How St. Augustine made Mellitus and Justus bishops; and of his death. [604 A.D.]
IN the year of our Lord 604, Augustine, Archbishop of Britain,
ordained two bishops, to wit, Mellitus and Justus; 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, 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 thc city of Dorubrevis,
which the English call Hrofaescaestrae, 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, 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, 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, the
body was brought in, and fittingly buried in the north chapel a
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.' 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"
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.
LAURENTIUS succeeded Augustine in the bishopric, having been
ordained thereto by the latter, in his lifetime, lest, upon his
death, the Church, as yet in so unsettled a state, might begin to
falter, if it should be destitute of a pastor, though but for one
hour. Wherein he also followed the example of the first pastor of
the Church, that is, of the most blessed Peter, chief of the
Apostles, who, having founded the Church of Christ at Rome, is
said to have consecrated Clement to help him in preaching the
Gospel, and at the same time to be his successor. Laurentius,
being advanced to the rank of archbishop, laboured indefatigably,
both by frequent words of holy exhortation and constant example
of good works to strengthen the foundations of the Church, which
had been so nobly laid, and to carry it on to the fitting height
of perfection. In short, he not only took charge of the new
Church formed among the English, but endeavoured also to bestow
his pastoral care upon the tribes of the ancient inhabitants of
Britain, as also of the Scots, who inhabit the island of Ireland,
which is next to Britain. For when he understood that the life
and profession of the Scots in their aforesaid country, as well
as of the Britons in Britain, was not truly in accordance with
the practice of the Church in many matters, especially that they
did not celebrate the festival of Easter at the due time, but
thought that the day of the Resurrection of our Lord ought, as
has been said above, to be observed between the 14th and 20th of
the moon; he wrote, jointly with his fellow bishops, a hortatory
epistle, entreating and conjuring them to keep the unity of peace
and Catholic observance with the Church of Christ spread
throughout the world. The beginning of which epistle is as
follows:
"To our most dear brethren, the Lords Bishops and Abbots
throughout all the country of the Scots,' Laurentius, Mellitus,
and Justus, Bishops, servants of the servants of God. When the
Apostolic see, according to the universal custom which it has
followed elsewhere, sent us to these western parts to preach to
pagan nations, and it was our lot to come into this island, which
is called Britain, before we knew them, we held both the Britons
and Scots in great esteem for sanctity, believing that they
walked according to the custom of the universal Church; but
becoming acquainted with the Britons, we thought that the Scots
had been better. Now we have learnt from Bishop Dagan, who came
into this aforesaid island, and the Abbot Columban, (Note: The
most famous of the great Irish missionaries who laboured on the
Continent. He was born in Leinster about 540, went to Gaul
about 574, founded three monasteries (Annegray, Luxeuil, and
Fontaines), worked for twenty years among the Franks and
Burgundians, afterwards among the Suevi and Alemanni, and finally
in Italy, where he founded a monastery at Bobbio and died there
in 615. He was a vigorous supporter of the Celtic usages
and an active opponent of Arianism. He instituted a monastic rule
of great severity.) in Gaul, that the Scots in no way differ from
the Britons in their walk; for when Bishop Dagan came to us, not
only did he refuse to eat at the same table, but even to eat in
the same house where we were entertained."
Also Laurentius with his fellow bishops wrote a letter to the
bishops of the Britons, suitable to his degree, by which he
endeavoured to confirm them in Catholic unity; but what he gained
by so doing the present times still show.
About this time, Mellitus, bishop of London, went to Rome, to
confer with the Apostolic Pope Boniface about the necessary
affairs of the English Church. And the same most reverend pope,
assembling a synod of the bishops of Italy, to prescribe rules
for the life and peace of the monks, Mellitus also sat among
them, in the eighth year of the reign of the Emperor Phocas, the
thirteenth incliction, on the 27th of February, to the end that
he also might sign and confirm by his authority whatsoever should
be regularly decreed, and on his return into Britain might carry
the decrees to the Churches of the English, to be committed to
them and observed; together with letters which the same pope sent
to the beloved of God, Archbishop Laurentius, and to all the
clergy; as likewise to King Ethelbert and the English nation.
This pope was Boniface, the fourth after the blessed Gregory,
bishop of the city of Rome. He obtained for the Church of Christ
from the Emperor Phocas the gift of the temple at Rome called by
the ancients Pantheon, as representing all the gods; wherein he,
having purified, it from all defilement, dedicated a church to
the holy Mother of God, and to all Christ's martyrs, to the end
that, the company of devils being expelled, the blessed company
of the saints might have therein a perpetual memorial.