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Portrait of St. Augustine of Canterbury

St. Augustine of Canterbury

A Roman monk sent to the edge of the known world, who turned back in fear on the road — and was sent on anyway, to plant the faith among the Anglo-Saxons and become the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

Feast: May 27 6th century – 604 Apostle to the English Archbishop of Canterbury
Patron Of
England

Reflect on St. Augustine of Canterbury

Augustine's story is for anyone who has wanted to turn back from something hard, and had to find the courage to keep going.

Reflection Questions

  1. 1

    Augustine and his monks grew so frightened of the journey ahead that they turned around — and were sent on anyway. In your own words, what do you think kept them moving forward?

  2. 2

    Where in your own life is fear quietly telling you to turn back from something you sense you are meant to do?

  3. 3

    What is one small step you could take this week toward a good thing that frightens you?
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Portrait of St. Anthony of Padua

St. Anthony of Padua

Doctor of the ChurchJune 13

A gifted Portuguese scholar who hid his learning by washing dishes in a Franciscan hermitage — until one surprise sermon gave him away, and he spent the last nine years of his short life as the most powerful preacher in Europe.

Portrait of St. Germaine Cousin

St. Germaine Cousin

Shepherdess of PibracJune 15

A sickly shepherd girl despised by her own household, who slept under the stairs, prayed in the fields, and shared her scraps with beggars — and whom heaven, and eventually all of France, refused to overlook.

Portrait of St. Boniface

St. Boniface

Apostle of GermanyJune 5

An English monk who walked away from a quiet life of books to spend forty years preaching in the German forests — felling a god's oak with an axe, building a church across half a continent, and dying with a book raised over his head.

Image Saint Augustine of Canterbury — line engraving by A. Lommelin. Photo by Adriaen Lommelin / Wellcome Collection (Cropped and resized). Licensed under CC BY 4.0.