This month we remember two Archbishops of Canterbury, England. Augustine who founded Canterbury Cathedral and Dunstan who greatly expanded monasteries all over England. In the Christian church, an Archbishop is a Bishop of superior rank who has authority over other Bishops in an ecclesiastic province or area. The Church of England is presided over by two Archbishops: the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is ‘Primate of All England,’ and the Archbishop of York, who is ‘Primate of England.’
In the time of St. Augustine, around the 5th century, it was intended by Rome that Britain would be divided into two provinces with two Archbishops, one at London and one at York. Canterbury gained supremacy just prior to the Reformation in the 16th century, when it exercised the powers of Papal Legate throughout Britain. After the English reformation and the establishment of the Church of England, both Archbishops of Canterbury and York continued their respective responsibilities within the two provinces. It is the Archbishop of Canterbury who has the privilege of crowning the kings and queens of England and ranks immediately after the princes of royal blood.
England’s First Cathedral
Founded by St Augustine in 597 AD, Canterbury Cathedral is a unique place of worship, a major pilgrimage destination, a masterpiece of art and architecture and one of the UK’s most-visited historic sites. Often referred to as ‘England in stone’, the Cathedral has been at the centre of momentous events and upheavals. It is the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion, seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and resting place of royalty and saints.
Augustine – Archbishop of Canterbury d. 26 May 605
The first Archbishop of Canterbury was Augustine. Originally a Prior of a Benedictine monastery in Rome, he was sent to Britain by Pope Gregory I with the mission to convert the inhabitants to Roman Christianity. Augustine and his monks did not seek to openly convert the British people but lived and worked amongst them. Their piety and charity attracted new members. This strategy worked — within four years, the King of Kent and his chief retainers accepted baptism Augustine was consecrated Bishop of the English at Arles in 597 and was made an Archbishop by the Pope in 601, establishing his seat at Canterbury. In 603 he attempted unsuccessfully to unite the Roman Church with the native Celtic churches. By the time he died, on May twenty-sixth in the year 605, the foundations of the English church were truly laid.
Dunstan – Archbishop of Canterbury, d. 19 May 988
On this date, we honour the memory of Dunstan, who was the greatest Archbishop of Canterbury in the century before the Norman Conquest of 1066. Born into a powerful family, he entered the royal service as a youth and seemed to be on his way to a career of secular power, when he quite suddenly took the vows of a monk and was ordained priest. He became a hermit in Glastonbury and devoted himself to prayer as well to crafts which beautified the liturgical life of the Church. He eventually became the Abbot of Glastonbury and over the next twenty years reformed its whole life, reviving a spirit of discipline among its monks and expanding its buildings.
Dunstan served as Bishop of Worcester, then as Bishop of London, before he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 960. In this office, he extended his reform of monastic life over all of England, enriching the monastic liturgy and giving special prominence to the role of crafts in the life of each monastery. He also set about reforming the administration of the English church at large, to ensure a better standard of discipline among the parish clergy. Towards the end of his life, he acquired a reputation for visions and miraculous powers. He died on May nineteenth, two days after Ascension Day, in the year 988.
