St. Helen (330-379)
St. Helen was the mother of the emperor Constantine the Great, also a saint, and was the daughter of a Serbian inn-keeper. She married a Roman officer called Constantius and they had Constantine, who she more or less brought up alone as her husband was always away and later on divorced her.
Helen
became a Christian before her son and must have greatly influenced him as
he was the very first Roman Emperor to accept Christianity as a state religion.
In icons, they are usually depicted together, standing side by side with a
cross between them. In many icons Helen holds a plate with three nails as
she supposedly found many holy relics, such as the nails from the Holy Cross,
the Holy Cross itself and Christ's Holy Shroud.
Legend
has it that Helen found the True Cross in Jerusalem after searching for a
long time. It turned out to be buried under a pagan temple, which she had
pulled down. When she saw basil growing at a particular spot, she ordered
her men to dig there and soon three crosses were unearthed. Helen then had
a sick woman touch the crosses and when she touched the third one she was
instantly healed and so, Helen found what she was looking for.
St. Helen had many churches built, perhaps the most famous one being the original Hagia Sophia in Constaninople (Istanbul) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
As she found the holy relics, St. Helen is the patron saint of treasure hunters. She also protects nail makers and those who make fire works.
Click here for more about Constantine the Great and icons of St. Helen.
More about Constantine in our book "A History of Skiathos".