Peter of Canterbury

Saint Peter of Canterbury, a venerable father, was the first abbot of the monastery of Saints Peter and Paul in Canterbury, later called Saint Augustine's, and a companion of Saint Augustine in the Gregorian mission to Kent. He is presumed to have been Italian, like the other members of the mission, which Pope Gregory the Great sent in 596 to Christianize the Anglo-⁠Saxons.

Toward the end of 600 Augustine sent him to Rome, together with Laurence, to give the pope news of the mission's successes and to request more missionaries, along with answers to Augustine's questions; they returned in 601 with Gregory's replies. Bede calls him abbot and presbyter.

He drowned crossing the English Channel toward Gaul, at Ambleteuse near Boulogne. He was buried hastily, but a light was seen over the grave at night, and the local people, realizing he was a saint, exhumed him and buried him again at Boulogne. The date of his death is unknown. It is usually given as around 607, but he was present at the council of Paris in 614, so he probably died after that. His feast day was 30 December or 6 January.