{ "book_metadata": { "book_name": "HISTORY OF THE MISSIONS", "book_author": "BERNARD DE VAULX", "publisher": "HAWTHORN BOOKS PUBLISHERS", "published_on": "2026" }, "chunks": [ { "chunk_index": 1, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 30 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00034-752cae3083de838415c3.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Church Survives Imperial Collapse", "chunk_data": "CHAPTER III\nTHE EVANGELIZATION OF\nTHE BARBARIANS\nThe invasions had brought about the collapse of the Roman Empire but had not disorganized the Church. The firm stand made by the bishops, including the bishop of Rome, as the sole defenders of peoples and cities against barbarian violence had, on the contrary, increased her prestige, and this is one of the good aspects of this chaotic time. But new problems faced her and of these the most urgent was to discover what political power was to succeed the Empire which had supported the Church since the days of Constantine.", "time": { "start_year": 476, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 476, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "c. 476 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Bishops", "Bishop of Rome", "Constantine" ], "places": [ "Roman Empire", "Rome" ], "event": "The barbarian invasions collapse the Western Roman Empire while the Church remains organized and gains prestige.", "tags": [ "Church", "Politics", "Invasions" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 2, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 30 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00034-752cae3083de838415c3.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Barbarian Kingdoms Occupy the West", "chunk_data": "Apart from the cities between the Seine and the Loire, \"a pale reflection of the ruined Empire\", which remained under the control of Syagrius, the whole of the West was occupied by the barbarians, Italy by the Ostrogoths (until the arrival of the Lombards), the Rhône valley by the Burgundians, Spain by the Suevi soon to be joined by the Visigoths who already governed Aquitania with Toulouse as their capital. Alsace and Lorraine were in the hands of the Alemanni, Africa in those of the Vandals. Finally, the Franks, who had first settled in the Tournai region, had advanced as far as the Loire after Clovis' victory over Syagrius at Soissons.", "time": { "start_year": 486, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 486, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "Late 5th century AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Syagrius", "Clovis" ], "places": [ "Seine", "Loire", "Italy", "Rhône valley", "Spain", "Aquitania", "Toulouse", "Alsace", "Lorraine", "Africa", "Tournai", "Soissons" ], "event": "Barbarian peoples divide and occupy the former Western Roman territories, while Clovis's Franks advance to the Loire after defeating Syagrius.", "tags": [ "Invasions", "Politics", "Geography" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 3, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 30, 31 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00034-752cae3083de838415c3.webp", "raw\\pages\\00035-9b7a925710809bd29d75.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Pagan Franks Face Arian Barbarians", "chunk_data": "From the point of view of evangelization this barbarian world was divided into two groups. There were the totally pagan Franks, and the rest of the barbarians who for the most part had gone over to Arianism. On the one hand was a complete ignorance of the faith, on the other, a corrupted knowledge which ruined its foundation since Christ's divine nature was denied.", "time": { "start_year": 476, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 500, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "Late 5th century AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Franks", "Arian barbarians", "Christ" ], "places": [ "Western Europe" ], "event": "Missionary challenges divide between converting pagan Franks and correcting Arian Christians who deny Christ's divine nature.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Missions", "Christianity" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 4, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 31 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00035-9b7a925710809bd29d75.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Bishops Consider Converting Clovis", "chunk_data": "Which task would prove the more difficult? To begin again from the beginning or to rectify a knowledge which was only partial? To win the pagan from his gods or to bring the Arian to admit that he was distorting the image of Christ? Hesitation was understandable and it is easy to see why the Gallo-Roman episcopate, as far as the pagans were concerned, watched with such interest the young Frankish chief, an ambitious man who had grasped the fact that Christianity held a preponderant place in Gallic society and constituted a real force which it would be better to win over to one's side rather than to attack.", "time": { "start_year": 480, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 496, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "c. 480–496 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Clovis", "Gallo-Roman bishops" ], "places": [ "Gaul" ], "event": "The Gallo-Roman episcopate studies Clovis as a possible political and religious ally.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Politics", "Missions" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 5, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 31 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00035-9b7a925710809bd29d75.