So we see that the Anglo-Saxon invasion did not destroy the life of the
British Church, but rather that the offshoots in Cornwall, Ireland and
Scotland were, in reality, one body, bound together by frequent
intercourse. At the end of the 6th century, the figure of St Augustine
compels our attention, for through his instrumentality the preaching of
the Western Church--at that time reconstructed by Gregory the
Great--reached Saxon England, and Benedictine influences were
introduced. Augustine converted Ethelbert, King of the Jutes in Kent,
and in course of time was made first Archbishop of Canterbury. But
though he endeavoured to preach the Gospel further afield, he, like
Paulinus, the missionary sent to Britain by Gregory, who subsequently
introduced Christianity to the Angles in Northumbria, did not live to
extend his work much beyond one province. Augustine met with much
opposition from the British bishops on such vexed questions as the
tonsure, the date on which to celebrate Easter Day and the manner of
Baptism, and Laurentius his successor failed also to ingratiate himself
in their favour. For half a century the two Churches--the British and
the Continental--worked independently of each other, and it was not
until the two collaborated that the conversion of Saxon England
progressed uninterruptedly. This came about when Felix, a Burgundian
monk, known as the “Apostle of East Anglia,” began to preach in England
with the help of a Scottish monk named Fursey, having previously
obtained official authority from Rome. After landing at Dunwich, Felix
began his mission, and, gaining the attention of the people, built many
churches and established schools. Fursey founded several monasteries,
into one of which he persuaded Sigberct, King of East Anglia, to retire
for the rest of his life--a precedent followed by various monarchs.
Oswald’s recovery of the province of Northumbria from Penda, King of the
Mercians, who had endeavoured to wipe out the good work of Paulinus in
that kingdom, led to the second introduction of Christianity there, and
this time by some monks of Iona. Aidan, one of the brethren at Iona, was
sent to Oswald in 635, and after being raised to episcopal dignity
founded the monastery at Lindisfarne, now called Holy Island, to the
influence and work of whose inmates much of the subsequent conversion of
England was due. The admittance of the provinces of Northumbria, Essex
and Mercia to the Christian faith was directly owing to the work of the
Lindisfarne monks. Meanwhile a monk, called Birinus, sent by Pope
Honorius, had landed on the south-west coast in 634, and labouring among
the people of Wessex had won favour in the sight of Cyengils, their
King, who installed him as Bishop of Dorchester in 636. Sussex was the
last kingdom to be influenced, its conversion being brought about by St
Wilfrid, who founded a cathedral at Selsey and established many
monasteries in the district.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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