Cum ergo Deus omnipotens vos ad reverentissimum virum fratrem nostrum Augustinum episcopum perduxerit, dicite ei, quid diu mecum de causa Anglorum cogitans tractavi: videlicet quia fana idolorum destrui in eadem gente minime debeant; sed ipsa quae in eis sunt idola destruantur; aqua benedicta fiat, in eisdem fanis aspergatur, altaria construantur, reliquiae ponantur: quia si fana eadem bene constructa sunt, necesse est ut a cultu daemonum in obsequio veri Dei debeant commutari; ut dum gens ipsa eadem fana sua non videt destrui, de corde errorem deponat, et Deum verum cognoscens ac adorans, ad loca quae consuevit, familiarius concurrat.
When then Almighty God shall bring you unto our most reverend brother Augustine, bishop, tell him what I have long time devised with myself of the cause of the English: that is, to wit, that the temples of the idols in the said country ought not to be broken; but the idols alone which be in them; that holy water be made and sprinkled about the same temples, altars builded, relics placed: for if the said temples be well built, it is needful that they be altered from the worshipping of devils into the service of the true God; that whiles the people doth not see these their said temples spoilt, they may forsake their error of heart and be moved with more readiness to haunt their wonted place to the knowledge and honour of the true God.
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