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Clovis Marries Clotilda", "chunk_data": "It was in an atmosphere such as this and, on the whole, one not unfavourable to an understanding between Clovis and the bishops, that one of the latter, St Avitus, suggested to St Remi that the young chief should marry Clotilda, a Burgundian Catholic princess of exemplary piety. He hoped this might lead to Clovis' conversion. The marriage, celebrated in 493, did not at first change Clovis' inclinations.", "time": { "start_year": 493, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 493, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "493 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Clovis", "St Avitus", "St Remi", "Clotilda" ], "places": [ "Gaul", "Burgundy" ], "event": "St Avitus persuades St Remi to arrange Clovis's marriage to the Catholic Burgundian princess Clotilda in hopes of converting Clovis.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Marriage", "Politics" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 6, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 31 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00035-9b7a925710809bd29d75.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Clovis Receives Baptism", "chunk_data": "His first son died shortly after baptism. The second, who was also baptized, in his turn was at the point of death. Clotilda prayed that he might be cured. When Clovis saw that her prayer had been answered, he ceased to be hostile to the God of the Christians. He took the final step at Tolbiac in 496. It was like a story in a picture book. Seeing that victory was likely to escape him, Clovis promised to receive baptism if Clotilda's God should grant him success. His prayer was answered and the victorious chief was baptized at Rheims on Christmas Day, 496, together with three thousand of his soldiers.", "time": { "start_year": 496, "start_month": 12, "start_date": 25, "end_year": 496, "end_month": 12, "end_date": 25, "time_display": "Christmas Day, 496 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Clovis", "Clotilda", "Clovis's sons", "Three thousand Frankish soldiers" ], "places": [ "Tolbiac", "Rheims" ], "event": "After Clotilda's prayer heals Clovis's son and Clovis wins at Tolbiac, Clovis is baptized with three thousand soldiers at Rheims.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Miracles", "Conversion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 7, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 31, 32 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00035-9b7a925710809bd29d75.webp", "raw\\pages\\00036-00b990ac66024417b05d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Clovis Becomes Catholicism's Champion", "chunk_data": "This event raised great hopes. St Avitus, bishop of Vienne, greeted it as the starting-point of a new era which would gather all the peoples of Gaul under Clovis' rule \"to the great advantage of the authority religion has to exercise\". In the southern areas where the Arian chiefs were persecuting the Church, the king of the Franks soon came to be considered as a liberator, as the man who would achieve political unity and the triumph of Catholicism over Arianism. We cannot doubt that he enthusiastically accepted this splendid assignment when we read the words attributed to him by Gregory of Tours: \"I can no longer accept the fact that the Arians occupy part of Gaul. Let us then march against them with God's help, and if our enemies are conquered, we shall rule over the whole country.\"", "time": { "start_year": 496, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 496, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "After 496 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Clovis", "St Avitus", "Gregory of Tours" ], "places": [ "Vienne", "Gaul" ], "event": "Clovis's baptism inspires hopes that he will unite Gaul politically and defeat Arianism.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Politics", "Conversion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 8, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 32 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00036-00b990ac66024417b05d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Clovis Defeats Arian Kingdoms", "chunk_data": "This crusade against Arianism, begun at Tolbiac after the defeat of the Alemanni, was continued at Fleury with a crushing defeat of the Burgundians (500) and at Vouillé (507) by that of the Visigoths. Clovis thought he would end it in a final campaign against the Ostrogoths, but he died before he could launch it, in 511. But at least he had had time to prepare for the overthrow of Arianism and the triumph of the true faith in the West.", "time": { "start_year": 496, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 511, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "496–511 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Clovis" ], "places": [ "Tolbiac", "Fleury", "Vouillé", "West" ], "event": "Clovis defeats the Alemanni, Burgundians, and Visigoths in campaigns against Arianism before dying in 511.", "tags": [ "War", "Religion", "Politics" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 9, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 32 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00036-00b990ac66024417b05d.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Clovis's Victory Influences Barbarians", "chunk_data": "In any case, after his death, his story continued to have immense significance for the barbarian chiefs. Even the Arians among them were shaken and asked themselves whether they should remain faithful to Arianism once Clovis had triumphed over it in a perfectly regular manner? Why, too, should they not rally to Catholicism which from now onwards would be the conqueror's religion? It would certainly be untrue to urge that generosity and even a certain sense of the divine were unknown among the barbarians. The truth is that miracles as the outward sign of a mystery, in particular such a striking miracle as that of Tolbiac, demonstrated the powerlessness of their own gods to these men for whom might was everything. Clovis was the unchallengeable witness to the superiority of the Christians' God.", "time": { "start_year": 511, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 600, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "After 511 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Clovis", "Barbarian chiefs" ], "places": [ "Tolbiac" ], "event": "Clovis's military success and reported miracle persuade barbarian chiefs that the Christian God is superior.