THE
P RTAL
April 2017
Page 18
St Augustine, Pugin
and the English
Christian Patrimony
The Editors
I
n 2012, Archbishop Peter Smith instituted St Augustine’s Church, Ramsgate as a shrine to the ‘Apostle
of the English’. It has now grown into a popular place of pilgrimage with more than 10,000 visitors a year.
There had been a shrine to St Augustine in Canterbury from c.604 until the time of Henry VIII. This place of
pilgrimage recovers that ancient tradition.
St Augustine’s day is greatly celebrated in Ramsgate
each year. In 1897, the 1300th anniversary of
Augustine’s arrival, the entire English hierarchy and
thousands of faithful descended on Ramsgate for
Mass at St Augustine’s Cross and there have been big
celebrations in 1997 and 2000.
Even before a parish was formed in Ramsgate, the
church provided mass for local Catholics, visitors
and foreign sailors. In 1848, it was the venue for the
first High Mass on Thanet since the Reformation.
Ramsgate’s first post-reformation Catholic school was
run from the site. At his death, Pugin gave the Church
to the Catholic community.
Every year St Augustine Week takes place around the
feast. (This year 26th May – 4th June 2017.) This is a
St Augustine’s was consecrated in 1884 and from
week of devotions, talks, rambles, sacred music events, 1856 until 2010 the church was run by the Benedictine
masses and an outdoor procession with the relic of monks of St Augustine’s Abbey. In 2010, the monks
Saint Augustine.
withdrew and the church was in danger of being
closed, lost or turned into a museum. A grant from
The Shrine enjoys welcoming groups of pilgrims. English Heritage, and local fundraising, saved the
Typically, their schedule will include Mass, a tour church from dereliction. In 2012, St Augustine’s, now
of the shrine, veneration of the St Augustine relic, a church within the local Catholic parish, was made
benediction and confession if desired, and a specially- an official shrine of St Augustine by Archbishop Peter
made film about St Augustine or a spiritual talk. The Smith.
shrine has a designated pilgrimage director and so
any group can make arrangements for a visit. For
St Augustine’s attracts Christians from many
the more active pilgrim, the Way of St Augustine is backgrounds, as well as secular visitors who come to
a walking route that links the Shrine of St Augustine enjoy the architecture, and the art and schools come to
with Canterbury Cathedral.
learn about the saints and about Pugin.
St Augustine’s holds on to the vision, held by many
(including Augustus Pugin), of English Catholicism,
honouring English saints and patrimony. In renewing
devotion to England’s Apostle, the new Shrine is
responding directly to the Holy Father’s call for a new
evangelisation.
St Augustine’s church is the ‘ideal church’ of the
famous architect Augustus Pugin, who constructed
it between 1845-1852. It stands as a symbol of the
Catholic revival of the 19th century. Pugin, as a
former Anglican, never saw his reception into full
communion as abandoning the particular genius
of English Christianity but rather as the best way to
preserve it and enhance it.
In May this year a new Education, Research,
and Visitor centre for pilgrims and visitors will be
completed and restoration of original Pugin features
continues. It is hoped that this shrine will also be a
special spiritual home for the Ordinariate of Our Lady
of Walsingham – a tangible sign of its patrimony and
inspiration for its mission.
Information: Mass every day, 12 noon - additional
Mass on Sundays: 8.30am. To arrange a pilgrimage:
[email protected] - Email: office@
augustineshrine.co.uk - Telephone: 01843 606756
Join the Friends of St Augustine’s; details may be
found at www.augustine-pugin.org.uk