CHTmCH OF ST. JTJST-IN-PENWITH. 175 



Eustatius as the probable patronal saint, and thinks that the 

 name Usticke is the modern form of the name, and that it means 

 a man of St. Just. All this is very pretty and fanciful ; but is 

 there any real evidence, or even reasonable probability in its 

 favour ? It is perhaps worth noting that natives call the place 

 St. Toost, thereby suggesting the Welsh St. Ust. But we should 

 be surprised to find a Welsh saint so far west. After all, it does 

 not matter much ; perhaps if we found out all about him, we 

 should only know what a disreputable fellow he was. In some 

 of the earlier MSS. {e.g. the Taxacio of Pope Nicholas IV, and 

 the Inquisicio Nonarum) this church is called Sancti Justi, while 

 the Eoseland church is called de Sancto Justo. This distinction 

 is probably merely for convenience, and without any special 

 significance. But however dim St. Just may be as an historical 

 figure, in Cornish legend he looms large. He quarrelled with 

 his neighbour St. Sennen, and the two saints were only kept 

 from mutual destruction by the aim of each being so exact that 

 the boulders which they hurled at each other met in mid air and 

 fell to the ground welded into one single mass. Another legend 

 has a real interest. As St. Patrick stole some relics belonging 

 to the Bishop of Pome and was commended for his piety in 

 doing so, our saint likewise had no compunction, when enjoying 

 the hospitality of St. Keverne, in stealing a chalice belonging to 

 the latter saint, and only gave it back when St. Keverne overtook 

 him and threw at him rocks which — until a few years since — stood 

 at Tre-men-keverne, where Grermoe lane joins the main road to 

 Marazion, a silent but eloquent witness to the truth of the story. 

 The numerous quarrels, of which history and legend alike tell us, 

 between different saints, are intelligible enough when we remem- 

 ber that they were saints merely because they belonged to the 

 religious department of the state, and not because of any especial 

 saintly qualities which they possessed. The ''Saints" of the 

 different tribes had their opposing interests to serve quite as much 

 as any temporal prince. Moreover, bloodshed was not always 

 looked on with the horror it now mostly is, and even in modern 

 times holy men have not hesitated to get rid of their opponents 

 in a manner quite shocking to the uninstructed lay mind. 



On the 7th of August, 1309, we find Sir Pichard de Beaupre 

 was rector of St. Just, an office which he was stiU holding in 



