 | Augustine(of Canterbury,St.)The apostle of the Anglo-Saxon (597-604)
1.
| Augustine and St. Gregory The date of Augustine’s birth is not certain. He died in 604. Very little is known of his youth either, except that he was probably of an upper class Roman family and that early in life he became a monk in the famous Benedictine monastery of St. Andrew, erected in 575 by St. Gregory (the future Pope Gregory the Great) out of his own patrimony in Rome on the Cælian Hill. St. Gregory ruled the monastery for a decade, before being elected Pope in 590. It was thus amid the religious intimacies of the Benedictine Rule and in the bracing atmosphere of a recent foundation that the character of the future missionary, Augustine, was formed.
Chance is said to have furnished the opportunity for the enterprise which was destined to link Augustne’s name for all time with that of his friend and patron, St. Gregory, as the “true beginner” of one of the most important Churches in Christendom, the Church of England, and the medium by which the authority of the Roman See was established over people of the English-speaking race.
1a.
| The very famous and reliable English historian, a Benedictine monk called the Venerable Bede, who died in 735, relates the well known version of Gregory’s first casual encounter with English slaves in the Roman market place. Bede relates how Gregory, who was at that time only a papal deacon, was impressed by the external beauty of these English youth, but was saddened when he was told that they were not Christians. Gregory was told that they were “Angli”(from England), to which he answered “Non Angli, sed Angeli”(not Angles, but Angels).
Some five years after his elevation to the Roman See (590) Gregory began to look about him for ways and means to carry out the dream of his earlier days to evangelize England. He naturally turned to the community he had founded and ruled for more than a decade in the monastery on the Cælian Hill. Out of these monks, the Pope selected a company of about forty monks and designated Augustine, at that time Prior of the monastery, to be their representative and spokesman. The appointment, as will appear later on, seems to have been of a somewhat indeterminate character; but from this time forward until Augustine’s death in 604, it is to Augustine as “strengthened by the confirmation of the the Pope Gregory the Great” that English (as distinguished from British) Christianity owes its primary inspiration. | 1b.
| The event which afforded Pope Gregory the opportunity he had so long desired of carrying out his great missionary plan in favour of the English happened with the advent of King Ethelbert (or Aethelberht), who became king of Kent in the year 580 or 590. He ruled the Anglo-Saxon kigdom until his death on February 24, 616.
In less than twenty years, King Ethelbert succeeded in establishing an overlordship that extended all over the Anglo-Saxon territory. He acquired such a political importance that his fame began to be felt by the Frankish princes on the other side of the Channel. The Christian king Charibert of Paris gave him his daughter Bertha in marriage, stipulating, as part of the nuptial agreement, that she should be allowed the free exercise of her religion. The condition was accepted and Luidhard (or Letard), a Frankish bishop, accompanied the princess to her new home in Canterbury, where the ruined church of St. Martin, situated a short distance beyond the walls, and dating from Roman-British times, was set apart for her use. This marriage helped king Ethelbert building an alliance with the most powerful state in Europe (the Franks) at that time.The date of this marriage must have occurred about twenty years before the arrival of Augustine and the 40 monks to England. Augustine, King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha are the three main personalities directly involved in the evangelization of England. Many historians agree that the influence of Queen Bertha may have led to the invitation to Pope Gregory to send missionaries to England. | 1c.
| The Christian Gospel had been preached in Britain centuries before king Ethelbert ascended the Anglo-Saxon throne. When Queen Bertha arrived in Canterbury, as we have seen, she saw the very old Church of St Martin, dating from Roman-British times and which is the oldest Church in England. Christian missionaries had reached England before 200, and by 300 the Celtic peoples of the island were largely Christian; but in the 400’s southeastern Britain (what we now call England) was invaded by tribes of pagan Anglo-Saxons (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) who subdued the Christian Celts or drove them north and west into Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The missionary activity of Augustine and the 40 monks belongs to the period of the reconversion of England, which was then accomplished by Celtic missionaries entering England from the north and west, and Roman missionaries entering from the south and east. |
| 2.
| Missionary journey of Augustine and the 40 monks from Rome to England (June, 596- Spring 597)
The itinerary seem to have been speedily, if vaguely, prepared; the little company set out upon their long journey in the month of June, 596. They were armed with letters to the bishops and Christian princes of the countries through which they were likely to pass, and they were further instructed to provide themselves with Frankish interpreters before setting foot in Britain itself. Discouragement, however, appears early to have overtaken them on their way. Some monks even asked to return to Rome. Pope Gregory had to intervene personally and give assurances to the missionaries, especially to Augustine, who in the meantime had returned to Rome to speak to the Pope personally about the crisis of the missionaries. Pope Gregory was very understanding and supportive. He officially named Augustine Abbot of the missionary community of the Benedictine monks in England. Augustine rushed back to join the community of monks and reassured them of the Pope’s support.
