32. St. Helena\Elaine of Colchester, 52G Grandmother, F. Born in 0248 in Drepanon?, Bithynia, Asia Minor. St. Helena\Elaine of died in Nicomedia; Western feast day August 18; Eastern feast day [with Constantine] May 21 Bet. 328 - 336, she was 80.
also called HELEN, Roman empress who was the reputed discoverer of Christ's cross.
Helena was married to the Roman emperor Constantius I Chlorus, who renounced her for political reasons. When her son Constantine I the Great became emperor at York (306), he made her empress dowager, and under his influence she later became a Christian. She was devoted to her eldest grandson, Crispus Caesar, whom Constantine made titular ruler of Gaul, but a mysterious embroilment in the imperial family culminated with the execution of Crispus and Fausta, Constantine's second wife and Crispus' stepmother. Thereafter, the story became current that Fausta had accused Crispus of attempting to seduce her--hence Crispus' execution (326). Fausta, in turn, was denounced by the grief-stricken Helena and was executed shortly afterward. Immediately after the double tragedy Helena made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She caused churches to be built on the reputed sites of the nativity and of the Ascension.
Before 337 it was claimed in Jerusalem that Christ's cross had been found during the building of Constantine's church on Golgotha. Later in the century Helena was credited with the discovery. Many subsequent legends developed, and the story of the "invention," or the finding of the cross, enhanced by romances and confusions with other Helens, became a favourite throughout Christendom.
abt 0265 when St. Helena\Elaine of was 17, she married Aurelius Valerius Constantius Chlorus, 52G Grandfather, M. Born in 0242 in Britain. Aurelius Valerius Constantius died in Eboracum (York), Britain in 0306, he was 64.
("The Pale"), original name FLAVIUS VALERIUS CONSTANTIUS Roman emperor and father of Constantine I the Great. As a member of a four-man ruling body (tetrarchy) created by the emperor Diocletian, Constantius held the title caesar from 293 to 305 and caesar augustus in 305-306.
Of Illyrian descent, Constantius had a distinguished military career before serving as governor of Dalmatia (in modern Croatia). In 289 he renounced his wife, Helena, mother of Constantine, and married Theodora, the stepdaughter of the emperor Maximian. Four years later Constantius was adopted by Maximian and made his caesar. The two men, together with Diocletian and his caesar, Galerius, formed the tetrarchy.
Constantius was assigned to rule Gaul and ordered to subdue Marcus Aurelius Carausius, a usurper in Britain. In 293 he captured Carausius' mainland base, Gesoriacum (modern Boulogne, Fr.). Three years later he invaded Britain and defeated and killed Allectus, who had murdered Carausius and succeeded him in power. Constantius then set about restoring frontier defenses. He took strong measures to eliminate Frankish and Saxon piracy, and in 298 he triumphed over the Alemanni in Gaul. His enforcement of Diocletian's edicts (303) against the Christians was deliberately lax; he demolished some churches but did not execute believers. When Diocletian and Maximian abdicated on May 1, 305, Constantius became the senior emperor in the West. He died the following year, and his troops proclaimed Constantine emperor.
