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.