06 Works, Today, May 31st is Saint Aurelia Petronilla's day, her story in Paintings #151

Saint Petronilla (Petronille)

Oil on canvas

Musée Contes

Saint Aurelia Petronilla is an early Christian saint. She was venerated as a virgin martyr by the Catholic Church. She died in Rome at the end of 1st century, or possibly in the 3rd century.

Petronilla, her name is the feminine and diminutive of Peter, and is traditionally identified as the daughter of Saint Peter, though this may stem simply from the similarity of names. It is believed she may have been a convert of the saint (and thus a "spiritual daughter"), or a follower or servant. It is said that Saint Peter cured her of palsy.

Bartolo di Fredi, c. 1330 – c. 1409.
The Healing of St. Petronilla by Peter the Apostle, c. 1380
On wood
28.9 cm × 26.6 cm
Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale

Saint Petronilla depicted being healed by Saint Peter the Apostle.


Bartolo di Fredi (c. 1330 – January 26, 1410) was an Italian painter, born in Siena, classified as a member of the Sienese School. Bartolo di Fredi was one of the most popular masters in Siena in the second half of the fourteenth century.

He registered in the Guild of that city in 1355. He helped decorate the Hall of Council at Siena, in 1361. In 1362 he went to San Gimignano, where, by 1356, he had painted the entire side of the left aisle of the Pieve with scenes drawn from the Old Testament. In 1366 the Council of the city of Gimignano ordered a painting, representing Two Monks of the Augustine Order to be placed in the Palazzo Pubblico In the early part of 1367 he returned to Siena, and was employed with Giacomo di Mino in the decorations of the cathedral. In 1372. In 1381 he was made a member of the Council. In 1389, Bartolo, assisted by Luca Thome to paint the altar-piece for the Shoemakers' Company, in the Cathedral, and continued from that year until his death to furnish altar-pieces for the cathedral and other churches of Siena, which have now all disappeared.


His style is marked by the rejection of the concrete figures. Instead he favor flatter decorative otherworldly compositions. He combined a spirit of fantasy with anecdotal details. More on Bartolo di Fredi

Roman inscriptions, however, identify her simply as a martyr. She may have been related to Saint Domitilla.

Giovanni Francesco Guercino

Petronilla being healed by Saint Peter the Apostle

Private collection

Giovanni Francesco Guercino; see below

Stories associated with her include those that relate that she was so beautiful that Saint Peter had locked her up in a tower to keep her from eligible men; that a pagan king named Flaccus, wishing to marry her, led Petronilla to go on a hunger strike, from which she died. More on Saint Aurelia Petronilla

Simone Pignoni

Death of St Petronilla, second half of the 17th century

Oil on canvas

141x114 cm

Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Refusing to marry the patrician Flaccus, after three days of fasting and prayer St Petronilla died. 

Pignoni shows the moment when Petronilla, just before her death, is given last communion by the priest Nicomedes, a pupil of St Peter. The girl's pale face with its shadows around the eyes seems to be almost translucent, while the blue ray which pierces the clouds floods her figure with a cold light. More on this painting

Simone Pignoni (April 17, 1611 – December 16, 1698) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He is best known for painting in a style reminiscent of the morbidly sensual Furini. Reflective of this obsession is his self-portrait, c. 1650, in which he depicts himself building up a plump naked female from a skeleton. The biographer Baldinucci, in what little he notes of the painter, recalls him as the scandalous "imitator of (Furini's) licentious inventions".

Among his more conventional works are a St. Agatha cured by St. Peter (attributed) in the Museo Civico di Trieste; a St. Louis providing a banquet for the poor (c. 1682) now in the church of Santa Felicita in Florence, commissioned by Conte Luigi Gucciardini; and a Madonna and child in glory with archangels Saints Michael and Raphael in battle armor and San Antonio of Padua (1671) for the Cappella di San Michele in Santissima Annunziata. He painted an Allegory of Peace in Palazzo Vecchio. A Penitent Magdalen that has been attributed to Pignoni is found in the Pitti Palace. In San Bartolomeo in Monteoliveto, he painted a Madonna appearing to Blessed Bernardo Tolomeo. More Simone Pignoni

Guercino, (1591–1666)

The Burial of Saint Petronilla, c. 1623

Oil on canvas

Height: 7,200 mm (23.62 ft); Width: 4,230 mm (13.87 ft)

Capitoline Museums, Rome, Italy

The painting simultaneously depicts the burial and the welcoming to heaven of the martyred Saint Petronilla. The altarpiece was painted for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, for a chapel dedicated to the saint and containing her relics. More on this painting

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666), best known as Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from the region of Emilia, and active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous naturalism of his early manner is in contrast to the classical equilibrium of his later works. His many drawings are noted for their luminosity and lively style.

