Pilgrim's Path: St. Helena

I am not sure if we will have wi-fi in Nazareth  for the next two days, so here is some pre-loaded material:
St. Helena is a very interesting figure.  The mother of the first Christian emperor, Constantine, she made her pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the years 326-328, and when she was there, built the Church of the Nativity, the Church of the Pater Noster, and the Chapel of the Ascension (or at least their first iterations).  She also, according to tradition, built the first Chapel at what would become St. Catherine's Monastery (one of the oldest monastery in the world, and home to the second best collection of ancient manuscripts after the Vatican).  Most importantly of all, when she was there, she found the true cross, which she is normally depicted holding.

The statue of St. Helena in St. Peter's Basilica.
She's not just there to look pretty.  Above her niche
is a large statuary reliquary that holds a large piece
of the cross she found.

This journey to Jerusalem is what St. Helena is known for, but what draws me to her is her personal story.  Helen was of humble birth and married Constantine's father, Constantius Chlorus, out of mutual love (a rarity in those days).  This wouldn't last.  Constantius divorced her to marry the daughter of the western Roman emperor and secure his place as heir to the throne.  He sent his son, Constantine, and Helena to the court of the eastern Roman emperor, Diocletian.

Diocletian should sound familiar, as he ordered the last great systematic persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.  In fact, because prior persecution was sporadic and Christians were more or less accepted most places, Diocletian's persecution created more martyrs than any prior persecution.  There would be a great number of apostasies and would create a vast headache for the early Church about who had remained faithful and what to do with those who hadn't.

The skull of St. Helena in Trier.  The veneration of relics
and the offering of mass at Saints's tombs experienced a vast
increase in popularity as during the Diocletian persecution.

But returning to Helena, who was alone, wronged by her husband, and now at the court of Diocletian, it would have been incredibly easy for her to renounce the faith for political gain.  She didn't.  Even Constantine's detractors, who question whether or not he was validly baptized, don't suggest that Helena apostatized.  It must have been incredibly tempting for her to do so, but instead, she held onto her faith.  It is this faith that I find incredible and it is this faith that we see reflected in her latter actions in the Holy Land.