CHRONICLES OF CORNISH SAINTS. III. — S. CONSTANTINE. 85 



" to a religious life in a monastery, where lie lived with such piety 

 " and devotion that he became a pattern of all virtues to the rest 

 " of the monks, and after some time was sent by the bishop of 

 "that place to instruct the people of Scotland in the faith of 

 " Christ." Of his missionary labours in Scotland no narrative has 

 been preserved ; but there are allusions to them in the Aberdeen 

 Breviary, Fordun's Scotichronicon,'^ and other works ; from which 

 we gather that he was a fellow-labourer with S. Columba, that he 

 founded the Church of G-ovan on the Clyde, converted the in- 

 habitants of Cantyre to Christianity, and at length in a good old 

 age died a martyr at the end of the 6th century, and was buried 

 in his own Church at Govan. "He is deservedly numbered 

 " amongst the Saints of both provinces," says Colgan, " because 

 " in one he studied as a sedulous disciple, and in the other he 

 " laboured as a strenuous teacher and promoter of piety.t 



With regard to his ministry in Cornwall we have no historical 

 evidence whatever. Nevertheless, local memorials remain that he 

 was not unmindful of the spiritual needs of his native land. In the 

 Deanery of Kirrier there is a parish which, from time out of 

 mind, has been called by his name; and, until recently, there 

 were some crumbling ruins on the shore of St. Merrin, near 

 Padstow, known as St. Constantino's Chapel and Well. :{: In both 

 those places we have, as it were, footmarks of the Saint, and wit- 

 nesses of his personal labour and christian zeal ; for it may be 

 laid down as a general rule, as we have already stated in the 

 ^ 



* " Contemporaneus fuit S. ColumbEe S. Constantinus rex Cornubiffi, 

 qui, relicto regno terreno, Eegi coelesti meditari coepit, et cum S. Oolumba 

 ad Scotiam pervenit ; Fidem Scotis prfedicavit, et Pectis. Monasterium 

 fratrum in Gouane extruxit, juxta Cludum, quibus ipse Abbas prafuit. 

 Totam terram de Kentire convertit, ubi ipse Martyr, pro fide, ocoubtiit ; et in 

 suo monasterio, apnd Gouane, sepelitionem accepit."- — Scotichro., iii, 26. 



+ " Et merito inter ntriusque Provinciffi numeratnr sanctos, qui quum in 

 una sedi;lus discipulus edidicit, in altera streniius doctor edocuit et propa- 

 gavit pietatem." — Acta SS. Hibernice. 



+ " Adjoining St. Merran or Harlyn Warren was in ancient times a 

 village with a chapel, or, as it is said, a parish church, dedicated to St. Con- 

 stantine ; some ruins of this building still remain, consisting of part of the 

 east end, some broken arches and pillars, and a considerable part of the 

 tower ; a richly orna,mente4 aisle is said to have been standing tih about the 

 year 1780." — hysons' Corniaall, p. 226. 



" Near this church is yet extant St. Constantine's Well, strong built of 

 stone, and arched over." — Hals. 