Mainly self-taught, at the age of 16, he worked as apprentice in the shop of Benedetto Gennari, a painter of the Bolognese School. By 1615, he moved to Bologna, where his work was praised by Ludovico Carracci. Guercino painted two large canvases, Elijah Fed by Ravens and Samson Seized by Philistines, for Cardinal Serra, a Papal Legate to Ferrara. These paintings have a stark naturalist Caravaggesque style, although it is unlikely that Guercino saw any of the Roman Caravaggios first-hand.

Guercino's early works are often tumultuous. He often claimed that his early style was influenced by a canvas of Ludovico Carracci that he saw in the Capuchin church in Cento. Some of his later works are closer to the style of his contemporary Guido Reni, and are painted with more lightness and clearness. More on Guercino

Fresco of the mid-4th century, with the martyr Petronilla on the right, leading a young woman named Veneranda into the garden of Paradise.

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05 Works, Today, May 30th is Saint Joan's day, her story in Paintings #150

Jules Bastien-Lepage

Joan of Arc, c. 1879

Oil on canvas

100 × 110 in (254 × 279.4 cm)

Metropolitan Museum of Art

As one of the Lorraine natives inspired by the sudden relevance of Joan of Arc's image, Jules Bastien-Lepage in 1875 started sketches for this life-sized portrait of Joan of Arc showing her at the moment that she received her first call to arms against the English invaders of 1424. Bastien-Lepage captures the suddenness of the call by showing the overturned chair from which she has just sprung at her spinning wheel behind her together with the wet edge of her dress that has just brushed through the dew from the weeds in the garden at the back of her parents' house. More on this painting

Jules Bastien-Lepage (1 November 1848 – 10 December 1884) was a French painter closely associated with the beginning of naturalism, an artistic style that emerged from the later phase of the Realist movement. He was born in the village of Damvillers, Meuse, and spent his childhood there. Bastien took an early liking to drawing, and his parents fostered his creativity by buying prints of paintings for him to copy.

Jules's first formal training was at Verdun, and prompted by a love of art he went to Paris in 1867, where he was admitted to the École des Beaux-arts, working under Cabanel. He was awarded first place for drawing but spent most of his time working alone, only occasionally appearing in class. During the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, Bastien fought and was wounded. After the war, he returned home to paint the villagers and recover from his wound. In 1873 he painted his grandfather in the garden, a work that would bring the artist his first success at the Paris Salon.

His initial success was confirmed in 1875 by the First Communion, a picture of a little girl minutely worked up. The last picture, Haymaking (Les Foins), now in the Musée d'Orsay, was widely praised by critics and the public alike. It secured his status as one of the first painters in the Naturalist school.

Between 1880 and 1883 he traveled in Italy. The artist, long ailing, had tried in vain to re-establish his health in Algiers. He died in Paris in 1884, when planning a new series of rural subjects. More Jules Bastien-Lepage

The Roman Catholic Church pays tribute Thursday, May 30, to the life and works of the patron saint of soldiers and of France – Saint Joan (Santa Juana) of Arc.

Hermann Stilke, (1803–1860)

Joan of Arc in Battle, c. 1843

(Central Part of The Life of Joan of Arc Triptych)

Oil on canvas

135 × 146 cm (53.1 × 57.4 in)

Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Born Jeanne la Pucelle in 1412 in Domremy, France, St. Joan, at the young age of 17, led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years’ War, a prolonged conflict between France and England from 1337 to 1453.

