wfn.org | STAMPS CELEBRATE SAINTS 1400 YEARS ON

[a.whitefield@quest.org.uk]

March 7, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Offices
London, England
Tel: [44] (0)171 620-1110   Fax: [44] (0)171 620-1070

97.3.1.7

FEATURE: STAMPS CELEBRATE SAINTS 1400 YEARS ON

Royal Mail Press Release
February 27, 1997

Royal Mail is to issue a set of Special Stamps 1400 years after the
death of Saint Columba of Iona and the arrival of Saint Augustine of
Canterbury in England, saints who had a profound influence on the spread
of Christianity in Britain.

The four stamps, available from post offices from March 11, are designed
by Clare Melinsky using the linocut technique.

Columba, the Irish monk who preached Christianity from the tiny Scottish 
Isle of Iona, is featured on the 26p First Class stamp and the 37p
value. Augustine, the Italian Prior who arrived on the Kent coast in 597
and became the first Archbishop of Canterbury, is celebrated on the 43p
and 63p values.

The 26p stamp marks Columba's journey across the Irish Sea to Iona where
he founded the monastery and preached God's word to Western Scotland.
Columba was a great scribe and the 37p stamps shows him at work and
looking out over the Ionian sea.

On the 43p stamp, Augustine is shown baptising King Ethelbert, the King
of Kent and the first English king to be converted to Christianity. The
63p value shows the Archbishop outside the Cathedral at Canterbury,
which he founded. The Kent coastline is also represented in the design.

The stamp designs are given an ecclesiastic aura using distinct shapes
and strong bright colours inspired by those used in ancient illuminated 
manuscripts.

Royal Mail's Special Stamps Manager, Rosena Robson, said: "The stamps 
celebrate two great saints who had a tremendous influence on shaping the 
Christian faith in Britain. This year will see a major pilgrimage
following those early Christian missions and it is appropriate that
Royal Mail should be joining those celebrations with this Special Stamp
issue."

A presentation pack of the stamps will also be available from post
offices from March 11, priced #2.05. The pack contains background
information about the Saints written by religious affairs broadcaster
Bernard Jackson, who has made radio series on pilgrimages, and is
illustrated with black and white photographs of Columba's Iona and
Ebbsfleet, where Augustine first set foot in Britain. Postcards of the
stamps are also available a week before the stamps, priced 25p each.