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Miracles", "Conversion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 10, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 32, 33 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00036-00b990ac66024417b05d.webp", "raw\\pages\\00037-e4826ec68f707139a8cc.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Bishops Target Barbarian Sovereigns", "chunk_data": "For the bishops the story of Clovis was valued as a precedent to be extended throughout the West. Following as it did upon that of Constantine, it suggested that it would be wise to attempt to convert sovereigns in the first place and that this initial stage would prepare for the conversion of their subjects. Among the Burgundians, the method was a complete success. After the baptism of Sigismund by the bishop of Vienne (500), a considerable section of the aristocracy followed his example.", "time": { "start_year": 500, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 500, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "500 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Clovis", "Constantine", "Sigismund", "Bishop of Vienne" ], "places": [ "West", "Burgundy", "Vienne" ], "event": "Bishops adopt the strategy of converting rulers first, beginning with Sigismund's baptism and the subsequent conversion of Burgundian aristocrats.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Missions", "Politics" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 11, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 33 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00037-e4826ec68f707139a8cc.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Burgundian Religious Fusion Advances", "chunk_data": "So influential was the bishop who converted him that there was no outbreak of violence against the Arians. An edict placed the old Catholics of Gallo-Roman origin and the new Burgundian converts on an equal footing and the fusion of the two races was thus prepared.", "time": { "start_year": 500, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 510, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "Early 6th century AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Sigismund", "Bishop of Vienne", "Arians" ], "places": [ "Burgundy", "Gaul" ], "event": "Sigismund's conversion avoids violence and an edict equalizes Gallo-Roman Catholics with Burgundian converts.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Politics", "Society" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 12, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 33 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00037-e4826ec68f707139a8cc.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Visigoths Unite Under Catholicism", "chunk_data": "St Martin of Braga obtained similar results among the Suevi, as did also St Leander among the Visigoths. But the latter's conversion was as violent in its circumstances as that of the former was easy and peaceful. Arianism had by no means overrun the whole of Spain, although Leovigild, king of the Visigoths, had given strong support to the heresy. Of his two sons, one, Reccared, was of the same opinion as himself. The other, Hermenigild, had renounced Arianism under the influence of St Leander, bishop of Seville. The antagonism between the two men led to civil war.", "time": { "start_year": 579, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 584, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "c. 579–584 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "St Martin of Braga", "St Leander", "Leovigild", "Reccared", "Hermenegild" ], "places": [ "Braga", "Spain", "Seville", "Visigothic kingdom" ], "event": "St Leander influences Hermenegild to abandon Arianism, contributing to civil war within the Visigothic kingdom.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Civil War", "Missions" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 13, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 33 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00037-e4826ec68f707139a8cc.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Hermenegild Dies for Catholic Faith", "chunk_data": "At first, Hermenigild entered wholeheartedly into the struggle and even went so far as to send St Leander to Constantinople to ask for the emperor's support against his father's party. But then, out of filial piety, although fully believing in the justice of his own cause, he accepted the offer of negotiation sent to him by Reccared and gave himself up to his father, who pretended to pardon him, yet immediately afterwards had him cast into prison. He wanted his son to return to Arianism and to renounce the true faith. He failed to persuade him and handed him over to the executioners who cut his throat. Heresy gained nothing by this.", "time": { "start_year": 584, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 586, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "c. 584–586 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Hermenegild", "St Leander", "Reccared", "Leovigild", "Byzantine emperor" ], "places": [ "Constantinople", "Spain" ], "event": "Hermenegild seeks imperial aid, surrenders during negotiations, refuses to return to Arianism, and is executed by his father.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Civil War", "Martyrdom" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 14, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 33 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00037-e4826ec68f707139a8cc.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Reccared Converts Visigothic Spain", "chunk_data": "On the contrary, Reccared who had succeeded his father, took up a more conciliatory attitude under the influence of St Leander and became better disposed. He agreed to call a council at Toledo in 589. The delegates of the clergy and of the people made a profession of orthodoxy, so that here again, unity of religion brought about peaceful racial fusion.", "time": { "start_year": 589, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 589, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "589 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Reccared", "St Leander", "Clergy", "Delegates of the people" ], "places": [ "Toledo", "Visigothic Spain" ], "event": "Reccared adopts a conciliatory Catholic policy and convenes the Council of Toledo, producing a profession of orthodoxy.