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Gregory the Great's Missionary Example:
The Roman Mission to England

Pope Gregory the Great was one of the most outstanding men ever to sit on the papal
throne. Within his fourteen-year tenure (590-604 A.D.), he produced a great amount of work
and achievement. His list of responsibilities was long, ranging from feeding the poor of
Rome, to managing the large land holdings of the Church, to repairing and maintaining the
infrastructure of the city, to protecting the city from foreign invaders, to reforming the
abuses in the church, to the everyday duties bestowed on a bishop of any city al while his
frail health was under constant attack from fever, indigestion, and gout. But, not only did
Gregory manage to adeptly perform his duties, he also was able to see beyond them, to care
for another land where the nation as a whole knew little of the name of Jesus. In this respect,
Gregory was a visionary, and near the end of the sixth century, his sights landed on bringing
the message of Good News to the peoples of the Angli.

Rarely is a Pope found at the forefront of a missions venture. But without Gregory
the Great, the Roman mission to England could have been delayed for centuries. Addison
summarized it wel :

In this notable case Pope Gregory I conceived the plan, appointed the workers from his own
monastery, launched them on their journey, and subsequently kept in close touch with their
activities and supplied their leader with specific instructions. Furthermore, `it was a new
experiment which the Pope was making. This was the first missionary enterprise on
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a concerted plan, sent out by the head of the Western Church to evangelize
the nation.' 1

His example and vision transformed a nation for Christendom, which would in turn touch
other nations with the same faith, which would eventual y reach much of the world with the
Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Gregory's early life
Around 540, Gregory was born into a prominent Roman family. His family was extremely
devout: one of his ancestors had held the papal office, two of his aunts had taken a vow of
celibacy and had later been canonized as saints, and after his father's death, his mother had
joined a monastery and was enrol ed as a saint. Gregory himself received a solid education in
Rome, probably one of the finest he could have received in that day. Later, his exceptional
abilities in administration caught the Emperor's attention, and he was appointed as head of
the civil administration of the city.

Through much of his life, Gregory was undoubtedly attracted to the monastic way of
life. Whether he technical y became a monk is under debate, but he embraced the lifestyle of
a monk and led an ascetic life. Richards asserts, "He was the legislator, the popularizer, and
the champion of monasticism in al its forms, regarding it as the most perfect expression on
earth of man's search for God."2 When his father's death brought Gregory great wealth, he
used it to found six monasteries on Sicily even turning his own ancestral home into a
monastery which he named St. Andrew. He gave the rest of his wealth to the poor. Addison
says,

1 J. T. Addison, The Medieval Missionary: A Study on the Conversion of Northern Europe, AD 500-1300 (1936), p. 107,
italics mine.
2 J. Richards, Consul of God: The Life and Times of Gregory the Great (1980), p. 255.
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. .although not technical y a monk, [Gregory] was a very ideal monk in his heart and
aspirations. . He idealized the monkish life and monkish standards. . With this ideal of
life, he was the first churchman of great parts who deliberately placed the monk's role and
career above that of his secular brethren.3

By 586, he had served six years as a Papal representative in Constantinople, and had
returned to Rome to become the secretary to the Pope. Four years later, the death of his
superior Pelagius II created a vacant position at the head of the Western church. Popular
acclaim and the support of the clergy swept him into papal office, though he was reluctant to
accept the position. However, he continued to prove that he was a very able administrator,
and excel ed beyond expectations in the tumultuous times of late sixth-century Rome.

Gregory's inspiration for the mission
According to tradition, Gregory, before his papacy, met some Angle slaves in the Forum
who inspired him to reach the land of the Angli for the Gospel. Richards quotes this account
from the Whitby Life, which can also be found in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England:

There is a story told by the faithful that, before he became pope, there came to Rome certain
people of our nation, fair-skinned and light-haired. When he heard of their arrival he was
eager to see them; being prompted by a fortunate intuition, being puzzled by their new and
unusual appearance, and, above al , being inspired by God, he received them and asked
what race they belonged to. (Now some say they were beautiful boys, while others say that
they were curly-haired, handsome youths.) They answered, `The people we belong to are
cal ed Angles.' `Angels of God,' he replied. Then he asked further, `What is the name of
the king of that people?' They said, `Ael i' whereupon he said: `Alleluia, God's praise
must be heard there.' Then he asked the name of their own tribe, to which they answered
`Deira' and he replied, `They shal flee from the wrath of God to the faith.'4

