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370 370 ST. HELEN fortified and enlarged. Drepanum, in Bithynia, also claims the honour of being her birthplace. She has been called a Jewess of Palestine, and it has been conjectured that her parents were Christians. Some say she was the daughter of an innkeeper or stable-keeper, and the mistress rather than the wife of Constantius, and that her famous son Constantino was illegitimate. On the whole the evidence is in favour of her having been "a woman well reputed," and bom in England, either at York or Colchester. As for the rank of her father, there wore probably in the 3rd century more kings than innkeepers in Britain. She may have been the daughter of some officer whose duties related to the horses and stables of the Romans. On the other hand, it is said that the surname of Stabularia was given to her long after- wards by the clergy in compliment to her eagerness to visit the place of our Saviour's birth, and discover the very manger where He was laid. Flavins Valerius Constantius, sur- namod, from his paleness, Chlorus, the husband of Helen, is much praised by contemporary writers, both heathen and Christian. He believed in one God, and protected the Christians, placing some of them in offices of trust under him. In 202, Diocletian raised him to the rank of CaQsar, and gave him for his pro vi ace Gaul, Spain, and Britain, on condition that he should repudiate his wife, and marry Flavia Maximiana Theodora, the step-daughter of Maximian Hercules. Constantius died in 30G, and his son Constantino assumed the purple. He was one of ^Ye claimants for the imperial throne, and seventeen years elapsed before he became sole emperor. His conversion to Christianity occurred about 312. We do not know with cer- tainty when St. Helen became a Christian, nor where or how she spent the years between her divorce and her son's ac- cession, although it is supposed that she lived at Tricassium (Troyes, in Cham- pagne). One of Constantino's first acts of power was to declare her Augusta, to recall her to court, and to have medals struck in honour of her ; some of these still exist. Her portrait bears « strong resemblance to that of her boo. She is called on these medals Flavii Julia Helena. He gave her estates in various parts of the empire, and revenues befitting her station and bounty. She was now openly declared a GhristiaiL A strong affection existed between the mother and son. It is supposed to havB been in some measure owing to Helen's capable and tactful management that Constantino's half-brothers never wero in a position to dispute the empire with him ; and to her grief and anger is attri- buted the repentance of Constantino and the punishment of Faustina for the judicial murder of his promising son Crispus — a tragedy which can be read in all the histories of the period. In 325, Constantino convoked the first general council of the Christian Church, at Nice, in Bithynia. The following year, the twentieth of his reign, was celebrated with great rejoicing through- out the empire, and he resolved to sanctify and commemorate the oocasion by building a church at Jerusalem on the site of the Holy Sepulchre. Helen eagerly interested herself in the project, and, though now nearly eighty, set out on a journey to Palestine to share in the pious undertaking and visit the scene of the Saviour's life and death. She travelled with great state and magnificence, as became the emperor's mother, but her charity and liberality far outshone her royal splendour. In passing through the provinces of the Eastern Empire, she took caro to ascer- tain the condition and wants of the people, and made them known to the emperor. She showed special kindnefis to soldiers for the sake of her husband and son. She freed many slaves and debtors, and relieved numberless cases of distress. Jerusalem had been utterly destroyed by Titus in 70, and half a century after- wards, the city of ^lia Capitolina had been built in its stead, and as the church of Jerusalem had been dispersed and driven away, it was difficult to ascertain the exact site of the garden and cave where the Lord had lain. It was under- stood that a temple of Venus, since