The missionaries pushed on through Gaul, passing up through the valley of the Rhone to Arles on their way to Vienne and Autun, and thence northward, by one of several alternatives routes which it is impossible now to fix with accuracy, until they came to Paris. Here, in all probability, they passed the winter months; and here, they must have received a warm welcome, because Queen Bertha was from Paris.
2a.
| In the spring of the following year (597) they were ready to embark. The name of the port at which they took ship has not been recorded. Boulogne was at that time a place of some mercantile importance; and it is not improbable that they directed their steps there to find a suitable vessel in which they could complete the last and not least hazardous portion of their journey. All that we know for certain is that they landed somewhere on the Isle of Thanet in 597 and that they waited there in obedience to king Ethelbert’s orders until arrangements could be made for a formal interview. The king replied to their messengers that he would come in person from Canterbury, which was less than a dozen miles away.
The promised interview between the king and the missionaries took place within a few days. It was held in the open air, on a level spot, probably under a spreading oak in deference to the king's dread of Augustine's possible incantations. Ethelbert held a belief that under an oak tree he could dispel any magic the Christians might attempt. His fear, however, was dispelled by the wonderful grace of manner and the kindly personality of his chief guest who addressed him through an interpreter. The message told was “how the compassionate Jesus had redeemed a world of sin by His own agony and opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all who would believe”. The king’s answer, while gracious in its friendliness, was curiously prophetic of the religious after-temper of his race. “Your words and promises are very fair” he is said to have replied, “but as they are new to us and of uncertain import, I cannot assent to them and give up what I have long held in common with the whole English nation. But since you have come as strangers from so great a distance, and, as I take it, are anxious to have us also share in what you conceive to be both excellent and true, we will not interfere with you, but receive you, rather, in kindly hospitality and take care to provide what may be necessary for your support. Moreover, we make no objection to your winning as many converts as you can to your creed”.
| 2b.
| The king more than made good his words. He invited the missionaries to take up their abode in the royal capital of Canterbury.
In spite of the squalid character of the city, the monks must have made an impressive picture as they drew near the abode “over against the kings’ Street facing the north”, assigned them for a dwelling. The building set apart for their use must have been fairly large to afford shelter to a community numbering fully forty. It stood in the Stable Gate, not far from the ruins of an old pagan temple. Here Augustine and his companions seemed to have established without delay the ordinary routine of the Benedictine rule as practiced at the close of the sixth century; and to it they seem to have added in a quiet way the apostolic ministry of preaching.
The church dedicated to St. Martin in the eastern part of the city, which had been set apart for the convenience of Bishop Luidhard and Queen Bertha's followers many years before, was also thrown open to them until the king should permit a more highly organized attempt at evangelization. |
| 3.
| First conversions
The evident sincerity of the missionaries, their single-mindedness, their courage under trial, and, above all, the disinterested character of Augustine himself and the unworldly note of his doctrine made a profound impression on the mind of the king. He asked to be instructed and his baptism was decided to take place at Pentecost. Whether the queen and her Frankish bishop had any real hand in the process of this comparatively sudden conversion, it is impossible to say. St. Gregory's letter written to Bertha herself, when the news of the king's baptism had reached Rome, would lead us to infer, that, while little or nothing had been done before Augustine's arrival, afterwards there was an endeavor on the part of the queen to make up for past remissness. King Ethelbert’s conversion naturally gave a great impetus to the enterprise of Augustine and his companions.
