In, Britain's First Missionary, Fr. Brou details the establishment of the Catholic Church in the British Isles - headed by St. Augustine of Canterbury and his companions.
Excerpt:
The companions with whom he had started on his own abortive expedition were still there. Gregory's example had fired their zeal, and so forty were found who under the inspiration of God's grace offered themselves for the work. At their head was Augustine, prior to the convent, and with him a priest named Lawrence, who may perhaps have belonged to the secular clergy. We may also mention Peter, the monk, who was to become the first abbot of Canterbury, John, who was also a monk, the little choir-boy Honorius, who afterwards became archbishop, and the deacon James, who to apostolic fervour added a profound love of music. The names of the rest are unknown to us.
THEY left the holy city about June, a.d. 596, and before long arrived in France. One of their first halting-places in Gaul was the great monastery of Lerins, where St. Patrick had once stayed for nine years. Augustine had to pay a visit on the Pope's behalf to Protasius, bishop of Aix, and to the patrician Arigius, a Burgundian of rank. He had to leave his companions at Lerins, and it was doubtless during the absence of their leader on this occasion that, left to themselves, the monks fell into that despondency and discouragement which has become historic. Had they imagined when they gave in their names that their mission was to be free from risk and peril? They knew nothing of the people committed to their charge, and the first account they had of them filled them with dismay.
