RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Angel Anglo-Saxon a
in many difficult negotiations. That he entered the monastery of Centula (the modern St. Riquier, about 25 m. n.w. of Amiens) in 790 is not probable; he was abbot of the monastery later, however, and rebuilt it with much splendor. He was named the " Homer " of the literary circle at Charlemagne's court, and a few Latin lyrics and a fragment of an epic ascribed to him are extant (in MPL, xcix. 825-854; MGH, Script., xv. 1, 1887, 173-181; Poetw Latini cevi carolini, i., 1881, 355-381).
ANGILRAM, an"gil-ram (Fr. pron.an"zhil-ram'): Bishop of Metz 768, after 787 with the title of archbishop; d. 791. In 784 he was made court chaplain by Charlemagne, who obtained from the pope a dispensation freeing Angilram from the obligation of residing at the seat of his bishopric. Most codices of the pseudo-Isidorian decretals contain a minor collection of statutes, consisting of seventyone, seventy-two, or eighty chapters relating to suits against the clergy, especially bishops, and generally bearing the name Capitula Angilramni. In some manuscripts the superscription states that Angilram presented these capitula to Pope Adrian; in others (the older and better) that the pope presented them to Angilram when he was in Rome in connection with his affair. In either version the story is improbable, and it is generally agreed that Angilram had nothing to do with these capitula. They were probably written by the author of the pseudo-Isidorian decretals (q.v.).
Bibliography: Rettberg, KD, i. 501 sqq.; Hinschius, Decretales Pseudo-Isidoriance, Leipsic, 1863; Riohter-Dove, Lehrbuch dea Kirchenrechts, p. 87, ib. 1886.
ANGLICAN CHURCH or COMMUNION: A
comprehensive name for the Reformation churches of English origin, including the Church of England and its branches in Ireland, Scotland, the colonies, and India, with the various missionary jurisdictions, and the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. The liturgy in all is the Book of Common Prayer with modifications (see Common Prayer, Book op), and the Thirty-nine Articles are accepted with changes necessary to fit local conditions (see Thirty-nine Articles). All have episcopal organization and hold to the " historic episcopate " (see Apostolic Succession). The Lambeth Conference (q.v.) is a meeting of bishops of the Anglican communion intended to promote the unity and fellowship of its members. See England, Church of; Ireland; Scotland; Protestant Episcopal Church.
ANGLO-SAXONS, CONVERSION OF THE: The
Angles, Saxons, and kindred peoples who by the end of the sixth century were established in the east of Britain from the Forth southward and in the greater part of the south, in their Continental homes were all worshipers of Woden, whom they considered their ancestor. They dispossessed in England a lully Christianized people, but did not adopt their religion (see Celtic Church in Britain and Ireland). The first Christian church among them was Frankish in origin and was established in Kent, whose king, Ethelbert (c. 560-616), married a Uinstian princess, Bertha, daughter of Charibert, ™g of Paris. She was granted full freedom of
religion in her new home, and brought with her to England a Christian chaplain, Liudhard by name. A ruined church near Canterbury, dating from Roman times (St. Martin's, three quarters of a mile east of the present cathedral), was repaired for her use. The real conversion of the Anglo- Saxons, however, is properly regarded as begun by Pope Gregory the Great (590-604). Gregory As the story goes (Bede, Hist, eccl., the Great ii. 1), while Gregory was still a deacon, Sends a either in 578 or 585, he saw one day Mission in the slave-market at Rome certain to Kent, boys whose fair complexion, bright faces, and golden hair excited his admiration. Inquiring about them, he was told that they were Angles; whereupon he exclaimed " No wonder, for they have the faces of angels." Informed that they were heathen and from Deira, he remarked " From wrath [de ira] they must be saved and called to the mercy of Christ. Who is their king?" " ^Elle," was the reply; and the pun-loving Italian concluded, " Alleluia! the praises of God must be sung in those parts." Betaking himself to the pope, Gregory asked that he be allowed to go in person as missionary to the land of the captives, but the Romans would not permit him at that time to leave their city. When he became pope, Gregory remembered the beautiful captives. He tried to find English boys whom he could instruct at Rome and then send to their people; and in 596 he despatched a mission of monks to England under the lead of Augustine (see Augustine, Saint, of Canterbury). When Augustine died (604 or 605) Kent had been converted and the gospel had found entrance into Essex. Justus and Mellitus had been established as bishops at Rochester (for West Kent) and London (for the East-Saxons), respectively. With the consent of his witan, , Ethelbert promulgated laws recognizing the Church as an institution and Christian obligations. A heathen reaction followed Ethelbert's death (616), which for a time checked further advances from Canterbury (see Justus; Laurence; Mellitus).
As in Kent, so in Northumbria the way for the introduction of Christianity was prepared by the marriage (625) of the king, Edwin, Northum- with a Christian princess, Ethelburga, bria and daughter of Ethelbert of Kent. She Wessex. was accompanied to the North by Paulinus, who became first bishop of York and converted King Edwin and many of his people (see Edwin; Paulinus). The work was interrupted and many of its results destroyed in 633, when Penda, king of Mercia, a heathen champion, in alliance with the Britons of Wales, overthrew and slew Edwin. It was resumed in 635 by Aidan supported by King Oswald, and was completed by their successors (see Aidan, Saint; Oswald, Saint; Oswy). At the same time the West-Saxons were gained for Christianity by Birinus (q.v.). The church of Aidan and Oswald, however, had no connection with Canterbury or Rome, but was organized as a part of the old British or Celtic Church, and continued such till the synod of Whitby in 664.
Anplo-Saxona Animals