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.