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Politics", "Councils" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 15, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 33, 34 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00037-e4826ec68f707139a8cc.webp", "raw\\pages\\00038-7fc06e4dfe466fc201c4.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Papacy Faces Limited Missionary Role", "chunk_data": "Apart from the warm congratulations addressed to St Remi by Pope Hormisdas after the conversion of Clovis, the share of the papacy in the missions during this period seems to have been very limited. It could not have been otherwise at a time when the barbarians were piling ruin upon ruin and had to be resisted unless all was to be lost in both the temporal and the spiritual orders, at a time, too, when this resistance confined the ecclesiastical authorities within the territory over which they exercised their jurisdiction. Rome, like the other bishoprics, could not avoid this isolation nor these necessities.", "time": { "start_year": 496, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 550, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "Late 5th–6th century AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "St Remi", "Pope Hormisdas" ], "places": [ "Rome" ], "event": "The papacy offers congratulations after Clovis's conversion but remains largely occupied with defending ecclesiastical territories from barbarian devastation.", "tags": [ "Papacy", "Missions", "Invasions" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 16, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 34 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00038-7fc06e4dfe466fc201c4.webp" ], "chunk_title": "St Leo Resists Attila and Genseric", "chunk_data": "St Leo himself, active and apostolic though he was, had to endure this state of affairs. Resistance to the barbarians kept him fully occupied. Attila was threatening Mantua and it was only by going out to meet him at the head of a deputation that St Leo persuaded him to withdraw. In less than three years later, he had to face Genseric, the king of the Vandals. In addition to material ruin, there were the dangers with which the heresies were threatening the true faith, Pelagianism, Eutychianism, Nestorianism, etc. St Leo's glory lies in having triumphed over all these difficulties and in having given decisions sufficiently authoritative to be accepted after his death.", "time": { "start_year": 452, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 455, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "452–455 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "St Leo", "Attila", "Genseric" ], "places": [ "Mantua", "Rome" ], "event": "St Leo persuades Attila to withdraw and later faces Genseric while defending the Church against barbarian invasions and heresies.", "tags": [ "Papacy", "Invasions", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 17, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 34 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00038-7fc06e4dfe466fc201c4.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Gregory Emerges During Lombard Anarchy", "chunk_data": "Under succeeding pontificates, the invasions of the Lombards had made the prevalent disorder even worse. When the system of an elected monarchy had divided the Lombard kingdom into some thirty duchies while a large number of the cities still depended on Byzantium, anarchy reached its zenith. It was at this moment that a great pope came onto the scene. He was able to make use of the situation in order to restore all its prestige to the papacy. Of patrician stock, he had been prefect of Rome. Yet honours had no attraction for him. He had heeded the Gospel counsel and, in his search for perfection, had sold all his immense property in order to provide endowment for monasteries. He himself had then withdrawn to one of these, on the Coelian hill. The conclave came to fetch him from it as the successor of Pelagius II (590). His name was Gregory.", "time": { "start_year": 590, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 590, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "590 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Gregory the Great", "Pelagius II" ], "places": [ "Lombard kingdom", "Byzantium", "Rome", "Coelian hill" ], "event": "Lombard political fragmentation creates anarchy, and Gregory is chosen pope after serving as prefect and retreating to a monastery.", "tags": [ "Papacy", "Politics", "Monasticism" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 18, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 34, 35 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00038-7fc06e4dfe466fc201c4.webp", "raw\\pages\\00039-f67818afae02b5536ef6.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Gregory Supports Catholic Lombards", "chunk_data": "Like St Leo, he resisted the anarchy and violence of the barbarians and succeeded in containing them. He then followed the policy which St Remi and other bishops had found so successful and arranged a marriage between Agilulf, Duke of Turin, and Theodelinda, a Catholic princess whose spiritual director he was. Theodelinda did not become Italy's Clotilda, as he had hoped she would, but she did at least have her children baptized, and built churches, among them that of Monza where her memory is preserved. If St Columbanus (c. 530-615) was able towards the end of his life to found a monastery at Bobbio, it was because the surrounding regions had been christianized by this princess.", "time": { "start_year": 590, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 615, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "c. 590–615 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Gregory the Great", "St Leo", "St Remi", "Agilulf", "Theodelinda", "St Columbanus" ], "places": [ "Turin", "Italy", "Monza", "Bobbio" ], "event": "Gregory contains barbarian disorder and arranges the marriage of Agilulf and Theodelinda, whose religious work supports Catholicization in Italy.", "tags": [ "Papacy", "Marriage", "Missions" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 19, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 35 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00039-f67818afae02b5536ef6.