A.D. 598.] DESTRUCTION OP A MONASTERY. who were present, the word of life, the king replied, "You promise fairly ; but because these things are new and uncertain, I cannot immediately yield them my assent and forsake the customs which I and all my people have so long observed. But because you have come hither from distant and foreign parts from a desire to communicate unto us what ye yourselves believe to be true and good, we will be far from molesting you ; but, on the contrary, will afford you hospitable entertainment, and supply you with necessary sustenance. Nor will Ave hinder you from converting to your faith all you can by your preaching." He therefore gave them a dwelling in the city of Canterbury, which was the capital of his kingdom, where they began to practise the apostolic mode of living of the primitive church, devoting themselves to prayer and fasting, preaching the word of life, and washing such as they could in the laver of salvation. Straightway many believed and were baptized, following the simplicity of their innocent mode of life, and the sweetness of their heavenly doctrine. Now there was, in the eastern quarter of the city, a church built of old in honour of St. Martin, in which the queen, named Berta, a daughter of the king of France, used to pray. Here at first they began to meet and to preach, to celebrate mass and to baptize. But when at length, delighted with the unspotted lives of these holy men, the king himself, among the rest, believed and was baptized, multitudes flocked daily to hear the word of life, and forsaking the errors of the heathen, by believing became members of the one church. The king, moreover, gave these his teachers a residence suitable to their degree in the city of Canterbury, his own metropolis, together with such possessions of various kinds as were necessary. Meanwhile, the man of God, Augustine, went to Aries, where he was ordained archbishop by the archbishop of that city ; after which he returned to Britain. Destruction of the monastery of the blessed Benedict. In the year of grace 597, the monastery of the blessed Benedict, which that father had founded on mount Cassino, was destroyed by the perfidious Lombards. The monks fled to Borne, carrying with them the rule, which the same holy man had framed. In the year of grace 598, Gregory, bishop of Tours,