Born: 247, Turkey
Died: 328
Country most active: Italy
Also known as: Ἑλένη, Helénē, Helena Augusta
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Saint Helena (247-328), wife of Constantius Chlorus, and mother of Constantine the Great. She was a woman of humble origin, became concubine to Constantius and bore him Constantine, about 274, when she became his wife. According to the somewhat uncertain history of Helena, she was divorced by Constantius when he became Cassar, in 292, so that he might marry another. In 306 Constantine succeeded his father, recalled his mother to the court, and it is probable that she became a Christian through Constantine’s influence. She won the gratitude of the Christian community by her zeal for the advancement of religion and her acts of piety and munificence. Among the public events of her life the most remarkable is the discovery (according to the belief of the Church) of the cross of the Lord during the memorable visit she made to the Holy Land in 326. The church said to have been built by her at Bethlehem still stands. Her festival is celebrated in the Latin Church on August 18.
From Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King. Published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.:
Helena, Mother of Constantine the Great, 237 – 338 A.D.
The varied and romantic career of this woman has in it the materials for a most interesting historical novel. She was the daughter of an obscure innkeeper; but of her nationality nothing certain is known. Constantine was born to them about 272, probably in Britain.
Constantius became co-emperor by appointment of Diocletian, and by him was compelled, for political reasons, to divorce Helena and marry the daughter of Maximillian. By this cruel act Helena was repudiated and sent back from the court splendors to an obscure and lonely life.
In time, the co-emperors died, and her son Constantine won his way to the throne, and dispensed with any imperial colleagues. He sought out his mother, restored to her the imperial dignity, gave her the title of Augusta, and caused her to be received at court with all the honor due to the mother of the emperor.
The conversion of Constantine marks an epoch in the world’s history. He adopted Chrisianity as the relition of state, a marvelous contrast to the attempt of his predecessor, Diocletian, to utterly exterminate it. Persecutions were now at an end. Constantine, by circular letter, urged his subjects to follow by example of their sovereign, and become Christians. He did not forbid paganism, but he sought by ridicule and neglect to cause its decline.
His mother, Helena, became a Christian, and was everywhere loved for her liberality. During a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, she claimed to have discovered the holy sepulcher and true cross. She relieved the poor, the widows, and the orphans, built churches, showed herself the worthy mother of a great son.
At her death he paid her the highest honors. Her body was sent to Rome and placed in the tomb of the emperors. He made her native village a monument to her memory by raising it to the rank of a city, and gave it the name of Henenopolis.
IW note: Helena traveled to Jerusalem searching for the Holy Cross, and excavated beneath a Roman temple trying to find it, according to Eusebius of Caesarea. Today, St. Helena is the patron saint of archaeologists and all discoveries.