Saint Helena

Yet the places this elderly woman longed to reach were not the battlefields where her son the emperor had won his victories.

• She went to the little village of Bethlehem, where the Son of God was born in the poverty of a manger;
• she went to Jerusalem, where He shed His blood on the Cross and rose in triumph;
• she went to the Mount of Olives, where the promise of peace was given to the Apostles.

She shared her life with Constantius Chlorus, a gifted officer rising through the ranks of the Roman army. In the early 270s they had an only son, Constantine, whom history would call Constantine the Great.

For nearly twenty years after that, Helena lived in complete obscurity, out of sight at the edges of history. She had to swallow the pain of a wife discarded for political schemes in which she had no say. History has kept no letters to tell us how many nights she wept. But the fact that she was pushed aside is enough to remind us that behind the glittering names of great dynasties there are always families full of wounds and tears.

During all that time on the sidelines, no one knows how Helena lived, or how she raised her only son so that he did not grow up resentful and bitter toward the father who had abandoned his mother. We know only that when the time came, that son had not forgotten his mother, though they had been apart for nearly twenty years. Perhaps those silent, humiliating years had quietly rooted in Constantine a love for his mother that nothing could shake.

Gold coins bearing her portrait circulated throughout the empire. The woman once cast aside now stood at the very summit of rank.

It was also a turning point in the history of the Church. After bloody persecutions lasting nearly three centuries, the Edict of Milan in 313 opened an era of freedom for Christians. Churches were rebuilt, and prayers were raised openly in the streets.

Helena embraced the Christian faith late in life. The historian Eusebius, her contemporary, praised her extraordinary fervor. Her faith quickly turned into action: she used all her income and influence to expand works of charity. She gave money and clothing to the poor and hungry; intervened to free prisoners held unjustly; supported slaves condemned to the mines; and welcomed exiles returning home.

In Palestine, she sponsored the building of great basilicas at the holiest sites: the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Those churches gave every later generation of believers a real place to gather, to pray, and to stand where the events of salvation actually happened.

Historians of the time tell that she often joined the faithful at prayer in very plain clothes, mingling with the poor and praying beside them. Before God, the title of Empress meant nothing; she was simply a sinner in need of His mercy like everyone else.

In honesty, we should note that the “Life of Constantine” by the historian Eusebius — the earliest and most important source, written in that very era, about rediscovering the Lord’s tomb and building the first church there — makes no mention at all of finding the Cross. The detail first appears clearly in the sermons of Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem, around 350, nearly a quarter of a century after her pilgrimage. Even if devout storytelling gathered around the early accounts over time, the image of Saint Helena embracing the Cross has lived on in the heart of the Church and has lost none of its spiritual power.

The Cross overturned every earthly measure of power. God’s true authority does not reign on a dazzling throne, but shines in love that gives itself to the last drop of blood. Whoever stands before the Cross must learn humility and service all over again.

After all the glory and wealth of the empire, the image that lingers at the end is still a warm family scene: an old mother about to go on her last journey, and her devoted son beside her. Every earthly throne is powerless before death; all that remains is a mother’s love and the hope of eternal life.

The Church celebrates Saint Helena on August 18 each year; the Eastern Churches honor her together with the emperor Constantine on May 21.