Augustine himself determined to act at once upon the provisional instruction he had received from Pope Gregory. He crossed over to Gaul and sought episcopal consecration at the hands of Virgilius, the Metropolitan of Arles (597). Returning almost immediately to Kent, he made preparations for that more active and open form of propaganda for which Ethelbert baptism had prepared a way. It is characteristic of the spirit which actuated Augustine and his companions that no attempt was made to secure converts on a large scale by the employment of force. Bede tells us that it was part of the king’s uniform policy “to compel no man to embrace Christianity”.
3a.
| On Christmas Day, 597, more than ten thousand persons were baptized by Augustine, the first “Archbishop of the English”. The great ceremony probably took place in the waters of the Swale, not far from the mouth of the Medway. News of these extraordinary events was at once dispatched to the pope, who wrote in turn to express his joy to his friends, to Augustine himself and to the king and queen. King Ethelbert was later baptized. The date of his Baptism is not certain. But the very positive attitude of the king towards Christianity and later his own Baptism, were very advantagious to the spreading of Christianity among the Anglo-Saxon.
King Ethelbert also established a written code of laws for Kent, the earliest in any Anglo-Saxon kingdom, which provided for the protection of the Church and instituted a complex system of fines. The nature of the law code is evidence that Kent was a relatively organized and centralized kingdom under Ethelbert.
He built the cathedral of Saint Andrew in Rochester and the monastery of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (later the cathedral of Saint Augustine) at Canterbury; and influenced the conversion of King Sabert of the East Saxons, in whose territory he built the church of Saint Paul, London. He died on 24 February 616; but because that is the Feast of Matthias the Apostle, he is commemorated on 25 February.
Ethelbert was later canonised for his role in restoring Christianity to Great Britain.
In this commemorative stamp, Augustine is shown baptising King Ethelbert, the King of Kent and the first English king to be converted to Christianity.
| 3b.
| In 598, Augustine sent to Rome Laurence the priest and Peter the monk with a letter to inforrn Pope Gregory that the English had received the faith of Christ and that he himself had been made their bishop.
He asked for more missionaries, suggesting that his forty or so companions were not enough to look after the large number of converts. He also sent nine questions to Pope Gregory asking for advice on pastoral and administrative matters. The messengers came back late, probably in 601, with the Pope’s answer to the nine questions.
The pope had also expressed surprise and sadness at the lack of episcopal missionary zeal among Ethelbert Christian neighbours. Whether we are to understand the Pope’s phrase “ex vicinis” (from neighbours) as referring to Gaulish prelates or to the Celtic bishops of northern and western Britain, the fact remains that neither queen Bertha's piety, nor bishop Luidhard's preaching, nor Ethelbert’s toleration, nor the traditional robust faith of British or Gaulish neighbouring peoples was actively taking the advantage of the favourable historical situation, untill Pope Gregory decided to send Augustine and the 40 Benedictine monks. |
| 4.
| Augustine’s conflict with the Celtic bishops As we have seen, Christianity had reached Britain long before the arrival of Agustine and the 40 monks.
Christianity had entered England via various routes: trade routes, Roman army and early missionaries like St. Patrick.
Christian missionaries had reached England before 200, and by 300 the Celtic peoples of the island were largely Christian.
The testimony of Tertullian who died in 230, is very strong. He wrote that ‘British districts were inaccessible to Roman arms but subdued by Christ’. In 240 Origen could declare that ‘Christianity is a unifying force among the Britons’. Thus by the end of the third century Christianity was far from being novel to the British tribes.
Many English bishops and clerics participated in the early church councils. British bishops attended the Council of Nicaea in 325 and were very active participants in other regional councils.
St. Martin Church is probably one of the oldest church in England, which is still in use as a parish church. St. Martin Church was most probably build as a Roman church in the 4th century outside the walls of Canterbury. On the arrival of Queen Bertha with her chaplain Bishop Liudhard, it was restored and used for the Queen worship.
It was rededicated to St. Martin of Tours by Bishop Liudhard (not surprising for a princess who came from Tours and a Gaulish bishop).
King Ethelbert gave it to Augustine and his monks for their worship.
Christianity was not the only religion in Britain. Many other religions coexisted. Upon the demise of the Western Roman Empire and the subsequent invasion of the pagan Anglo-Saxon in the mid of the 5th century, the influence of Christianity in England decreased; but a more powerful Christian presence remained in the north and the west.
The main target of Agustine’s mission was the return of christianity to the Anglo-Saxon and central and eastern provinces.
