...sent a team of missionaries headed by St Augustine to evangelise the pagan Angles and Saxons on this island. And last night we commemorated him with joy, at a special celebration at St Augustine's Shrine at Ramsgate on the Kent coast. Fathers Marcus Holden and Andrew Pinsent - of Evangelium etc - were both marking the 10th anniversary of ordination, and concelebrated a glorious Mass in Pugin's magnificent Abbey Church. It was a great joy and privilege to be there. Fr Nicholas Schofield preached, and spoke powerfully of Pope St Gregory's mission and of the unbroken link that takes us back through the centuries, the faith that was brought here and flourishes anew in each era. The evening had a family feel - it was the Golden Wedding Anniversturiesary of Fr Andrew's parents, and he gave them a most beautiful blessing at the end of Mass. And then followed a feast with a candlelit buffet table spread with good things, and cakes to be cut, and speeches, and toasts, culminating in the singing of "Ad Multos Annos" by all the priests, former students of the Venerable English College in Rome. This is always moving - and it brought back memories of the ordinations and jubilees of various friends down the years...
It was delightful to sit in Pugin's magnificent Grange and relax with wine and talk...and then when I departed, at a late hour, for my hotel, I walked for a moment by the sea, with the waves washing up along the shore far below,and thought of Augustine coming to us across that water...and the Angles and Saxons who had arrived earlier in wave after wave, and the British who were there earlier and had been evangelised earlier...and today along this coast new waves of people are arriving...
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