon of the Saviour. Aethelbert was not at first inclined to accept Augustinés preaching, but he did not prevent him from preaching to others. Moreover, he provided the missionaries with a house in Canterbury and food at his own expense; and they were allowed to worship in the old Romano-British church of St. Martin's.

Soon the holy life of the Roman monks began to bear fruit. And the many miracles they performed brought the king, too, to repentance and Holy Baptism, which took place on the Feast of Pentecost, June 2, 597. Five months later, on November 16, 597, Augustine was consecrated to the episcopate in France by Archbishop Virgilius of Arles and other French bishops with the blessing of Pope Gregory, although another source indicates that he was probably consecrated by bishops in the ecclesiastical provinces of Trier and Rheims. Then he returned to Canterbury, where he was received with great joy by the king, who promptly gave him his palace as a monastery and archiepiscopal residence. That Christmas more than 10,000 Englishmen received Holy Baptism.

On receiving the news, St. Gregory wrote to St. Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria: «Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of goodwill, because a grain of wheat, falling into the earth, has died that it might not reign in heaven alone – even He by Whose death we live, by Whose weakness we are made strong, through Whose love we seek in Britain for brethren whom we know not, by Whose gift we find them whom without knowing we sought.»

Augustine now cleansed the pagan temple in which the king had celebrated his idolatrous rites, and rededicated it in the name of the holy Martyr Pancras. During the first Liturgy there, the building was violently shaken as if by an earthquake, as the devil struggled against his expulsion. The ground next to the church became the site of the Monastery of Saints Peter and Paul. It was consecrated on Christmas Day, 605, and from 611 it acquired stavropegial status as «the first-born and chief mother of monasteries in England». From the time of St. Dunstan, who dedicated it anew in the second half of the tenth century, it became known as St. Augustinés.

In 599 Augustine sent messengers to Rome to seek the answers to certain questions from St. Gregory. These messengers were St. Laurence, later Augustinés successor as archbishop, and St. Peter, first abbot of the monastery of Saints Peter and Paul. They came back in 601 with the answers to the questions and several more missionaries, including Saints Mellitus, Justus and Paulinus.

Having consolidated the position of the Church in Kent, Augustine set off to bring the Gospel to other parts of England. He was a very tall and strong man, and the miraculous signs that accompanied him were similarly great. Thus near York he healed a beggar who had been suffering from blindness and paralysis; he baptized vast numbers of people in the River Swale in Yorkshire; and on leaving York he healed a leper.

From Yorkshire Augustine headed for the borders of Wales, in order to meet the British bishops whose fathers had fled to the West to escape the invasions of the pagan Anglo-Saxons. Augustine had been given authority over the British bishops by St. Gregory; but the task of uniting with the British Christians did not prove to be easy. The first obstacle was that the British, having suffered much from the Anglo- Saxons, were not willing to join with Augustine in trying to convert them to the Faith. The second obstacle was that as a result of their isolation from the Church on the continent, the British Church had slipped into practices which were at variance with the apostolic traditions. One of these was that they sometimes allowed Pascha to be celebrated on the 14th day of Nisan, whereas the Council of Nicaea had decreed that it should never be celebrated before the 15th. Another was that they performed the sacrament of Baptism in an irregular manner. Augustine stipulated three conditions for union: that the British should correct these two canonical irregularities; and that they should cooperate with him in converting the Saxons.

However, the British refused to accede on any of these points. At length, Augustine suggested that they pray to God to reveal His will in the following manner: «Let a sick person be brought near, and by whosoever's prayers he will be healed, let the faith and works of that one be judged devout before God and an example for men to follow.» The British reluctantly agreed, and a blind Saxon was brought before them.

The British clergy tried, but failed to heal him. But through Augustinés prayers he received recovery of his sight. The British were impressed, but pleaded for time in which to discuss these questions with their elders before coming to a decision.

