The Babylonish Captivity

In 1309 Pope Clement V found himself so much under the thumb of King Philip IV of France that he moved the papacy to Avignon. This marked the beginning of the “Babylonish Captivity” so called as due to the predominance of French popes and cardinals in the following seventy years, it was suggested that the popes had become French captives. To their credit the Avignon popes sent missionaries to countries as far distant as Asia, reorganized the church’s administration and made various attempts to promote peace between Europe’s rival kings and princes.
However the Italians were angered by the popes’ desertion of Rome and the papacy lost much prestige in England and Germany where it was viewed as a vassal of the French king. In addition the papacy’s popularity was hardly helped by their extravagant lifestyle, nepotism and imposition of heavy taxes.
In 1377 Catherine of Siena, a lay member of the Order of St Dominic after a forthright campaign of correspondence, persuaded Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome. This marked the end of the “Babylonish captivity”.

Gladys Aylward

Gladys Aylward ((1902 – 1970) was born of a working-class family in Edmonton, London in 1902. Although forced into domestic service at an early age, she always had an ambition to go overseas as a missionary, and studied with great determination in order to be fitted for the role, only to be turned down by the China Inland Mission because her academic background was inadequate.
Her determination was such that, in 1930, she spent her life savings on a railway ticket to Tientsin in north China. With a Scottish missionary, Mrs Jeannie Lawson, the pair founded, The Inn Of The Eight Happinesses, in a remote outpost at Yangcheng.
Aylward achieved much in China having become a foot inspector in the official campaign against the binding of female feet. In 1938, the region was invaded by Japanese forces, and Aylward led 94 children to safety over the mountains. She remained in China after World War II, later moving back to England.
Her story was told in the book The Small Woman by Alan Burgess, published in 1957. The following year it was made into the Hollywood film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Aylward strongly disapproved of the movie as she was played by a divorcee, Ingrid Bergman.

Away in a Manger

Away in a Manger was first published in an 1885 Lutheran Sunday School book, by James R. Murray (1841-1905) but the author of the first two stanzas and the music's composer is unknown. The third stanza was added in 1904 by Dr. John McFarland of New York City. Because Murray published it with the subtitle Luther's Cradle Hymn (Composed by Martin Luther for his children and still sung by German mothers to their little ones), it created the misconception that the lyrics of Away in a Manger were actually written by Martin Luther himself.

Ave Maria

The original words of Ave Maria (Hail Mary) were in English, part of a poem called The Lady of the Lake, written in 1810 by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832). The poem drew on the romance of the Arthurian legend but transferred it to Scott’s native Scotland. In 1825 during a holiday in Upper Austria, the composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828) set to music a prayer from the poem using a German translation by Adam Storck. Scored for piano and voice, it was first published in 1826 as “D839 Op 52 no 6.” Schubert called his piece “Ellens dritter Gesang” (Ellen's third song) and it was written as a prayer to the Virgin Mary from a frightened girl, Ellen Douglas, who had been forced into hiding .
The song cycle proved to be one of Schubert’s most financially successful works, the Austrian composer being paid by his publisher 20 pounds sterling, a sizeable sum for a musical work in the 1820s. Though not written for liturgical services, the music proved to be inspirational to listeners, particularly Roman Catholics, and a Latin text was substituted to make it suitable for use in church. It is today most widely known in its Latin "Ave Maria" form.

Jane Austen

The English novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817) was born in Steventon, Hampshire, where her father was rector. Her six "authorised novels," all published anonymously were: Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1816), and Northanger Abbey and Persuasion (1818). All six have been successfully adapted for film and television.
Apart from her father, two of Jane's brothers and four of her cousins were all clergymen. Jane herself was a little sympathetic to the evangelical movement but was put off by some of the more narrow-minded evangelicals, whose seriousness and inability to understand human nature disgusted her. She once wrote in a letter that she has " a great respect for Sweden because it had been so zealous for Protestantism."

