Re: Myers in princely Christopher coat of arms
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In reply to:
Myers in princely Christopher coat of arms
Patrick Manly 11/10/12
The canting shield of St Christopher as well as the surname Christopher turned 1,700 years old on 28 October 2012.
The original shield of the British Christophers was a dragon of Dacia. Originating as soldiers in the pagan army of ancient, Imperial Rome, they were secret Christians who were six brothers, princes of Dacia a subject state of the Roman empire.
These six Dacian brothers became the close personal bodyguard of the pagan prince, the son of the Emperour (Augustus) Constantius Chlorus;born in 274 AD, the Caesar (Imperial Prince) Constantine I the Great.
Son of Constabntius Chlorus and Helena, when he was 19, Constantine's father received 1/4 of the Empire from Emperour Diocletian who, in 293 AD, decided to divide the Roman Empire into fourths. Constantius Chlorus received one quarter of the Empire in 293. becoming an Augustus, an "Emperour";one of 4 co-Augusti. Britain and Gaul, that part of the coast of Britain later called Brittany or "Bretagne" forming one Brithonic Celtic province which spanned the English Channel...then called Great Britain and Less Britain.
By 306 AD, Constantine had become a secret Christian together with the six Dacian brothers, whose identities as "Christopheri" would not be revealed for another six years, until 28 October 312 AD. The six brothers, as princes of Dacia, bore on their shileds the Dacian dragon.
In 306 Ad, Constantine and his father, the Augustus Constantine Chlorus, crossed the Channel to Britain, together with the 6 Christopori brothers and the Roman pagan army. At York, on 25 July 306, Constantius Chlorus died;on that same day, 25 July 306 AD, the six Dacian Christophori clasped the imperial purple toga around Constantine's shoulders and raised him on their six dragon shields, cheering him tot he echo as Caesar in the West.
Constantine remained in Gaul and Britain for six years, from 306 until 312 AD. In 312 AD, on 28 October, Constantine experienced his famous vision at Milvian Bridge of the Chi and Rho in the sky with the words "In Hoc Signe Vinces" and came out as an open Christian. The 6 Christophor brothers emerged as openly Christian at the same rtime, so that the date that the "Christopher" name emerged can be dated from 28 Oct. 312. The canting coat-of-arms of St Christopher can be dated from this date also.
Constantine gave the Laterani Palace to the Bishop f Rome, Pope Melchiades, and built the Basilica Church of St John Lateran right next to it. Still the Cathedral Church of the Bishops of Rome, this was the first legal and public church. By this action, though the Empire was not officially declared Christian until later in his reign, Constantine made Christianity "de facto" legal for the first time. Much has been siad about Constantine never "formally" beoming Christian but, when one considers that the Emperour and the Empire are one, just as a king and his kingdom are one, one realises that these were in fact the actions of aChristian prince.
A century later, Constantine's descendant, Uther Pendragon, riased a different dragon standard in the lands of the Brithonic Celts, the Britons: the British dragon, now the dragon of Wales.