This Ancient Coin Has Been Set in a Modern 18
Karat Gold Ring
Flavia Iulia Helena, also known as Saint Helena,
Saint Helen, Helena Augusta, and Helena of
Constantinople, (c.248 – c.329) was consort of
(though may have been married to) Constantius
Chlorus, and the mother of Emperor Constantine
I. She is traditionally credited with finding the
relics of the True Cross.
Many legends surround her. She was allegedly
the daughter of an innkeeper. Her son
Constantine renamed the city of Drepanum on
the Gulf of Nicomedia as 'Helenopolis' in her
honour, which led to later interpretations that
Drepanum was her birthplace.
Constantius Chlorus divorced her (c.292) to
marry the step-daughter of Maximian, Flavia
Maximiana Theodora. Helena's son, Constantine,
became emperor of the Roman Empire, and
following his elevation she became a presence at
the imperial court, and received the title
Augusta.
[edit] Sainthood
She is considered by the Orthodox and Catholic
churches as a saint, famed for her piety. Her
feast day as a saint of the Orthodox Christian
Church is celebrated with her son on May 21, the
Feast of the Holy Great Sovereigns Constantine
and Helen, Equal to the Apostles[1]. Her feast day
in the Roman Catholic Church falls on August
18. Eusebius records the details of her
pilgrimage to Palestine and other eastern
provinces (though not her discovery of the True
Cross)). She is the patron saint of archaeologists.
At the age of 80, Helena was said by some
accounts to have been placed in charge of a
mission to gather Christian relics, by her son
Emperor Constantine I, who had recently
declared Rome as a Christian city. Helena
travelled the 1400-plus miles from Rome to
Jerusalem. The city was still rebuilding from the
destruction of Hadrian, a previous emperor, who
had built a Temple to Venus at the site of the
Crucifixion. According to legend, Helena entered
the temple with Bishop Macarius, and chose a
site to begin excavating, which led to the
recovery of three different crosses and the nails
of the crucifixion. To use their miraculous power
to aid her son, Helena allegedly had one placed
in Constantine's helmet, and another in the
bridle of his horse. Helena left Jerusalem in 327
to return to Rome, and shortly after her journey
to the East Helena died in the presence of her
son Constantine (Euseb., VC, 3.46). Some of the
relics which she had located were then stored in
her palace in Rome, which was later converted
into the Abbey of Santa Croce.
Helena was born about 255, and married to the
Roman general Constantius Chlorus, who
became emperor of Britain, Gaul, and Spain when
Diocletian divided the Empire. In 274 she bore
him a son, Constantine, but in 292 he divorced
her in order to cement a political alliance by
another marriage. Most historians say that she
was born in Drepanum (now Helenopolis) in Asia
Minor; but an old tradition asserts that she was
born in Britain, in Colchester, and was the
daughter of the chieftain Cole, remembered
today as Old King Cole. If so, she may have been
a Christian from birth, since Christianity was well
established in that region. In 306, after the
death of Constantius, the army at York
proclaimed Constantine emperor in his father's
place, and by 312 he was master of the Western
Empire and issued an Edict of Toleration that
made the practice of Christianity legal for the
first time in over 200 years. Helena worked
enthusiastically to promote Christianity, and
eventually went to the Holy Land, where she
spent large sums on the relief of the poor and on
building churches on sacred sites. She is
particularly associated with the discovery at
Jerusalem, near the probable site of Calvary, of a
wooden cross that was accepted as the actual
cross on which Jesus was crucified.
This stunning ring evokes the glory and beauty
of the early Christian era and its flowering. The
dark maroon hue of the tarnished bronze is
striking when contrasted to the luminosity of the
gold mounting. There is an eternal splendor to
this ring, a beauty that radiates from within the
coin and envelopes the gold setting. To wear
this ring is to evoke the spirit of change. For
although time changes and worlds evolve, true
beauty and elegance as defined by this ring are
eternal and immune to the fancies and whims of
individual tastes.
- (FJ.6602)
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