St. Augustine was made the chief of the missionary effort to England by St. Gregory. He achieved great and almost instant success, converting and baptizing King Ethelbert and a great number of his nobles and people on Whit-Sunday, 596 A.D.

 

St. Augustine and his missionaries continued to travel throughout England spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He died after eight years of evangelical labors. The Anglo-Saxon Church, which he founded, is still famous for its learning, zeal, and devotion to the Holy See, while its calendar commemorates no less than 300 Saints, half of whom were of royal birth.
(Adapted from Fr. Butler”s Lives of the Saints).