Saint Helena Augusta

Flavia Julia Helena , also known as Helena of Constantinople and in Christianity as Saint Helena, was a Greek Augusta of the Roman Empire and mother of Emperor Constantine the Great as well as a Canonized saint in both Catholic and Orthodox Churches for her pivotal role in the spread of Christianity. She was born in the lower classes traditionally in the city of Drepanon, Bithynia, in Asia Minor, which was renamed Helenopolis. Helena ranks as an important figure in the history of Christianity. In her final years, she made a religious tour of Syria Palaestina and Jerusalem, during which ancient tradition claims that she discovered the True Cross. The Eastern Orthodox Church, Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Anglican Communion, and the Lutheran Church revere her as a saint. Though Helena's birthplace is not known with certainty, Helenopolis, then Drepanon, in Bithynia, following Procopius, is the one supported by most secondary sources, and by far the most likely candidate for her place of origin. If so, it would make her a Greek speaker or possibly bilingual. Her name is attested on coins as Flavia Helena, Flavia Julia Helena and sometimes Aelena. Joseph Vogt suggested that the name Helena was typical for the Greek-speaking part of the Roman Empire and that therefore her place of origin should be looked for in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. No Greek inscriptions have been attested dedicated to Helena during her lifetime, which may be because her fame was not as great in the Greek East as in the Latin West where she resided as empress. The 6th-century historian Procopius is the earliest authority for the statement that Helena was a native of Drepanon, in the province of Bithynia in Asia Minor. The name Helena appears in all areas of the Empire, but is not epigraphically attested in inscriptions of Bithynia (Helena's proposed region of origin) and it was also common in Latin-speaking areas.