Christianity's reintroduction into Kent and South Britain
Introduction
A number of people would like to give credit for the reintroduction of Christianity to Gregory. It is said that one day the Catholic monk spotted two fair-haired, blue-eyed boys being auctioned in the Roman slave market. He quickly inquired who they were. "They are Angles" was the answer (since they came from Angleland later called England). Gregory alleged, Not Angles, but angels and they should be joint-heirs with the archangels in heaven. When Gregory became pope he recognized the boys he had seen in the slave market and in 596 AD he bespoke Augustine and forty monks to bring Roman Catholicism to Britain. Augustine and company came to Kent in 597 AD only a few months prior to Colum Cille died in Scotland. Before long, King Ethelbert gave them access to an old Romano-British church in Canterbury as a mission foundation. At the same time as Augustine did have significant influence in Britain, he was not the first to reintroduce Christianity into Britain (Bradley, 1999). Thitry-four years prior to Augustine came in Kent, England, Colum Cille or Saint Columba and company set up a college and church on a Scottiah island. It was this man and his friends, not Augustine, that were first successful in reintroducing Christianity to the Scots and Britons. Nevertheless, it is not possible to properly appreciate the person and work of Colum Cille unless you are familiar with a little something about a different person who laid the foundation for biblical Christianity in Ireland. That person was Maewyn Succat.