Page 24 - Saints of the Month: February

Saints of the Month: February

unsupported by historical evidence, though
they may possibly embody ancient
traditions. According to St. Bede, he was
one of the original missionaries who left
Rome with St. Augustine in 595 and finally
landed in Thanet in 597. After St. Augustine
had been consecrated he sent St. Lawrence
back to Rome, to carry to the pope the news
of the conversion of King Ethelbert and his
people, to announce his consecration, and to
ask for direction on certain questions. In
this passage of the historian St. Lawrence is
referred to as presbyter, in distinction to
Peter who is called monachus. From this it
has been conjectured that he was a secular
priest and not a monk; but this conclusion
has been questioned by Benedictine writers
such as Elmham in the Middle Ages and
Mabillon in later times. When St. Gregory
had decided the questions asked, St.
Lawrence returned to Britain bearing the
replies, and he remained with St. Augustine
sharing his work. That saint, shortly before
his death which probably took place in 604,
consecrated St. Lawrence as bishop, lest the
infant Church should be left for a time
without a pastor. Of the new archbishop’s
episcopate Bede writes: “Lawrence, having
attained the dignity of archbishop, strove
most vigorously to add to the foundations of
the Church which he had seen so nobly laid
and to forward the work by frequent words
of holy exhortation and by the constant
example of his devoted labour.” The only

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