![[painting of Saint Helena]](sainth01.jpg "6kb jpg painting of Saint Helena with the Cross, date unknown, artist unknown; if you have information on this image, please email me; please do not write to ask about the image")
Elene Helen Flavia Julia Helena Augusta
18 August (Western Church) 21 May (Eastern Church)
At the age of 80 she led a group to the Holy Land to search for the True Cross. She and her group unearthed three crosses in 326. At the suggestion of Saint Macarius of Jerusalem, she took them to a woman afflicated with an incurable disease, and had her touch each one. One of them immediately cured her, and it was pronounced the True Cross. She built a church on the spot where the cross was found, and sent pieces to Rome and Constantinople; the Feast of the Holy Cross on 14 September celebrates the event. Thus in art, she is usually depicted holding a wooden cross.
archeologists Birkirkara, Malta converts difficult marriages divorced people empresses Helena, Montana, diocese of
cross cross in hand woman, usually wearing a crown or otherwise vested as royalty, holding a cross
Catholic Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Brittanica Goffine's Devout Instructions New Catholic Dictionary Patron Saints for Girls Society of Anglican Archbishop Justus, Story of the Discovery of the Cross, The Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Brunson