4a.
| We can easily understand now the ill feelings and hatred that the Celtic people of the North and West harboured for the invading pagan Anglo-Saxons. The conversion of king Ethelbert and of many Anglo-Saxons to Christianity had brought immense joy to Augustine and his monks, but the Celtic Christians and their bishops of the North (who had inherited a long tradition of Christianity in their land centuries before the arrival of the Roman missionaries) saw very differently the whole situation. Augustine, who had been so successful in the evangelization of the Anglo-Saxon, was not so successful in dealing with the Celtic Bishops. Augustine wanted to unify all the bishops of Britain both in liturgical matters and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. We will see later that in a letter written to the Pope, of the nine questions he asked the Pope for an answer, two questions dealt with liturgy and bishops. Augustine had all the support of the Pope, who in 601 had sent him the pallium of Metropolitan Bishop of all England. But the Pope is very caucious in granting Augustine any absolute authority.
| 4b.
| With regard to the delicate question of jurisdiction , Augustine is informed that he is to exercise no authority over the churches of Gaul; but that “all the bishops of Britain are entrusted to him, to the end that the unlearned may be instructed, the wavering strengthened by persuasion and the perverse corrected with authority”. Augustine seized the first convenient opportunity to carry out the graver provisions of this last enactment. Among the fresh recruits sent by the Pope to help Augustine, “were Mellitus, Justus, Paulinus, and Ruffinianus". Of these Ruffinianus was afterwards chosen abbot of the monastery established by Augustine in honour of St. Peter outside the eastern walls of the Kentish capital. Mellitus became the first English Bishop of London; Justus was appointed to the new see of Rochester, and Paulinus became the Metropolitan of York.
King Ethelbert allowed his wider territory to be mapped out into dioceses, and exerted himself in Augustine’s behalf to bring about a meeting with the Celtic bishops. The conference took place in Malmesbury, on the borders of Wessex, not far from the Severn, at a spot long described in popular legend as Austin's Oak. Nothing came of this attempt to introduce ecclesiastical uniformity. Augustine seems to have been willing enough to yield certain points; but on three important issues he would not compromise. He insisted on keeping the date of Easter as in other Churches of Europe. He insisted on a common liturgy for the Sacrament of Baptism (three immersion to express the Trinitarian aspent of the Sacrament) and on the duty of taking active measures in concert with him for the evangelization of the Anglo-Saxon conquerors. The Celtic bishops refused to yield, and the meeting was broken up. A second conference was afterwards planned at which only seven of the Celtic bishops convened. They were accompanied this time by a group of their “most learned men”. The result was, if anything, more discouraging than before. Accusations of unworthy motives were freely bandied on both sides. Augustine's Roman regard for form, together with his punctiliousness for personal precedence as Pope Gregory's representative, gave umbrage to the Celts. They denounced the Archbishop for his pride, and retired behind their mountains. As they were on the point of withdrawing, they heard the only angry threat that is recorded of the saint: “If you will not have peace with the brethren, you shall have war from your enemies; and if you will not preach the way of life to the English, you shall suffer the punishment of death at their hands”.
| 4c.
| These efforts toward Catholic unity with the Celtic bishops and the constitution of a well-defined hierarchy for the Anglo-Saxon Church are the last recorded acts of the saint’s life. He died in the same year as Pope Gregory, his beloved father and patron (604). He was buried, in true Roman fashion, outside the walls of the Kentish capital in a grave dug by the side of the great Roman road which then ran from Deal to Canterbury over St. Martin's Hill and near the unfinished abbey church which he had begun in honour of SS. Peter and Paul and which was afterwards to be dedicated to his memory. When the monastery was completed, his relics were translated to a tomb prepared for them in the north porch.
In this commemorative stamp, Archbishop Augustine is shown outside the Cathedral at Canterbury, which he founded. The Kent coastline is also represented in the design. |
| 5.
| Augustine’s nine questions to Pope Gregory
(this document contains the nine questions to the Pope and his nine answers, the most important of which are those that touch upon the local differences of ritual, the question of jurisdiction, and the perpetually recurring problem of marriage relationships. We will emphasize the questions and answers related to evangelization. We will give all nine questions in full, but, for brevity sake, we will give a few answers in full, others abridged. )
5a.
| The first question of Augustine:
How should bishops live with their clergy ?