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Gregory Guides Gallic and Spanish Missions", "chunk_data": "In Gaul, Gregory (590-604), an indefatigable letter-writer, gave spiritual direction to Childebert II, son of Brunehaut, whom he recommended to support efforts to evangelize the countryside, and as we have just seen, he had given the full force of his own support to St Leander in Spain against the partisans of Arianism.", "time": { "start_year": 590, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 604, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "590–604 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Gregory the Great", "Childebert II", "Brunehaut", "St Leander" ], "places": [ "Gaul", "Spain" ], "event": "Gregory directs Childebert II to support rural evangelization and supports St Leander against Spanish Arianism.", "tags": [ "Papacy", "Missions", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 20, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 35 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00039-f67818afae02b5536ef6.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Britain's Earlier Church Survives", "chunk_data": "England above all was the object of his apostolic zeal. After its entry into the framework of the Empire, the south of the island had had its missionaries. So well did they establish Christianity that the young Church of Britain could boast of its martyrs under Diocletian and of its three bishops at the Council of Arles in 314. The Saxon invasion of the fifth century had ravaged it but without disorganizing its hierarchy and its clergy or emptying its monasteries. But later the resentment felt by the invaded Britons against the invading Saxons remained for a long time so bitter that the former could not be asked, even when they were ordained priests, to share the work of evangelization of the latter.", "time": { "start_year": 314, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 500, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "314–5th century AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Gregory the Great", "Diocletian", "British bishops", "Britons", "Saxons" ], "places": [ "England", "Britain", "Arles" ], "event": "Christianity becomes established in Britain, survives the Saxon invasion, and leaves Britons unwilling to evangelize the Saxon invaders.", "tags": [ "Missions", "Britain", "Invasions" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 21, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 35, 36 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00039-f67818afae02b5536ef6.webp", "raw\\pages\\00040-14e459f7208493deabef.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Augustine Converts King Ethelbert", "chunk_data": "Gregory the Great therefore decided to send them a mission whose members he recruited from among the monks on the Coelian. Forty of them set out under the leadership of Augustine their prior. It was the largest apostolic expedition that had ever been undertaken. It immediately succeeded in converting king Ethelbert whose initiation into the new faith had been the work of the queen, Bertha, a Parisian and a woman of the same type as St Clotilda. Several monasteries were founded and Augustine became bishop of Canterbury.", "time": { "start_year": 597, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 597, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "c. 597 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Gregory the Great", "Augustine of Canterbury", "Ethelbert", "Bertha", "St Clotilda" ], "places": [ "Coelian hill", "England", "Canterbury", "Paris" ], "event": "Gregory sends Augustine and forty monks to England; they convert King Ethelbert, found monasteries, and make Augustine bishop of Canterbury.", "tags": [ "Missions", "Conversion", "Monasticism" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 22, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 36 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00040-14e459f7208493deabef.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Gregory Preserves Pagan Temples", "chunk_data": "Gregory the Great had thought out bold methods of placing the new church on solid foundations. As he wrote to Melitus, the monk founder of the see of London:\nTell Augustine that after giving much consideration to the affairs of the English, I have decided it would be unwise to destroy the temples. Destroy the idols only, then sprinkle the buildings with holy water, erect altars and put relics in them. If these temples are well built, they can be transferred from the worship of demons to that of the true God. Thus the nation, seeing that its sanctuaries are left standing, will abandon its errors and acknowledge and worship the Lord. People will find it easier to come to the places which they have previously frequented.", "time": { "start_year": 601, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 601, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "c. 601 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Gregory the Great", "Melitus", "Augustine of Canterbury" ], "places": [ "England", "London" ], "event": "Gregory instructs Augustine to preserve well-built pagan temples while removing idols and converting the buildings into churches.", "tags": [ "Missions", "Religion", "Cultural Change" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 23, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 36 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00040-14e459f7208493deabef.