Catholic Fire

St. Augustine preaching before King Ethelbert On May 27th, we honor St. Augustine of Canterbury, an Italian Benedictine monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 598. He is not be confused with the earlier St. Augustine of Hippo, the famous author of the Confessions and City of God . St. Augustine of Canterbury (sometimes referred to as “Saint Augustine the Lesser”)  founded the famous See of Canterbury and preached the Catholic faith to the country's Anglo-Saxon pagans during the late sixth and early seventh centuries. The Catholic faith had already been accepted among England's original Celtic inhabitants, in earlier times; but from the mid-fifth century on, the country was controlled by Anglo-Saxon invaders who did not accept Christianity, and were not converted by the small number of isolated Celtic Christians. Thus, England largely had to be evangelized anew. Augustine was the prior of a monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory the Great chose ...

The saint of the day for April 23 is St. George, a soldier of the Roman army who was tortured and beheaded for his Christian faith in the year 303, in Palestine (Lydda). He was most likely born in Cappadocia, of Christian parents. After his father was martyred for his faith, George moved to Palestine with his mother where he joined the military and served as a soldier in the army of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. He demonstrated great courage, rising to the rank of military tribune of the imperial guards. When he refused to sacrifice to pagan gods, he was tortured and beheaded at Nicomedia, a town of Asia Minor on an inlet of the Sea of Marmora. Some say that Saint George was the young Christian who, as Eusebius relates, tore down the Imperial edict of persecution. However, there is no proof of this. St. George is usually depicted in Christian art as a soldier on horseback killing a dragon with a lance. This image is a representation of a popular legend of St. George which first...

The saint of the day for May 27th is St. Augustine of Canterbury, an Italian Benedictine monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 598. He is not be confused with the earlier St. Augustine of Hippo, the famous author of the “Confessions” and “City of God.” Augustine was the prior of a monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory the Great chose him to lead a party of forty monks to travel to south-eastern England to spread the Gospel there. They landed in 597, and were welcomed by the king of Kent, Ethelbert, who became a Christian along with many of his subjects. Augustine went to Arles, in France, where he was consecrated archbishop of the English, and then returned to Canterbury to set up his see. The mission prospered, and he founded two more sees, at London and at Rochester in Kent. Augustine died at Canterbury on May 26, 604. St. Augustine has been called "Apostle of England" because of his missionary efforts. He is the patron of England.