Peter of Canterbury

Peter of Canterbury (died or after 614) was the first abbot of the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul in Canterbury (later St Augustine's Abbey) and a companion of Augustine in the Gregorian mission to Kent. Augustine sent Peter as an emissary to Rome around 600 to convey news of the mission to Pope Gregory I. Peter's death has traditionally been dated to around 607, but evidence suggests that he was present at a church council in Paris in 614, so he probably died after that date.

Life

Peter was presumed to be a native of Italy, like the other members of the Gregorian mission. This mission was dispatched by Pope Gregory the Great in 596 to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons from their native Anglo-Saxon paganism. It landed in Kent in 597 and soon converted King Æthelberht of Kent, who gave Augustine the land on which he founded the abbey that later became St Augustine's, Canterbury.

The medieval chronicler Bede records that sometime after the mission arrived in England, They also conveyed to the pope several inquiries from Augustine about how to proceed with the mission, and when they returned in 601, they brought back Gregory's replies to Augustine.

Death and veneration

Peter drowned while crossing the English Channel on the way to Gaul, at a place called Ambleteuse, near Boulogne. It is possible that he died during his return from the Council of Paris.

Peter is considered a saint, with a feast day on 6 January. His cult was confirmed in 1915. A Vita Petri, or Life of Peter, written by Eadmer in the 12th century, exists in manuscript form, but it is unreliable.