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Constantine of Cornwall and Govan

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Saint '''Constantine of Cornwall''', also '''Constantine of Dumnonia''', '''Constantine III of Britain''', '''Saint Custennin''', '''Custennin ap Cado''', '''Custennin ap Cadwr''',<ref>[[w:Anthony Birley|Anthony Richard Birley]]. ''[http://books.google.ca/books?id=JzEp5Di15o8C&dq=inauthor:%22Anthony+Richard+Birley%22&source=gbs_navlinks_s The People of Roman Britain].'' University of California Press, 1980. p.210.<br>
:Citing: [[w:Peter Bartrum|P.C. Bartrum]]. ''Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts.'' Cardiff: University of Wales, 1966. p.179.</ref> or '''Costentyn''' (ca. 520-576 AD)<ref name=SYNAX-MARCH-9>Great Synaxaristes: {{el icon}} ''[http://www.synaxarion.gr/gr/sid/2392/sxsaintinfo.aspx Ὁ Ἅγιος Κωνσταντίνος ὁ Μάρτυρας ὁ τῆς Κορνουάλλης].'' 9 Μαρτίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ. (†576)</ref><ref name=NASH-FORD>David Nash Ford's '''Early British Kingdoms (EBK)'''. ''[http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/constsdm.html St. Constantine of Cornwall, King of Dumnonia (c.AD 520-576)].'' Nash Ford Publishing, 2001.</ref> is a 6th century Cornish saint that is identified with a minor British king Constantine. After a life of vice, he came to repentance at [[w:St Davids|St Davids]] monastery in Wales. Two places in Cornwall are still named after him.<ref name=LATIN>Latin Saints of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Rome. ''[http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/stdmar.htm Constantine March 9].''</ref> It In addition, it is also maintained that he went from Wales to Ireland and from there went as a missionary to the Picts in Scotland, where he was [[Martyr|martyred]] by pirates at [[w:Mull of Kintyre|Cantyre]] (Kintyre). However there are difficulties with this latter part of his [[hagiography]] involving a conflation of events with one or more other 'Constantines'.
His [[feast day]] is observed on [[March 9]],<ref name="SYNAX-MARCH-9"/><ref name="NASH-FORD"/><ref name="LATIN"/> in the tradition of Cornwall and Wales, and on [[March 11]]<ref name=BUTLER>Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). ''[http://www.bartleby.com/210/3/114.html March 11 - St. Constantine, Martyr].'' The Lives of the Saints. Volume III: March. 1866. (Bartleby.com)</ref><ref name=FLEMING>William Canon Fleming (Rector of [[w:St Mary Moorfields|St. Mary’s, Moorsfields]], London). ''[http://www.archive.org/details/completehistoryo00flemuoft A Complete History of the British Martyrs – From the Roman Occupation to Elizabeth’s Reign].'' Proprietors of the Catholic Repository. Little Britain, London, 1902. (pp. 19,141,145)..<br>
:* Cites: [[w:Richard Challoner|Challoner's]] ''' ''[http://books.google.ca/books?id=JbZWQAAACAAJ&dq=Britannia+Sancta&hl=en&ei=jixlTv3lGKb40gG_gZGECg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA Britannia Sancta]'' ''' (Meighan, 1745).</ref><ref>Katherine I. Rabenstein. ''[http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0311.shtml March 11 - Constantine of Scotland M (AC)].'' St. Patrick Catholic Church, Washington, D.C. - Saint of the Day.</ref> in the Scottish and Irish traditions. It is possible that the British king (†576)<ref name="SYNAX-MARCH-9"/> is not the same person as the Scottish martyr (†576,<ref>Great Synaxaristes: {{el icon}} ''[http://www.synaxarion.gr/gr/sid/3082/sxsaintinfo.aspx Ὁ Ἅγιος Κωνσταντίνος ὁ Μάρτυρας βασιλέας τῶν Σκώτων].'' 9 Μαΐου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.</ref> or †590<ref name="FLEMING"/>).<ref group="note">If it is to be argued that the Scottish martyr Constantine is a separate individual from the Cornish Saint Constantine, then perhaps he was a King of [[w:Damnonii|Damnonia]] (Strathclyde) not Dumnonia (Cornwall); however this is guesswork and there is no way to tell for certain. The ''Great Synaxaristes'' (in the Greek) includes an entry for March 9 for ''"St Constantine the Martyr of Cornwall"'' (†576) (translated), and another entry for May 9 for a ''"St Constantine the Martyr, King of the Scots"'' (†576) (translated), with the exact same death date for both. It also has a third entry for March 11 for ''"St Constantine the King"'' of Strathclyde (†640).</ref> To add to the ambiguity there is another (third?) saint from a slightly later period, King [[Constantine of Strathclyde]] (†640), whose feast day is [[March 11]] as well, but who is said to have reposed in peace (i.e. not the martyr),<ref>Great Synaxaristes: {{el icon}} ''[http://www.synaxarion.gr/gr/sid/2409/sxsaintinfo.aspx Ὁ Ἅγιος Κωνσταντίνος ὁ βασιλεὺς].'' 11 Μαρτίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.</ref> and whose life has been inextricably conflated with the Scottish king-martyr.  Therefore the traditions of St. Constantine of Cornwall (identified with the Scottish martyr of the same date), and St. Constantine of Strathclyde are very much confused. Canon [[w:Gilbert Hunter Doble|G.H. Doble]] in his ''Cornish Saints'' says that “the name has given rise altogether to one of the most fearful series of muddles in the whole history of hagiography.”<ref>[http://constantinecornwall.com/the-parish/st-constantine/ Constantine, Cornwall]. (''The Constantine website, serving the community of Constantine in Cornwall'').</ref><ref group="note">In ''"The De Excidio of Gildas: Its Authenticity and Date"'' by Thomas O’Sullivan, it has been suggested that "probably two or three Constantines have been confused", and quotes the judgment of Canon [[w:Gilbert Hunter Doble|G. H. Doble]] that:
:“…there is not the smallest evidence that Constantine of Gildas is the St. Constantine whom we find honoured in the five parishes of Devon and Cornwall, as some persons, forgetful of the fact that Constantine was a very common name at the time, have rashly assumed.” (Thomas D. O'Sullivan. ''[http://books.google.ca/books?id=q2U3i1X8B50C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false The De Excidio of Gildas: Its Authenticity and Date].'' BRILL, 1978. p.95.)</ref>
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