Convertion of England:

Gregory the Great of Rome desperately wanted Britain to receive the gospel and to become Christian. Before he became pope, he had received permission to be a missionary to Britain. But when he had tried to leave Rome, the people brought him back because they were completely convinced that they needed him to keep Rome in order. He agreed to stay in Rome, but he still continued to pray for the people of Britain and tried to find a way to give them the gospel.

After he was made Pope Gregory I, he sent Augustine (not the author of City of God) and thirty other monks with him to bring the gospel to Britain. When they came to Britain, they converted King Ethelbert of Kent and ten thousand others. Soon afterwards Augustine was made the first archbishop of Britain.

King Edwin of Northumbria held a council to decide the religion that would dominate the region. To the entire council and the audience, Coifi, the chief priest of one Northumbrian religion, declared that his gods had never helped him and the best religion was Christianity. The council saw that the leader of their old religion had joined Christianity and eventually decided that it was the right religion. Other religions in Northumbria quickly faded out and Christianity spread into other regions.

There are three great churches in England that came from other churches or temples. Canterbury came from the little church that Augustine started with his thirty other monks. Westminster Abbey was built at the location where a temple to the god Apollo had been previously situated. Saint Paul’s was built on the foundations of a former temple to the goddess Diana.

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