subjects on earth, but rather as his fellow-citizens in the Kingdom of Heaven.6

So mightily did the word of God grow and prevail, even during the first few months of the missionaries' stay in England, and while as yet their ministrations were confined to a single city, that, on the Christmasday of the year in which they landed, no less than ten thousand of the English received the grace of Life. Oh, what delight did these tidings bring to the heart of the good St. Gregory. It so happened that the holy Father laboured that year under a more than usual pressure of bodily illness; but God, who is wont to send His Saints two joys for one sorrow, was pleased to refresh the spirit of this afflicted servant with a double consolation at one and the same time. His friend Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria, had written to acquaint him with the prosperous condition of that Church, and he answers by telling him of the recent news from England.

"Full well do I know that, in all your good deeds, you deeply sympathize with the joy of others. I will repay, then, your favour, and reply to your tidings by others not very dissimilar. The English, a people shut up in a little corner of the world, have been up to this time unbelievers, nay, worshippers of stocks and stones. And now, by the help of your prayers, it has pleased God to put into my mind to send among them as a preacher, Augustine, one of the brethren of my monastery. He by my authority has been consecrated bishop by the bishops of Germany, and by their assistance has been brought to the afore-mentioned nation, which

6 S. Bede, lib. i. 26.

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7 Datâ à me licentiâ.

8 The Franks were often called Germans, as being of common origin.

is truly the very end of the world. And news has just reached me of his well-being and wonderful deeds ; that either he, or those who were sent with him, have so shone out by the gift of miracles among this people, that they seem quite like Apostles in the signs they have wrought. And on the Feast of our Lord's Nativity, in this first year of the Indiction, as I understand from the same our brother and fellow-bishop, more than ten thousand English were baptized. I have mentioned these facts that you may know what your prayers have wrought at the farthest extremity of the world, while you are talking to me about the people of Alexandria. While your holy doings are made manifest in the place where you are, the fruit of your prayers is apparent in places where you are not." 9

The question may be asked, Why did St. Augustine go so far as Arles to be consecrated? The answer to this question may be obtained from the letters of St. Gregory the Great, and besides its interest in this place, it throws valuable light upon the ancient prerogatives of the See of St. Peter. The Archbishop of Arles had a precedence among the bishops of France, and was at this time also vicar of the Holy See. St. Gregory speaks, in his reply to St. Augustine's ninth Question upon the English Church, of the Pall as a privilege of the See of Arles in the times of his predecessors.1 In days, then, which so early as the sixth century could be described as ancient, the Church of Rome was what may be called the fountain of honour to Western Christendom. In another of St. Gregory's letters, we find him constituting this same Virgilius, through whom the Apostolical succession was transmitted to the English Church,

9 S. Greg. lib. viii. Ep. 30.

1 Lib. xi. Ep. 64. 2 Antiquis prædecessorum meorum temporibus.

his vicar throughout the dominions of the French king. The following are the terms in which he conveys these prerogatives.

"Since, in compliance with ancient custom, you have requested of me the use of the Pall, and the vicariate of the Apostolic See, far be it from me to suspect you of seeking mere transitory power, or mere outward ornament. It is evident to all from what quarter that Faith is derived, which prevails in the regions of Gaul : when your Brotherhood comes to the Apostolic See for a privilege which that See has always been accustomed to grant, what else is it than a dutiful child having recourse to its mother's breast for all good things? Most readily, therefore, do we grant your petition, that we may not appear to defraud you of any part of that honour which is your due, nor to treat with disrespect the prayer of Childebert, our right noble son in the Faith. But, believe me, it is a matter requiring all your attention, that your diligence and watchfulness over others should keep pace with your advancement in honour; that the excellence of your life should become manifest to those who depend upon you for your example; and that your Brotherhood should never seek your own in the honours which through favour are conferred upon you, but the gains of your heavenly country. For you know what the blessed Apostle says in sorrow of heart; All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.'. .. Under God's guidance, therefore, and according to ancient usage, we entrust your Brotherhood with the power of representing us in all the Churches which are comprehended in the dominions of our right noble son, Childebert; reserving to the different Metropolitans such privileges as belong to them of immemorial right. We

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have also transmitted the Pall, which your Brotherhood is to use in church at the celebration of Mass only. Should any Bishop wish to go to a distance, it will not be lawful for him to pass into other dioceses without authority from your Holiness. Should any question of the Faith, or other grave matter, arise among the Bishops, let it be discussed and determined in an assembly of twelve of their number. If it cannot be thus settled, let the rights of the question be discussed, and the decision referred to me. God Almighty take you into His keeping, and grant your new honours may turn to the profit of your soul !" 3

3 Lib. v. Ep. 53.

CHAPTER XII.

MUNIFICENCE OF ETHELBERT.-FIRST ANGLO-SAXON CHURCHES AND MONASTERIES.

Ir has before now been observed, and indeed will hardly be disputed, that the impression which Scripture gives of kingly power is, on the whole, that rather of an antagonist, than an ally, of God's Church. Kings and queens have, no doubt, a special and exalted place assigned them in the household of the Faith; but, since they cannot properly rise, except through humility, nor rule, except by submission, it is no wonder that, as a matter of fact, they have so rarely been seen to occupy it in a becoming manner. Considering how deeply the love of preeminence is ingrained in unregenerate human nature, and how thickly the rich and great are beset on every side with the temptations to a sin from which not even the lowest stations are exempt, it is no proof of any especial ungodliness in those who are called to the high places of the earth, that there should not have been more among them to earn the crown of sanctity amid the perils of a throne; rather it is a witness to the sovereign and all-subduing power of Divine that there should have been so many. Our Lord's very birth gave occasion to the kingly character to manifest itself in those two extreme and opposite shapes which it has ever since been apt to assume, or to which it has, at all events, continually tended, in its bearings towards our Lord, that is to say, towards His Holy Ca

grace