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Pagan Sacrifices Become Christian Feasts", "chunk_data": "Here again the previous custom must be transformed into the celebration of a Christian feast. Thus, on the day of the dedication, on the anniversary of the holy martyrs whose relics are venerated in the place, let the people put up their tents of leaves round the temples which have thus been transformed into churches and let them celebrate the feast with religious festivities. They are no longer to immolate animals to the devil but to kill them in God's honour and then eat them. And when they have had enough, let them give thanks to the author of all gifts.", "time": { "start_year": 601, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 601, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "c. 601 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Gregory the Great", "English converts", "Holy martyrs" ], "places": [ "England" ], "event": "Gregory directs missionaries to transform pagan sacrificial customs into Christian festivals centered on churches and thanksgiving.", "tags": [ "Missions", "Religion", "Cultural Change" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 24, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 36 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00040-14e459f7208493deabef.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Gregory Establishes English Sees", "chunk_data": "It is impossible to change barbarian minds completely. This is most certainly true, for the top of a mountain can indeed be reached but only step by step not by leaps and bounds. It was in this way that God made himself known to the people of Israel.", "time": { "start_year": 601, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 601, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "c. 601 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Gregory the Great", "People of Israel" ], "places": [ "England" ], "event": "Gregory's gradual missionary strategy recognizes that barbarian conversion must proceed step by step.", "tags": [ "Missions", "Religion", "Conversion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 25, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 36 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00040-14e459f7208493deabef.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Canterbury and York Become Metropolitans", "chunk_data": "Gregory the Great granted the pallium, the distinguishing mark of archbishops, to Augustine and announced that he had created two metropolitan sees, at Canterbury and at York. Each of these was to have twelve bishoprics under its direction. Neither he himself (he died in 604) nor Augustine, who died shortly after, was granted the privilege of working out this great plan in practice, but they had opened the way.", "time": { "start_year": 601, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 604, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "c. 601–604 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Gregory the Great", "Augustine of Canterbury" ], "places": [ "Canterbury", "York", "England" ], "event": "Gregory grants Augustine the pallium and establishes planned metropolitan sees at Canterbury and York.", "tags": [ "Church", "Missions", "Administration" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 26, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 36, 37 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00040-14e459f7208493deabef.webp", "raw\\pages\\00041-683a7d6a570dbc05d95c.webp" ], "chunk_title": "English Church Faces Rivalries", "chunk_data": "The Church of England met with many and considerable difficulties. Fierce rivalry existed between princes who had remained pagan and their converted neighbours. Hostility persisted between the Britons belonging to the earlier Christian communities and the Saxon invaders.", "time": { "start_year": 597, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 657, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "597–c. 657 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Pagan princes", "Converted princes", "Britons", "Saxon invaders" ], "places": [ "England", "Britain" ], "event": "The developing English Church struggles with rivalry between pagan and converted rulers and hostility between Britons and Saxons.", "tags": [ "Church", "Politics", "Conflict" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 27, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 37 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00041-683a7d6a570dbc05d95c.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Theodore Reconciles English Christians", "chunk_data": "It was only when another band of missionaries arrived (c. 657) under the leadership of Theodore of Tarsus that charity triumphed and both parties were persuaded to submit to Rome.", "time": { "start_year": 657, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 657, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "c. 657 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Theodore of Tarsus", "Britons", "Saxons" ], "places": [ "Britain", "Rome" ], "event": "Theodore of Tarsus leads a new missionary band that reconciles the rival Christian communities and brings them under Roman authority.", "tags": [ "Missions", "Church", "Reconciliation" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 28, "chapter_name": "Chapter III — The Evangelization of the Barbarians", "page_numbers": [ 37 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00041-683a7d6a570dbc05d95c.webp" ], "chunk_title": "British Monasteries Flourish", "chunk_data": "The monasteries developed considerably. The most celebrated were Croyland and Wearmouth. From this time forward it was possible to speak of a Church of Britain, the Church which harboured the life of prayer and work of St Bede the Venerable.", "time": { "start_year": 657, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 735, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "Late 7th–early 8th century AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "St Bede the Venerable" ], "places": [ "Croyland", "Wearmouth", "Britain" ], "event": "British monasteries expand, especially Croyland and Wearmouth, forming the institutional Church of Britain associated with Bede's religious and scholarly life.", "tags": [ "Monasticism", "Church", "Britain" ] } } ] }