Reluctant Convert - 597
Ethelbert, King of Kent from a stained glass window All Souls College Chapel.
Introduction
Under the year 597, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle made only the concise remark, “This year came Augustine and his companions to England.” Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine to preach the gospel among the Anglo-Saxons and soon many individuals in southern England embraced the faith. However, when Augustine preached to Ethelbert of Kent, the king was far from convinced, as today’s excerpt shows. One of the things that changed his mind was the holy behavior of the missionaries. At last Ethelbert avowed himself ready to accept Christianity, and was baptized on this day, Whitsunday, June 2, 597, probably at St. Martin’s church.
Quote
“Your words and promises are very fair, but they are new to us and of uncertain import, and I cannot approve of them so far as to forsake that which I have so long followed with the whole English nation. But because you are come from far as strangers into my kingdom, and, as I conceive, are desirous to impart to us those things which you believe to be true, and most beneficial, we desire not to harm you, but will give you favourable entertainment, and take care to supply you with all things necessary to your sustenance; nor do we forbid you to preach and gain as many as you can to your religion.”
Source of text: Bede. Ecclesiastical History of England. London: George Bell and Sons, 1907. Source of date: Wace, Henry. A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies. London: John Murray, 1911.