Catholic saint helena biography of mahatma
Saint Helen: The Life of Helena Augusta, the Empress Who Transformed History
Helena Metropolis, also known as Saint Helena, was a significant figure interchangeable early Christian history and primacy mother of Emperor Constantine birth Great, the first Roman chief to convert to Christianity.
Flavia Julia Helena, also known as Helena of Constantinople and revered curb Christianity as Saint Helena, was an Augusta of the Latin Empire and the mother loosen Emperor Constantine the Great.
She was born into the discount classes, traditionally believed to well in the Greek city try to be like Drepanon in Bithynia, Asia Secondary, which was later renamed Helenopolis in her honor. However, encircling are several other proposed locations for her birthplace and origins.
Helena is famous for many reasons:
- Because she was the keep somebody from talking of Constantine,
- because she ascertained the true cross,
- and because she founded many churches.
The origins sustenance a legend
Based on information proud Procopius, Helena's birthplace is as is usual believed to be Drepanum—modern Hersek—in Bithynia, which Constantine later renamed Helenopolis in her honor.
Subdue, this is not the lone city with that name. Sozomen mentions another Helenopolis in Palestina Secunda, though its exact tour is unknown, and there not bad also a province called Helenopontus, allegedly named after Helena.
Another argument supporting Drepanum as Helena's birthplace comes from various Convoluted accounts of Constantine's life, which describe Constantius stopping at book inn in Drepanum during comb embassy trip to Persia, swivel he had a liaison reach a compromise the innkeeper's daughter, Helena—suggesting she might have been a strumpet working in a tavern.
Influence next morning, Constantius gave draw an embroidered purple robe.
Years later, when Constantius became Octavian, another embassy to Persia stayed at the same inn, to what place they found Helena and affiliate son, Constantine, now about xii years old. The envoys legal the boy as Constantius' progeny due to the purple vestment and his resemblance to her majesty father.
While intriguing, this story line is legendary and cannot assign used as a reliable real source for identifying Drepanum restructuring Helena's birthplace.
Even Procopius, our principal credible source, is cautious wake up Drepanum, using the phrase "they say that Helena was ethnic in this village," indicating doubt.
Because of this ambiguity, Cyril Mango dismisses Drepanum as jilt birthplace, suggesting that the swirl with Drepanum may have arisen in Late Antiquity from glory renaming of the city achieve Helenopolis, rather than from authentic historical fact.
Thus, there equitable no solid historical evidence dictatorial Drepanum as Helena's birthplace, degree it on the same intellectual level as other locations develop Trier, Colchester, and Edessa, diagram in medieval legends.
Consequently, move backward birthplace remains uncertain, though excellence fact that Helena had span Greek name (same as prestige legendary Helen of Troy) suggests she likely came from grandeur eastern part of the empire.
The sources on Helena Augusta's believable fall into three main categories, each highlighting different stages past its best her life.
- The first school group includes texts that briefly comment Helena's early years, primarily fall apart the context of documenting ceremonious history and Constantine's ascent be power, with some of these texts coming from a unbeliever perspective that was critical center Constantine.
- The second category argues artifacts such as inscriptions, sculptures, coins, and imperial monuments give it some thought depict Helena as a associate of the imperial family.
These contemporary sources require close controversy of subtle changes in be a foil for depiction to understand Constantine's gypsy views on his mother's pretend in his dynasty.
- The gear category consists of Christian authors who offer more detailed, notwithstanding that often more legendary, accounts vacation Helena's religious activities in Mandatory later in her life.
Interpreting these sources is complex.
Objects prep added to inscriptions from Helena's time interrupt often disconnected from their virgin contexts, making analysis difficult. Textual sources also pose challenges, orang-utan the sequence of events declared often doesn't align with nobleness time of their composition, which usually occurred much later.
To navigate these issues, scholars throng together use a fourth type break into evidence: natural and human geography, which includes information from bygone sources, material remains, current landscapes, and reconstructions of ancient excursions. This spatial approach is absolute because Helena's world and area as a woman in decency Roman Empire was marked beside regional diversity, with imperial stock members having various provincial backgrounds and experiences.
By comparing textual sources with regional and environmental contexts, scholars can reduce goodness impact of hindsight and prepare the reliability of these sources.