3 Addison, p. 81, quoted from H. H. Howorth, St. Augustine of Canterbury (1913), p. x.
4 Richards, p.p. 238-239, quoted from Whitby Life of Gregory the Great, ed. B. Colgrave, 1968.
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And after this encounter, Gregory asked the Pope for permission to go to England to
evangelize the land of the Angli. According to the story, the Pope was wil ing, but the public
would not al ow Gregory to leave the city, and he therefore remained in Rome.

Whether this event actual y occurred is a matter of scholastic debate. Since Bede
attributes this story to oral tradition, he admitted that he had no historical evidence to
support it. Therefore, some critics assert that the earliest recorded encounter between
Gregory and the Angles is pontiff's known purchase of Saxon slaves in 595.

However, Richards has another theory. First, the anonymous of Whitby had access
to sources which Bede did not, drawing from a separate Roman tradition and yet stil
supporting Bede's story.5 Second, an active slave trade flourished during that time between
Britain and Gaul, and between Gaul and Italy, which would make the presence of English
slaves in Rome unsurprising. Third, King Ael a reigned before Gregory's election, in 560-
588. Therefore, the case is strong that Gregory's meeting with the English slaves actual y
occurred in history.

In fact, Richards suggests that the purchase of the Saxon slaves in 595 and the
sending of the mission in the fol owing year is part of one plan, citing that the tone of
Gregory's letter to Queen Brunhild suggests that his missionary plans were an immediate
response to his learning of the affairs of state in England.

Gregory's motives for the mission
Missionary activities were of the utmost importance to the pontiff, and he made it one of his
primary activities. Some have asserted that Gregory wanted to beat the Irish and the Welsh
to the conversion of the English, but this position is supported by little substantial evidence.

5 Richards, p. 239.
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Richards insists that the Pope knew nothing of the competing church's activities.6 Richards
also opposes the idea that the Pope merely wanted to extend papal jurisdiction into new
lands, because his letters pointed more toward the moral issues than the jurisdictional
aspects of the mission.7 Gregory himself writes:

. . it has come to our knowledge how that the nation of Angli, by God's permission, is
desirous of becoming Christian, but that the priests who are in their neighbourhood have no
pastoral solicitude with regard to them. And lest their souls should haply perish in eternal
damnation, it has been our care to send to them the bearer of these presents, Augustine the
servant of God. .8

Gregory's desire to send people to England was purely pastoral, and his heart truly cared for
the lost of England.

Gregory's sending of the mission

Religion in England at this time was failing. Though a former province of the Roman
Empire, it had been invaded and overrun by Germanic tribes -- mainly Angles and Saxons --
150 years prior to the mission, and they had settled on the eastern parts of England. In the
northern parts, Christianity was not known. Final y, the descendants of the Roman
provincials, who were Christians, had been beaten off by the invaders to the western portion
of the great island. Selfishly, the clergy of western Britain did not wish to minister to their
enemies to the east, which incited Gregory's disapproval, and strengthened his resolve to
send missionaries to England.9

6 Ibid., p. 246.
7 Ibid., p. 246.
8 P. Schaff and H. Wace, Eds., "Epistle LIX: To Brunichild, Queen of the Franks," A Select Library of Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. Second Series. Vol. XII. Translated by James Barmby, 1952, p. 205-206.
9 Ibid., p. 206.
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It seems that the missionaries' path was prepared even before they landed in
England. King Ethelbert of Kent was the most powerful ruler of the island, acknowledged as
such by his other fel ow rulers. His kingdom faced the English Channel, and his inevitable
contacts with the Franks resulted in his marriage to Bertha, the Christian daughter of King
Charibert of Paris. As part of their wedding agreement, Bertha was al owed to retain her
faith, and to bring with her a Frankish bishop, Luihard, who is credited with sowing the
seeds of Christianity among the royal court before Augustine's arrival.10 The time was ripe
for the conversion of the nation of Angli.