How are the offerings which the faithful bring to the altar to be apportioned, and how ought a bishop to act in the church?
The answer of Pope Gregory:
Holy Scripture, which no doubt you know well, bears witness, and especially the epistles of the blessed Paul to Timothy, in which he tried to instruct him how he ought to behave himself in the house of God. Now it is the custom of the Apostolic See to deliver an injunction to bishops when ordained, that of all emoluments that come in, four divisions should be made: one for the bishop and his household on account of hospitality and entertainment; another for the clergy; a third for the poor; and a fourth for the reparation of Churches. But, inasmuch as your Fraternity, having been trained in the rules of a monastery, ought not to live apart from thy clergy in the Church of the Angli, which by the guidance of God has lately been brought to the faith; it will be right to institute that manner of life which in the beginning of the infant Church was that of our Fathers, among whom none said that anything of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common (Acts, 4).
| 5b.
| Augustine’s second question:
Even though the faith is one are there varying customs in the churches ? and is there one form of Mass in the Holy Roman Church and another in the Gaulish churches?
The answer of Pope Gregory:
Thy Fraternity knows the use of the Roman Church, in which you have been nurtured. But I approve of your selecting carefully anything you have found that may be more pleasing to Almighty God, whether in the Roman Church or that of Gaul, or in any Church whatever, and introducing in the Church of the Angli, which is as yet new in the faith, by a special institution, what you have been able to collect from many Churches. For we ought not to love things for places, but places for things. Wherefore choose from each several Church such things as are pious, religious, and right, and, collecting them as it were into a bundle, plant them in the minds of the Angli for their use.
| 5c.
| Augustine's third question:
I beg you to tell me how one who robs a church should be punished ?
The answer of Pope Gregory:
We ought so to maintain discipline towards believers as good fathers are bound to do towards their sons…this charity, then, should be retained in the mind, so that nothing at all be done beyond the rule of reason.
| 5d.
| Augustine’s fourth question:
May two brothers marry two sisters provided they belong to a family not related to them?
The answer of Pope Gregory:
This by all means may be done. For nothing at all is found in Holy Scripture which seems to be opposed to it.
| 5e.
| Augustine’s fifth question:
Within what degree may the faithful marry their kindred; and is it lawful to marry a stepmother or a sister-in-law? The answer of Pope Gregory: Only the third or fourth generations of believers may be lawfully joined together… a son can not marry his stepmother, because his father has become one flesh with her…It is also forbidden to marry a brother’s wife, who has become the flesh of the brother.
| 5f.
| Augustine's sixth question:
Whether a bishop may be consecrated without other bishops being present, if they are at so great a distance from one another that they cannot easily meet.
The answer of Pope Gregory:
Indeed in the Church of the Angli, where you are so far the only bishop, you can not ordain a bishop otherwise than without bishops. For, when bishops shall come from Gaul they will attend you as witnesses for the ordination of a bishop. But we desire your Fraternity so to ordain bishops in England that the bishops themselves be not separated from one another by long distances, to the end that there be no necessary cause why they should not come together in the case of the ordination of any bishop. For the presence of some other pastors also is exceedingly advantageous; and hence they ought to he able to come together as easily as possible. When therefore, God granting it, bishops shall have been ordained in places not far from each other, an ordination of bishops should in no case take place without three or four bishops being assembled.
| 5g.
| Augustine’s seventh question:
How ought we to deal with the bishops of Gaul and Britain?
The answer of Pope Gregory:
Over the bishops of Gaul we give you no authority, since from the ancient times of my predecessors the bishop of Arelate (Arles) has received the pallium, and we ought by no means to deprive him of the authority that he has acquired. But of all British bishops we commit the charge to your Fraternity, that the unlearned may be taught, the weak strengthened by persuasion, the perverse corrected by authority.
| 5h.
| Augustine’s eighth question:
Should a pregnant woman be baptized?
And when the child has been born how much time should elapse before she can enter the church?
And after how many days may the child receive the sacrament of holy baptism so as to forestall its possible death; and after what length of time may her husband have intercourse with her; and is it lawful for her to enter the church if she is in her periods or to receive the sacrament of holy communion?
Or may a man who has had intercourse with his wife enter the church before he has washed; or approach the mystery of the holy communion? All these things the ignorant English people need to know.