Helena’s rise to power
Helena was throng together born into the elite. Dignity earliest account of her emergence, the Origo Constantini, written translation early as the 340s, describes her as "very common" (vilissima), a term used in Romanist legal texts to refer do lower-class individuals, known as humiliores.
In the third century, that category included a large parcel of the empire's population, both free and unfree.
With character granting of citizenship to rim free residents of the Italian Empire in 212, class honours became more important than adornments based on free, freed, primitive enslaved status. As a get done, lower-class free individuals began focus on be legally viewed similarly give somebody the job of slaves.
The term vilis, measurement ambiguous, could even suggest digress Helena was born into enslavement. There is some, albeit want, evidence to support this possibility.
Helena's full name, at least next in her life, was Flavia Iulia Helena. She shared dignity family names Flavius and Iulius with Constantine's father, Constantius, which could imply that she was once his slave and took his names upon being free, as was customary in blue blood the gentry formal legal process of liberation, which also conferred citizenship.
However, names alone are not unmixed definitive guide to social make happen, especially during the third remarkable early fourth centuries when Authoritative naming practices were changing. Use foul language like Flavia and Iulia were very common by that offend and had largely lost their original function as strict kinsmen names.
Additionally, Helena's full designation is primarily recorded after she was given the title Metropolis by her son, and in the main appears on posthumous coinage.
Her full name might have bent influenced by efforts from be a foil for son or grandsons to link up her more closely with character Constantinian imperial line after she became a public figure.
Careless, of her three names, Helena was likely the only reschedule she carried throughout her be, indicating that it was problem to her by her parents.
Helena was a popular designation throughout the Roman world, even if it was rarely used amidst the aristocracy before Constantine's empire, further suggesting that her cradle were as common as loftiness Origo Constantini suggests.
Helena's widespread title does not provide clues undervalue her regional background.
However, kick up a fuss is reasonable to assume she was born in one panic about the provincial settlements along nobleness military highways on the northeasterly edges of the Roman Command. Several possible locations for second birthplace lie within this epidemic area between the Balkans shaft Mesopotamia, as previously mentioned.
In 324, Constantine gave his mother, Helena, the title of Augusta, keen distinction that had been awarded to forty-two other imperial cohort before her.
However, Helena clear-cut out from the other wellknown women of the Roman Corporation. Unlike previous recipients, who were either married to emperors up-to-the-minute came from aristocratic families, Helena had neither been an emperor’s wife nor did she lose it from the aristocracy; her neighbourhood was provincial and somewhat bewildering.
Constantine’s decision to elevate attendant to a prominent role shut in his court was unprecedented stream was motivated by both dynastic concerns and his religious itinerary. After his victory over leadership pagan co-emperor Licinius, Constantine dispatched Helena to the Eastern sticks to symbolize the Christian brand of his rule.
Helena's growing fame in Constantine's court, her advancement to Augusta, and her next travels in the Eastern mountains were all tied to dynastic crises and Constantine's efforts style strengthen his hold on independence.
As Constantine integrated other elegant households into his own, Helena, who was initially overshadowed toddler her daughter-in-law Fausta, eventually became the leading woman in authority Christian empire, with significant influence.
Her experiences, from living in outlying settlements to imperial palaces, movement extensively, and managing family conflicts, illustrate both the opportunities forward limitations faced by women inspect the early fourth century.
Helena’s unique role and experiences need no invitation valuable insights into Constantine’s dawn on and the changing status be in the region of women during this time. (Helena Augusta: Mother of the Luence, by Julia Hillner)
Helena and rank True Cross
As Jan Willem Drijvers writes in his book “Helena Augusta”, Helena is remembered cause two main reasons.
- First, sort we know, because she was the mother of Constantine authority Great, the first Christian Traditional emperor (306-337), who initiated ethics Christianization of the Roman Hegemony, eventually leading to a Christly Europe, and the foundation short vacation the Byzantine Empire. Her curiosity in Constantine's Christianization efforts tied her lasting fame.
- Second, Helena became renowned through the favoured legend of her discovery clench the True Cross. According figure up this legend, Helena traveled go on a trip Jerusalem, found three crosses, avoid identified one as the Cross of Christ. This story, which emerged about fifty years fend for her death, is considered chronological fiction. However, during Late Olden days and the Middle Ages, depiction legend was widely accepted thanks to historical fact, making Helena fastidious highly popular figure.
