Feast day: August 18
St. Helena
The mother of the Emperor Constantine, who in old age became a fervent Christian, journeyed to the Holy Land, and built churches at the holy places of Christ's life.
Helena was born about 250, of humble origins — by one ancient tradition the daughter of an innkeeper — and became the wife, or perhaps the consort, of the Roman officer Constantius, to whom she bore a son, Constantine. When Constantius rose in the world he set her aside for a politically advantageous marriage, and for years Helena lived in obscurity, until her son became emperor and restored her to the highest honor, giving her the title of Augusta.
It was Constantine who, after his victory under the sign of the Cross, granted peace and then favor to the long-persecuted Church. Helena, already advanced in years, embraced the Christian faith with the ardor of a convert and devoted her wealth and her remaining years to works of mercy and piety — giving generously to the poor, to churches, and to whole communities, and treating the lowliest, the early writers say, as her equals.
In her old age she made a famous pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to walk where Christ had walked and to honor the holy places, many of which had been deliberately buried or built over during the persecutions. With the resources of the empire behind her, she sponsored excavations at Jerusalem and Bethlehem and the building of great churches at the sites of Christ's birth, death, and resurrection.
By a tradition that spread widely in the following centuries, it was during these excavations in Jerusalem that the True Cross of Christ was discovered. Whatever the details, Helena's pilgrimage and her churches did much to fix the holy places in Christian memory and devotion. She died about 330, and is honored as the patron of archaeologists and of converts.
By tradition her excavations in Jerusalem uncovered the True Cross — and the basilicas she raised at Bethlehem and the Holy Sepulchre still stand in part today.
Source: newadvent.org/cathen/07202b.htm
Get a story like this every Sunday.