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Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum:
The History of the Primitive Church of England.
Book One, Chapter Twenty-One

Translated by Rev. William Hurst, 1814.


Chapter XXI

The seeds of the Pelagian heresy springing up again, St. Germanus returns to Britain with Severus, and first cures the corporeal lameness of a young man; and then, by converting or proscribing the heretics, heals the spiritual lameness of the people.

Some time after St. Germanus' return to France, he was informed that a few individuals had begun again to disseminate the perverse opinions of Pelagius in the same island: and he was again solicited by the entreaties of all the clergy, to assert the cause of God, which he had before so nobly defended. He hastened to comply with their request, (and taking with him Severus, a person of the most eminent piety, who was the pupil of his former colleague St. Lupus, and had been ordained by him bishop of Treves,) embarked, and sailed over to Britain with a fair wind. In the mean time, the wicked spirits, flying over the whole island, were reluctantly compelled to announce to the inhabitants the arrival of St. Germanus. Upon which Elafius, one of the principal men of the country, hastened to meet the holy men, taking with him his son, who, though in the flower of youth, was afflicted with such debility and lameness, as would have moved anyone to compassion to behold him: for the sinews of his legs were so contracted that he could not walk, nor even put his feet to the ground. An immense number of people followed this Elafius, and assembled round the holy prelates; who, as soon as they landed, gave them their blessing, and began to preach the word of God to them. Then they enquired what doctrine they held, and discovered that the majority of the people continued to profess the same faith which they had before taught them; and that but few had swerved from it. These they detected and convicted.

Then Elafius cast himself at the feet of the Missioners, presenting to them his son, whose distress was sufficiently manifest not to require any description. Every one was grieved to see it, but especially the good bishop and his colleague, who immediately had recourse to the divine mercy in his behalf; and the blessed Germanus ordered the youth to sit down, and, applying his healing hand to the part affected, gently drew it over it, when immediately the contracted sinews were relaxed, and restored to their proper tone, and the young man was presented to his father perfectly cured. The surrounding spectators were all very much astonished at the sight of this miracle, and the Catholic faith, thus attested, was more firmly established in their minds. Then were they exhorted to make satisfaction to God for their prevarication; and the authors of it were condemned, by the general voice of all present, to be banished out of the island, and were delivered to the holy prelates, to be sent into any part of the continent, wherever they should judge it most expedient; that so these heresiarchs might be induced to correct their errors, and Britain might be delivered from the pestilence of their perverse opinions. By these means the true faith was restored, and remained in its purity for a long time in this country. Having thus put every thing in good order, the holy prelates returned as prosperously as they came.

St. Germanus, after this, went to Ravenna, to supplicate the Emperor Valentinian to grant peace to the people of Armorica. He was received by him and his mother Placidia with the greatest respect and veneration, and soon afterwards departed to Christ. His sacred remains were carried with the greatest honours, by a numerous and splendid attendance to his own city, where several miracles established the fame of his sanctity. Not long after this time, Valentinian was assassinated by the adherents of Etius, the Patrician, whom he had put to death, in the sixth year of the reign of Marcian, with whom ended the western empire.

chap 22 missing

Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum:
The History of the Primitive Church of England.
Book One, Chapter Twenty-Three

Translated by Rev. William Hurst, 1814.


Chapter XXIII

Pope Gregory the Great sends St. Austin, and other Monks, to preach the gospel to the English, and encourages them to persevere in their holy endeavours.

Mauritius, who was fifty-fourth Emperor in succession from Augustus, having been raised to the imperial throne in the year 582, continued to occupy it twenty-one years. In the tenth year of his reign, Gregory, a person of eminent sanctity and learning, was chosen to fill the Roman and Apostolic See; and he presided in the Pontificate thirteen years, six months, and ten days. In the fourteenth year of the reign of the aforesaid emperor, and about the one hundred and fiftieth after the coming of the English into Britain, being moved by a secret impulse of the divine spirit, he sent the servant of God, Austin, and with him several other Monks, who lived in the fear of the Lord, to preach the word of God to the English nation. These having ,in obedience to the Pope's commands, undertaken to effect this, and gone some part of their way, were seized with a sudden fear, which stopped their progress, and occasioned them to deliberate together about returning home, rather than proceed to a barbarous, fierce, and infidel nation, to whose very language they were strangers; and this they unanimously agreed was the safest course. Upon which, they without delay sent back Austin, whom St Gregory had appointed to be ordained their bishop, ( in case they should meet with a favourable reception from the English,) earnestly to entreat him not to compel them to continue so dangerous, so fatiguing, and so precarious a journey: to which message the holy Pope answered by a letter, in which he exhorted the Missioners to confide in the divine assistance, and to go forwards, with courage, to preach the word of God. The letter was written in the following words:--

Gregory, the Servant of the Servants of God


MOST DEARLY BELOVED SONS, As it would have been much better for you never to have begun the good work you have in hand, than to think of abandoning it, you ought now to do your utmost endeavours to complete that which you have ( relying on the grace of God) undertaken to perform. Let not, therefore, either the toil of the journey, or the tongues of wicked men, deter you: but , with the aid of the Almighty, prosecute the laudable enterprise which you have commenced with the great labour. When Austin returns to you, humbly obey him in all things, as we have appointed him to preside over you and be your Abbot. Make account, that, whatever you shall do in compliance with his injunctions, will be profitable to your souls. May the omnipotent God protect you by his grace, and grant us the happiness of seeing the fruits of your labours in our eternal country; that we may become partakers with you in the glory of your reward, as we would most willingly partake in your labours, did not circumstances prevent us. May God keep you in good health, my beloved sons. Given, this twenty-second of July, the fourteenth year of the reign of our sovereign lord, Mauritius Tiberius, and the thirteenth year since the consulship of the same most pious emperor, and the fourteenth indiction.