Augustus

Augustus was the title of Octavian (born Gaius Octavius), the first Roman emperor 31 BC–AD 14. He reformed the government of the empire, the army, and Rome's public services, and was a patron of the arts. The period of his rule is known as the Augustan Age.
Augustus strongly supported the worship of Roman gods, especially Apollo, and depicted Roman defeat of Egypt as Roman gods defeating Egypt's. He sponsored Vergil's Aeneid in the hope that it would increase pride in Roman heritage. The emperor forbade his own deification as he didn't want to upset the upper class Romans, but willingly received all the marks of piety bestowed upon him.
Augustus is mentioned in the Bible in a clear example of a non-believer fulfilling God's will by issuing a decree that a census be taken of (Luke 2 v1) the entire Roman world. As a result Joseph and his family had to register at his home town of Bethlehem. Thus the prophecy about the Messiah being born in Bethlehem in the Old Testament book of Micah (Chapter 5 v 2) was fulfilled.
Augustus was not unfriendly towards the Jews and respected their worship and institutions.

The Augustine Order

The Augustinian order was established in 1256 to follow the monastic teaching and 'rule' of St Augustine. They were not founded by any particular personality, but were a union of several monastic societies. It was the last of the great begging orders to emerge on the thirteenth century.

Augustine of Canterbury

In 595 Pope Gregory I spotted some Angles (British) boys who have been bought to Rome and on being told they are pagan “angli” the pope exclaimed “They are not Angles but Angels”. Inspired he instructed the respected Abbot of St Andrew Monastery in Rome, Augustine, to lead a mission to convert Britain. “Certainly do not destroy the temples of the idols that the English have”, he wisely recommended, “sprinkle them with holy water and let altars be constructed.” Augustine and his company of 40 monks from the See of St Peter and Paul got as far as Aix-en-Provence in France. So terrifying were the reports they heard of the savage Britons that the Catholic missionary returned to Rome for permission to give up the attempt. Pope Gregory would have none of this yellow streak and ordered him to carry on. They recruited an interpreter in France and finally in 597 Augustine landed in Kent at Ebbsfleet on the east coast of Kent with his 40 monks. There he met King Ethelbert, King of Kent, whose Frankish wife, Bertha was a Christian. Ethelbert was originally very suspicious of Augustine as he was brought up to believe priests practised magic. Rumour had it that Augustine could make tails grow on the backs of those who displeased him. Ethelbert met the tall Roman abbot in the open air rather than under cover to protect himself against the abbot's magic. The king listened patiently to the abbot’s sermon and promised the monks shelter and protection at Canterbury. He considered the claims of the Catholic missionary for a time before converting and on June 2nd he was baptized. Augustine sent a report of this encouraging progress to the Pope and Gregory responded by dispatching more missionaries to help with the work. By the end of the year there were around 10,000 converts and Augustine travelled to Arles in France, where he was consecrated. He established his HQ at St Martins Church Canterbury which became Canterbury Cathedral. Before Augustine's arrival, Bertha had used the church to pray daily.
In 603 a conference was planned between seven Celtic bishops who were accompanied by their learned men and Augustine to discuss whether the Celtic church should continue to follow their own traditions or those that Augustine has introduced to South East England.
A holy and prudent hermit told the bishops that they should only listen to Augustine if he is truly a man of God. If this were the case he would rise from his seat to greet them showing himself to be meek and lowly of heart rather than proud. The bishops regarded this to be good advice but when they arrived, Augustine remained in his seat. The Celts became angry perceiving him to be a proud man and the discussions got nowhere.
The following year Augustine died. He has been unable to take his message outside the south or east of England as the Celtic Christians in the west half of Britain wanted to remain independent of this new Catholic Church. However King Ethelbert, King of Kent, was instrumental in converting the neighbouring King Sabert of the East Saxons in whose territory he built the cathedral of St Paul in London.
England was finally won over by 680, the Isle of Wight being the last area to succumb to the Catholic faith. It wasn't until 786 that the Pope sent anyone else to Britain.