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Helena ‘known as Saint Helena’- Mother of Constantine the
Great
324-328/30 A.D.
Posthumous Issue.
Bronze AE4 16mm (1.43 grams) Constantinopolis mint: 337-340 A.D.
Reference: RIC 33 (VIII, Constantinople)
FLIVLHELENAAVG – Diademed, draped bust right.
PAXPVBLICA Exe: CONS – Pax standing left,
holding branch and scepter.
Flavia Julia Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, was born in 248 AD and
began her career as a barmaid in Naissus (Moesia). She became the mistress, and
possibly wife, of Flavius Constantius before his elevation to the rank of Caesar
and bore him a son, Constantinus (Constantine the Great) about 272/3. On
Constantius’ appointment as Caesar in 293 he was obliged to repudiate Helena in
favor of Theodora, stepdaughter of the western Augustus Maximian. Helena
followed her son’s example in converting to Christianity after the victory over
Maxentius in 312 and became very active in promoting the interests of Church.
Her elevation to the rank of Augusta did not take place until 324 in connection
with the celebration of Constantine’s victory over his rival, Licinius, which
gave him control of the whole Empire. Two years later Helena seems to have
played a key role in revealing the treachery of her daughter-in-law, the empress
Fausta, in the affair of Crispus Caesar’s disgrace and execution. Fausta herself
was put to death after which Helena left Rome on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
She died on her return to the West in 329 AD and was later canonized. Her
festival is still celebrated in the Greek Orthodox Church.
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In
Roman mythology
, Pax (Latin
for peace
)
(her
Greek
equivalent was
Eirene
) was recognized as a
goddess
during the rule of
Augustus
.
On the
Campus Martius
, she had a temple called the
Ara Pacis
,
and another temple on the
Forum Pacis
. She was depicted in art with
olive
branches, a
cornucopia
and a scepter. There was a festival in her honor on January 3. Daughter of
Jupiter
and
Iustitia
.
Daughter of Zeus and Themis. Pax was often associated with spring.cc
Saint Helena (Latin:
Flavia Iulia Helena Augusta) also
known as Saint Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of
Constantinople (ca. 246/50 – 18 August 330) was the consort of
Emperor
Constantius
, and the mother of Emperor
Constantine I
. She is traditionally credited with finding the
relics
of the
True Cross
.
//
Family
life
Helena’s birthplace is not known with certainty. The sixth-century historian
Procopius
is the earliest authority for the statement that Helena was a native of
Drepanum
,
in the province of
Bithynia
in
Asia Minor
. Her son Constantine renamed the city “Helenopolis”
after her death in 328, giving rise to the belief that the city was her
birthplace.
Although he might have done so in honor of her birthplace, Constantine probably
had other reasons for doing so. The Byzantinist
Cyril
Mango
has argued that Helenopolis was refounded to strengthen the
communication network around his new capital in Constantinople, and was renamed
to honor Helena, not to mark her birthplace.
There is another Helenopolis, in Palestine, but its exact location is unknown.
This city, and the province of
Helenopontus
in the
Diocese of Pontus
, were probably both named after Constantine’s mother.
The bishop and historian
Eusebius of Caesarea
states that she was about 80 on her return from
Palestine.
Since that journey has been dated to 326-28, Helena was probably born in 248 or
250. Little is known of her early life.
Fourth-century sources, following
Eutropius
‘
“Breviarium,” record that she came from a low background.
Saint Ambrose
was the first to call her a stabularia, a term translated as
“stable-maid” or “inn-keeper”. He makes this fact a virtue, calling Helena a
bona stabularia, a “good stable-maid”.
Other sources, especially those written after Constantine’s proclamation as
emperor, gloss over or ignore her background.
It is unknown where she first met
Constantius
.
The historian
Timothy Barnes
has suggested that Constantius, while serving under Emperor
Aurelian
,
could have met her while stationed in Asia Minor for the campaign against
Zenobia
.
Barnes calls attention to an epitaph at Nicomedia of one of Aurelian’s
protectors, which could indicate the emperor’s presence in the Bithynian region
soon after 270.
The precise legal nature of the relationship between Helena and Constantius is
also unknown. The sources are equivocal on the point, sometimes calling Helena
Constantius’ “wife”, and sometimes calling her his “concubine”.
Jerome
, perhaps
confused by the vague terminology of his own sources, manages to do both.
Some scholars, such as the historian Jan Drijvers, assert that Constantius and
Helena were joined in a
common-law marriage
, a cohabitation recognized in fact but not in law.
Others, like Timothy Barnes, assert that Constantius and Helena were joined in
an official marriage, on the grounds that the sources claiming an official
marriage are more reliable.
Helena gave birth to the future emperor
Constantine I
on the 27th of February of an uncertain year soon after 270
(probably around 272).
At the time, she was in
Naissus
(Niš,
Serbia
).
Constantius divorced Helena at some time before 289, when he married
Theodora
, Maximian’s daughter.
(The narrative sources date the marriage to 293, but the
Latin panegyric
of 289 refers to the couple as already married.)
Helena never remarried and lived for a while in obscurity, though close to her
only son, who had a deep regard and affection for her.