The answer of Pope Gregory:
Why should not a pregnant woman be baptized, fecundity of the flesh being no fault before the eyes of Almighty God? With what reason can what has been preserved to the human race by the gift of Almighty God, be debarred from the grace of holy baptism?
It is by no means forbidden that either a woman after delivery or that which she has brought forth should be baptized without delay, if in peril of death.
| 5i.
| Augustine's ninth question:
Can anyone receive the Body of the Lord after an illusion such as is wont to occur in a dream; and if he is a priest can he celebrate the holy mysteries?
The answer of Pope Gregory:
There is a sin if there is any responsibility.
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| 6.
| Conclusion.
6a.
| The active role of Pope Gregory in the mission to the Anglo-Saxon people is both extraordinary and inspiring. Very often the initiative of evamgelization to a certain region or peoples, starts with inspired ordinary faithful or communities of faithful; and it is only after the mission is well advanced or accomplished that the recognition and blessing from the Church authority gives its final approval. In the mission to the Anglo-Saxon however, the initiative and continous support came directly from Pope Gregory, who kept his continuous support till the end of his pontificate. Augustine and the 40 Benedictine monks were in constant and direct contact with the Pope, who answereed their questions and helped to solve all sorts of practical problems.
The Pope sent reinforcement of missionaries when there was need of them, and continuously adviced and counseled Augustine. The Pope sent gifts, ecclesiastical materials and books to support the Mission. He wrote letters to the other bishops for support of the English Mission. He wrote letters to the King and the Queen.
| 6b.
| The mission to the Angli took place during a very important historical moment in European history. The mission took place between 597 and 604, almost 300 years after Emperor Constantine had given freedom to the Church. During these centuries, Christianity had spread all over a unified “Latin-Roman Europe”. But when on the 4th of September 476 AD, Rome and the Western Roman Empire fell to Germanic invaders, a completely new stituation arose. The Northen peoples that the Romans used to call (in a disparaging manner) the “Barbarians”, became the leading powers of a new Europe. Besides the Germanic people, the Franks, the Agli etc were fighting against Rome and later among themselves for the conquest of Europe. A new European culture was being created, which kept its Greek-Latin roots, but allowed new national languages, customs and traditional values to become mainstream cultural trends. A new diversified Europe was born, whose unity was no more moulded and expressed by a monolithic Latin structure, but was a unity in diversity. The Church had to adapt to this new situation. Pope Gregory showed great vision and good sense of understanding and willingness to saveguard the essentials of Christianity, while allowing diversity in all other things.
| 6c.
| Augustine, who had been so successful in evangelizing the Anglo-Saxon, was not equally successful in keeping unity among all other Celtic bishops. Augustine had all the support of Pope Gregory, whose political power at that time was very great. In fact, after the fall of Rome and of the Western Roman Empire, the Pope was the only reliable authority in the West that could rally the crowds and give support to the people. At the same time, Augustine enjoyed the full cooperation of King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha. who were very powerful means of making Christianity an established Church in England. But “power” had its limitations. Conversion, acceptance and respect of the other, fostering understanding and mutual acceptance among all local Churches, could not be imposed by power. “Power” could not solve all problems. Augustine was well aware that the inner power that converted the Angli into accepting the Gospel, was the power of the Gospel itself and the undeniable holiness and the miracles worked by Augustine. Augustine had to learn that the Church could not rely on political power in the work of evangelization. Being an Abbot of a Benedictine community, Augustine knew too well that the spirit of evangelization is the spirit of the crucified Lord Jesus Christ.
| 6d.
| One important feature recurring quite often in the evangelization of the new emerging people in Europe, is the active role of Christian wives married to pagan kings. There are many examples. As we have seen Bertha, the Christian wife of King Ethelbert, was very influential in the conversion of her husband and of the Angli.
Bertha and Ethelbert’s daughter, Ethelburga, married the pagan Edwin, King of Northumbria, thereby preparing the way for his baptism by Paulinus in 627, and for the eventual conversion of many in the North of England.
Clotilda, a Christian princess of Burgundy, married the pagan Clovis, King of the Franks, thus preparing the way for his baptism by Remigius in 496, and for the conversion of the Franks. We should mention here, Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine. Her great faith had a great influence on her son. |
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