Flavia Julia Helena, or Saint Helena,
was the mother of Roman emperor Constantine the Great. She was born outside of
the noble classes, a Greek, possibly in the Greek city of Drepana, Bithynia in
Asia Minor.
Helena ranks as an important figure
in the history of Christianity and of the world due to her influence on her
son. In her final years, she made a religious tour of Syria Palaestina and
Jerusalem, during which ancient tradition claims that she discovered the True
Cross. The Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Catholic
Church, and the Anglican Communion revere her as a saint; the Lutheran Church
commemorates her.
Helena's birthplace is not known with
certainty. The 6th-century historian Procopius is the earliest authority for
the statement that Helena was a native Greek of Drepanum, in the province of
Bithynia in Asia Minor. Her son Constantine renamed the city
"Helenopolis" after her death around 330 AD, which supports the belief
that the city was indeed her birthplace. The Byzantinist Cyril Mango has,
however, argued that Helenopolis was refounded to strengthen the communication
network around Constantine's new capital in Constantinople, and was renamed
simply to honor Helena, not to necessarily mark her birthplace. There was also
a Helenopolis in Palestine and a Helenopolis in Lydia. These cities, and the
province of Helenopontus in the Pontus, were probably all named after
Constantine's mother.
The bishop and historian Eusebius of
Caesarea states that Helena was about 80 on her return from Palestine. Since
that journey has been dated to 326–28 AD, she was probably born around 246 to
248 AD. However, little is known of her early life. Fourth-century sources,
following Eutropius' Breviarium, record that she came from a humble background.
Bishop Ambrose of Milan, writing in the late 4th century was the first to call
her a stabularia, a term translated as "stable-maid" or
"inn-keeper". He makes this comment 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.
Both Geoffrey of Monmouth and Henry
of Huntingdon promoted a popular tradition that Helena was a British princess
and the daughter of "Old King Cole". This led to the later dedication
of 135 churches in England to her, many in around the area of Yorkshire, and
revived as a suggestion in the 20th century in the novels of Evelyn Waugh.
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. It is said that upon meeting they were
wearing identical silver bracelets; Constantius saw her as his soulmate sent by
God. 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 AD. 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,
following the dismissive propaganda of Constantine's rival Maxentius, 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 27 February of an uncertain year soon after 270 AD
(probably around 272 AD). At the time, she was in Naissus. In order to obtain a
wife more consonant with his rising status, Constantius divorced Helena some
time before 289 AD, when he married Theodora, Maximian's daughter under his
command. (The narrative sources date the marriage to 293 AD, but the Latin
panegyric of 289 AD refers to the couple as already married). Helena and her
son were dispatched to the court of Diocletian at Nicomedia, where Constantine
grew to be a member of the inner circle. Helena never remarried and lived for a
time 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 AD by Constantius' troops after the latter had died,
and following his elevation his mother was brought back to the public life in
312 AD, returning to the imperial court. She appears in the Eagle Cameo
portraying Constantine's family, probably commemorating the birth of
Constantine's son Constantine II in the summer of 316 AD. She received the
title of Augusta in 325 AD. According to Eusebius, her conversion to
Christianity followed her son becoming emperor.
Constantine appointed his mother
Helena as Augusta Imperatrix, and gave her unlimited access to the imperial
treasury in order to locate the relics of the Christian tradition. In 326–28 AD
Helena undertook a trip to Palestine. According to Eusebius of Caesarea
(260/265 AD – 339/340 AD), who records the details of her pilgrimage to
Palestine and other eastern provinces, she was responsible for the construction
or beautification of two churches, the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, and
the Church of Eleona on the Mount of Olives, sites of Christ's birth and
ascension, respectively. Local founding legend attributes to Helena's orders
the construction of a church in Egypt to identify the Burning Bush of Sinai.
The chapel at Saint Catherine's Monastery—often referred to as the Chapel of
Saint Helen—is dated to the year 330 AD.
Jerusalem was still being rebuilt
following the destruction caused by Titus in 70 AD. Emperor Hadrian had built
during the 130s AD a temple to Venus over the supposed site of Jesus's tomb
near Calvary, and renamed the city Aelia Capitolina. Accounts differ concerning
whether the temple was dedicated to Venus or Jupiter. According to Eusebius,
"[t]here was a temple of Venus on the spot. This the queen (Helena) had
destroyed." According to tradition, Helena ordered the temple torn down
and, according to the legend that arose at the end of the 4th century, chose a
site to begin excavating, which led to the recovery of three different crosses.
