St. Ethelbert of Kent

St. Ethelbert of Kent was king of Kent in southeastern England from about 560 until his death, the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon rulers of his day, holding a wide overlordship among the kingdoms south of the Humber. His marriage to Bertha, a Christian Frankish princess, had already brought the faith into his household before its wider coming to his people, and Bertha worshiped freely with her chaplain in a church at Canterbury.

When St. Augustine and his monks, sent by Pope St. Gregory the Great, landed in Kent in 597, Ethelbert received them courteously, gave them leave to preach, and provided them a dwelling at Canterbury; and before long the king himself embraced the Christian faith and was baptized, becoming the first Christian Anglo-Saxon monarch. His conversion opened the way for the evangelization of England, and he supported the new Church, founded churches, and is credited with issuing the earliest written laws in the English tongue. He died on 24 February 616 and is venerated as a saint.