228
AUNARIUS
AUGUSTINUS, ST.
them the language of gentle admonition. As tothe British bishops, they were all entrusted tohis care, “ that the unlearned might be instructed,the weakened strengthened by persuasion, theperverse corrected with authority.”®
7. Conference between Augustine and theBritish Bishops. —The course he was to pursuebeing thus defined, Augustine invited the Britishclergy to a conference, which was arranged totake place at a spot on the confines of Wessex,near the banks of the Severn, under an oak, longafter known as Augustine's oak. h Prepared tomake considerable concessions, he yet felt thatthree points did not admit of being sacrificed.He proposed that the British Church should (1)conform to the Roman usage in the celebrationof Easter; c and (2) the rite of baptism; and (3)that they should aid him in evangelising theheathen Saxons. d The discussion was long andfruitless. At last the archbishop proposed thatan appeal should be made to the Divine judg-ment. A blind Saxon was introduced, whom theBritish clergy were unable to cure. Augustinesupplicated aid from above, and the man, we aretold, forthwith recovered his sight.
Convinced but unwilling to alter their oldcustoms, the vanquished party proposed anothermeeting. Seven British bishops met on thisoccasion, together with Dinoth, abbot of thegreat monastery of Bangor, in Flintshire. Beforethe synod assembled, they proposed to ask theadvice of an aged hermit whether they ought tochange the traditions of their fathers. “ Yes,”replied the old man, “ if the new-comer be a manof God.” w But how,” they asked, u are we toknow whether he be a man of God?” “ TheLord hath said,” was the reply, “ take my yokeupon you and learn of me, for I am meek andlowly. Now if this Augustine is meek andlowly, be assured that he beareth the yoke ofChrist.” “ Nay, but how are we to know this ?’*they asked again. “ If he rises to meet you whenye approach,” answered the hermit, “ hear and fol-low him; but if he despise you, and fails to rise upfrom his place, let him also be despised by you.”The synod met, and Augustine remainedseated, nor did he rise at their approach. It wasenough. It was deemed clear that he had notthe Spirit of Christ, and no efforts of the arch-bishop could induce the British clergy to yieldone of his demands. “ If he will not so much asrise up to greet us,” said they, “ how much morewill he contemn us if we submit ourselves tohim?” Thereupon Augustine broke up the con-ference with an angry threat that, if the Britishclergy would not accept peace with their brethren,they must look for war with their foes, and ifthey would not proclaim the way of life to theSaxons, they would suffer deadly vengeance attheir hands.®
«• Bede, i. 27.
fa *• In loco qui usque hodie lingua Anplorum Augmtwesac, id ost, robur Augustini, in confinio Huicciorum et Occi-oentallum Snxonum, appellator,” Bede, ii. 2. Stevensonfixes the locality at Aust-clive on the Severn.
« See the art. on Easteii in Diet, of Chr. Ant.
d Other points of difference were: (a) the marriage ofthe clergy; (6) a peculiar liturgy; (c) tne tonsure; (d) apeculiar system of monastic rules. See G leseler, Eccl. Hist.ii. 164, 165.
e •' Quibusvir Domini Augustinus fertur minitans prae-dixlsse, quia si pacem cum fratribus accipere nollent,
Thus unsuccessful in his efforts Augustinereturned to Canterbury, and there relaxed noneof his efforts to evangelise the Saxon tribes. Asall Kent had espoused the Faith, it was deemedadvisable to erect a second bishopric at Rochester.Over it Augustine placed his companion Justus,and Ethelbert caused a cathedral to be built,which was named after St. Andrew, in memoryof the monastery dedicated to that Apostle onthe Caelian Hill at Rome, whence the missionarieshad started. f At the same time, through theconnection of the same monarch with the kingof Essex, who was his nephew, Christianity foundits way into the adjacent kingdom, and the arch-bishop was enabled to place Mellitus in the seeof London, where Ethelbert built a church, whichwas dedicated to St. Paul.
8. Death of Augustine. This was the limit ofAugustine’s success. It fell, indeed, far short ofGregory’s grand design; but this had been formedon a very imperfect acquaintance with the condi-tion of the island, the strong national prejudicesof the British Christians, and the relations whichsubsisted between the different Anglo-Saxon king-doms. On the 12th of March, 604, Gregory died,and two months afterwards, according to someauthorities, or a year after, according to others, 8Augustine followed his patron and benefactor,and was buried in the cemetery which he him-self had consecrated, by the side of the Romanroad, that then ran over St. Martin’s Hill fromRichborough to Canterbury. * 11
Several points, which have respect to the mis-sionary labours of Augustine, will be founddiscussed under the head of Missions. The mostimportant modern authorities for the life of thefirst archbishop of Canterbury are (1) Monta-lambert’s Monks of the West, iii.; (2) Dean Hook’sArchbishops of Canterbury , i.; (3) Dean Stanley’sMemorials of Canterbury , 4th edition, 1865 ; (4)Dean Milman’s History of Latin Christianity, ii.4th edition, 1867. [G. F. M.]
AUNARIUS or AUNACHARIUS, S.,
bishop of Auxerre, early in the 7th century.Commemorated on September 25. He was of highbirth, and was educated at the court of kingGuntram, but while still a youth wishing toassume the clerical habit, he was admitted toordination after instruction by S. Syagrius, bishopof Autun, and in time was raised to the bishopricof Auxerre. He governed the Church with greatwisdom, and is to be noticed for the followingdisciplinary acts:—1. He caused solemn litaniesto be said daily in the chief towns of his dioceseby rotation, and on the first day in every monthin the twelve largest churches and monasteries.% For the more solemn performance of the dailyoffices in his cathedral church, he enforced theattendance of secular and regular clergy in order.3. In 581 he summoned a diocesan synod of sevenabbats, thirty-four priests, and five deacons, forthe restoration of discipline among the clergy,and the suppression of pagan superstitions amongthe people. For its Acts, see Labbe", Concilia ,vol. v. col. 967, 980. He also caused the lives
bellum ab hostibus forent accepturi: et si nationi An*glorum noluissent viam vitae praerticare, per horum manuaultionem essent mortis passuri,” Bede, ii. 2.
f Bede, ii. 3.
s See Hussey’s note on Beae, IT. E. it 3.
11 “ In the ground now occupied by the Kent andCanterbury Hospital'’ (Stanley, p. 44).