Saint Helen (Helena) (c.248-c.327)

Helen, or Helena, was Asiatic by birth, a native of Bithynia (certainly not of Britain), who became the first wife of Constantius Chlorus, to whom she bore a child who became Constantine the Great. (Her true relationship with Constantius may have been that of concubinatus and not wife.) In any case Maximian required that she should be divorced in favour of his stepdaughter Theodora.

Nothing is known of Helen's life during the susequent reign of Constantius, but after Constantine's accession in 306 she was at his court where she was greatly honoured. Through Constantine Helen became a Christian after the Edict of Milan (313) and, aided by his bounty, did great works of charity, spending the rest of her life in the East and in Rome.

She helped in the building of several Roman basilicas and, in her old age, she visited the Holy Land where her name is associated with the erection of churches on sites connected with the life of Jesus. Her name is chiefly associated with the discovery of the 'True Cross' in a rock-cistern near Mount Calvary although there is no basis in that tradition.

Geoffrey of Monmouth recorded the important legend that she was of Celtic origin and the daughter of King Coel of Colchester.

The place of her death is unknown, but she was probably buried at Constantinople. Her porphyry sarcophagus is still extant (in the Vatican Museum).

Feast Day - 21st May