Saint Helena the Empress

Helena was born around 248, probably in Drepanum in Bithynia — her son Constantine renamed that city Helenopolis in her honor, which is the strongest clue we have. Fourth-century sources say she came from humble origins: according to Ambrose, she was a stabularia, that is, she worked at a coaching inn. She married Constantius Chlorus — or perhaps was his concubine — and in 289 he left her for political reasons, marrying Maximian’s stepdaughter. She stayed out of the picture until her son Constantine became emperor: then he called her back to court, gave her the title of Augusta and had coins struck with her likeness. Between 326 and 328, when she was nearly eighty, she made the journey she is remembered for: she went to Palestine. Eusebius of Caesarea, writing a few years later, says she had churches built in Bethlehem and on the Mount of Olives and that she looked after the poor and the prisoners of those provinces. The finding of the True Cross doesn’t appear in Eusebius: it enters the sources toward the end of the fourth century, with Ambrose, and from there it becomes the story everyone knows. With her in Jerusalem was Bishop Macarius. She died in 329, in Trier or in Rome. Her great porphyry sarcophagus is in the Vatican Museums. If your name is Helen, today is your name day.