Saint Helena is the patron of Archaeologists. Meanings, definition and origins - a patron is considered to be a defender of a specific group of people or of a nation. There is a patron for virtually every cause, profession or special interest. Prayers are considered more likely to be answered by asking a patron for intercession on their behalf.Flavia Julia Helena Augusta rose from humble beginnings as a stabularia, inn-keeper, to become the mother of the great Christian Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. She was born c250 in Bithynia (modern day Turkey), a Roman province, in the northwest of Asia Minor. A Roman general called Constantius Chlorus met Helena whilst on a military campaign in Asia Minor. They became the parents of Constantine who became the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. Helena was not accepted in Roman society and Constantius Chlorus married a more socially suitable wife. Her son was proclaimed emperor at York in AD 306 and Helena moved to Rome where she converted to Christianity. The Emperor honored his mother and Constantine bestowed the title of Augusta on Helena. Augusta was the feminine form of the title Augustus and usually given to the wives or relatives of the Roman Emperors. Helena went on her famous pilgrimage to the Holy Land where legend tells that she found three crosses buried under the earth where Christ had died in Jerusalem. Helena built a church on the site where the 'Parts of the True Cross' were found. Following her pilgrimage, Helena died in Trier in Germany at the age of eighty in AD 330.
Saint Helana | |
Born | ca. 246/50 Drepanum, further Helenopolis Bithynia, Asia Minor |
Died | ca. 330 Constantinople, Roman Empire (now modern-day Istanbul, Turkey) |
Honored in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Churches Oriental Orthodoxy Anglican Communion Lutheran Church |
Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
Major shrine | The shrine to Saint Helena in St. Peter's Basilica |
Feast | 18 August (Roman Catholic Church); 21 May (Orthodox, Anglican & Lutheran Churches); 19 May (Lutheran Church); 9 Pashons (Coptic Orthodox Church) |
Attributes | Cross |
Patronage | archaeologists, converts, difficult marriages, divorced people, empresses, Saint Helena island |
The Patron Saint Helena
What is the definition and the meaning of the Patron Saints and why were these people chosen to become patrons of causes, professions and countries? The term 'Patron' is used in Christian religions, including the Roman Catholic religion, to describe holy and virtuous men and women who are considered to be a defender of a specific group of people or of a country. There is a patron for virtually every cause, country, profession or special interest. There are two categories of saints: martyrs and confessors.Why is Saint Helena the patron of Archaeologists?
Why is Saint Helena is the patron of Archaeologists? Because according to legend Saint Helena found three crosses buried under the earth where Christ had died in Jerusalem - the 'Parts of the True Cross'
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How Saint Helena is represented in Christian Art
It is helpful to be able to recognise Saint Helena in paintings, stained glass windows, illuminated manuscripts, architecture and other forms of Christian art. The artistic representations reflect the life or death of saints, or an aspect of life with which the person is most closely associated. Saint Helena is represented in Christian Art with a crown on her head as empress, and embracing the Cross, because it is to her that modern Christians are indebted for the finding of the True Cross.
It is helpful to be able to recognise Saint Helena in paintings, stained glass windows, illuminated manuscripts, architecture and other forms of Christian art. The artistic representations reflect the life or death of saints, or an aspect of life with which the person is most closely associated. Saint Helena is represented in Christian Art with a crown on her head as empress, and embracing the Cross, because it is to her that modern Christians are indebted for the finding of the True Cross.
Saint Hood
She is considered by the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern and Roman Catholic churches, as well as by the Anglican Communion and Lutheran 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." Likewise, Anglican churches and some Lutheran churches, keep the Eastern date. 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).
Relic discoveries
Constantine appointed his mother Helen as Augusta Imperatrix, and gave her unlimited access to the imperial treasury in order to locate the relics of Judeo-Christian tradition. In 326-28 Helena undertook a trip to the Holy Places in Palestine. According to Eusebius of Caesarea she was responsible for the construction or beautification of two churches, the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, and the Church on the Mount of Olives, sites of Christ's birth and ascension. 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 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 dedicated, according to conflicting accounts, to Venus or Jupiter over the site of Jesus's tomb near Calvary and renamed the city Aelia Capitolina. According to tradition, Helena ordered the temple torn down and, according to the legend that arose at the end of the fourth century, in Ambrose, On the Death of Theodosius (died 395) and at length in Rufinus' chapters appended to his translation into Latin of Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, which does not mention the event, chose a site to begin excavating, which led to the recovery of three different crosses. Then, Rufinus relates, refusing to be swayed by anything but solid proof, the empress (perhaps through Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem) had a woman who was already at the point of death brought from Jerusalem. 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 built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as well as those 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 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.
Tradition says that the site of the Vatican Gardens was spread with earth brought from Golgotha by Helena to symbolically unite the blood of Christ with that shed by thousands of early Christians, who died in the persecutions of Nero.
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 with which Jesus was tied on the Cross. The latter has been held at the Stavrovouni Monastery, which was also founded by Saint Helena.
Death of Saint Helena
There are two categories of saints: martyrs and confessors. A Christian martyr is regarded as one who is put to death for his Christian faith or convictions. Confessors are people who died natural deaths. Date of Death: Saint Helena died in A.D. 330. Cause of Death: Natural Causes.
There are two categories of saints: martyrs and confessors. A Christian martyr is regarded as one who is put to death for his Christian faith or convictions. Confessors are people who died natural deaths. Date of Death: Saint Helena died in A.D. 330. Cause of Death: Natural Causes.
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 Saint Constantina (Saint Constance). The elaborate reliefs contain hunting scenes. During her life, she gave many presents to the poor, released prisoners and mingled with the ordinary worshippers in modest attire.
Feast Day of Saint Helena
The Feast Day of Saint Helena is August 18th(Roman Catholic Church). The origin of Feast Days: most saints have specially designated feast days and are associated with a specific day of the year and these are referred to as the saint's feast day. The feast days first arose from the very early Christian custom of the annual commemoration of martyrs on the dates of their deaths at the same time celebrating their birth into heaven. and also celebrate her Feast Day 21 May (Orthodox, Anglican & Lutheran Churches); 19 May (Lutheran Church); 9 Pashons (Coptic Orthodox Church)
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 Abingdon and Colchester. In Colchester, St Helen's Chapel was believed to have been founded by Helena herself, and since the 15th Century, the town's coat of arms have shown a representation of the True Cross and three crowned nails in her honour. Colchester Town Hall has a Victorian statue of the saint on top of its 50 metre tower. The arms of Nottingham are almost identical, because of the city's connection with Cole (or Coel), Helena's supposed father.
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. Anthony Ayre St. Helen's Freemasons Lodge No 531, Hartlepool is so named after the 12th Century Chapel of St. Helen's whose ruins were discovered in Hartlepool in 1841. The Lodge was granted it's Warrant on 1 August 1846, Constituted 11th Sept 1846 and received its Centenary Warrant on 11th Sept 1946.Depictions in fiction
In medieval legend and chivalric romance, Helena appears as a persecuted heroine, in the vein of such women as Emaré and Constance; separated from her husband, she lives a quiet life, supporting herself on her embroidery, until such time as her son's charm and grace wins her husband's attention and so the revelation of their identities.
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.