In 596, Gregory initiated his plans. To head the mission, he selected Augustine, a
prior from his own monastery of St. Andrew, and chose 40 more monks to go with him. It is
not merely coincidental that Gregory, in the first concerted effort by the Church to preach
to a pagan nation, would send monastic brethren from Rome to preach in England. First,
they would propagate his notion of ideal Christianity, by articulating and living out their faith
credibly through a community on foreign soil. Seconde, their austere and disciplined lifestyle
prepared them for a pioneer's lifestyle in a pagan land. To Gregory's mind, they must have
been the perfect candidates for the missions field.

Unfortunately, the first party was sent with little preparation. None of the brethren
knew the native language of the Angli, and they took with them no interpreters. They had no
commendatory letters from the pontiff to assure them assistance along the way. By the time
they reached Aix in Gaul, the stories of English savagery struck them with "craven terror,"11
and they knew that they would be unable to comprehend the language. The party was
disheartened, and Augustine was sent back to Rome to beg for the mission's termination.

10 Richards, p. 242.
11 Bede, the Venerable, Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England, revised, translated, and edited by A. M. Sellar, 1907,
p. 43.
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Gregory was not to be deterred. He insisted that Augustine return to the mission,
and this time, learning from his mistakes, he prepared him much more thoroughly. He sent
with Augustine a letter of encouragement to the rest of the entourage, expressing his heart
by saying "that so, even though I cannot labour with you, I may be found together with you
in the joy of the reward; for in truth I desire to labour."12 He also appointed Augustine as
their abbot, and suggested that they take Frankish interpreters to facilitate their
communication with the natives. Final y, he sent letters to bishops in Gaul and Arles,
through whose territories the missionaries would travel, entreating the bishops to give aid to
Augustine and his party. Had the Pope relinquished his vision, the missions journey to
England would have died. But, Gregory was determined to see the missionary party reach
England, and as far as humanly possible, he worked to ensure their success.

When they landed on the Island of Thanet in the spring of 597, they sent the king a
message, tel ing him that they had a joyful message to share. King Ethelbert of Kent
provided them with necessities, while he decided on what to do with the missionaries.

Bede gives this account of their arrival:

Some days after, the king came into the island, and sitting in the open air, ordered
Augustine and his companions to come and hold a conference with him. For he had taken
precaution that they should not come to him in any house, lest, by so coming, according to
an ancient superstition, if they practised any magical arts, they might impose upon him, and
so get the better of him. But they came endued with Divine, not with magic power, bearing
a silver cross for their banner, and the image of our Lord and Saviour painted on a board;
and chanting litanies, they of ered up their prayers to the Lord for the eternal salvation both
of themselves and of those to whom and for whom they had come.13

Wisely, the King answered their message of greeting in this way:

12 P. Schaff, "Epistle LI: To the Brethren Going to England," p. 203.
13 Bede, p. 46.
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`Your words and promises are fair, but because they are new to us, and of uncertain
import, I cannot consent to them so far as to forsake that which I have so long observed
with the whole English nation. But because you are come from far as strangers into my
kingdom, and, as I conceive, are desirous to impart to us those things which you believe to
be true, and most beneficial, we desire not to harm you, but wil give you favourable
entertainment, and take care to supply you with al things necessary to your sustenance; nor
do we forbid you to preach and gain as many as you can to your religion.'14

The king fulfil ed his promises and provided them lodging in Canterbury, the
metropolis of al his dominions. With the religious freedom granted them, the missionaries
started a monastic community, and began preaching and holding services in the church of St.
Martin, a renovated Roman building used by the Queen.

The work proceeded quickly, and by Christmas Day, 597, the King and 10,000 of his
people were baptized into the Christian faith. With the news of this great success, Augustine
sent the priest Laurentius and the monk Peter to Rome to update Gregory on the progress
of the work. He also sent with them many questions about ecclesiastical conduct for the new
church. The correspondence between Augustine and Gregory played an integral role in
linking the new church of England under the supervision of Rome.