Augustine travelled to his second meeting with the British accompanied by Saints Mellitus and Justus. The British were represented by seven bishops and Abbot Dinoth of the great monastery of Bangor, which had over a thousand monks. Before the meeting they had approached a hermit and asked him how they should answer Augustine. He said that if Augustine rose when they entered, this showed that he was humble and should be obeyed. If he did not rise, then they should not accede to him. Therefore when Augustine did not rise at their entrance, the British became angry and refused both to accept his stipulations and to acknowledge him as their archbishop.

As the meeting broke up, St. Augustine prophesied that since the British had refused to cooperate in the conversion of the pagan English they would themselves be put to sword by the same English – a prophecy which was fulfilled a few years later when the pagan King Ethelfrid of Northumbria defeated the British in battle at Chester and killed 1200 of the monks of Bangor.

On his way back, Augustine passed through Dorset, where he was violently attacked by the inhabitants. At one time they beat him with fish tails, at another they seized weapons and torches. As they were jeering at him, he turned from preaching to prayer, and soon many of the pagans were afflicted with burning ulcers over their whole body. This had the effect of bringing them to their senses, and in the end multitudes were baptized.

Augustine and his companions went on and came to a barren spot, where the Lord revealed Himself to him. At the same time, a spring of water gushed up and converted the previous wilderness into a garden. Augustine called the place Cernel (now Cerne Abbas), which is compounded of the Hebrew word «El» or «God», and the Latin «Cerno», «I see».

On his return to the East, Augustine baptized King Sebert of Essex and consecrated St. Mellitus as bishop of Sebert's capital, London. In the same year he consecrated St. Justus as bishop of Rochester. Then just before his death he consecrated St. Laurence as his successor at Canterbury. These consecrations by a single bishop were blessed by St. Gregory as an exception to the apostolic rule that bishops should be consecrated by no less than two bishops, because of the fact that there were no other canonical bishops in Britain.

St. Augustine reposed in the Lord on May 26, 605, and was buried next to the unfinished church of Saints Peter and Paul.

In 607, the first abbot of Saints Peter and Paul, named Peter, was sent on a mission to Gaul, but was drowned in the Channel in the bay of Ambleteuse. He was buried by the local inhabitants in «an unworthy place», but a mysterious light appeared over his relics and he was translated with honour to a church in Boulogne. He was commemorated in his monastery on December 30.

St. Augustine was succeeded by St. Laurence, who assumed the supervision of the English Church and wrote, with his fellow bishops Mellitus and Justus, to the Celtic Christians in Ireland, exhorting them to unity. But to no avail. Moreover, after the death of King Aethelbert in 616, Laurence had to face a revival of idolatry in Kent under Aethelbert's son, Eadbald.

To make things worse, King Sebert of Essex also died, and his three sons, who were pagans, allowed the people to return to idolatry. Once, while St. Mellitus was celebrating the Liturgy, they came into the church and asked the bishop: «Why do you not give to us that which bread which you used to give to our father Saba (for so they used to call him), and which you still continue to give to the people in the church?» Mellitus replied: «If you will be washed in the laver of salvation, in which your father was washed, you may also partake of the holy bread of which he partook; but if you despise the laver of salvation, you may not receive the bread of life.» They replied: «We will not enter into that laver, because we do not know that we stand in need of it, and yet we will eat of that bread.» Eventually, after a further refusal, they became angry and forced Mellitus to leave London. He then decided to go to France with St. Justus until the storm passed over.

St. Laurence was also about to flee with them. But that night, the holy Apostle Peter appeared to him, and after scourging him for a long time said: «Why would you forsake the flock which has been committed to you? To what shepherds will you commit Christ's sheep who are in the midst of wolves? Have you forgotten my example, who for the sake of those little ones whom Christ recommended to me in token of His love, underwent at the hands of infidels and enemies of Christ, bonds, stripes, imprisonment, afflictions, and lastly, the death of the cross, that I might at last be crowned with Him?» The next morning, St. Laurence went to King Eadbald and, taking off his garment, showed him the scars of the stripes he had received from the Apostle. The king was astonished and asked who had presumed to give such stripes to such a great man. On hearing the truth, he was terrified, abandoned both his paganism and his unlawful marriage, and was baptized. Then Laurence went to France, and brought Mellitus and Justus back with him. Justus was restored to his see at Rochester, but Mellitus was not able to resume control of his see in London because of the strength of the pagan reaction.

