Saint Helena

Empress (c.246 – c.330)

Feast – August 18

But she will be saved through motherhood, provided women persevere in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.(1Timothy 2:15)

Constantine the Great was the Emperor of  Rome from AD 306 to 337. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterranea (now Niš, Serbia); he was the son of Flavius Constantius, a Roman army officer of Illyrians (peoples who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula) and Roman emperor from 305 to 306; and Flavia Julia Helena, today known as St. Helena. Constantine was the first emperor to convert to Christianity. He played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which declared tolerance for Christianity in the Roman Empire. He convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325 which produced the statement of Christian belief known as the Nicene Creed. Historians have recognized St. Helena’s great influence on her son.

Very little is known about her early life. It was the pious boast of the city of Colchester, England, for many ages, that St. Helena was born within its walls, others say she was born in York and was a British princess who married a Roman General, Constantius Chlorus.

Since the name Helena was typical for the Greek-speaking part of the Roman Empire, it is believed that St. Helena was born in c. AD 246 in the Greek city of Drepanon, Bithynia, in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) which was renamed Helenopolis in her honor. St. Ambrose described her as a “good stable-maid”, which may suggest that she was born into a lower class in the Roman culture of the day, but the words of St. Ambrose, a doctor of the Church, should be rather understood as – good, stable in faith, maid of the Lord.

She met Constantius while he was serving under Emperor Aurelian in Asia Minor for the 272 campaigns against Zenobia, the queen of the Palmyrene Empire of Syria. It is said that upon meeting they were wearing identical silver bracelets. Constantius saw her as his soulmate sent by God and soon thereafter they got married. Around the year 274, their only child, Constantine, was born. Fifteen years later Constantius, to strengthen his political position, divorced St. Helena and married Theodora, the step-daughter of Emperor Maximinianus. In 305 Flavius Valerius Constantius “Chlorus” became Roman Emperor Constantius I.  He ruled alongside Emperor Galerius, splitting the empire into West and East, while Severus II & Maximinus II served as Caesars according to a power sharing arrangement known as the Tetrarchy. The eastern and western provinces would each be ruled by an Emperor known as an augustus (administrator), supported by a Caesar (military commander). Both Caesars had the right of succession once the ruling augustus died.

Constantius died a year later during a campaign in Britain against the Picts. As he was dying, he recommended his son Constantine to the army as his successor. consequently, Constantine was declared emperor by the legions at York. This caused a shift in the political situation in the Empire. Severus II took over as Augusti from Constantius, and Constantine I supplanted him as a Caesar. Meanwhile, in Italy and Africa Maxentius & Maximian began their attempt to usurp the throne.

After the divorce, St. Helena lived in obscurity, though close to her only son. Constantine was forever loyal to his dear mother, whom he loved very much, never leaving her side. In 307 when Constantine became Emperor he summoned his mother back into inner circle and the imperial court. St. Helena received the title of Augusta (title given to empresses and honored women of the imperial families) and unlimited access to the imperial treasury. He even had coins minted, bearing her image.

Her faith and piety greatly influenced Constantine and served to kindle a holy zeal in the hearts of the Roman people. Forgetful of her high dignity, she delighted to assist at the Divine Office amid the poor, and by her alms deeds showed herself a mother to the needy and distressed.

In the year 312, St. Helena’s motherly work bore fruit of great magnitude.

Maxentius (son of the former Emperor Maximian) and others had initiated a civil war against the Tetrarchy. To protect the country, Constantine had mobilized his forces. On October 28th, 312 AD, near the Milvian Bridge, an important crossing of the Tiber river, Maxentius attacked Constantine’s forces. Vastly outnumbered, Constantine knelt and prayed, asking God to reveal Himself as the supreme God by giving him an otherwise impossible victory. Abruptly at noonday, a cross of fire was seen by his army in the calm and cloudless sky, and beneath it the words: “In hoc signo vinces” which translates to: In this sign thou shalt conquer. Under the Christian banner known as the Roman Labarum they the enemy was crushed, victory was secured and the first Christian empire was born.

In her eighties, between the years 326-328, St. Helena made a famous pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Sixty years after Titus’ destruction of Jerusalem in 70, around the year 130, Emperor Hadrian had built over the site of Jesus’ death a temple dedicated to Venus. During this pilgrimage, she ordered the temple torn down and chose a site in this location to be excavated. This led to the discovery of three crosses together with the names and inscription recorded by the Evangelists. The miraculous discovery and verification of the true Cross is celebrated by the Church on the 3rd of May.

