England & Rome

"I do not say that there were not Christians wandering about in England before St. Augustine came. I do not say that the Irish would not have converted us sooner or later even if the Italians had not been first. All I say is that as a matter of fact our conversion was a purely Roman affair.

"You will still, occasionally, read of Protestant fellow-countrymen of ours referring to the Catholic Church in England under the contemptuous title of 'the Italian Mission.' The name is meant, of course, to twit us with being foreigners, because during penal times our priests were educated abroad. It is a delightful idea: you make the Mass high treason, and put a price on every priest's head, and so seminaries have to be built abroad, and priests have to come back from foreign countries if they want to preserve the old faith. And when they do come back, you greet them with shouts of: 'Oh, you beastly Italian.'

"Well, I am not considering here whether that is a very generous taunt, or a very intelligent one: the interesting point about it is, Who was the first to make it? It was made first by Archbishop Benson, father of Msgr. Hugh Benson. And what was he? Archbishop of Canterbury. And why Canterbury? Why that very one-horse, dead-and-alive place on the South-Eastern? Simply because St. Augustine, a Roman envoy sent by the Pope to convert our country to the religion of the Church of Rome (6th century A.D.). And then an Archbishop of Canterbury describes the diocese of Westminister as an Italian Mission!

"Well, we were founded from Rome; and all through the Middle Ages, in spite of the nuisance of living so far away from it, we were known for our loyalty to the Roman See ...

"We ought to be praying earnestly for the conversion of those who, disheartened by the failure of civilization, are turning to the Church for guidance. May the King of Angels bring us all to the fellowship of the heavenly citizens; to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

-- Msgr. Ronald Knox,
"St. Gregory," in Captive Flames
(Ronald Knox [Eton, Balliol, Trinity Oxford] was considered one of the greatest English scholars to go up to Oxford. He and C. S. Lewis held one another in high regard.)