Goscelin relates of St. Laurence that he performed many miracles; he raised the dead, walked on the sea, caused a fountain to spring up in a dry place, and after the manner of the Prophet Elijah brought down fire from heaven to consume the impious. Once, after building and consecrating a church in Scotland (perhaps a men's monastery?), he ordered that no woman should enter it. And when, in the late eleventh century, Queen Margaret of Scotland ventured to enter it, she was repulsed by some invisible force.

St. Laurence reposed on February 2, 619, and was buried in the church of Saints Peter and Paul.

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He was succeeded in the archbishopric by St. Mellitus. As we have seen, Mellitus was bishop of London before he succeeded to the archbishopric. And it was he who, at King Sebert's request, came to consecrate the first church at Westminster on the isle of Thorney, which is now the first church of the English capital, to God and the Apostle Peter.

The night before the consecration, according to the tradition related by the Monk Sulcard, while everyone was sleeping, the Apostle Peter appeared on the bank of the Thames and motioned to a fisherman to row him over to the island. After alighting on the island, as the fisherman watched, the apostle created two streams by striking the ground with his staff, and then proceeded to the newly built church to the accompaniment of the melodious voices of angels. Then the astonished spectator saw the heavens opened and the whole island bathed in a heavenly light as heaven and earth joined in magnificent service. Much as he wanted to depart, he was unable to, rooted as he was to the spot by the apostlés chains. And after the service Peter came back to the trembling fisherman and said: «Do not be afraid because of what you have seen and heard, for this is the will of God». Then he explained that he was the Apostle Peter, to whom this church was being dedicated, and that he should relate what he had seen and heard to St. Mellitus. When the bishop would come he would see that the walls had already been sealed with holy chrism, so he would not have to consecrate it. And the fisherman, whose name was Edric, was to present to Mellitus one of a miraculous catch of fish which he would obtain through the apostlés prayers, as a witness to the truth of his words. Everything turned out as the apostle said. The fishermen immediately cast his nets into the water of the river, and pulled in a huge catch of salmon. And St. Mellitus, coming into the church the next day, found the signs of the heavenly consecration already on the walls.

St. Mellitus suffered greatly from gout, but this did not dampen his zeal in the service of God. Once a great fire had already consumed a large part of Canterbury, and no human means seemed able to stop it. The bishop then ordered that he be carried to the church of the four martyrs, which was in the area where the fire raged most; and after his prayer, the wind suddenly changed from the south to the north, and the city was saved.

St. Mellitus reposed after five years as archbishop of Canterbury, on April 24, 624. He was succeeded by St. Justus, bishop of Rochester, who died in 627. And St. Justus was succeeded by St. Honorius, another Roman monk who had come to England in 601. He promoted missionary work and struggled against both the calendar schism and the Pelagian heresy.

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St. Honorius reposed in about 653, and eighteen months later was succeeded by the first native English archbishop, St. Deusdedit, who came from Sussex. He founded the monastery of Peterborough in 657 and a convent in Thanet. He died from the plague on July 14, 664, and was buried, as were all his predecessors, in the church of Saints Peter and Paul in Canterbury.

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In 747, at the Council of Clovesho, the days of St. Augustinés birth and repose were declared to be national feast-days. In 1011, when the Danes destroyed Canterbury, a Dane seized the pall from the tomb of St. Augustine and hid it under his arm. However, the pall clung to his flesh as if it had been glue, whereupon he went to the monks and repented. The Danes made no further attacks on the monastery. In 1091, during rebuilding of the monastery, St. Augustinés relics were uncovered and were found to be incorrupt. And on September 6, and a week later, on September 13, the bodies of all six of the first archbishops of Canterbury, Saints Augustine, Laurence, Mellitus, Justus, Honorius and Deusdedit were translated into new tombs to the accompaniment of many miracles. A translation feast was thereafter kept at Canterbury on September 13.

