Empress, Mother, Historian
It is on May 21st that the Church remembers St. Helena, the Empress of Rome. Born a pagan in the third century in modern-day Turkey, Helena was married to Emperor Constantius Chlorus and thus became the empress of the Roman Empire. Upon her husband’s death, her son Constantine became Emperor and named his mother dowager empress.
A few years into his reign, Constantine famously converted from the paganism of his youth to the Christian faith, becoming the first Christian Roman Emperor. Under his influence, St. Helena also converted to Christianity and became a devout believer in our Lord Jesus.
As she meditated upon the story of our salvation, St. Helena became particularly interested in locating the sites where the critical events of our Lord’s life took place. This led her to travel to the Holy Land, where she used the resources of the Roman Empire to build churches on the traditional sites of our Lord’s Nativity and his Ascension, churches that remain to this day. She is also said to have located the cross on which our Lord was crucified, an event that the Church remembers on Holy Cross Day.
St. Helena gives us an example of a woman who turned from false religions to follow the one true God. And if that weren’t miraculous enough, she also used the power and influence of her position to promote the Christian faith and preserve the memory of our Lord’s salvific work in time and space for ages to come. What a blessed reminder to us to turn from sin to our Lord Jesus and use whatever means we have been blessed with to further the proclamation of his saving work!
A Brief History
Unlike many saints, St. Helena’s feast day does not fall on her heavenly birthday; we actually don’t even know the day that she died! Instead, she shares a feast day with her son, St. Constantine. Indeed, it seems fitting that this mother/son pair who did so much to promote the Christian faith within the Roman Empire should be remembered together.
Interestingly, not all Christians remember St. Helena on the same day. While Lutherans together with Anglicans and the Eastern Orthodox celebrate her on May 21st, Roman Catholics and various other Eastern churches commemorate her on their own feast days.
The May date is historically significant, however. On May 21st, 1502, the Galician explorer João de Nova discovered an uninhabited island in the middle of the South Atlantic. To honor the feast day of this beloved saint, de Nova named the island St. Helena, a name that it carries to this day.
Collect
Hear us, O God, our Savior: so that we, who rejoice in the feast of Blessed Helena, may learn from her the spirit of loving devotion; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost: ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Lessons
Old Testament
Gospel
Resources:
This traditional St. Helena recipe is a warm and comforting single pot dish!
Issues, Etc. interview with the Rev. Heath Curtis on Ss. Constantine and Helena
Propers found in Daily Divine Service Book: A Lutheran Daily Missal, edited by the Rev. Heath Curtis
References:
1. Encyclopedia Britannica entry on St. Helena
2. Encyclopedia Britannica entry on the History of St. Helena
3. Treasury of Daily Prayer. Concordia Publishing House. 2008.
Images:
1. St. Helen from The Calendar of Saints, Jacques Callot, France, ca. 1600.
2. Discovery of the True Cross, Agnolo Gaddi, Italy, c. 1380.
3. Map of St. Helena Island, unknown, Germany, c. 1598.
4. Tapestry showing Constantine Worshiping the True Cross, Indicated by Saint Helena (from the series known as “The History of Constantine the Great”), Peter Paul Rubens, **Flanders, 1622.
[…] we mentioned in our earlier post on St. Helena and May 21st, the tiny island of St. Helena has a special connection with the sainted empress: not […]