Beunans Meriasek (The life of St Meriasek) (f

( English: ''The Life of Saint Meriasek'') is a Cornish play completed in 1504. Its subject is the legends of the life of Saint Meriasek or Meriadoc, patron saint of

Camborne Camborne ( kw, Kammbronn) is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth and Deadman's Cove. Camborne was formerl ...

, whose veneration was popular in Cornwall, Brittany, and elsewhere. It was written in the

Cornish language Cornish (Standard Written Form: or ) , is a Southwestern Brittonic language, Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family. It is a List of revived languages, revived language, having become Extinct language, extinct as a livin ...

, probably written around the same time and in the same place as , the only other extant Cornish play taking a saint's life as its subject. The manuscript of was completed in 1504 by Dominus Radulphus Ton (known from a note in the colophon), who was probably a canon of Glasney College. It is now held in the

Peniarth Collection Peniarth is a village and community in Meifod, Powys, Wales. It is 87.1 miles (140.2 km) from Cardiff and 156.9 miles (252.5 km) from London. It is represented in the Senedd by Russell George (Conservative). It is part of the Montgome ...

at the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...

Outline

The legend of Meriasek, son of a Duke of Brittany, who, for love of the priestly profession, refused marriage with a wealthy princess and led the life of a miracle-working hermit, first in Cornwall and afterwards in his native land; the legend of Saint Sylvester, who healed the emperor

Constantine the Great Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

of leprosy by a dip in the

baptismal font A baptismal font is an article of church furniture used for baptism. Aspersion and affusion fonts The fonts of many Christian denominations are for baptisms using a non-immersive method, such as aspersion (sprinkling) or affusion (pouring). ...

, and then aided him in establishing Christianity throughout his broad dominion; and the curious legend of a mother who, on the Virgin's continued disregard of her prayer for the deliverance of a son in

captivity Captivity, or being held captive, is a state wherein humans or other animals are confined to a particular space and prevented from leaving or moving freely. An example in humans is imprisonment. Prisoners of war are usually held in captivity by a ...

, carried off the

Christ Child The Christ Child, also known as Divine Infant, Baby Jesus, Infant Jesus, the Divine Child, Child Jesus, the Holy Child, Santo Niño, and to some as Señor Noemi refers to Jesus Christ from his nativity to age 12. The four canonical gospels, a ...

from the arms of the Virgin's statue, and refused to yield up the baby to the Madonna until her own son was restored to her. Bates, K. L. (1893) ''The English Religious Drama''. New York:

Macmillan and Co. Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

Outline

See also

References

Further reading