The Patron saint of this church, St. Augustine, was born in North Africa in 354.

His career as an orator and rhetorician led him from Carthage to Rome and from there to Milan. By temperament, he was passionate and sensual, and as a young man he rejected Christianity. Under the influence of his mother, Monica and Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Augustine began to take a new look at the scriptures. He was baptized by Ambrose at the Easter Vigil in 387. Soon after, he returned to North Africa and was ordained priest. He later became Bishop of Hippo.

 

Augustine’s influence in the development of European thought is well known. He wrote in his Confessions,

“Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new, late have I loved you. And see, you were

within me and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I

plunged into those lovely created things which you made. You were with me and I was not with

you. The lovely things kept me from you, though if they did not have their existence in you,

they would have no existence at all. You called and cried out loud to me and shattered my

deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant,

and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and now I feel nothing but

hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is

yours.”

 

In the Baptistry, the area where the font is located in St. Augustine’s Church, you will see a

stained glass depicting St. Augustine. Also, at the entrance of the church, over the main

door, you will see those immortal words of St. Augustine, “You have made us for yourself

(O God) and our souls are restless until they rest in you.”

 

Augustine’s example teaches us that we must never underestimate the grace of God. There

is transforming power in God’s grace. What God has done to and for others He can do for us

today. Let us be open to and accept that grace.

 

Records have indicated that on the 14th March, 1888, a Bishop landed at East End

and visited the site of a proposed Church, St. Augustine. The original building used for the

Church was formerly part of a sugar factory. By the 1960’s more space was required to

accommodate a growing congregation and to  provide additional space on special occasions.

The section of the church in the middle, that runs north to south, was added. By the 1980’s

the nave had become too small and the older section of the church was in need of repair.

Since it was impossible to extend the building without destroying the older section

that had been declared as a historic building by the Government of Anguilla, the decision

was taken to construct a new building. On 4 September 1983, the Parish Priest, Fr. Andrew

Cooper, and the two Church Wardens, Mr Menes Hodge, People’s Warden and Mr Eric Reid,

Priest Warden, applied to the Bishop in Council for a faculty to begin the construction of

the new building. The faculty was issued on 24 February 1984.

 

The new structure took five years to complete. It was dedicated on 8 January 1989 by the

Most Reverend Orland U. Lindsay, Bishop of the Diocese and Archbishop of the West Indies.

In attendance were The Rt. Rev. Alfred Jeffery, Suffragan Bishop, The Rev.d Fr. Andrew

Cooper, former Parish Priest, The Rev.d Canon Errol Brooks, Priest-in-Charge, the Rev.d Thomas R. Lake, Assistant Priest and other Anglican clergy who hailed from Anguilla. Unfortunately, the Church Hall was severely damaged in 2017 by Hurricane Irma. Efforts to rebuild are still in progress.