Eugène Lenepveu, (1819–1898)

Coronation of Charles VII in Reims in the presence of Joan of Arc, c. 1880

Panthéon de Paris

Jules Eugène Lenepveu Boussaroque de Lafont, known as Jules Eugène Lenepveu (1819 – 16 October 1898, Paris) was a French painter. Born at Angers, he studied at the école des Beaux-Arts, and later he was a pupil of François-Édouard Picot in Paris. He entered the École nationale. After winning the Prix de Rome, he went to Rome to complete his education. He became famous for his vast historical canvases, including the ceilings of the Opéra de Paris (1869–1871; covered by a Marc Chagall work), and of the theatre at Angers (1871). He was director of the French Academy in Rome from 1873 to 1878. More on Jules Eugène Lenepveu

Attributing her victories to divine guidance, Charles VII was able to assume his rightful throne as king of France with her by his side.

Dillens, Adolf-Alexander, 1821-1877

Capture of Joan of Arc, between 1847 and 1852

Oil on panel

52,5x72 cm

Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Adolf Alexander Dillens, (1821–1877), a Belgian genre-painter, was born at Ghent in 1821, and received instruction from his elder brother Hendrik Dillens. His first works were of an historical nature, but he afterwards devoted himself to pictures illustrating Zealand peasant life. He died in 1877. More on Adolf Alexander Dillens

Later, however, she started to lose her battles because of lack of support from the king. She was captured and burned at the stake in Rouen, France on May 30, 1431 at the age of 19. Her last word was “Jesus.”

Hermann Stilke, (1803–1860)

Joan of Arc's Death at the Stake, c. 1843

Oil on canvas

119.5 cm (47 in); Width: 83.5 cm (32.8 in)

Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Hermann Anton Stilke , born on January 29 , 1803 in Berlin and died on September 22, 1860in Berlin, is a German romantic painter .

Stilke studied at the Academy of Arts in Berlin , then in Munich from 1821, at the Academy of Fine Arts. He then studied at the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts. He painted the arches of the Hofgarten of Munich with many frescoes .

He left to tour Italy in 1827 and went first to the north, then to Rome . He returned to Düsseldorf in 1833. He worked in the knights' room of the castle of Stolzenfels , near Koblenz , on the banks of the Rhine from 1842 to 1846, on the order of Frederick William IV 

He returned to Berlin in 1850, where he died ten years later at the age of 57.

His work is mainly inspired by religious and romantic themes ( the Maid of Orleans , Saint George and the Angel , The Last Christians of Syria (1841), etc.) More on Hermann Anton Stilke

Thirty years later, St. Joan was exonerated of all guilt and was subsequently beatified at the historic Norte Dame Cathedral in Paris which was partly damaged by a recent fire. Pope Benedict XV canonized her in 1920. More on Saint Joan of Arc

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04 Works, Today, May 29th is Constantine XI Palaiologos' day, his story in Paintings #149

Constantine XI Paleologus (Last Eastern Emperor) (1405-1453)

"Elate na thn paretai (come and take her). - Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Paleologus to the Turkish Sultan Mehmet II upon his demand to surrender Constantinople.

Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos, Latinized as Palaeologus (8 February 1405 – 29 May 1453) was the last reigning Byzantine emperor, ruling as a member of the Palaiologos dynasty from 1449 to his death in battle at the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

Cristoforo Buondelmonti.

Constantinople, the capital and founding city of the Byzantine Empire, c. 1422 CE by Florentine cartographer Cristoforo Buondelmonti. 

This is the oldest surviving map of the city and the only one that predates the Turkish conquest of the city in 1453 CE.

Cristoforo Buondelmonti (1386 - c. 1430) was an Italian Franciscan priest and traveler, and a pioneer in promoting first-hand knowledge of Greece and its antiquities throughout the Western world.

He left his native city of Florence, in Tuscany, around 1414 C.E. in order to travel, mainly in the Aegean Islands. He visited Constantinople in the 1420s. He is the author of two historical-geographic works: the Descriptio insulae Cretae (1417, in collaboration with Niccolò Niccoli) and the Liber insularum Archipelagi (1420). These two books are a combination of geographical information and contemporary charts and sailing directions. The last one contains the oldest surviving map of Constantinople, and the only one which antedates the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453.


