Anglican Communion News Service

Fifty pilgrims left Rome by coach 18 May and reached Canterbury on 25 May. The pilgrims are following the steps of St Augustine, who travelled from Rome to Canterbury 1400 years ago to begin his mission to the English.

The pilgrims come from different churches and began their pilgrimage with a service at San Gregorio, where Pope Gregory commissioned Augustine for his mission. Each pilgrim was given two copies of St Mark's Gospel, one to study on the journey and another to give away. They were also given an olive branch to represent peace.

The pilgrims will travel by coach across Europe and do some walking. This week they passed through Milan, were they were met by Cardinal Carlo-Maria Martini, and through Franciscan sites in Italy and then on to France where they stopped at Taize and Reims.

The pilgrims joined in the Canterbury celebrations for St Augustine's year. They will then continue their journey to Londonderry in Northern Ireland which on 9 June will be celebrating the 1400th anniversary of St Columba. (Anglican World magazine will run features on these events in a forthcoming edition.)