|
IN the
year of our Lord 582, Maurice, the fifty-fourth from Augustus, ascended the
throne, and reigned twenty one years. In the tenth year of his reign, Gregory,
a man eminent in learning and the conduct of affairs, was promoted to the
Apostolic see of Rome, and presided over it thirteen years, six months and ten
days. He, being moved by Divine inspiration, in the fourteenth year of the same
emperor, and about the one hundred and fiftieth after the coming of the English
into Britain, sent the servant of God, Augustine, and with him
divers other monks, who feared the Lord, to preach the Word of God to the
English nation. They having, in obedience to the pope’s commands, undertaken
that work, when they had gone but a little way on their journey, were seized
with craven terror, and began to think of returning home, rather than proceed
to a barbarous, fierce, and unbelieving nation, to whose very language they
were strangers; and by common consent they decided that this was the safer
course. At once Augustine, who had been appointed to be consecrated bishop, if
they should be received by the English, was sent back, that he might, by humble
entreaty, obtain of the blessed Gregory, that they should not be compelled to
undertake so dangerous, toilsome, and uncertain a journey. The pope, in reply,
sent them a letter of exhortation, persuading them to set forth to the work of
the Divine Word, and rely on the help of God. The purport of which letter was
as follows:
"Gregory,
the servant of the servants of God, to the servants of our Lord. Forasmuch as
it had been better not to begin a good work, than to think of desisting from
one which has been begun, it behoves you, my beloved sons, to fulfil with all
diligence the good work, which, by the help of the Lord, you have undertaken.
Let not, therefore, the toil of the journey, nor the tongues of evil-speaking
men, discourage you; but with all earnestness and zeal perform, by God’s
guidance, that which you have set about; being assured, that great labour is
followed by the greater glory of an eternal reward. When Augustine, your
Superior, returns, whom we also constitute your abbot, humbly obey him in all
things; knowing, that whatsoever you shall do by his direction, will, in all
respects, be profitable to your souls. Almighty God protect you with His grace,
and grant that I may, in the heavenly country, see the fruits of your labour,
inasmuch as, though I cannot labour with you, I shall partake in the joy of the
reward, because I am willing to labour. God keep you in safety, my most beloved
sons. Given the 23rd of July, in the fourteenth year of the reign of our most
religious lord, Mauritius Tiberius Augustus, the thirteenth year after the
consulship of our lord aforesaid, and the fourteenth indiction."
|