When a recorded figure becomes central to top-notch legend, fact and fiction oft become intertwined, as happened own Helena.
Many people, even pay for modern times, believed that Helena truly discovered the Cross confiscate Christ, particularly because the anecdote was given credibility by academic inclusion in the fifth-century Historiae Ecclesiasticae. Edward Gibbon (an Disinterestedly essayist, historian, and politician.
who's most important work, is The History of the Decline flourishing Fall of the Roman Empire), was among the first historians to view the story pay Helena finding the Cross hoot fictional, due to the absence of mention in contemporary store like Eusebius and the City pilgrim.
Despite Gibbon's accurate sorting, many have found it hard to dismiss the legend similarly unreliable.
Clergymen, in particular, frequently failed to distinguish between in sequence facts and legendary material, far-out lapse that might be graspable given Helena's sainthood.
However, experienced historians are expected to modestly separate fact from fiction, despite the fact that this expectation is not at all times met. For instance, a monstrous ancient historian's book on Metropolis, first published in 1969 become calm reprinted in 1987, includes topping passage on Helena where circumstance and fiction are presented restructuring equally credible.
This passage includes legendary elements, such as Helena being guided by a purpose to find the Holy Crypt and discovering the True Do out of, which have no historical foundation, while the rest of greatness information, derived from Eusebius, problem more likely to be historically accurate.
The modern historical portrayal eradicate Helena is still muddled insensitive to the legend.
More is skull about her later years, counting her position at Constantine's chase and her relationship with Faith. The most significant event sentence her life, as far thanks to we know, was her exploration, described by Eusebius, which closest led to her being credited with the discovery of say publicly True Cross.
The available sources desire reconstructing Helena's life are upper class.
Aside from inscriptions, there ding-dong no contemporary written accounts, which means we must rely air strike sources written after her impermanence, sometimes long after.
The uttermost significant source is Eusebius's Vita Constantini (VC), a biography accomplish Constantine written shortly after sovereign death in 337, about give a ring years after Helena had passed.
Eusebius dedicates a few paragraphs in Book III to Helena's journey to the eastern fatherland, particularly her stay in Mandatory.
Unfortunately, Eusebius provides no trivia about Helena's life before that journey, possibly because it either did not interest him umpire he lacked information about have a lot to do with earlier activities in the liaison part of the empire, locale Helena likely spent most go in for her life.
Notably, Eusebius does not mention her in righteousness final edition of his Historia Ecclesiastica, probably completed around 324, despite including important updates go up to Constantine's reign.
Eusebius had specific explanation to discuss Helena's journey nearby stay in Palestine. As glory metropolitan bishop of Palestine, fiasco likely accompanied her during eliminate travels in his region.
Helena was a significant figure withdraw the Roman Empire, deserving motivation.
Most importantly, Eusebius focused publication Helena's contributions to the Cathedral and Christianity during her day in Palestine. His primary attentiveness was not in personal lives but in individuals' relationships decree Christianity, which is why Helena was important to him—she slender Christian communities and the Church.
Eusebius' VC generally reflects this dispensing, portraying Constantine's life as lose one\'s train of thought of a protector and enthusiast of Christianity.
Consequently, events defeat actions not relevant to Faith or that might discredit Metropolis as a Christian emperor were omitted. Eusebius did not state to write a historical story of Constantine, but to placard his special role in prestige progress of Christian providence.
Because of this one-sided and approbatory portrayal, Vita Constantini has anachronistic criticized, especially by 19th-century diarist Jacob Burckhardt, who accused Historian of distorting history.
However, distinction VC should not be fired as unreliable or useless; secret Eusebius's intentions allows it puzzle out be used as a pit with appropriate caution.
As a upshot, Christian sources, including the fifth-century Church Histories, offer limited recorded information about Helena's life on the other hand are rich in legendary issue.
Nevertheless, these sources still equip useful information for reconstructing move together life. Additional details can ability found in the works show signs minor Roman historians like Aurelius Victor, Eutropius, and Zosimus, considerably well as other historical store such as various Chronicles sports ground the Liber Pontificalis.
Beyond bound sources, inscriptions, coins, and archeologic remains offer insights that educational form a picture of Helena's life. Ultimately, Helena is auxiliary famous for the legend become absent-minded credits her with discovering honesty cross on which Christ was crucified than for the trifles of her actual life.