The Story of Saint Helena, Finder of the True Cross, Empress of the Roman Empire, Whose Feast Day in 2016 Is Thursday, August 18

[mdgspencer]

see churchofsthelena.com/our-patron-saint
Saint Helena, who lived around the year 300, had been a stable maid who married a high Roman official. When her son became the Roman Emperor, he had his mother declared empress. After a miracle by which Constantine won a great battle and became emperor, Constantine became a Christian and began making the Roman Empire as well Christian. His mother under his influence became a Catholic herself when she was 65, embracing Christianity with devotion. After this, she had a dream about the cross by which God called her to find the cross on which Christ had been crucified, long lost. Then in her 80s, she went to the Holy Land and did find the cross, its identity established when a dying woman was miraculously cured by it.

For a portrayal of Saint Helena's dream in which God called her to find the cross, see

see photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5049/3529/1600/helenacross.jpg
Saint Helena’s dream of the true cross is represented by two angels with the cross appearing to her as she sleeps. Saint Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine. is said to have received divine guidance in her quest to discover the place where the true cross, on which Christ was crucified, was buried
(The image above and the text right above has been taken from the blog Overheard in the Sacristy [September 2006].)

 

[Kakieanne]

Thank you for posting that. There are no words to describe how precious the True Cross is. I have a relic badge from the Sisters of Carmel that was touched to a relic of the True Cross that I cherish. I only knew part of the story before. Her life story was uplifting, as well as interesting. And maybe because I’m older, it really spoke to my heart. There is much to learn from Saint Helena as well as being very grateful to her.

 

[anon67074017]

I am glad that some who was high-ranking in pagan Rome could become a Christian. The Roman Empire was the nation that crucified Christ. They repented from their major sin when they became a Christian nation. This occurred thanks to Constantine and St. Helena.