While travelling over the island of Andros, he bought a Greek manuscript and brought it back with him to Italy. This was the Hieroglyphica of Horapollo, which played a considerable role both in humanistic thinking and in art. More on Cristoforo Buondelmonti

Previously serving as regent for his brother John VIII 1437–1439, Constantine succeeded his brother, who died in Constantinople of natural causes in 1448, as Emperor following a short dispute with his younger brother Demetrios. Despite the mounting difficulties of his reign, contemporary sources generally speak respectfully of Constantine. 

Gentile Bellini, (1429–1507)

Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II (r. 1451-1481 CE)

Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and conqueror of Constantinople in 1453 CE.

The National Gallery, London.

Gentile Bellini (c. 1429 – 23 February 1507) was an Italian painter of the school of Venice. He came from Venice's leading family of painters, and at least in the early part of his career was more highly regarded than his younger brother Giovanni Bellini, the reverse of the case today. From 1474 he was the official portrait artist for the Doges of Venice, and as well as his portraits he painted a number of very large subjects with multitudes of figures, especially for the Scuole Grandi of Venice, wealthy confraternities that were very important in Venetian patrician social life.


In 1479 he was sent to Constantinople by the Venetian government when the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II requested an artist; he returned the next year. Thereafter a number of his subjects were set in the East, and he is one of the founders of the Orientalist tradition in Western painting. His portrait of the Sultan was also copied in paintings and prints and became known all over Europe. More on Gentile Bellini 

Constantine would rule for just over 4 years, his reign culminating in the Ottoman siege and conquest of Constantinople, the imperial capital, under Sultan Mehmed II. Constantine did what he could to organize the defenses of the city, stockpiling food and repairing the old Theodosian walls, but the reduced domain of the Empire and the poor economy meant that organizing a force large enough for the defense of the city was impossible. 

Theophilos Hatzimihail, (1870–1934) 

Konstantinos Paleologos in battle, 1453, c. 1932

Battle inside the city, Constantine is visible on a white horse

Theofilos Museum, Lesvos, Greece

Theophilos Hatzimihail born c. 1870, Vareia; died in Vareia, Greece, 24 March 1934), known simply as Theophilos, was a major folk painter of modern Greek art. The main subject of his works are Greek characters and the illustration of Greek traditional folklife and history.

His life was very hard, partially because people made fun of him since he often wore the traditional Greek kilt, the fustanella, in public. At the age of 18 he abandoned his home and family and worked as a gate-keeper.

He stayed in Smyrna for a few years before he settled in the city of Volos in about 1897, searching for occasional work and painting in houses and shops of the area. Many of his murals exist today. As well as painting, he was also involved in organizing popular theatrical acts for national ceremonies.

In 1927 he returned to Mytilene, despite the mockery of the people, he continued to draw, painting many murals in villages for little payment, usually for a plate of food and a cup of wine. Many of his works of this period have been lost, either due to natural aging or from damage by the owners.

In Mytilene, the renowned art critic and publisher Stratis Eletheriadis (Tériade), who lived in Paris, discovered Theophilos and brought him a great deal of recognition and also international publicity, though posthumous. With Tériade's funding in 1964 the Museum of Theophilos was constructed in Vareia, Lesbos.


Theophilos died in March 1934, on the eve of the Annunciation, perhaps from food poisoning. One year later, his works were exhibited in the Louvre as a sample of a genuine folk painter of Greece. More on Theophilos Hatzimihail

Constantine led the defending forces, numbering approximately 7,000, against an Ottoman army numbering around 10 times that and died in the ensuing fighting.

Following his death, he became a legendary figure in Greek folklore as the Marmaromenos Vasilias, the "Marble Emperor" who would awaken and recover the Empire and Constantinople from the Ottomans. His death marked the end of the Roman Empire. It had continued in the East as the Byzantine Empire for 977 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476. The Empire had begun with the reign of Augustus in 27 BC, 1,479 years previously. More on Constantine XI Palaiologos

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Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

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04 Works, Today, May 28th is Saint Nicetas' day, his story in Paintings #148

Unknown artist

Saint Nicetas of Medikion

Saint Nicetas of Medikion, or Nicetas the Confessor, who is commemorated on 28 May, was a monk who opposed iconoclasm.