Constantine was proclaimed
Augustus
of the
Roman
Empire
in 306 by Constantius’ troops after the latter had died, and
following his elevation his mother was brought back to the public life and the
imperial court. She received the title of
Augusta
in 325 and died in 330 with her son at her side. Her
sarcophagus
is on display in the
Pio-Clementine Vatican Museum
, although the connection is often questioned.
The elaborate reliefs contain hunting scenes. During her life, she gave many
presents to the poor, released prisoners and mingled with the ordinary
worshipers in modest attire.
Sainthood
She is considered by the
Eastern Orthodox
,
Oriental Orthodox
and
Roman Catholic
churches as a
saint
, famed for
her piety. Her feast day as a saint of the Orthodox Christian Church is
celebrated with her son on 21 May, the “Feast of the Holy Great Sovereigns
Constantine and Helen, Equal to the Apostles.”
Her feast day in the Roman Catholic Church falls on 18 August. Her feast day in
the
Coptic Orthodox Church
is on
9 Pashons
.
Eusebius
records the details of her
pilgrimage
to Palestine
and other eastern provinces (though not her discovery of the True Cross). She is
the patron saint
of
new discoveries
.
Relic
discoveries
Constantine appointed his mother Helen as
Augusta
, and gave her unlimited access to the imperial treasury in order to
locate the relics of
Judeo-Christian
tradition. In 325, Helena was in charge of such a journey to
Jerusalem
by her son. Upon the request of the monks in the region, Helena
ordered the construction of a church in Egypt to identify the
Burning Bush
of Sinai. The chapel, at
St. Catherine’s Monastery
often referred to as the Chapel of Saint Helen, is
dated to the year AD 330.
Jerusalem was still rebuilding from the destruction of Emperor
Hadrian
, who
had built a temple to
Venus
over the site of
Jesus
‘s tomb near
Calvary
.
According to legend, Helena entered the temple with Bishop
Macarius
, ordered the temple torn down and chose a site to begin excavating,
which led to the recovery of three different crosses. Refused to be swayed by
anything but solid proof, the empress had a woman from Jerusalem, who was
already at the point of death from a certain disease, brought to her. When the
woman touched the first and second crosses, her condition did not change, but
when she touched the third and final cross she suddenly recovered[
neededcitation], and Helena declared the cross with which the woman had
been touched to be the
True Cross
.
On the site of discovery, Constantine built the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
as well as on other sites detected by Helena.
She also found the nails of the crucifixion. To use their miraculous power to
aid her son, Helena allegedly had one placed in Constantine’s helmet, and
another in the bridle of his horse. Helena left Jerusalem and the eastern
provinces in 327 to return to Rome, bringing with her large parts of the True
Cross and other relics, which were then stored in her palace’s private chapel,
where they can be still seen today. Her palace was later converted into the
church
Santa Croce in Gerusalemme
.
According to one tradition, Helena acquired the
Holy Tunic
on her trip to Jerusalem and sent it to
Trier
.
Several of Saint Helena’s treasures are now in Cyprus, where she spent some
time. Some of them are a part of Jesus Christ’s tunic, pieces of the holy cross
and the world’s only pieces of the rope to which Jesus was tied with on the
Cross. The latter has been held at the Staurovouni monastery, which was also
founded by Saint Helena.
A Cathedral
was named after her in
Helena, Montana
.
Depictions
in British folklore
In Great Britain
, later legend, mentioned by
Henry of Huntingdon
but made popular by
Geoffrey of Monmouth
, claimed that Helena was a daughter of the King of
Britain
, Cole
of
Camulodunum
, who allied with Constantius to avoid more war between the
Britons and Rome
.
Geoffrey further states that she was brought up in the manner of a queen, as she
had no brothers to inherit the throne of Britain. The source for this may have
been Sozomen
‘s
Historia Ecclesiastica
, which however does not claim Helena was British
but only that her son Constantine picked up his Christianity there.
Constantine was with his father when he died in
Eboracum
(York),
but neither had spent much time in Britain. There is no other surviving evidence
to support this legend, which may be due to confusion with
Saint Elen
, wife of the usurper
Magnus Maximus
.
At least twenty-five
holy wells
currently exist in the
United Kingdom
that are dedicated to Saint Helena. She is also the patron
saint of Colchester
and
Abingdon
.
Adrian Gilbert
has argued that Helena traveled to
Nevern
in
Wales
where she
hid the True Cross
. near the local Norman church of St Brynach, where a cross is
carved into a rock formation. Named the Pilgrim’s Cross, religious pilgrims once
came here to pray for visions. Names of local places are abundant with cross
imagery, including “River of the Empress,” “Mountain of the Cross,” “Pass of the
Cross” and others. The
True Cross
,
however, has not been found in this region.
Depictions
in fiction
Helena is the protagonist of
Evelyn
Waugh
‘s novel
Helena
. She is also the main character of
Priestess of Avalon
(2000), a
fantasy
novel
by
Marion Zimmer Bradley
and
Diana L. Paxson
. She is given the name Eilan and depicted as a trained
priestess
of
Avalon
. In the
anime
and
manga
,
Hellsing
,
the Nail of Helena is a powerful artifact used by the Paladin Alexander Anderson
to gain supernatural power.
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