Finding the pearl of great price

[Weedy]

Finding the pearl of great price

"Now among the words of all kinds that profess to announce truth, and
among those who report them, he seeks pearls. Think of the prophets
as, so to speak, the pearls that receive the dew of heaven and become
pregnant with the word of truth from heaven. They are goodly pearls
that, according to the phrase here set forth, the merchant seeks. And
the chief of the pearls, on the finding of which the rest are found
with it, is the very costly pearl, the Christ of God, the Word that is
superior to the precious letters and thoughts in the law and the
prophets. When one finds this pearl all the rest are easily released.
Suppose, then, that one is not a disciple of Christ. He possesses no
pearls at all, much less the very costly pearl, as distinguished from
those that are cloudy or darkened."
by Origen (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 18.8)

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March 11th - St. Constantine of Cornwall, King of Dumnonia
(c.AD 520-576)
(Welsh: Custennin; Latin: Constantinus; English: Constantine)

There are a number of St. Constantines mentioned in various
hagiographical sources and those connected with the West may all be
the same man. The Life of St. Petroc tells how one day, the deer being
pursued by a wealthy man named Constantine in a hunt took shelter in
St. Petroc's cell. Constantine was unable to intervene as he was
struck with paralysis when he tried. So impressed was he with the
saint's power that he and his bodyguard immediately converted to
Christianity. Constantine gave Petroc an ivory hunting horn in
commemoration of the event and this was long revered along with the
saint's other relics at Bodmin. 15th and 16th century sources say that
it was a King Constantine who was co-founder of this famous Cornish
monastery and call St. Constantine 'king and martyr'. He would seem to
have moved around the West Country, founding churches at the two
Constantines, near Padstow and Falmouth, and at Illogan; also at
Milton Abbot and Dunsford in Devon. From the 'Life of St. David', it
would appear that, in later life, Constantine travelled across the
Bristol Channel to join St. Dewi (David) at Mynyw (St. Davids), where
he resided as a monk for many years. He founded the church at
Cosheston, near Pembroke, but eventually settled as a hermit in
Costyneston (Cosmeston) near Cardiff. He may have died there.

Chronologically speaking, it is likely that this King Constantine
should be identified with the man described by St. Gildas' in his 'De
Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae'. There he talks about "Constantine
the tyrannical whelp of the unclean lioness of Dumnonia" and rebukes
him for disguising himself as a bishop in order to sacrilegiously
murder his two nephews in the sanctity of a church. This event would
presumably pre-date his conversion to Christianity.

This character was also known to Geoffrey of Monmouth. He transformed
the nephews into the treacherous sons of the usurper, Mordred, who he
claimed were killed in Winchester & London. Geoffrey called
Constantine the son of Cador, by which he meant Cado, the King of
Dumnonia in the early 6th century. He claimed that, after the Battle
of Camlann (traditionally in AD 537) where Constantine was one of the
only survivors, Constantine succeeded his kinsman, King Arthur, to the
High-Kingship of Britain. His father is also given as Cador/Cado in
the Llyfr Baglan, where his son and successor was said to have been
Bledric. Later Arthurian literature turned the royal saint into Sir
Constantine, a Knight of the Round Table.

There are persistent stories that Constantine of Cornwall travelled
north and preached to the people of Galloway before being martyred in
Kintyre on 9th March AD 576. However, the traditions of St.
Constantine of Cornwall & St. Constantine of Strathclyde are much
confused.

Records of King Constantine date back to the 6th century & he is
generally considered historic.
However records of St. Constantine only date back to the 11th century
& he is generally considered legendary.


Saint Quotes:
She who is silent everywhere finds peace.
She who desires peace must see, suffer and be silent.
--St. Teresa Margaret Redi

Bible Quote:
Jesus saith to them: Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone
which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the
corner? By the Lord this has been done; and it is wonderful in our
eyes. 43. Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be
taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits
thereof. 44. And whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken:
but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder.
(Matthew 21:42-44)


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A devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary:

Hail Mary...

My Queen! my Mother! I give thee all myself, and, to show my devotion to
thee, I consecrate to thee my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, my entire
self. Wherefore, O loving Mother, as I am thine own, keep me, defend me,
as thy property and possession.