Nicetas was born in Bithynian Caesarea of a pious family. His mother died eight days after his birth, and his father Philaretos became a monk. The child was raised by his grandmother. From his youth Nicetas attended church and was a disciple of the hermit Stephen.

Unknown artist

Rev. Nicetas the Confessor

Miniature Minology of Basil II.

Vatican Library. Rome.

At a relatively young age Nicetas joined the Medikion monastery where Nicephorus was the hegoumenos (similar to abbot). When Nicephorus died, Nicetas was chosen hegoumenos by the monks. His piety drew many others to join and follow him at the monastery.

The proclamation of Leo V the Armenian, emperor of the Byzantine Empire

Initiating the second period of Byzantine Iconoclasm

Madrid Skylitzes, National Library, Madrid

Twice he was imprisoned for taking stands against the heresy of Iconoclasm. His courageous opposition to the iconoclasts resulted in his exile, at the beginning of the 9th century, during the reign of Leo V the Armenian in Byzantium. 

The Chludov Psalter

Showing the destruction of icons in the Byzantine church

State Historical Museum, Moscow

Upon the death of the Emperor Leo, Nicetas was released, but rather than return to Medikion retreating to an austere life in a monastery near Constantinople, where he died in 824. His remains were brought back to the monastery of Medikion. More on Nicetas the Confessor

In his Canon, written by the Constantinopolitan hieromonk, Saint Joseph the Hymnographer, the life led by Saint Nicetas was described as ascetic, God–pleasing, and full of charity. He is mentioned as a wonderworker, with the gift of healing.

References to St. Nicetas have been found in old manuscripts originating from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and in menaia from the Orthodox Patriarchates.

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and 365 Saints, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

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04 Works, Today, May 27th is Saint Restituta's day, her story in Paintings #147

Unknown artist

Santa Restituta, XV Century

Tempera on canvas and panel,

129.5 x 86.5 cm,

Palermo Cathedral, former convent of S. Chiara, Palermo

Saint Restituta (Santa Restituta of Africa; died in AD 255 or 304) is a saint and martyr of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. She was said to have been born in Carthage or Teniza (presently Ras Djebel, Tunisia) and martyred under Roman Emperor Diocletian. The location and date of her martyrdom are not precisely known. 

Etching by Antonio Tempesta 

Martyrdom of Saint Restituta, c. 1500-1599

Etchings

Antonio Tempesta (1555 – 5 August 1630) was an Italian painter and engraver, whose art acted as a point of connection between Baroque Rome and the culture of Antwerp.

He was born and trained in Florence and painted in a variety of styles, influenced to some degree by "Counter-Maniera" or Counter-Mannerism. He enrolled in the Florentine Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in 1576. He was a pupil of Santi di Tito, then of the Flemish painter Joannes Stradanus. He was part of the large team of artists working under Giorgio Vasari on the interior decoration of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.

His favourite subjects were battles, cavalcades, and processions. He relocated to Rome, where he associated with artists from the Habsburg Netherlands, which may have led to his facility with landscape painting. More Antonio Tempesta

A later medieval legend states that she was born to a pagan family with ties to the imperial Roman army, converted to Christianity as a girl. She was soon denounced to anti–Christian local authorities. 

Unknown artist

Restituta was placed in a blazing boat

After being horribly tortured, Restituta was placed in a blazing boat loaded with oakum and resin. Restituta was unharmed by the fire, and asked for aid from God. God sent an angel to guide her boat to the island of Aenaria (present-day Ischia), and she landed at the present-day site of San Montano. 

Unknown artist

Saint Restituta of Africa, patroness of Lacco Ameno d'Ischia

The legend further states that a local Christian woman named Lucina had dreamt of the angel and the boat. When she walked to the beach, she found the resplendent and incorrupt body of Restituta, who was now dead. Lucina gathered the population together and the saint was solemnly buried at the foot of Monte Vico in Lacco Ameno, where a paleochristian basilica was dedicated to her, and is now the site of a sanctuary dedicated to her. More on Santa Restituta

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, and 365 Saints, also visit my Boards on Pinterest

 Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

 I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

 I do not sell art, art prints, framed posters or reproductions. Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

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 Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

07 Works, Today, May 26th is Saint Augustine of Canterbury's day, his story in Paintings #146

Augustine of Canterbury

Saint Augustine of Canterbury, also called Austin, (born Rome?—died May 26, 604/605, Canterbury, Kent, England;) first archbishop of Canterbury and the apostle to England, who founded the Christian church in southern England.

