CHAPTER XII

THE ARRIVAL OF THE SECOND BODY OF MISSIONERS

WITH a Christian King and Queen at court, with a bishop and a strong staff of ecclesiastics established in their permanent home in the capital, and with a cathedral church in which the divine worship was presented with solemn dignity and beauty, the Church of the English nation began to present an imposing appearance to the world about it, and the number of converts rapidly increased. Our own recent experience has given us occasion to note, with some degree of reverent wonder, the practical effects of the introduction of the episcopate among a handful of missionaries, and the accelerated success of a completely organised Church. The conversions were natural and spontaneous, for Bede expressly says that the King "had learned from his instructors and guides to salvation that the service of Christ ought to be voluntary, not by compulsion." But throughout the history of the English conversion we find the people ready to follow the example of their natural leaders; and while the princes did not persecute Christianity, but readily embraced it, so they did not exercise any compulsion upon the people to embrace it, but only set them a good example.

So great was the success in the succeeding years,

that in the year 601 A.D., Augustine sent Laurence the Priest to Rome to report progress, and to ask for a reinforcement of men, since the harvest was so great that there were not labourers to gather it. The great Bishop responded to the appeal, and resolved to send a second group of monks and clerks. How many we are not told, but Bede gives the names of the principal men among them, Mellitus, Justus, Paulinus, and Rufinianus.

Of the thirty or forty men who formed the original mission staff only three are known by name-Laurence, who succeeded Augustine in the See; Peter, who was made the first Abbot of St. Augustine's Monastery; and Honorius, the fifth and last of the Italian dynasty. Of the new body of men now sent, Mellitus was an abbot to begin with, probably the Abbot of Gregory's Monastery of St. Andrew, and he was soon after sent as bishop to London, Justus to Rochester, Paulinus to Northumbria, and Rufinianus was the third Abbot of St. Augustine's Monastery. We conclude that the original body of men were pious, earnest monks, admirable in the cloister; but that there was a lack of men of "light and leading" among them; and that on a hint from Augustine, or seeing the position of things for himself, Gregory had sent him some men of higher type, capable of initiating, leading, organising, impressing their personality upon others.

It must be borne in mind, in justice to the monks, that the majority of them were probably laymen, with no pretension to be theologians or preachers or missioners in any other sense than that of showing the example of what was then considered to be the highest phase of the Christian life.

The wise Bishop took the same care as before to make the journey of the new band easy, by furnishing them with letters of introduction all along their route. Among the Letters of St. Gregory we find letters to Mennas of Telona (Toulon), Serenus of Massilia (Marseilles), Virgilius of Arelate (Arles), Arigius of Vapincum (Gap), Lupus of Cabillonum (Chalonssur-Saone), Ætherius of Lugdunum (Lyons), Desiderius of Augustodunum (Autun), Aigulfus of Metta (Metz), Simplicius of the Parisii (Paris), Melantius of Rotomagus (Rouen), and Licinius [of Andegavum (Angers) ?].

A selection from these names carries us, as before, from Marseilles up the Rhone and Saône, then to Paris, and so down the Seine to Rouen; but it is difficult to account for some of the other places. Toulon indeed was on the road from Marseilles or Arles to Lerins, whose famous monastery was visited by Augustine in his first journey. But Gap lies a hundred miles to the east of the Rhone, up among the Alps. Metz was still further out of their way, but it was the usual residence of Theodebert the Austrasian King, as Chalons was of Theodoric. Angers lies hundreds of miles away in the west, but it is to be noticed that Gregory's letter is addressed to Licinius without the designation of any place, and though Licinius was about that time Bishop of Angers, it is possible that he was not there at that time. On the whole, we are inclined to assume that the route was that which is above suggested, by the Rhone, Saône, and Seine; and this is supported by the fact that there is this time—there was not on the first journey-a letter to Clothaire the King of Neustria, the western division of the Frank dominions.

It must

be noted also that one of the letters is addressed to a group of bishops, namely, those of Toulon, Marseilles, Chalon, Metz, Paris, Rouen, and (Angers?); but probably there were separate copies of it addressed to each.

There are two subjects dealt with in most of these letters. Gregory was very desirous of getting the Frank sovereigns and the bishops with whom he was in correspondence to use their influence to summon a synod of the Gallican Church, to take measures against the simony and other abuses which were a mischief and scandal. He takes this opportunity to urge the matter. That he did not succeed is an illustration of the absence of authority and even the limited influence of the See of Rome in the Gallican Church at that time, even when filled by a man of so great personal qualities as those which commended Gregory to the admiration and respect of the Churches. The other topic of the letters is the commendation of Laurence and Mellitus to the good offices of his correspondents.

It will be sufficient to give the substance of the "circular letter," which is limited to the one subject which specially concerns this history.

He says: "Though the duty of your office admonishes your Fraternity to aid religious men, and especially those who are labouring for the good of souls, yet it is not superfluous that our letters should stimulate your solicitude, because, as fire is increased when fanned by a breeze, so the earnestness of a good mind is augmented by commendation.

"Since, therefore, by the co-operation of the grace of our Redeemer, so great a multitude of the nation of the Angles has been converted to the grace of the

Christian faith, that our very reverend brother and fellow-bishop Augustine declares that those who are with him are not sufficient to follow the work into different places, we are sending to him certain monks, with our most beloved and common sons, Laurence the Presbyter and Mellitus the Abbot. Will your Fraternity show them such charity as is proper, and hasten to aid them in whatsoever they may need, that while they may have no cause for delay they may be refreshed by your kindness, and that you may be found partakers in their reward, for your aid in the work in which they are engaged."

The letter to Theodoric, King of the Franks, after exhorting him to summon a synod, goes on to say: "What good things your Excellency did to our very reverend brother and fellow-bishop, as he was journeying to the nation of the Angles, certain monks returning from him have informed us. Wherefore returning abundant thanks, we beg that to the present monks also who are sent to him, you will condescend to give your help still more abundantly, and to assist them on their journey; so that the more your kindnesses are extended to them, so much the more you may receive a greater reward from the Almighty God whom they serve." A letter of similar substance, though differently worded, is sent to Theodebert. Gregory, writing also on this occasion to King Clothaire, tells him that messengers returning from Augustine have informed him what great kindness the King had shown to him on his journey to England, and begs that he will be equally kind to Laurence the Priest and Mellitus the Abbot.

In his letter to Queen Brunhilda, Gregory thanks