St Helena

(Eleanor is a derivative of Helena)

Probably the daughter of an Innkeeper, and born sometime between 248 and 255 at Drepanum, Bithynia (a legend that she was the daughter of an English prince has long since been disproved), she met Roman General Constantius Chlorus about 270, and despite her lowly station, they were married.  Sometime between 274 and 288,  their son Constantine was born.  When Constantius was named Caesar in 293 under Emperor Maximian, he divorced Helena for political reasons and married Maximian’s stepdaughter, Theodora.  When Maximian died at York, England, in 306, Constantine, who was with him, was declared Emperor by the troops there but did not win a clear title to the throne until his dramatic victory at the Milvian bridge in 312.  He conferred the title Augusta on his mother, ordered all honor be paid to her as the mother of the sovereign, and had coins struck with her likeness on them.  In 313, he and his fellow Emperor, Licinius, issued the edict of Milan, permitting Christianity in the Empire and releasing all religious prisoners.  About this time, Helena was converted to Christianity ( she was then sixty-three, according to the historian Eusebius).  She zealously supported the Christian cause, built numerous churches, aided the poor, and ministered to the distressed.  After several wars between them, Constantine defeated Licinius a final time, in 324; Licinius was executed, Constantine became sole Emperor of both East and West, and moved the capital to Constantinople.  Helena went to Palestine, and while there, according to Rufinus, Sulpicius Severus, and a sermon of St. Ambrose, all dating from the late fourth century, she discovered the True Cross.  She built basilicas on the Mount of Olives and at Bethlehem, traveled all over Palestine, and was known for her kindness to soldiers, the poor, and prisoners.  She died somewhere in the East and was buried in Constantinople.