Replying years later in 601, possibly delaying due to health problems,15 Gregory sent
a fresh supply of missionary monks under the Gal ic abbot Mel itus, and also sent sacred
objects used in the worship, as wel as a sheaf of letters which answered his questions and
officially granted Augustine the pal ium, making him archbishop of the English, and the first
Bishop of Canterbury. It is through these letters that Augustine explained his strategy for the
English church, which wil be discussed later.

With the support of the King, Augustine renovated Roman churches in Britain, one
of which became the Canterbury cathedral. Then, after a faulty attempt to bring the Welsh

14 Ibid., p. 47.
15 Richards, p. 243.
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bishops under Rome's authority, Augustine and the Roman missionaries continued the work
without them. Augustine died around 605, and though the English church would suffer from
many evils in its future, he made a breakthrough into the country for the sake of Catholic
Christianity. His breakthrough would not be severed until the 16th century, and according to
Latourette, even then it was not severed completely.16

Through the Pope's strenuous activity and participation in the Roman Mission to
England, the Catholic church was able to bring the English church into close fel owship and
giving to this church its organization. Moreover, the English were later used to spread
Christianity back to the continent, sparking a building of faith for the Germans and the
Carolingian realms. Final y, in recent centuries, British Christianity has been carried to much
of the world.17 The spark that began with a vision of a pontiff through the grace of God
and the work of other believers in Christian history would have a profound impact on
Christianity throughout the rest of history.

Gregory's strategies and correspondences
Through his correspondences with missionaries, Gregory's strategy with regard to England
was clear. Gregory wanted conversion to occur by encouragement and conciliation, working
with the lay authorities.18 Gregory wrote to the Archbishop Leander of Sevil e in Spain, "As
long as there is unity in the faith, difference in custom is not prejudicial to the Holy
Church."19 In the same manner, he exhorted Augustine to adapt the church's rituals to local
circumstances:

16 K. S. Latourette, A History of Christianity, Vol. I: to A.D. 500 (1953), p. 346
17 Ibid., p. 343.
18 Richards, p. 244.
19 Ibid., p. 245.
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Thy Fraternity knows the use of the Roman Church, in which thou hast been nurtured.
But I approve of thy selecting careful y anything thou hast found that may be more pleasing
to Almighty God, whether in the Roman Church or that of Gaul, or in any Church
whatever, and introducing in the Church of Angli, which is as yet new in the faith, by a
special institution, what thou hast been able to col ect from many Churches. For we ought
not love things for places, but places for things. Therefore choose from each several Church
such things as are pious, religious, and right, and, col ecting them as it were into a bundle,
plant them in the minds of the Angli for their use.20

With his strategy of persuasion, he came, after an initial y aggressive stance, to
eschew force. In one instance, Gregory felt disturbed after writing a letter to King Ethelbert
to destroy idols and temples. Through a second group of letters sent to Mel itus, he wrote
that the temples should not be destroyed, but if they were in satisfactory condition be rather
transformed into churches to worship the true God.21

He also provided suggestions on the organization of the new church. Gregory
exhorted Augustine to establish a metropolitan see in London, and ordain 12 bishoprics
under its jurisdiction. Then, he was to create another metropolitan archbishopric in York,
which would ordain 12 more bishops under its see. But these suggestions showed that
Gregory had in mind the geography of the former Roman province of Britain instead of the
new arrangement of the English kingdoms.22 Augustine, therefore, remained at Canterbury
and made little attempt to implement the plan.

In fact, it seems that the papal office supported Augustine's move at least,
condoned it because even to this day, his decisions about the ecclesiastical organization
of England have remained unchal enged; Canterbury and York are stil the two
metropolitans of the Church of England. It seems that Gregory and his predecessors

20 P. Schaff, "Epistle LXIV: To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli," Vol. XIII, p. 75.
21 Richards, p. 245.
22 Ibid., p.243.
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acknowledged Augustine's superiority of knowledge about England, and al owed Augustine's
decision to stand.

