Hearing from Bishop Augustine that he had a rich harvest but few to help him gather it, Pope Gregory sent with his envoys several colleagues and clergy, of whom the principal and most outstanding were Mellitus, Justus, Paulinus, and Rufinianus. They brought with them everything necessary for the worship and service of the Church, including sacred vessels, altar coverings, church ornaments, vestments for priests and clergy, relics of the holy Apostles and martyrs, and many books.1 Gregory also sent a letter to Augustine, telling him that he had dispatched the pallium to him, and giving him directions on the appointment of bishops in Britain. This letter runs as follows:
‘To our most reverend and holy brother and fellow-bishop Augustine: Gregory, servant of the servants of God.
‘While Almighty God alone can grant His servants the ineffable joys of the kingdom of heaven, it is proper that we should reward them with earthly honours, and encourage them by such recognition to devote themseves to their spiritual labours with redoubled zeal. And since the new Church of the English has now, through the goodness of God and your own efforts, been brought to the grace of God, we grant you the privilege of wearing the pallium in that Church whenever you perform the solemnities of the Mass. You are to consecrate twelve bishops in different places, who will be subject to your jurisdiction: the bishop of the city of London will thenceforward be consecrated by his own synod, and will receive the honour of the pallium from this apostolic See which, by divine decree, we at present occupy. We wish you also to send a bishop of your own choice to the city of York, and if that city with the adjoining territory accepts the word of God, this bishop is to consecrate twelve other bishops, and hold the dignity of Metropolitan. If we live to see this, we intend to grant him the pallium also, but he is to remain subject to your authority. After your death, however, he is to preside over the bishops whom he has consecrated and to be wholly independent of the Bishop of London. Thenceforward, seniority of consecration is to determine whether the Bishop of London or York takes precedence; but they are to consult one another and take united action in all matters concerning the Faith of Christ, and take and execute all decisions without mutual disharmony.
‘You, my brother, are to exercise authority in the Name of our Lord and God Jesus Christ both over those bishops whom you shall consecrate, and any who shall be consecrated by the Bishop of York, and also over all the British bishops. Let Your Grace’s words and example show them a pattern of right belief and holy life, so that they may execute their office in right belief and practice and, when God wills, attain the kingdom of heaven. God keep you safe, most reverend brother.
‘Dated the twenty-second of June, in the nineteenth year of our most pious Lord and Emperor Maurice Tiberius Augustus, and the nineteenth after his Consulship: the fourth indiction.’
-
The year 601 was decisive in the progress and consolidation of the Augustinian mission. The increase of equipment and personnel, the embryo organization of the Church in England, the papal letters of congratulation for Ethelbert and gentle reproof for Bertha (this one apparently unknown to Bede) all point to Ethelbert’s recent conversion to Christianity. The waiting period of about four years should not surprise anyone who realizes how important it was for the King to obtain his aristocracy’s support before abandoning traditional pagan belief. The grant of the pallium to Augustine indicates stability in the present and confidence in the future. A band of white wool worn by popes and archbishops over their sacerdotal vestments, it was eventually a sign of jurisdiction and of communion with the papacy. Gregory intended Augustine to have metropolitan authority over all bishops in the southern province, including the Welsh. Gregory used old records to choose London as Augustine’s see; he seemed unaware of the political reality of his day in England. Canterbury, not London, was Ethelbert’s principal town: his power as overlord king extended very much further than the small area of his direct rule in Kent. Gregory’s plan of metropolitan rank for York was permanently realized only from 735, and it has endured to this day. ↩