The meeting of King Ethelbert with St. Augustine and his companions

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• Bede in Ecclesiastical History (Book I:25) said:
  Augustine sent to Ethelbert to say that he had come from Rome bearing the best of news, namely the sure and certain promise of eternal joys in heaven and an endless kingdom with the living and true God to those who received it.
  On hearing this the king ordered them to remain on the island where they had landed and be provided with all things necessary until he had decided what to do about them.

• Some days afterwards the king came to the island (the tradition said that the meeting happened at what is now Ebbsfleet, and where St. Augustine cross is now)
• The King commanded that the meeting had to be in the open air. He took care that they should not meet in any building, for he held the traditional superstition that, if they practised any magic art, they might deceive him and get the better of him as soon as he entered.
• St. Augustine and his companions approached the King in such effective pageantry, bearing silver cross and the image of  Christ painted on a panel.They chanted litanies and uttered prayers to the Lord for their own eternal salvation and the salvation of those for whom and to whom they had come.
• The king commanded them to  sit down and preached himself and all his companions there present.
• We do not know what St. Augustine said according to Bede, but many later writers attributed various statments to Augustine. Thorne in his chronicle attributed the the following to Augustine
  "Having come here, O King, for your everlasting salvation and that of your whole realm, we now offer you most excellent news. If you receive it , both here and in the everlasting kingdom you will be blessed."
• The King answered (according to Bede):
  'The words and the promises you bring are fair enough, but because they are new to us and doubtful, I cannot consent to accept them and forsake those beliefs which I and the whole English race have held so long. But as you have come on a long pilgrimage and are anxious, I perceive, to share with us things which you believe to be true and good, we do not wish to do you harm; on the contrary, we will receive you hospitably and provide what is necessary for your support; nor do we forbid you to win all you can to your faith and religion by your preaching.'
• He gave them a dwelling in the city of Canterbury, which was the chief city of all his dominions; and, in accordance with his promise, he granted them provisions and did not refuse them freedom to preach.