Subj : March 11th - Saint Constantine of Carthage
To   : All
From : rich
Date : Tue Mar 10 2020 10:42:15

From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

March 11th - Saint Constantine of Carthage 
6th v.

ACCORDING to the lessons in the Aberdeen Breviary the early career of
King Constantine of Cornwall gave no promise of the holiness to which
he afterwards attained; but after the death of his wife, daughter of
the king of Brittany, he was so grief-stricken that he resolved to
mend his ways and gave up his kingdom to his son. Concealing his rank
and identity, he found his way to Ireland, where he entered the
monastery of St. Mochuda at Rahan. There he served for seven years,
performing the most menial offices and carrying sacks of corn to and
from the mill; According to the legend, he was finally identified by a
monk who happened to be in the granary one day and overheard him
laughing over his work and saying to himself: =E2=80=9CIs this indeed King
Constantine of Cornwall who formerly wore a =E2=80=98helmet' and br=
eastplate
and who now drudges at a handmill?=E2=80=9D

He learnt letters, raised to the priesthood, and was sent to Scotland,
where he associated first with St. Columba and then with St.
Kentigern. He is said to have preached the faith in Galloway and then
to have become abbot of a monastery at Govan. As an old man
Constantine went on a mission into Kintyre, but was attacked by
pirates, who cut off his right arm. Calling his followers he gave them
his blessing; and slowly bled to death. Scotland regarded him as her
first martyr, and his feast is still observed in the diocese of Argyll
and the Isles.

Cornwall, Wales, and Ireland also had traditions of a Cornish king
named Constantine who became a monk, but no confidence can be placed
in their often contradictory details; nor is there any good reason to
suppose that Constantine of Cornwall was identical with Gildas's
=E2=80=9Ctyrannical Whelp of the unclean Lioness of Domnonia=E2=80=9D.

The principal source is the Aberdeen Breviary and Martyrology. The
Bollandists (Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii) seem to have adopted in
the main the conclusions of Colgan in his Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae.
See KSS., pp. 311-314, and especially Canon Doble's excellent summa=
ry,
St. Constantine (1930), no. 26 in his Cornish Saints series. The
annals of Tigernach (so-called) enter under the date 588 =E2=80=9CConversio
Constantini ad Dominum=E2=80=9D; the Annals of Ulster however, record it in
587, and the Annales Cambriae give it under 589.


Bible Quote:
For if we sin wilfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there
is now left no sacrifice for sins: But a certain dreadful expectation
of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume the
adversaries.  (Hebrews 10:26-27)


<><><><>
Lord Jesus, Think on Me
By St Synesius of Cyrene (375-430), Bishop of Ptolemais

Lord Jesus, think on me,
and purge away my sin,
from earth-born passions set me free,
and make me pure within.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
with care and woe oppressed,
let me Thy loving servant be,
and taste Thy promised rest.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
nor let me go astray,
through darkness and perplexity
point Thou the heav'nly way.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
that, when the flood is past,
I may eternal brightness see,
and share Thy joy at last. 
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)

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