Saint Ethelbert of Kent

Ethelbert was born around 560 and became king of Kent, in southeastern England, around 589. He married Bertha, a Christian Frankish princess, who was allowed to keep her faith and brought her chaplain, Bishop Liudhard, with her. They worshiped in the small Church of Saint Martin in Canterbury.

In 597 Pope Saint Gregory the Great sent the monk Augustine with about forty companions to evangelize the English. Ethelbert met them in the open air, listened to their preaching and allowed them to settle in Canterbury. Soon afterward he was baptized, and thousands of his people followed. He did not force anyone to convert, but supported the mission generously, giving land for the cathedral of Canterbury and the abbey of Saints Peter and Paul, and helping found churches in Rochester and London. He also issued the oldest surviving code of laws written in English. He died on February 24, 616.

Canterbury, the mother church of England, remembers him as its founder alongside Saint Augustine, and the ruins of Saint Augustine's Abbey, where he was buried, can still be visited.

His feast is kept in England on February 25, and he is a model for Christians in public life who use their influence to open doors for the Gospel.