(A.D. 616.)
[Roman, Ancient Anglican and German Martyrologies, that of Usuardus,
&c. Authority:--Bede, lib. i. c. 11-15, 25, 26; lib. ii. c. 5.]
S. Ethelbert was son and successor of Irmenric, king of Kent, and
great grandson of Hengist, the first of the Saxon conquerors of
Britain. He reigned for thirty-six years over the oldest kingdom of
the Heptarchy--that of Kent--and gained over all the other Saxon kings
and princes, even to the confines of Northumbria, that kind of
military supremacy which was attached to the title of Bretwalda, or
temporary chief of the Saxon Confederation. His wife was Bertha,
daughter of Charibert, son of Clovis, king of France; a Christian
princess, who brought over with her as chaplain, one Lethard or
Liudhard, of Senlis, a bishop, who exercised his ministry in a church
formerly built, in Roman times, near the walls of Canterbury, and
dedicated to S. Martin. Tradition records the gentle and lovable
virtues of queen Bertha, but little is known of her life; she has left
but a brief and uncertain illumination on those distant and dark
horizons, over which she sits like a star, the herald of the sun. Her
example and the virtues of Liudhard probably did much to break up the
ground in the heart of Ethelbert; but his conversion was reserved for
the coming and preaching of S. Augustine and his companions, the
missioners sent from Rome by Gregory the Great. These landed first in
the Isle of Thanet, which joins close to the east part of Kent, and
thence they sent a message to king Ethelbert, saying why they had come
into his land. The king sent word back to them to stay in the isle
till he fully made up his mind how to treat them; and he gave orders
that they should be well taken care of in the meanwhile. After some
days he came himself into the isle, and bade them come and tell him
what they had to say. He sat under an oak, and received them in the
open air, for he would not meet them in a house, as he thought they
might be wizards, and they might use some charm or spell, which,
according to the superstition of the time, was held to be powerless
out of doors. So they came, carrying a silver cross, and a picture of
Our Lord painted on a wooden panel, chanting in procession the
litanies in use at Rome, in the solemn and touching strains which they
had learnt from Gregory, their spiritual father, and the father of
religious music. At their head marched Augustine, whose lofty stature
and patrician presence attracted every eye, for, like Saul, "he was
taller than any of the people from his shoulders and upwards."[67] The
king, surrounded by a great number of his followers, received them
graciously, and made them sit down before him. After having listened
to the address which they delivered to him and to the assembly, he
gave them a loyal, sincere, and, as we should say in these days, truly
liberal answer. "You make fair speeches and promises," he said, "but
all this is to me new and uncertain. I cannot all at once put faith in
what you tell me, and abandon all that I, with my whole nation, have
for so long a time held sacred. But since you have come from so far
away to impart to us what you yourselves, by what I see, believe to be
the truth and the supreme good, we shall do you no hurt, but, on the
contrary, shall show you all hospitality, and shall take care to
furnish you with the means of living. We shall not hinder you from
preaching your religion, and you may convert whom you can." So he gave
them a house to dwell in, in the royal city of Canterbury, and he let
them preach openly to the people, of whom they quickly brought some
over to the faith, moved by the innocence of their lives, and the
sweetness of their heavenly doctrine, which was confirmed by miracles.
They were given, as Bede tells us, the Church of S. Martin in which
"to sing, to pray, to say mass, to preach, and to baptize." But it was
not long before the king also submitted to the truth, and was
baptized; and before the year was out, there was added to the Church
more than ten thousand souls. It was on Whitsun-Day, in the year of
grace, 497, that the English king entered into the unity of the Holy
Church of Christ Since the conversion of Constantine, excepting that
of Clovis, there had not been any event of greater moment in the
annals of Christendom. Then the king told Augustine and his companions
that they might build new churches, and repair the old ones which
Christians had used before the Saxons invaded England, and drove the
ancient Church into Cornwall and Wales. Ethelbert, faithful to the
last to that noble respect for the individual conscience, of which he
had given proof even before he was a Christian, was unwilling to
constrain anyone to change his religion. He allowed himself to show no
preference, save a deeper love for those who, baptized like himself,
became his fellow-citizens in the heavenly kingdom. The Saxon king had
learnt from the Italian monks that no constraint is compatible with
the service of Christ.[68] It was not to unite England to the Roman
Church, but it was in order to tear her from it, a thousand years
after this, that another king, and another queen, Henry VIII., and his
cruel daughter Elizabeth, had to employ torture and the gallows.
From the time of his conversion, Ethelbert behaved for the twenty
remaining years of his life, as became a good king and a good
Christian. He gave his royal palace in Canterbury for the use of the
archbishop, founded Christ Church in Canterbury, S. Andrew's in
Rochester, S. Paul's in London, and built and endowed the abbey and
church of SS. Peter and Paul without the walls of Canterbury, commonly
called S. Augustine's; and was instrumental in bringing over to the
faith of Christ, Sebert, king of the East Saxons, with his people, and
Redwald, king of the East Angles. The former remained true to Christ
till his death; but Redwald returned, at least in part, to the worship
of Thor and Wodin. Ethelbert died in the year 616, and was buried in
the Church of SS. Peter and Paul, near the body of his devout queen
Bertha, and the holy prelate Liuthard. A light was always kept burning
before his tomb by our pious ancestors.
Liuthard of Senlis, the chaplain of queen Bertha, is also commemorated
on this day.
[65] Alimentum indeficiens.
[66] Alban Butler, in his life of S. Prætextatus, says that the bishop
married Meroveus to his aunt, deeming the case one deserving a
dispensation, and that he confessed this at the council; but S.
Gregory of Tours, who is the authority for all that passed, says that
the bishop denied having married them, and when he was persuaded to
confess, he did not confess that he had done this, but that by giving
money to Meroveus, he had encouraged him in his revolt.
[67] Gotselinus: Vita S. Aug. c. 45.
[68] "Didicerat enim a doctoribus auctoribusque suæ salutis, servitium
Christ voluntarium, non coactum esse debere." Bede i. 26.
[Illustration: ENAMELLED CHEST, which contained the remains of King
Ethelbert.]
[Illustration: WINDOW in the Cathedral at Tours. Feb. 24.]
February 25.
SS. VICTORINUS, VICTOR, AND COMP., _MM. in Egypt_, A.D. 284.
SS. ANANIAS, P. M., Peter, and Seven Soldiers, _MM. in Phoenicia,
circ._ A.D. 298.
S. CÆSARIUS, _C. in Bithynia, circ._ A.D. 369.
S. FELIX III., _Pope of Rome_, A.D. 492.
S. ALDETRUDIS, _V. Abss. of Maubeuge, end of 7th cent._
S. WALBURGA, _V. Abss. of Heidenheim, about_ A.D. 780.
S. TARASIUS, _Patr. of Constantinople_, A.D. 806.
S. GERLANDUS, _B. of Girgenti, Sicily_, A.D. 1101.
B. ROBERT OF ARBRISSEL, _Founder of the Order of Fontevrault_,
A.D. 1117.
S. AVERTANUS, _O. M. C. in Tuscany, 16th cent._