The legend is recounted in Ambrose, On the Death of Theodosius (died 395 AD)
and at length in Rufinus' chapters appended to his translation into Latin of
Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, the main body of which does not mention the
event. Then, Rufinus relates, the empress refused to be swayed by anything
short of solid proof and performed a test. Possibly through Bishop Macarius of
Jerusalem, she had a woman who was near death brought from the city. 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, and Helena
declared the cross with which the woman had been touched to be the True Cross.
On the site of discovery, Constantine
ordered the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Churches were also
built on other sites detected by Helena.
The "Letter From Constantine to
Macarius of Jerusalem", as presented in Eusebius' Life of Constantine,
states:
"Such is our Saviour's grace,
that no power of language seems adequate to describe the wondrous circumstance
to which I am about to refer. For, that the monument of his [Christ's] most
holy Passion, so long ago buried beneath the ground, should have remained
unknown for so long a series of years, until its reappearance to his servants
now set free through the removal of him who was the common enemy of all, is a
fact which truly surpasses all admiration. I have no greater care than how I
may best adorn with a splendid structure that sacred spot, which, under Divine
direction, I have disencumbered as it were of the heavy weight of foul idol
worship [the Roman temple]; a spot which has been accounted holy from the
beginning in God’s judgment, but which now appears holier still, since it has
brought to light a clear assurance of our Saviour’s passion."
Sozomen and Theodoret claim that
Helena 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. According to one tradition, Helena acquired
the Holy Tunic on her trip to Jerusalem and sent it to Trier.
Several relics purportedly discovered
by Helena are now in Cyprus, where she spent some time. Among them are items
believed to be part of Jesus Christ's tunic, pieces of the holy cross, and
pieces of the rope with which Jesus was tied on the Cross. The rope, considered
to be the only relic of its kind, has been held at the Stavrovouni Monastery,
which was also said to have been founded by Helena. According to tradition,
Helena is responsible for the large population of cats in Cyprus. Local
tradition holds that she imported hundreds of cats from Egypt or Palestine in
the fourth century to rid a monastery of snakes. The monastery is today known
as "St. Nicholas of the Cats" and is located near Limassol.
Helena left Jerusalem and the eastern
provinces in 327 AD 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 Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. This has been maintained by
Cistercian monks in the monastery which has been attached to the church for centuries.
Helena died around 330 AD, with her
son at her side. She was buried in the Mausoleum of Helena, outside Rome on the
Via Labicana. Her sarcophagus is on display in the Pio-Clementine Vatican
Museum, although the connection is often questioned. Next to her is the
sarcophagus of her granddaughter Constantina (Saint Constance).
Her feast day as a saint of the
Eastern Orthodox Church is celebrated with her son on 21 May, the "Feast
of the Holy Great Sovereigns Constantine and Helena, 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. Anglican churches, and some
Lutheran churches, keep the 21 May date.
Her discovery of the Cross along with
Constantine is dramatised in the Santacruzan, a ritual pageant in the
Philippines[citation needed]. Held in May (when Roodmas was once celebrated),
the procession also bears elements of the month's Marian devotions. Helena is
the patron saint of new discoveries.
In the Ethiopian and Eritrean
Orthodox Tewahedo Churches, the feast of Meskel, which commemorates her
discovery of the cross, is celebrated on 17 Meskerem in the Ethiopian calendar
(September 27, Gregorian calendar, or on 28 September in leap years). The
holiday is usually celebrated with the lighting of a large bonfire, or Demera,
based on the belief that she had a revelation in a dream. She was told that she
should make a bonfire and that the smoke would show her where the true cross
was buried. So she ordered the people of Jerusalem to bring wood and make a
huge pile. After adding frankincense to it the bonfire was lit and the smoke
rose high up to the sky and returned to the ground, exactly to the spot where
the Cross had been buried.
Helena is remembered in the Church of
England with a commemoration on 2 May.
Her alleged skull is displayed in the
Cathedral of Trier, in Germany. Portions of her relics are found at the
basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome, the Église Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles
in Paris, and at the Abbaye Saint-Pierre d'Hautvillers.
The church of Sant'Elena in Venice
claims to have the complete body of the saint enshrined under the main altar.
In 1517, the English priest, Richard Torkington, having seen the relics during
a visit to Venice described them as follows: "She lithe in a fair place of
religion, of white monks, ye may see her face perfectly, her body is covered
with a cloth of white silk ... Also there lies upon her breast a lytell crosse
made of the holy crosse ..." In an ecumenical gesture, these relics
visited the Orthodox Church of Greece and were displayed in the church of Agia
Varvara (Saint Barbara) in Athens from 14 May to 15 June, 2017.