Helena, mother of Constantine

Life events

1. Born

   Helena was born c. 246–249 in Drepanon, Bithynia, in Asia Minor, into the lower classes; the 6th-century historian Procopius is the earliest authority for this birthplace, and Eusebius of Caesarea's reckoning that she was about 80 on her return from Palestine (326–328) places her birth in this range.

2. Other — 270

   Helena entered into a relationship with the officer Constantius — the legal nature debated as either common-law or official marriage — possibly while he was stationed in Asia Minor during Emperor Aurelian's eastern campaign against Zenobia; she gave birth to the future emperor Constantine I on 27 February of a year probably around 272, at Naissus (modern Niš, Serbia).

3. Exiled — 289

   Constantius divorced Helena before 289 to marry Theodora, daughter of his commander Maximian; Helena and her son Constantine were dispatched to the court of Diocletian at Nicomedia, where she lived in relative obscurity.

4. Other — 312

   Following Constantine's proclamation as augustus in 306 and his consolidation of power, Helena was restored to public life in 312 and returned to the imperial court; she appears in the Eagle Cameo commemorating the birth of Constantine's son Constantine II in 316.

5. Consecrated — 324

   Constantine elevated Helena to the rank of Augusta in 324 following his defeat of his rival Licinius; according to Eusebius of Caesarea, he granted her unlimited access to the imperial treasury.

6. Pilgrimage

   Between 326 and 328 Helena undertook a pilgrimage to Palestine and other eastern provinces; Eusebius of Caesarea and Socrates Scholasticus record that she oversaw the construction or beautification of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of Eleona on the Mount of Olives, and she spent time in Cyprus where she is credited with founding the Stavrovouni Monastery.

7. Other — 327

   Helena departed Jerusalem and the eastern provinces around 327 and returned to Rome; later legends describe her bringing large parts of the True Cross and other relics to her palace chapel on the Sessorian Hill, now the Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.

8. Died — 330

   Helena died around 330 with her son Constantine at her side; she was buried in the Mausoleum of Helena on the Via Labicana outside Rome, and her porphyry sarcophagus — later reused for Pope Anastasius IV in 1154 — is preserved in the Pio-Clementine Vatican Museum.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Bishop Ambrose of Milan, writing in the late 4th century, was the first to call Helena a stabularia — Latin for 'stable-maid' or 'inn-keeper' — praising her as a bona stabularia, a virtue he contrasted with the sexual laxness associated with that class. (likely)
• The legend that Helena discovered the True Cross through excavation in Jerusalem is first recounted in Ambrose's 'On the Death of Theodosius' (395) and at length by Rufinus; Eusebius of Caesarea's contemporary account of her pilgrimage does not mention it. (legendary)
• Geoffrey of Monmouth and Henry of Huntingdon popularized a tradition that Helena was a British princess and daughter of 'Old King Cole' of Colchester, prompting dedications of at least 135 churches in England to her; historians regard this as entirely without historical foundation. (legendary)
• Helena is venerated by the Eastern Orthodox Church (21 May, with Constantine), the Roman Catholic Church (18 August), the Coptic Orthodox Church (9 Pashons), the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches (Meskel, 27 September), and Anglican and Lutheran churches — one of the widest cross-tradition recognitions in the sanctoral calendar. (certain)
• In 1154 Helena's remains were removed from her porphyry sarcophagus on the Via Labicana and transferred to Santa Maria in Ara Coeli; her vacated sarcophagus was then used for the burial of Pope Anastasius IV and is now displayed in the Pio-Clementine Vatican Museum. (likely)