HELENA
C.248 CE-C.328 Ce
Once married to Emperor Constantius I Chlorus, it would be Helena’s son who found her fame. Under Constantine the Great’s rule, Helena saw herself elevated to the role of dowager empress and she converted from Roman paganism to Christianity. On a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, she ordered the building of churches on the site of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem and his ascension near Jerusalem, but she would become better known as the woman who reputedly found the cross that Jesus had hung from in his crucifixion. A woman of religion, Helena became a saint in the Church with the feast day of 18 August.