Saint Ethelbert

Ethelbert, struck by the virtues of his wife and the exemplary life of the holy bishop, felt his attachment to paganism diminish, and his heart was already prepared in some way to receive the Gospel when Saint Augustine cam e to preach it in his kingdom. Some time later, Ethelbert went in person to Thanet and held his audience in the open air. The missionaries who arrived near him explained the purpose of their coming and the advantages that would result from it for him and his subjects. Ethelbert, after listening to them with great attention, replied: Your words are beautiful and your promises magnificent. Never have such been made to me, but they seem to me a little uncertain. However, since you have come from so far for the love of me, I will not suffer you to be molested, and I authorize you to preach in my states. He assigned them the means to subsist, and wished them to fix their residence in Canterbury, his capital.

Shortly after, he opened his eyes to the light and publicly renounced the worship of idols. The zeal and piety of Bertha seconded the instructions of Augustine, and contributed not a little to the conversion of her husband, which was soon followed by that of a large part of the nation.

The King of Kent, having become a Christian, appeared as a completely new man, and the twenty years he lived after his baptism were entirely devoted to spreading the religion and converting his subjects. He abolished the worship of idols, had their temples torn down, or preserved them for the true God. The one in Canterbury was converted into a church which later became a cathedral. He also founded, outside the city walls, the monastery of Saint Peter a nd Saint Paul, which later took the name of Saint Augustine. He also had several churches built, among others that of Saint Andrew, that of Rochester, and that of Saint Paul in London. A missionary in his turn, he worked for the conversion of neighboring princes and won to J esus C hrist Sebert, King of the East Saxons , and Redwald, King of the East Angles; but the latter later returned to paganism.

Saint Gregory the Great sent him (600) several gifts along with a letter in which he congratulated him on his zeal for religion; he gave him excellent advice regarding his salvation. Ethelbert had initially had to endure harsh battles against his passions, against the world, and against the spirit of darkness; but he always emerged victorious by employing the weapons provided by the Gospel, that is to say, prayer, humility, and mortification.

Beneficence was also one of his principal virtues, and his subjects, especially those who were in need or misfortune, felt its happy effects. He governed them as a father rather than a master, and caused peace, justice, and piety to reign in his states. He enacted laws so wise that they were still observed in England several centuries after his death, which occurred in the year 616, at an advanced age, as he had been King of Kent for fifty-six years.

He was buried in the church of the monastery of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and some time later his body was raised from the ground and placed under the high altar. He was the patron of the church of Norwich and of several other churches in England, under the name of Saint Albert.

A lamp was always kept burning before his tomb, where miracles occurred until the time of Henry VIII.