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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.
CHAP. III.
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"
CHAP. IV.
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.