To determine which cross was the True Cross, if any, the empress performed a test. Possibly through Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem, she had a woman who was near death brought from the city. When the woman touched the first and second crosses, her condition did not change, but when she touched the third cross she suddenly recovered, and St. Helena declared the third cross to be the True Cross on which our Blessed Redeemer had suffered. Upon this discovery, Constantine ordered a beautiful Basilica on Mount Calvary to be built to receive the precious relic.

She had two other famous churches built in Palestine to honor the sacred sites of Our Lord’s life: the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of Eleona (Greek for olive grove) over a cave on the Mount of Olives. The Church of Eleona is sometimes called the Church of the Disciples.

Theodoret of Cyrus, an influential theologian, wrote that that during her search, St. Helena also discovered the nails of the crucifixion. She had one of the nails placed in Constantine’s helmet and one in the bridle of his horse to aid him with their miraculous powers. Several of the relics believed to be found by St. Helena are located in Cyprus. Among these are parts of Jesus’ tunic and pieces of the rope used to tie Him to the cross. When she returned to Rome from Jerusalem in 327, she brought parts of the True Cross back with her. She stored these in her palace’s chapel. They can still be seen to this day, though her palace has been converted to the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem.

St. Helena died around 330 with her dearly devoted son by her side. She was then buried in the Mausoleum of Helena outside of Rome. Her sarcophagus can be seen in the Pio-Clementine Vatican Museum.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          C. Online, “St. Helena – Saints & Angels,” Catholic Online. https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=123 (accessed Aug. 05, 2023).

[2]          “Saint Helen, Empress.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_helen.html (accessed Aug. 05, 2023).

[3]          “Helena, mother of Constantine I,” Wikipedia. Jul. 09, 2023. Accessed: Aug. 05, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Helena,_mother_of_Constantine_I&oldid=1164579365

Saint Leo II

Pope († 683)

Feast July 3

Odoacer, leader of mercenaries (known as foederati) from the Eastern Germanic tribes of the Middle Danube, deposed Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476 AD and declared himself rex Italiae (King of Italy), resulting in the final dissolution of the Western Roman Empire in Italy.  Although Odoacer officially recognized the nominal suzerainty of the Eastern Empire, he raided the Empire’s coastal cities, threatened key commercial sea routes and his growing influence made him a threat to Constantinople.

To provide a buffer, the Ostrogoths, another Germanic people from the Lower Danube and west of the Dniester River, were allowed to settle in the western Balkans as foederati (allies) of the Eastern Empire.  They turned out to be troublemakers more than allies. After years of dealing with tribal leaders Emperor Zeno finally persuaded king Theodoric the Great to cross the Julian Alps and, as the representative of the Empire, to remove Odoacer. In August 489 his army arrived in Italy, and after a long military campaign Odoacer was slain on the 15th of March, 493. In the arrangement between Theodoric and Zeno, the land and its people were regarded as part of the Empire. Civil administration and legislation remained in the hands of the emperor and King Theodoric became magister militum, the head of the military.

This gave beginning to The Byzantine Papacy, a period when popes required the approval of the Byzantine Emperor for episcopal consecration. For this reason, many popes were chosen from inhabitants of Byzantine-ruled Greece, Syria, or Sicily. This ended the Acacian schism between the Eastern and Western Churches. Due to this policy, when Pope Agatho died on the 10th of January, 681, and Leo II was elected within days, he was not consecrated until 17 August 682.

St. Leo II was a Sicilian, born in 611, the son of a man named Paul. Initially St. Leo became a Canon Regular, (ecclesiastical dignitary who resided in his bishop’s palace charged with recitation of the Office in the cathedral) and was relied upon to serve as the auxiliary of the Ordinary. He was a devout student of Holy Scripture and was well versed in Greek and Latin. During the Caliphate’s attacks on Sicily, he escaped to Rome with many other Sicilian clergymen.

In Rome he was quickly noted as a just, learned, charitable, and eloquent preacher who was also a talented composer of hymns. Among them are several sacred hymns for the Divine Office still maintained by the Church. He took special care of widows, orphans and the poor in general, relieving their sufferings, and becoming an icon of apostolic charity. On the 5th of December, 680, Pope Agatho made him cardinal.

Soon thereafter, St. Leo II became Pope. During his ten-month pontificate he accomplished numerous good works which have caused his name to be blessed by all succeeding generations.

 

St. Leo built three churches in Rome, to honor Saint Paul the Apostle, Saint Sebastian, and Saint George. Highly gifted in the domain of music, for the glory of God he reformed Gregorian Chant.

