A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Helena, St.
HELENA, ST.,
The Empress, mother of Constantine, and one of the saints of the Roman Catholic communion, owed her elevation to her beauty. She was of obscure origin, born at the little village of Drepanum, in Bithynia, where we hear of her first as a hostess of an inn. Constantius Chlorus saw her, fell in love with her, and married her; but, on being associated with Dioclesian in the empire, divorced her to marry Theodora, daughter of Maximilian Hercules. The accession of her son to the empire drew her again from obscurity; she obtained the title of Augusta, and was received at court with all the honours due to the mother of an emperor. Her many virtues riveted the affection of her son to her, yet she did not hesitate to admonish him when she disapproved his conduct.
When Constantine embraced Christianity she also was converted; and when nearly eighty, went on a journey to the Holy Land, where she is said to have assisted at the discovery of the true cross of Christ, reported by zealous devotees to have been accompanied by many miracles. She died soon after, in the year 828, at the age of eighty. Helena left proofs, wherever she went, of a truly Christian liberality; she relieved the poor, orphans, and widows; built churches, and shewed herself, in all respects, worthy the confidence of her son, who gave her unlimited permission to draw on his treasures. At her death he paid her the highest honours, had her body sent to Rome to be deposited in the tomb of the emperors, and raised her native village to the rank of a city, with the name of Helen polls. She shewed her prudence and political wisdom by the influence she always retained over her son, and by the care she took to prevent all interference of the half-brothers of Constantine—sons of Constantius Chlorus and Theodora, who, being brought into notice by the injudicious liberality of the emperor, were massacred by their nephews as soon as they succeeded their father in the empire.
The true British name of this excellent princess was Tiboen; that of Helena, or "the pitiful," was given to her by the Romans, on account of her compassionate disposition. Drayton says—
"Of all the Christian world, that empress most renowned,
Constantius' fair wife."