St. Helena and the True Cross

St. Helena is the mother of a great emperor, Constatine the Great. When he gained control and became ruler of the Western Roman Empire many changes had come into effect. Helena was a very active Christian. She traveled alot giving money and housing assistance to the poor, supporting prison systems, and participated in various churches. In the midst of it all, her son Emperor Constantine became eager to locate the actual cross of which Jesus was crucified.

After several attempts by himself and others, he then sent his mother Helena on the journey to Jerusalem.This is where a Hebrew named Jude shared with her that the cross was buried at the temple of Venus.

There is where she then found three crosses. It was not hard to identify which cross had belonged to Jesus Christ due to the differences and circumstances such as the inscriptions engraved. Now that the true cross had been found, the emperor ordered that a church be built in Jerualem under his ruling. However, St. Helena, his mother, did not live long enough to witness this great achievement. She was indeed a great person and for her greatness and loyalty, she was given the name "most noble lady". She provided great service to the church and other affiliations and her efforts in finding the true cross was a huge success that everyone applaud her for.

Birley, A.R. "Discoverer of the True Cross". St. Helena. www.brown.edu/st.helena. March 2016

A.H.M. Jones, J.R. Martindale, J. Morris," The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire I", A.D.

260-395 (Cambridge 1971) pp. 410 f., Helena no. 2.