‘Your peace will rest upon him.’
1 Thessalonians 2:2b-8; Ps 96(95):1-2a. 2b-3. 7-8a. 10. ℟3; Luke 10:1-9
St Augustine is considered to be the apostle to the English. He was sent by St Gregory the Great - Pope, and famous for his (reported) quip - not angles, but angels on seeing a set of slaves for sale in Rome, that had been brought their from Angleland - present day England of course.
St Lukes Gospel today speaks of sending 72 out into the world to take the good news to all the Gentiles. We are fortunate that some descendants of those brave missionaries did come here and established a church so fruitful. St Augustine, one of those, founded Christ Church, Canterbury, as his cathedral and the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul (known after his death as St. Augustine’s, where the early archbishops were buried), which came to rank as the second Benedictine house in all Europe. Canterbury thus was established as the primatial see of England, a position maintained thereafter. In 604 he established the episcopal sees of London (for the East Saxons), consecrating Mellitus as its bishop, and of Rochester, consecrating Justus as its bishop.
At a conference with British bishops, Augustine tried in vain to unify the British (Celtic) churches of North Wales and the churches he was founding. A second conference, his last recorded act, proved equally fruitless. Augustine was buried at SS. Peter and Paul.
Our new Pope, Leo XIV, is an Augustinian monk.