The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-09-04
ANCIENT 70MBs FOUND
GRAVES OF ST. AUGUSTINE AND
HIS FIVE SUCCESSORS FOUND IN
ABBEY FIELD IN CANTERBURY.
ENGLAND.

Interesting details regarding the
finding of the burial place of ST. Au-
gustine and his five immediate sue
cessors in the Archbishopric of Can
terbury, as we'll as the fixing of the
position of the graves of King Ethel
bert and Queen Bertha, we're recently
given to members of the Kent Archae-
illogical Society, on a visit to the his
toric Abbey Field, adjoining st. Angus
tines College, Canterbury.
The Rev. r. U. Pots, sub-warden of
the college, who has had charge of the
excavations, said they had found the
north aisle or porticus of the original
church which was built by Ethelbert
and ST. Augustine. This was the
porticus of st. Gregory, and on the
other side, beneath a building which
served as the washhouse of the Kent
and Canterbury Hospital, was the
porticus of st. Martin, where the re-
mains of Ethelbert and Bertha, Fad
bald and his Consort, and other royal
personages were buried.
In the porticus of st. Gregory were
buried the first six ARCHAEOLOGICAL
gustine, Lawrence, Mellitus, Justus,
Honorius, and Deusdedit The original
grave of st. Augustine was covered
by the third pillar from the central
tower of the later Norman church built
by Abbot Scotland. The actual tombs
of Lawrence, Mellitus, and Justus had
been discovered, but the others were
destroyed when the Norman founda-
ton wall was built
1t was known that in 978 Dunstan
rededicated the Abbey Church of st.
Peter and St. Paul, and added the
name of ST. Augustine There was no
record of any rebuilding then, but Sir
William st. John Hope held that re-
dedication always meant extension,
and therefore they thought that some
work which they had discovered later
than the original, but earlier than
Norman date, must be part of
Dunstan's extension. When the first
six Archbishops were buried in the
porticus of st. Gregory, there was no
room left for the seventh, Theodose,
and the conclusion they had arrived
at was that the porticus was then en-
larged by the addition of a sort of
apse.
In the reign of Canute the body of
st. Mildred was translated thither
from Minister in Thanet, but the body,
with those of the other saints, was
later removed from the original grave,
which, however, still remained.
Then in the time of Edward the Con-
fessor Abbot Wulfric obtained the
Pope's permission to carry out an en-
largement of the Abbey Church, his
plan being to join this up with the
Church of st. Mary built by Eadbald,
and so make one big church of the two.
When, however, Scotland was ap-
pointed Abbot by William the Con-
queror in place of Egilsine, who was a
supporter of Harold, he decided that
| Wulfric's work was not good, and
therefore pulled it down. In its place
he began building the church of which
the remains were now to be seen, his
work consisting of great crypt and
over it an upper church with three
apses.
Having finished the crypt and the
j upper church, Scotland built the tran
septs and the nave, but he died before
actually coming to the most sacred
tplace-the porticus where st. Angus
tine and his successors had rested
from the seventh century. The Abbot
was buried in the centre of his own
crypt, and his coffin was found there
some years ago. the cofinplate being
Inow in the college library, bearing his
name and the date of his death.
i Abbot Wido, who followed Scotland,
went on with his work. removing the
saints from their resting place in the
porticus to Scotlands new presbytery