Pope Gregory ang St Augustine 

Augustine was prior of the Benedictine monastery of St. Andrew, Rome, when Pope St. Gregory I the Great chose him to lead an unprecedented mission of about 40 monks to England, which was then largely pagan. They left in June 596, but, arriving in southern Gaul, they were warned of the perils awaiting them and sent Augustine back to Rome. There Gregory encouraged him with letters of commendation (dated July 23, 596), and he set out once more.

Pope Gregory sending St Augustine to convert the people of England to Christianity,

11th-century manuscript

British Library Board

The Italian-born monk and his entourage arrived in the Kingdom of Kent in 597.  

King Ethelbert of Kent and his Christian wife, Bertha, welcomed the missionaries

King Ethelbert of Kent

Hereford Cathedral

King Ethelbert of Kent (reigned circa 597-616) and his Frankish Christian wife, Bertha welcomed them; and gave the missionaries a dwelling place in Canterbury and the old St. Martin’s Church, where he allowed them to preach. 

Edmond Thomas Parris, (British, 1793–1873)Title:

QUEEN BERTHA EDUCATING HER CHILDREN, c.  1857

Oil on panel

17.99 x 13.74 in. (45.7 x 34.9 cm.)

Private collection

Edmund Thomas Parris (3 June 1793 – 27 November 1873) was an English history, portrait, subject, and panorama painter, book illustrator, designer and art restorer. He was appointed history painter to Queen Adelaide, Queen Consort of William IV, and painted Queen Victoria's coronation in 1838 and the Duke of Wellington's funeral in 1852. He supervised the painting of the huge panorama in the London Colosseum in Regent's Park, London, and was the inventor of "Parris's medium".

Parris showed an early talent for art and was placed with a Jewellers to learn enamel-painting and metal-chasing. During his apprenticeship, his leisure time was given to the study of mechanics, which subsequently proved to be of great use to him.

In 1816 he entered the schools of the Royal Academy.

A wholly different class of art, in which Parris gained a great temporary reputation, was the portrayal of female beauty, and he was for some years a fashionable portrait painter. In 1836 and 1838 three sets of plates from his drawings were published. In 1838 he was commissioned to paint a picture of the Queen's coronation. In 1852, he painted the Duke of Wellington's funeral.

Parris was a frequent exhibitor of historical and fancy subjects at the Royal Academy and British Institution from 1816 to the end of his life, and in 1832 received the appointment of historical painter to Queen Adelaide.

At one time Parris carried on a life-drawing school. He invented a medium which, when mixed with oil, produced a dull fresco-like surface; this was widely known as "Parris's Medium." More on Edmund Thomas Parris

Æthelbert's wife, Bertha, is revered in English and Christian history for her role in Æthelbert's conversion. Bertha was a Frankish princess and was already a Christian when she arrived in Kent, a few years before Augustine arrived.

With Aethelberht’s support, their work led to many conversions, including that of the King. In the following autumn Augustine was consecrated bishop of the English by St. Virgilius at Arles.

Thousands of Aethelberht’s subjects were reportedly baptized by Augustine on Christmas Day 597, and he subsequently dispatched two of his monks to Rome with a report of this extraordinary event and a request for further help and advice. They returned in 601 with more missionaries

Saint Augustine

Augustine founded Christ Church, Canterbury, as his cathedral and the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul, which came to rank as the second Benedictine house in all Europe. Canterbury thus was established as the primatial see of England. In 604 he established the episcopal sees of London, consecrating Mellitus as its bishop, and of Rochester, consecrating Justus as its bishop.

At a conference with British bishops, Augustine tried in vain to unify the British (Celtic) churches of North Wales and the churches he was founding. A second conference, his last recorded act, proved equally fruitless. Augustine was buried at SS. Peter and Paul. More on Saint Augustine of Canterbury

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