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Augustinés biographer, Goscelin, writing towards the end of the eleventh century, records many miracles wrought through his intercession. Here are some of them as presented in Cardinal Newman's retelling of Goscelin's account:-

«A Saxon, named Leodegarius, had been afflicted from his birth with dreadful contractions of the joints of his body, so as almost to resemble a monster rather than a human being. He is said to have passed many years of his life in moving, or rather creeping, from place to place, for, in truth, he wore the appearance of a reptile. He was a native of Germany, whence he had found his way to Rome, in hopes of benefiting by the prayers of some Saint. At length he came to England, and, one day, while watching during the night in the Abbey of St. Peter, at Westminster, he felt himself moved, by a Divine intimation, to seek help in the city of Canterbury.

«The next morning found him on his way to the metropolitan city, which he is said to have reached by taking ship at Greenwich, where, it seems, vessels were stationed for conveying the poor at the public charge. On arriving at Canterbury, a pious matron took pity on him, and provided him with board and lodging for the night. The next day, under her guidance, he repaired to the cathedral, and there, through the intervention of his charitable hostess, was admitted within the sanctuary, or precincts of the high altar. In this place he spent three nights in prayer. On the fourth morning he met with the reward of his perseverance. There appeared to him (as he related) three venerable figures, of patriarchal aspect and mien, bright as angels. The central figure was much taller than the others. His hair was white as snow, and seemed to take the form of a cross upon his ample forehead; his eyes beamed with sweetness, and his whole countenance was radiant and smiling. A priestly robe covered his person, so gorgeous that it seemed to rival the glory of Solomon, and it was confined at the waist by a clasp of gold. In his hand was a cross of great size and dazzling brilliancy. His companion on the right was of middle stature, with eyes of remarkable brightness, and a forehead like snow. On his left was one of dwarfish size, as if recorded of him who desired to receive Christ into his house; but his form was one of perfect symmetry and exquisite beauty. One and all were attired in vestments so rich and magnificent, that earth till then had never seen the like. The three strangers were observed to make for the spot where the poor cripple, with his limbs gathered up, was lying on the pavement. His infirmity was of such a kind as to render variety of posture impracticable; standing, sitting, lying, and kneeling were all alike to him.

«On reaching him the strangers suddenly paused. The poor helpless creature gazed on them with an awe which came near to terror. At length the central priest beckoned to his companion on the left, to signify to the cripple that they came as ministers of mercy. He approached him and said, it was blessed Augustine who had come to heal him. Hardly had the name of Augustine passed his lips when the other seemed to hear God speaking to him, and addressing himself to the chief visitor, «It is you,» he said, »most clement father, whom I see; you, of all the Saints, a Divine voice has told it me, are to be my deliverer.» Thereupon St. Augustine deputed his two companions to exercise the gift of healing, and they proceeded to lift him up, the one applying the hand of power to the upper part of his body, the other implanting strength in his knees and ankle-bones. The cure is described as more painful than the malady. While it was in progress (for it was not instantaneous) the poor man, as we read, cried out lustily for mercy. At length his body, which had been a mass of disease and deformity, assumed its natural shape, and the three wonderful benefactors disappeared in the direction of their several tombs. Meanwhile, the sacristan and keepers of the church, who had been aroused from their sleep by cries of distress proceeding from the sanctuary, had repaired to the spot, where to their astonishment they found the poor man, whose hapless condition they had commiserated the day before, in the full possession of health and activity. He related to them the circumstances of his visit to Canterbury, and learned that the three shrines from which they had appeared to issue, and among which his eyes had afterwards lost them, were those of St. Augustine and his two companions, St. Laurence and St. Mellitus. These, then, were the strangers on right and left.

«A great number of the miraculous narratives of which St. Augustine of Canterbury is the subject have their scene on the wide ocean... Among those a foremost place is given by Goscelin to the wonderful preservation of King Canute from perils on the sea, on his return from his great pilgrimage to Rome [in 1031]. A terrible storm is said to have overtaken him when he was just within sight of the English shore. He betook himself to St. Augustine, whose favour he had experienced throughout his travels, and vowed large gifts to his shrine. Soon after, the storm ceased, and the vessel got safe to shore.

