Saints Who Left
Descendents
Page Excerpts
Feastday: May 21
Date: 337
Family:
Parents: Father- Flavius Valerius Constanius I Chlorus
Mother- Helen Flavia Julia Helena Elen Britannica Saint
Wife: Fausta
Children: Constantius II Flavius Julius Constantius Rome
Ancestry:
Also King David of Judah and Israel is an ancestor thru Nathan his son.
Descendents:
Descendents include Saint Margaret of Scotland, Saint Adele of Blois, Saint Olav of Norway, Saint Leopold III of Austria and Saint Louis IX of France.
Biography:
Junior Emperor and emperor called the “Thirteenth Apostle” in the East. Constantine was raised on the court of co-Emperor Diocletian. He was the son of Constantius I Chlorus, junior emperor and St. Helena. When his father died in 306, Constantine was declared junior emperor of York, England, by the local legions. By defeating his main rivals at the battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 he earned a place as a ruler of the Empire. The military standards that held the banners his armies carried into battle to vanquish their pagan enemies, according to legend, he adopted the insignia of Christ, the chi-rho, and placed it upon his labarum -. His purple banners were inscribed with the Latin for “In this sign conquer.” He exerted his considerable influence upon his colleague Licinius to secure the declaration of Christianity to be a free religion. Constantine then shared rule of the Empire with Licinius who was a pagan. Constantine marched to the East and routed his opponent at the battle of Adrianople when, however, Licinius launched a persecution of the Christians. Constantine was the most dominating figure of his lifetime, towering over his contemporaries, including Pope Sylvester I. He gave extensive grants of land and property to the Church, presided over the Council of Nicaea, undertook a long-sighted program of Christianization for the whole of the Roman Empire and founded the Christian city of Constantinople to serve as his new capital. While he was baptized a Christian only on his deathbed, Constantine nevertheless was a genuinely important figure in Christian history and was revered as a saint, especially in the Eastern Church.