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'However,
when Almighty God has brought you to our most reverend brother Bishop Augustine,
tell him what I have decided after long deliberation about the English people,
namely that the idol temples of that race should by no means be destroyed,
but only the idols in them. Take holy water and sprinkle it in these shrines,
build altars and place relics in them. For if the shrines are well built,
it is essential that they should be changed from the worship of devils to
the service of the true God. When this people see that their shrines are
not destroyed the will be able to banish error from their heart and be more
ready to come to the places they are familiar with, but now recognizing
and worshipping the true God. And because they are in the habit of slaughtering
much cattle as sacrifices to devils, some solemnity ought to be given them
in exchange for this. So on the day of the dedication or the festivals of
the holy martyrs, whose relics are deposited there, let them make themselves
huts from the branches of trees around the churches which have been converted
out of shrines, and let them celebrate the solemnity with religious feasts.
Do not let them sacrifice animals to the devil, but let them slaughter animals
for their own food to the praise of God, and let them give thanks to the
Giver of all things for His bountiful provision. Thus while some outward
rejoicings are preserved, they will be able more easily to share in inward
rejoicings. It is doubtless impossible to cut out everything at once from
their stubborn minds: just as the man who is attempting to climb to the
highest place, rises by steps and degrees and not by leaps.' in Bede;
The
Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book I, Chapter 30, pp.
56-57 |
