According to the Venerable Bede, when St Augustine met the Welsh bishops at Aust near Bristol in around 602 AD, the result was something of a public relations disaster. Instead of unifying the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon churches as Augustine intended, the meeting was a failure with the Welsh refusing to accede to this overbearing emissary from Rome.

It would be fourteen hundred years, and another 102 Archbishops of Canterbury, before a Welsh-speaking Welshman filled St Augustine’s shoes as primate of the established church in England.

Born in Ystradgynlais, Rowan Williams grew up in Swansea where he attended Dynevor, the school also attended by Sir Harry Secombe. Although his family had been Presbyterians, young Rowan began attending Anglican services at All Saints Church in Oystermouth.

His sharp intellect won him a place at Christ’s College, Cambridge where he read theology. At the age of 29 he had produced his first book and seven years later became the youngest professor at Oxford University.

While pursuing his studies, it seems Rowan Williams did not remove himself from the troubles of the real world. At Cambridge, tramps with nowhere else to go would often be accommodated in his college rooms.

In 1991 he left academic life and returned to Wales as Bishop of Monmouth. It was here that his liberal credentials were established as he became a vocal advocate for the ordination of women.

In 1999 Rowan Williams became Archbishop of Wales, a post he held for three years before becoming Archbishop of Canterbury in July 2002.

One issue, the election of openly homosexual bishops, has dominated his early period in that office.

His ability to steer the Church through its divisions seems likely to dictate how he will be remembered by history. As it was for his predecessor St Augustine, Christian unity is at the top of Rowan Williams’ agenda.