This article was originally published in 1997 in "The Reformer", the
magazine of the Protestant Alliance, and was highly topical at the time.
References to 1997 in the text have been slightly amended to allow for
the passage of time since it was first published.
AUGUSTINE - BRINGER OF DARKNESS
Much was made of the 1400th Anniversary of the arrival of Augustine.
As 1997 progressed many and often were the times the media spoke of the
bringing of Christianity to Britain. Canterbury Cathedral advertised
over thirty events in connection with the anniversary of the arrival of
Augustine in the Spring of 597 AD. The Cathedral entitled its programme
of events, "1400 years of Christianity".
The events leading to Augustine (not to be confused with Augustine of Hippo) being sent to Britain are supposed to have started when a man, Gregory, later to become Pope, saw fair skinned children in Rome's slave market. Gregory asked who these children were. The reply was given that they were "angles" (Anglo-Saxons). Gregory then retorted, "nay, but angels". Later when Gregory was made Bishop of Rome the memory of the children came back to his mind and thus Augustine and 40 monks were sent to "evangelise" Britain. It is far more probable that the marriage of the King of Kent to a French Romanist princess was the main reason for Augustine's mission. This marriage opened the way for Rome to enter Britain.
Pope Gregory the Great is looked upon as the father of the Papacy. Although he was not the most infamous to have sat upon the Papal throne, he formulated the doctrine of the supremacy of Rome in Church and State. At this early date in the history of the papacy many of the abuses which followed later had not entered the Roman Church. Nonetheless the error of Roman supremacy taught by Gregory was the doctrine Augustine carried to our shores.
COLUMBA
The spurious claim that Augustine brought Christianity to Britain is
discounted, as we have already seen, by the fact that Augustine brought
another gospel rather than the saving Gospel. Besides this, Augustine
came to a land which had already had the Gospel for hundreds of years and
possessed an indigenous Church. An anniversary far more worthy to
be celebrated in 1997 than the arrival of Augustine is the death of Columba.
Columba was a missionary and teacher of the Celtic Church who died on 9th
June 597. From the missionary outpost he founded on the Island of
Iona preachers went forth to evangelise Scotland. From Iona Aiden
went to found a missionary outpost on Lindesfarne and evangelise the Kingdom
of Northumberland.
Some historians recognise the fact that the Celtic Church was active in Britain prior to the arrival of Augustine and speak of Augustine "re-christianising" Britain. Certainly the invading Saxons had pushed the Celts into the western half of the country, but as Augustine soon came into contact with believers of the Celtic Church, the country was by no means left without a witness. This fact coupled with Augustine's message does not earn him even this credit of "re-christianising" Britain.
THE ITALIAN MISSION
Our Victorian forebears refused to ever allow Rome the honourable name
of Church, thus the Roman Catholic Church was referred to as the Italian
Mission. The bringer of the Italian Mission, Augustine, made great
numbers of "converts" very quickly. By Christmas of 597 ten thousand
had embraced Augustine's "gospel". Conversion was easy, administered
by Augustine who merely sprinkled crowds. Many so-called "converts"
lapsed back into paganism very soon. Indeed after Augustine's death,
the whole kingdom of Kent by and large returned to paganism, so much so
that the Bishops instituted by Augustine fled the country.
When news of Augustine's success reached Rome, the Papacy was overjoyed. Yet more monks were dispatched to England. Relics were given to the monks to bring with them, amongst these was the pallium. The pallium was a cloak of ancient manufacture. It had once been in the possession of the Roman Emperors. If the Emperors wanted to honour someone they placed the pallium on them. With the fall of the Roman Empire the Papacy had taken the pallium into its keeping. The Celtic believers were not impressed by either Augustine's teaching or his relics. Gregory sent Augustine the pallium and made him Bishop of the Saxons. Amongst the charges given to him as Bishop was to correct the "perverse" by authority. This implies Rome knew of the British Church. The Venerable Bede tells of three encounters Augustine had with these simple believers.
PAPAL SUPREMACY
Augustine demanded of the Celtic believers that they acknowledge the
authority of the Pope. These humble believers replied to Augustine
that if he whom Augustine called Pope was a believer then they would embrace
him as a brother in Christ, but to any more "he who you call Pope is not
entitled".
In 601 somewhere in the Severn Valley, Augustine met with the leaders of the Celtic Church demanding they submit to Rome. All of the leaders, however, one after another got up and spoke out against the usurpations of the Pope.
Before the last meeting Augustine had with the Celtic leaders, these Celtic Christians sought the counsel of an old godly man who was a hermit. This man said to the Celts, "if Augustine rises from his seat when you approach him, then perhaps there is something in what he says. If he remains seated and does not rise to greet you as brethren then have nothing of him". When the Celtic believers came near to the haughty Augustine he remained seated and demanded they submit to Rome. When they refused Augustine replied, "you will either join us in evangelising the Saxon or feel their swords". This was no idle threat, for shortly afterward the Celtic Church settlement at Bangor Is Coed was destroyed and the true saints of God who lived there martyred.
DEATH OF AUGUSTINE
Augustine died on 26th May 604 or 605. Before his death he had
set up Bishops in different areas of the country. Rome had got a
firm foothold within Britain. Despite Augustine's "converts" reverting
back to paganism, other representatives of Rome equally as zealous as Augustine
arrived to "re-convert" them back to Romanism. The Celtic Church
in England was defeated by Rome at the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD and in
Scotland sometime later. In Ireland, it remained until the Pope gave
Ireland to the English throne, the condition being that an annual payment
was to be made to the Papacy and the universal primacy of Rome over the
Church was to be instituted amongst what Rome called the Irish, a "barbarous
nation". Thus at the Council of Cashal in 1172, Henry II brought
the Celtic Church, which by now sadly had lost much of its former vitality,
under the feel of Rome. Rome had achieved her objective in ecclesiastical
affairs within Britain namely to be the only religion allowed.
By 1213 Rome obtained the submission of the throne on political matters. Augustine's mission had been achieved. Supreme in matters of Church and State in Britain and throughout Europe, Rome brought about the Dark Ages.
Far from celebrating Augustine's arrival in 597 and 1400 years of Christianity,
we should have remembered the 1400 years of struggle against Papal tyranny
brought to these shores by Augustine, the "Bringer of Darkness".