of the party. It was Laurentius whom Augustine had chosen to be his successor. His reason for consecrating him himself, in his own lifetime, instead of leaving his consecration to Mellitus and Justus, with or without the assistance of some of the Gallic bishops, is stated by Bede. It was, "lest, upon his death, the state of the Church, as yet unsettled, might begin to falter, if it should be destitute of a pastor, yea, but an hour." Augustine would probably associate Mellitus and Justus with himself in the consecration. Laurentius was consecrated early in 604; in a charter of Ethelbert, making a grant to Rochester, the genuineness of which is not disputed, Laurentius is described as already bishop, on 28th April 604.

During the remainder of Augustine's life Laurentius would be his coadjutor-bishop; that remainder was not a long one. In the following spring-probably 26th May, 605-the Apostle of Kent died, and went to his reward. The new monastery being not yet so far advanced that the first Archbishop could be at once placed in its north porch, according to the design of its founders, he was temporarily buried in the ground near at hand. The death of Augustine does not bring our narrative to a natural conclusion. His work continued after his death in the hands of his companions. The time was not come for forming an estimate of the man and the work as a whole. It is the same work, carried on on the same lines, though the main direction of it passes from Augustine to Laurentius, from Laurentius to Mellitus, from Mellitus to Justus, from Justus to Honorius; and the history comes to its natural termination when Theodore of Tarsus comes in from outside and begins a new era.

The episcopate of Laurentius extended over fifteen years. During the earlier portion of it the great work in hand was the building of the new monastery. Ethelbert and Bertha, with their nobles, are said to have celebrated there the Christmas of 605 A.D.

Laurentius "laboured indefatigably, both by frequent exhortations and examples of piety, to raise to perfection the foundations of the Church which had been so nobly laid. Nor did he limit his solicitude to the Kentish men. He, associating with himself his brother bishops, wrote a letter to the Scots of Ireland, which is full of information as to the religious situation. It begins :

"To our most dear Brothers the Lord Bishops and Abbots throughout all Scotland 1— Laurentius, Mellitus, and Justus, Servants of the Servants of God.

"When the Apostolic See, according to the universal custom which it has followed elsewhere,2 sent us to these western parts to preach to pagan nations, we came into this island which is called Britain, without possessing any previous knowledge of its inhabitants. We held both the Britons and Scots in great esteem for sanctity, believing that they had proceeded according to the custom of the Early Church. On becoming acquainted with the errors of the Britons, we still thought that the Scots had been

1 I.e. Ireland. The Scots were the predominant population in Ireland, and that island was generally called Scotia, or Insula Scotorum, by the writers of the sixth and seventh centuries. The name Scotia, or Scotland, as applied to the northern half of Britain, is of comparatively modern origin.

2 A very bold statement, not borne out by the facts of history.

better; but we have been informed by Bishop Dagan [said to have belonged to Bangor in Ireland], coming into this aforesaid island, and by the Abbot Columbanus in France,1 that the Scots in no way differ from

1 This dispute between the two schools about the time of Easter had been introduced into Gaul by the mission of Columbanus. As early as the year 599, a correspondence had taken place between that eminent missionary-the founder of Annegray, Luxeuil, Bregenz, and Bobbio-and Gregory, in which the Celtic Apostle expresses all due reverence for Gregory's position, but asserts his own independence, and refuses to alter what he believes to be right. A little later— 602 A.D. the Frank bishops convened a synod to consider how they should act towards him. He expresses his thankfulness that he has been the occasion of their meeting in synod, and wishes that they met more frequently, as the canons require. He refers them to his correspondence with Gregory on the Eastern question, and concludes with an eloquent appeal, which is worth extracting, as an illustration of the spirit of the Celtic fathers, even while asserting their independence and adhering to their own customs:-"I came as a stranger among you, on behalf of our common Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. In His name, I beseech you, let me live in peace and quiet, as I have lived for twelve years in these woods, beside the bones of my seventeen departed brethren. Let Gaul receive into her bosom all who, if they deserve it, will meet in one heaven. For we have one kingdom promised us, and one hope of our calling in Christ, with whom we shall reign together, if first we suffer with Him here on earth. Choose ye which rule respecting Easter ye prefer to follow, remembering the words of the apostle: 'Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.' But let us not quarrel one with another, lest our enemies, the Jews, the heretics, and pagan Gentiles, rejoice in our contention." And he concludes: Pray for us, my fathers, even as we, humble as we are, pray for you. Regard us not as strangers, for we are members together of one body, whether we be Gauls, or Britons, or Iberians, or to whatever nation we belong. Therefore let us all rejoice in the knowledge of the faith and the revelation of the Son of God, and let us strive earnestly to attain together, even to the perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, in communion with whom let us learn to love one another, and praise one another, and correct one another, and pray for one another, that with Him we may together reign for evermore.

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the Britons in their behaviour; for Bishop Dagan coming to us not only refused to eat with us, but even to take his repast in the same house where we were entertained." The English bishops also wrote a letter to the priests of Britain, in which they repeated the old exhortations to Catholic unity, but with no success.

About this time, says Bede, Mellitus, Bishop of London, went to Rome, to confer with Pope Boniface, Gregory's successor, about the necessary affairs of the English Church. He gives us no clue to the nature of the affairs, and the importance of the note lies in the knowledge it conveys, that communication was maintained with Rome, of which we shall have several subsequent instances.

While Mellitus was at Rome, a synod of Italian bishops was held, which Mellitus attended, "that also by his authority he might confirm such things as should be regularly decreed, and at his return into Britain, might carry the same to the churches of the English to be prescribed and observed."

The Abbey Church of SS. Peter and Paul was at length completed and ready to be consecrated in the time of Laurentius, but in what year is not known; Thorn gives it as 613. The remains of Augustine were then taken from their temporary resting-place in the ground hard by, and deposited in the north porticus; and the name of St. Augustine was associated with those of SS. Peter and Paul in the dedication,

CHAPTER XXI

THE DEATH OF ETHELBERT; THE APOSTASY

THE greatest event in the episcopate of Laurentius was the death of Ethelbert, which took place 24th February, 616 A.D. He was buried in the south portico of the newly consecrated Church of St. Augustine's Abbey, which had been always intended to be the royal mausoleum.

The results which followed upon his death shed back light upon the character of the man, and open up a new revelation of the present religious condition of the people. Ethelbert was peacefully succeeded by his son Eadbald. The fact that the Bretwaldaship at once passed away from Kent to Redwald, King of the East Angles, who had been subservient to Ethelbert, not as the result of any victory of East Anglia over Kent, seems to lead to the inference that it was the different character of Ethelbert and Eadbald which led to the changed political relations between the Kingdom of Kent and the other southern kingdoms.

Now, too, we learn how much the work of the Church among the English had been indebted to the authority and influence of Ethelbert; for on his death occurred a great and widespread reaction which threatened the work of Augustine with destruction. We are a little surprised to find that Eadbald had never