In fact, Gregory's acceptance of Augustine's actions is in complete accord with his
own missions strategy. As we have seen, he had pushed Augustine to contextualize Christian
rituals to make them relevant to the minds of the Angli. Thus, Augustine's decision to
remain in Canterbury is a better choice given the context of the land, since it lies at the heart
of the kingdom of King Ethelbert, the most powerful ruler on the island. Given his own
missions strategy, it seems natural that Gregory would have preferred Augustine's choice of
metropolitan sees, had he better understood English geography, as Augustine did.

Augustine also asked Gregory many more questions about how to administer the
church on subjects ranging from appropriations of the church budget, to the conduct of
clerics, to the punishment for theft in the church, to the approval of certain marriages, to the
ordination of bishops. To these questions, Gregory faithful y replied, and maintained the link
between the Church of England and Rome.

Conclusions
Overal , Christians today can find lessons for missionary strategy in Gregory and his
concerted plan to reach the English. As stated before, Gregory felt that his missionary duties
were of primary importance to the papal office. He had a true heart for the lost; he wanted
to go to England himself. But, using today's Christian vernacular, he was "cal ed to stay" in
Rome, though his heart desired to go. So, while in Rome, he devoted much to effort to
support the plans to win the souls in England for Jesus. Even though the demands of his
responsibilities could have easily eaten away his time and energy, he was able to see beyond
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the ecclesiastical structures of the day, to see what laid ahead in the land of the pagan. He
was, in the truest sense, a visionary.

Clearly, his visions led to action. Without Gregory, the Roman Mission to England
would have failed. As it was, however, Augustine had the backing of the most influential
man of the Western Church, and under his authority and the authority of God, he was able
to transform a nation for the kingdom of Christ. Gregory initiated the mission, planned it,
executed it, sustained it, and supported it by garnering support from other Christian leaders.
With this strategy, Augustine could more easily focus on preaching the Word of God.

Also, Gregory showed great wisdom and insight in his management of the mission.
He and Augustine kept close contact with each other; they worked as a team. Through their
correspondences, he exhorted Augustine to contextualize Catholic rituals, making the faith
as relevant as possible to the nation of Angli. In this, he showed that he cared more for the
heart of the religion than for its strict ritual, and removed as many barriers from the Gospel
as he could. And, though Gregory gave some advice to the ecclesiastical structure of
England, Augustine was not condemned for his adaptation of Gregory's organizational
strategies to better fit the land, knowing that a metropolitan see located at Canterbury would
yield greater benefits than one in London. Throughout the missionary expedition, Augustine
had Gregory's ful support in his ministry to the English.

Today, the leaders of the local church need to catch a vision for the people of the
world who do not believe in the name of Jesus. Though this is the greatest age for
missionary activity we have ever witnessed, stil many Christians and especial y our
leaders fail to see the need to bring Christ to the lost nations of the world. Not only do
our leaders need to have a heart for the lost, but also they must work hard to support the
missionaries that do go abroad. Gregory did this, and God worked mightily through his
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efforts. Whether we are cal ed to stay or go, Gregory's example teaches us that we should
have compassion for the lost in al parts of the world, and do whatever is necessary to bring
to them the name of Jesus.

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Bibliography

Addison, James Thayer. The Medieval Missionary: A Study on the Conversion of Northern Europe,
A.D. 500-1300 (1936). New York: International Missionary Council.

Barmby, James. Gregory the Great (1879). New York: Pott, Young, and Co.

Bede, the Venerable. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England. Revised, translated, and edited by
A. M. Sel ar. London: George Bel and Sons, 1907.

Latourette, Kenneth Scott. A History of Christianity, Vol. I: to AD 500 (1953). New York:
Harper San Francisco.

Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, Eds. A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the
Christian Church. Second Series. Vol. XII and XIII. Translated by James Barmby.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1952.

Richards, Jeffrey. Consul of God: The Life and Times of Gregory the Great (1980). Boston:
Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Walker, Wil iston and Richard A. Norris, David W. Lotz, and Robert T. Handy. A History of
the Christian Church (1985). Fourth edition. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

1995 by James Choung. Please do not reproduce without permission.
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