Bede's Ecclesiastical History of EnglandBede, the Venerable, Saint
History
Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England
Bede, the Venerable, Saint
England -- Church history -- 449-1066
In the year of our Lord 604, Augustine, Archbishop of Britain, ordained
two bishops, to wit, Mellitus and Justus;(174) Mellitus to preach to the
province of the East-Saxons, who are divided from Kent by the river
Thames, and border on the Eastern sea. Their metropolis is the city of
London, which is situated on the bank of the aforesaid river, and is the
mart of many nations resorting to it by sea and land. At that time,
Sabert, nephew to Ethelbert through his sister Ricula, reigned over the
nation, though he was under subjection to Ethelbert, who, as has been said
above, had command over all the nations of the English as far as the river
Humber. But when this province also received the word of truth, by the
preaching of Mellitus, King Ethelbert built the church of St. Paul the
Apostle,(175) in the city of London, where he and his successors should
have their episcopal see. As for Justus, Augustine ordained him bishop in
Kent, at the city of Dorubrevis, which the English call
Hrofaescaestrae,(176) from one that was formerly the chief man of it,
called Hrof. It is about twenty-four miles distant from the city of
Canterbury to the westward, and in it King Ethelbert dedicated a church to
the blessed Apostle Andrew,(177) and bestowed many gifts on the bishops of
both those churches, as well as on the Bishop of Canterbury, adding lands
and possessions for the use of those who were associated with the bishops.
After this, the beloved of God, our father Augustine, died,(178) and his
body was laid outside, close by the church of the blessed Apostles, Peter
and Paul, above spoken of, because it was not yet finished, nor
consecrated, but as soon as it was consecrated,(179) the body was brought
in, and fittingly buried in the north chapel(180) thereof; wherein also
were interred the bodies of all the succeeding archbishops, except two
only, Theodore and Bertwald, whose bodies are in the church itself,
because the aforesaid chapel could contain no more.(181) Almost in the
midst of this chapel is an altar dedicated in honour of the blessed Pope
Gregory, at which every Saturday memorial Masses are celebrated for the
archbishops by a priest of that place. On the tomb of Augustine is
inscribed this epitaph:
“Here rests the Lord Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, who, being
of old sent hither by the blessed Gregory, Bishop of the city of Rome, and
supported by God in the working of miracles, led King Ethelbert and his
nation from the worship of idols to the faith of Christ, and having ended
the days of his office in peace, died the 26th day of May, in the reign of
the same king.”
Chap. IV. How Laurentius and his bishops admonished the Scots to observe
the unity of the Holy Church, particularly in keeping of Easter; and how
Mellitus went to Rome.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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