Representatives from the Emperor of Constantinople tried to influence the bishop of Ravenna, who later attempted to break free of Papal oversight and become autonomous. In response, St. Leo published a decree ordering that in the future no bishop of Ravenna could enter function before being consecrated for that office at Rome by the Roman Pontiff.

St. Leo confirmed the Acts of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, which his predecessor had convoked at Constantinople against the Monothelite heresy, and translated its acts into Latin for the benefit of the Catholics in the west. Monothelitism had emerged from earlier Christological controversies, that were related to monophysitism as formulated by Eutyches of Constantinople.

Eutyches (c. 380 – c. 456) was a presbyter and archimandrite who first came to notice in 431 at the First Council of Ephesus. He came out with a doctrine that claimed Jesus the “is fully divine and fully human, in one nature” and “a fusion of human and divine elements.” He was condemned at the 448 Synod of Constantinople and later at the 451 Council of Chalcedon which clarified that Jesus is one “person” with two “natures,” a divine nature and a human nature. Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople ensured the doctrine of Monothelitism persisted, teaching that Christ has only one energy and one will, contrary to the teachings of Catholic Church that He has two energies and two wills, both human and divine.

Pope Honorius in 635 in the name of unity of Eastern and Western Church endorsed the view that all discussions over energies should cease and agreed that Jesus does not have two conflicting wills, but one will.

Monothelism was condemned by the successors of Pope Honorius. Pope Severinus (640-640) formally condemned it, while Pope John IV (640-642) and Pope Theodore I (642-649) excommunicated Pyrrhus, patriarch of Constantinople, for defending the same error. Pope Martinus (649-655) was imprisoned by the Emperor Constans II, and died a martyr because he did not accept Monothelism. Pope Eugenius I (654-657) also rejected Monothelism. Pope Vitalian (657–672) declared the validity of the doctrine of the two wills of Christ.

During Pope Agatho’s Pontificate, Emperor Constantine IV (668- 685) decided to let the Monothelite question be decided entirely by a church council and asked if the Pope would send delegates to an ecumenical council to be held at Constantinople to end the rift in doctrines. Pope Agatho agreed.

The Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (680-681) condemned Monoenergism and Monothelism as heretical, condemning Pope Honorius who adhered to it, and defining Jesus Christ as having two energies and two wills.

Pope St. Leo II approved the documents of the Sixth Ecumenical Council convened by Pope St. Agatho, his predecessor. Then he notified the emperor that the decrees of the council had been confirmed and made them known to the people of the West in letters written to the Visigothic king, bishops, and nobles and called upon the bishops to subscribe to its decrees.

The Sixth Ecumenical Council clarified that Jesus is one “person” in two “natures”, a divine nature, and a human nature, and that His human nature is subject to His divine nature. Pope Honorius had declared the absence of Christ’s human will, which is a direct attack on our Lord. Hence why Pope St. Leo II wrote the following: “Honorius who did not attempt to sanctify this Apostolic Church with the teaching of Apostolic tradition, but by profane treachery permitted its purity to be polluted”

During Vatican II on July 3, 1965, prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira made this commentary; There is no possible peaceful coexistence, no normal living together between good and evil, truth and error. This is not possible anywhere, moreover, within the Catholic Church, which is par excellence the sacred mountain of truth and goodness. She cannot bear within herself one who defends error and evil…             If some of you live in similar times, you should study the situation and ask St. Leo II to give you the intense fidelity to the Church and to the papacy that he had. It was this fidelity that made him, a saint and a Pope, deem he had the duty and the right to use the words he did against Pope Honorius.

When Pope St. Leo II died in July of 683, his death was deeply mourned by all the faithful.

References and Excerpts:

[1]          “Carissimi: Today’s Mass; S. Leo II of Rome, Confessor,” The Brighton Oratory, Jul. 03, 2020. https://brightonoratory.org/2020/07/03/carissimi-todays-mass-s-leo-ii-of-rome-confessor/ (accessed Aug. 04, 2023).

[2]          “Saint Leo II, Pope.” https://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_leo_ii.html (accessed Aug. 04, 2023).

[3]          “Pope St. Leo II, saint of June 3.” https://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j080sdLeoII_6-3.htm (accessed Aug. 04, 2023).

[4]          “Pope Leo II,” Wikipedia. Jun. 29, 2023. Accessed: Aug. 04, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pope_Leo_II&oldid=1162562540