St. Augustine, a monk of Mount Coelius in Rome, was sent by St. Gregory to England to preach the Gospel to the Anglo-Saxons. It is now known that this mission was undertaken at the express wish of the Anglo-Saxon kings who desired that their subjects, by the grace of baptism, might benefit by the ancient civilization of Rome. St. Augustine with forty of his brethren had the happiness of baptizing the King of Kent, Ethelbert, whose wife was a Christian, on Whitsunday, 597, together with a large number of his subjects. The same year Augustine was consecrated bishop, and in 601 the Pope sent him the pallium as Primate of England. St. Augustine died on May 26, 604 or 605.