the village and Church of Clodock, in Herefordshire, being named after him.

S. Clether is commemorated in the Church and village of S. Clether, Cornwall".

S. Colan. The Church and village of Colan, Cornwall, are named after this saint, who was commemorated on Dec. 23rd.

S. Columba, A., 597. Was born in Ireland of a noble race, and from his early youth devoted himself to the service of God. After founding many religious houses in his own country, he passed over into the north of Scotland, and was the first to preach the true faith to the northern Picts, whom with their king he converted. The island of Hy, or Iona, was bestowed upon him for his residence, and he there founded a monastery, of which he became abbot, which was the main influence of spreading the faith in Scotland and the north of England; "for from this retreat of piety came forth those heralds of the Gospel, who taught the greater part of our rude forefathers." He was commemorated on June 9th. Collingtree, Northants, Askham and Warcop, Westmoreland, and Topcliffe, Yorkshire, have Churches named in his honour.

S. Columba, V. M. An Irish missionary saint, who in the fifth century preached the Gospel in Cornwall. Her remains rested in the same tomb

See Cornish Saints. • Churton's Early English Church, p. 20.

with S. Patrick and S. Bridget, in Down Cathedral. She was commemorated on October 23rd, and the villages of S. Columb Major, and S. Columb Minor, in Cornwall, are called after her, and their Churches dedicated in her name.

S. Congar, Ab., otherwise called Docunus, first led an eremitical life in Somersetshire, and there built an oratory for twelve canons at a place in the same county, still called from him Congresbury, after which he went into Glamorganshire and founded a monastery there near the sea coast, where he lived and died in great sanctity, being commemorated on November 5th. The Church of Badgeworth, Somersetshire, probably the scene of his early retirement, is named in his honour. Congresbury is dedicated to S. Andrew.

S. Constantine, K. M. A British prince, who after the death of his queen retired from the world, and resigned his kingdom to his son, privately withdrawing into a monastery in Ireland, where, unknown to any, he served some time as a lay brother. He was afterwards discovered, and being fully instructed in the Holy Scriptures, he was sent over to help S. Columba preach the faith to the Picts, many of whom he converted, especially about Cantire. He was martyred towards the end of the sixth century, and was commemorated on March 11th.

S. Constantine the Great, Emp., A.D. 337. The first Christian Roman emperor, was born in Eng

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P,

land, his mother being S. Helena, or Helen. As soon as he was declared emperor he issued many edicts in favour of Christianity and against the persecution of the Christians, and founded and endowed many magnificent Churches. Eusebius relates that on the evening of the day preceding the battle between Constantine and his rival Maxentius, he saw before him in the clear sky a fiery cross formed by the union of the two Greek letters Χ and with the motto in Greek, 'In this conquer.' He at once adopted this monograph as his standard instead of the Roman eagle, and introduced it upon his coins, &c. It is one of the most frequent symbols of the early Christians, and to this day is called the cross of Constantine, and sometimes the Labarumt. In later days, was often used as an initial to grants and charters, the writer of this having seen it on two Anglo-Saxon charters relating to the abbey of Bury S. Edmund's in the reign of Canute. He is commemorated in the old English calendar and in the Greek Church on May 21st. It is not certain whether the Churches dedicated in this name relate to this saint or to S. Constantine the king, above mentioned; from their connection with this country

CONS

Medal of Constantine.

* For examples of the Labarum see August 7, p. 96, and Part III.

both may have been commemorated, and so we give accounts of both. The Churches so named are those of Constantine, Cornwall; Milton Abbot, Devon; and Thorpe Constantine, Staffordshire.

S. Cornelius, P. C., A.D. 252. Succeeded S. Fabian as Pope A.D. 251, and during his tenure of the papal chair was the subject of continual calumny and persecution from the notorious Novatian. He encouraged and urged his flock against the decree of the Emperor Gallus, which commanded them to sacrifice to the gods on account of the plague which was then raging in several parts of the empire. For his courage and constancy upon this occasion he was the first person seized at Rome in the persecution which immediately took place, and was banished to Centumcellæ, now Civita Vecchia, where he died in exile A.D. 252. He is commemorated on the sixteenth of September by the Church of Rome. The Churches of Cornelly in Cornwall, and Linwood in Lincolnshire, are named in his honour.

He is generally represented as a Pope, with the cross (sometimes triple) and tiara, and carrying a drinking or hunting horn, [in Latin, Cornus,] an

allusion to his name, similar to the lamb of S. Agnes, the whole loaf of S. Olave or Holofius, the scythe and well of S. Sidwell or Scithewell.

Cornish Saints. Every one who is at all acquainted with Cornwall must have remarked upon the extraordinary number of local saints, elsewhere unknown, but whose names exist in the dedications of the Churches there, and in many instances in the names of the villages also. These are generally records of a most interesting period of our Church history, and evidences of the existence of Christianity in this island long before the mission of S. Augustine, commemorating missionaries of the Christian faith, who for the most part came over from Ireland in the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries, and were the means of establishing the true faith in that province against the efforts of the Druids, who had partially regained influence there after the departure of the Romans. There is scarcely a parish which does not contain some vestiges of these devoted missionaries, either in the dedication of the Church, or in the name of the village, in some holy well, celebrated in more faithful days for miraculous properties, or in some ancient oratory, once "the place where prayer was wont to be made," but now in most instances ruinous, overgrown with ivy and moss, and frequently every trace has perished but the traditional site. Of some of these saints we have been able to glean a few scanty notices, of