«A somewhat similar intervention was vouchsafed in the case of Egelvius, Abbot of Ethelingey, who had also been to Rome to pay his devotions at the tomb of the Apostles. On his return home, he and his companions were detained six full weeks by contrary winds, during which time their money was all expended in the purchase of necessaries, and they were obliged to sell their horses and apparel. At length one of the party, a monk, named Withgar, of age and prudence, encouraged the Abbot to look for help from the guardianship and intercessions of his island Saints, and besought him to implore their good offices. The Abbot complied, and chiefly betook himself to St. Augustine, who held a first place among the holy patrons of England, vowing that should he ever again be granted a sight of his beloved abbey, he would erect from the foundation a tower to the honour of God, under his tutelage. Then falling asleep, there appeared to him a ship rapidly approaching him, in which was one of priestly dignity and heavenly beauty, clad in shining vestments, who waved his hand to the home-sick pilgrims as if inviting them to him. Then the Abbot awoke, and while he was relating the vision to his companion, the pilot rushed in full of joy, with the tidings that a favourable breeze had sprung up, and that no time was to be lost. The ship reached England in safety. The Abbot, upon his arrival, repaired to Canterbury, where the hospitable successor of our Saint received him with open arms, and like a worthy steward of the bounty of such a father, set himself to make good the losses of his guest.

«The good Abbot was faithful to his vow, and laid the foundation of his tower. He obtained, not without difficulty, six great beams; the seventh, long refused, was at last given for love of the Saint. When they came to measure it, it was found half a yard too short; and the Abbot, not without hope that the Saint might once more grant him his aid, measured it again, and found it now as much too long as it had been before too short. His workman was about to make it the right length; but this the Abbot would by no means allow, as esteeming it a disrespect to the Saint's overflowing bounty...

«Elfnoth, a member of one of the principal families of London, had been brought up from his childhood in St. Augustinés under the care of Abbot Ulfric. He had been staying in Normandy with Duke William, and was on his return to England, when, midway across the Channel, a storm arose. The ship was wrecked, and all perished, with the single exception of the young Elfnoth, who ceased not to call on his holy father for help; when, at length descrying a broken mast in the water, he threw himself upon it and there remained, the sport of the waves. His faith was tried for two whole days and nights; the third morning dawned in serenity, and he was rescued from death by a friendly vessel from the Norman coast.

«Goscelin also speaks of certain monks of St. Augustinés, contemporaries of his own, and alive when he wrote, who had made the following statement upon their oaths. On a certain year, about Pentecost, they were on their way from Constantinople to Venice, and had on board 150 men, many of them learned clergy and laymen, besides a number of others. The wind rose, and became so strong as to endanger a vessel thus heavily laden. They took in their sails, and, availing themselves of the first anchorage they found, remained for several days exposed to the violent beating of the waves. It so happened, in the year in question, that the festival of St. Augustine [May 26] fell during Whitsuntide, and various were the feelings under which the holy brethren looked forward to its near approach at so trying and anxious a time. On the one hand, it was a grief to them that they must celebrate it to such disadvantage; on the other, they could not but esteem it providential that a season so full of promise should befall at such a moment. It happened that on board were several Greeks as well as Italians, and it was a great delight to the holy brethren to spend the mean season in recounting to them the history of the Saint whose day was coming on. They told how the illustrious Gregory, Augustinés spiritual father, had been connected with those very parts, having lived for some time at Constantinople...; and how, out of his great charity to the English nation, he had sent this Augustine to preach Christ among them. With such delightful converse did they beguile the weary time; and at length the whole party on board were wrought into a kind of enthusiasm at the prospect of honouring God in Augustine, spiritual child of Gregory, and apostle of the English nation. They added, that among all the Saints of their own country, there was not one so powerful in his intercession, so large in his munificence, as blessed Augustine; neither did they doubt that, should the crew join in commemorating him with a holy unanimity, some mighty deliverance might be expected to follow. The next Sunday was the day of his festival, and whatever outward accompaniments of ceremonial splendour there lacked, were more than supplied by the overflowing joy of the heart. The Vespers of the Saint were chanted by the numerous body of priests and clerics, all the crew assisting at the service, and then the night was spent in watching, with prayer and praise. In the glowing words of the biographer: «The ship was our church, its mast the watch-tower of Sion; the sail-yard our cross, the sails our drapery, the prow our altar, the priest boatswain, the arch-priest pilot, the rowers clerics; the creaking cables our instruments of music, the whistlings of the wind our bellows and pipes. Around us were the spacious courts of ocean, and the countless multitude of the waves responded to the voice of the chanters by their incessant dashings. The church of the waters resounded with the note, «O ye seas and floods, bless ye the Lord, bless Him O ye whales and all that move in the waters,» and the waters joined in the response with the quires above; all sang of Christ in high solemnity, and of Augustine, the servant of Christ.»

