Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book I Chapter XXIX
by Venerable Bede
THE SAME POPE SENDS AUGUSTINE THE PALL, AN EPISTLE AND SEVERAL MINISTERS OF THE WORD.
[A.D. 601.]
MOREOVER, the same Pope Gregory, hearing from Bishop Augustine, that he had a great
harvest, and but few labourers, sent to him, together with his aforesaid messengers,
several fellow labourers and ministers of the word of whom the first and principal were
Mellitus, Justus, Paulinus, and Rufinianus, and by them all things in general that were
necessary for the worship and service of the church, viz., sacred vessels and vestments
for the altars, also ornaments for the churches, and vestments for the priests and clerks,
as likewise relics of the holy apostles and martyrs; besides many books. He also sent
letters, wherein he signified that he had transmitted the pall to him, and at the same
time directed how he should constitute bishops in Britain. The letters were in these words
-
"To his most reverend and holy brother and fellow bishop, Augustine; Gregory,
the servant of the servants of God. Though it be certain, that the unspeakable rewards
of the eternal kingdom are reserved for those who labour for Almighty God, yet it is
requisite that we bestow on them the advantage of honours, to the end that they may by
this recompense be enabled the more vigorously to apply themselves to the care of their
spiritual work. And, in regard that the new church of the English is, through the goodness
of the Lord, and your labours, brought to the grace of God, we grant you the use of the
pall in the same, only for the performing of the solemn service of the mass; so that you
in several places ordain twelve bishops, who shall be subject to your jurisdiction, so
that the bishop of London shall, for the future, be always consecrated by his own synod,
and that he receive the honour of the pall from this holy and apostolical see, which I, by
the grace of God, now serve. But we will have you send to the city of York such a bishop
as you shall think fit to ordain; yet so, if that city, with the places adjoining, shall
receive the word of God, that bishop shall also ordain twelve bishops, and enjoy the
honour of a metropolitan; for we design, if we live, by the help of God, to bestow on him
also the pall; and yet we will have him to be subservient to your authority; but after
your decease, he shall so preside over the bishops he shall ordain, as to be in no way
subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop of London. But for the future let this
distinction be between the bishops of the cities of London and York that he may have the
precedence who shall be first ordained. But let them unanimously dispose, by common advice
and uniform conduct, whatsoever is to be done for the zeal of Christ; let them judge
rightly, and perform what they judge convenient in a uniform manner.
"But to you, my brother, shall, by the authority of our God, and Lord Jesus
Christ, be subject not only those bishops you shall ordain, and those that shall be
ordained by the bishop of York, but also all the priests in Britain; to the end that from
the mouth and life of your holiness they may learn the rule of believing rightly, and
living well, and fulfilling their office in faith and good manners, they may, when it
shall please the Lord, attain the heavenly kingdom. God preserve you in safety, most
reverend brother.
"Dated the 22nd of June, in the nineteenth year of the reign of our most pious
lord and emperor, Mauritius Tiberius, the eighteenth year after the consulship of our said
lord. The fourth indiction."
