FT275


Outside the south door of York Minster, there is a statue of a seated man. He looks pensively at the sword he holds, point down, in his left hand. The tip has broken off. The sword has become a cross. The man represented is Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus, who was, on 25 July 306, declared Emperor of Rome within a few yards of his modern statue. He was the man who converted Rome to Christianity, the man who would be declared both a saint and a god after his death.

On the base of the statue are the words “Constantine.