Augustine of Canterbury
6th-century missionary, archbishop, and saint
- Lived
- 550–605
Updated September 2026
About Augustine of Canterbury
Augustine of Canterbury was a Christian monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He was the prior of a Benedictine monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory I chose him in 595 to lead a mission, usually known as the Gregorian mission, to Britain to Christianize King Æthelberht and his Kingdom of Kent from Anglo-Saxon paganism.
Biography from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources: book lists and dates from Wikidata and Open Library, ratings from Open Library readers. Last updated September 2026.