St. Augustine of Canterbury

St. Augustine of Canterbury, known as the “Apostle of the English,” was a Benedictine monk and the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Pope Gregory the Great asked Augustine to lead a mission to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons in England. Even under trying conditions, Augustine led and encouraged the group and ultimately his trip was very successful, converting King Æthelbert of Kent and one thousand Anglo-Saxons during Christmas Mass in 597. Augustine also organized Catholicism in England as a whole, consecrating the first Bishop of both London and Rochester and setting the foundation for the future of Christianity on the island.