«Lauds were chanted towards daybreak, and then all retired to rest except the helmsman. He remained observing the stars, and trying the wind. On a sudden it came home to him that St. Augustinés agency had been blessed. The violent wind subsided into the softest of breezes, and that a favourable one. He blew his whistle and shouted aloud, and for a moment the sleepers doubted whether all were not over. But a moment after they were greeted with the joyful words, «Up, comrades: God is with us;» and the pilot continued, »It is St. Augustine, whose Feast we are keeping; he is helmsman, boatswain, master, and all.» All were speedily on the alert, and Mass was sung in high jubilee.

«Goscelin relates many other histories of the same description. One more only shall be selected. In the village of Chilham, nor far from Canterbury, was a little girl, eight years of age, the hope and comfort of a widowed mother. She was the life and spirit of her home; but some sad chance befell her, by which she lost the power of speech. Her mother, instead of having recourse to a human physician, took her to the parish priest, by name Elfhelm, who addressed her as follows: «The Feast of St. Augustine is at hand; go then and prepare a waxen taper, and with it watch out the vigil of that day whereon the Day-spring from on high first visited us; and let your child be the companion of your prayers. If you will but persevere in faith, we verily believe that, through God's goodness, you will not be disappointed.» The devout matron, armed with faith, and as at the bidding of an angel, is ready with the light on the appointed day, and repairs with her child to the shrine of her heavenly physician, where both keep vigil in prayer... The mother prays and utters her plaints aloud; the daughter can but sigh and vent her devotion and her grief in low inarticulate sounds; but the ears of the Saint are open to both. Now swell on high, at the close of matins, the solemn words of the hymn to the Thrice-Holy, the Abbot intoning the first notes, and his children of the monastery taking up the strain in chorus. When they come to the words, »The Holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge Theé, the tongue of the damsel was suddenly loosened, and she was able to bear her part in the chorus of the Universal Church.»

In modern times, St. Augustine is believed to have interceded to save the British army during the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940. The operation began on May 26, 1940, which is the feast of St. Augustine according to the Anglican church calendar; and King George V asked that that day be declared a National Day of Prayer, calling on the people of Britain and the Empire «to commit their cause to God». In the opinion of many, the successful evacuation of the British army from Dunkirk was nothing short of a miracle, for which God and God's apostle to England, St. Augustine, must undoubtedly be given glory.

St. Augustine is commemorated on May 26, St. Lawrence on February 2, St. Mellitus on April 24, St. Justus on November 10, St. Honorius on September 30, and St. Deusdedit on July 15.

Holy Fathers Augustine, Lawrence, Mellitus, Justus, Honorius and Deusdedit, pray to God

for us!

(Sources: The Venerable Bede, A History of the English Church and People; St. Gregory the Great, Epistles; Goscelin, Historia Translations S. Augustini, books I and II; Monk Sulcard, Libellus de Fundatione Abbatiae Westmonasteriensis, P.G. CLV, 1636–1638; John Henry Newman, Lives of the English Saints, London: Freemantle, 1901, volume 3; David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints; Fr. Andrew Phillips, «A Canterbury Tale: The Miracle at Dunkirk», in Orthodox Christianity and the English Tradition, Frithgarth: English Orthodox Trust, 1995, pp. 463–466; Nicholas Brooks, The Early History of the Church of Canterbury, London and New York: Leicester University Press, 1996).