BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

Saturday, August 18, 19th Week in Ordinary Time

St. Helena's statue in St. Peter's Basilica has become very familiar because it is often the 'background' for most photos of the Pope saying Mass at the main altar.
ST. HELENA (b ca 248 Asia Minor, d 330 Rome)
Mother of Constantine the Great (the first Christian emperor of Rome), named Empress by Constantine, Finder of the 'True Cross'
Helena was born of humble origin - St. Ambrose said she had been a 'stable maid' - in Bithynia, Asia Minor (now Turkey), where she met the Roman general Constantius about 270. Constantine was born soon after in Nis (in present-day Serbia), where his father was named co-Emperor of the Roman Empire. He divorced Helena to marry his co-emperor Maxentius's stepdaughter, and sent off Helena and the boy to the court of Diocletian, where Constantine grew up as a member of the inner court. Helena embraced Christianity late in life; but her incomparable faith and piety greatly influenced her son Constantine, the first Christian emperor, and served to kindle a holy zeal in the hearts of the Roman people. Forgetful of her high dignity, she delighted to assist at the Divine Office amid the poor; and by her alms-deeds showed herself a mother to the indigent and distressed. In her eightieth year, she made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, with the ardent desire of discovering the cross on which our blessed Redeemer suffered. After many labors, three crosses were found on Mount Calvary, together with the nails and the inscription recorded by the Evangelists. It still remained to identify the true cross of Our Lord. By the advice of the bishop, Macarius, the three were applied successively to a woman afflicted with an incurable disease, and no sooner had the third touched her than she arose, perfectly healed. The pious empress, transported with joy, built a 'most glorious church on Mount Calvary to receive the precious relic, sending portions of it to Rome and Constantinople, where they were solemnly exposed to the adoration of the faithful. In 312, Constantine found himself attacked by Maxentius with vastly superior forces, and the very existence of his empire threatened. In this crisis he bethought him of the crucified Christian God Whom his mother Helena worshiped, and kneeling down, prayed God to reveal Himself and give him the victory. Suddenly, at noonday, a cross of fire was seen by his army in the calm and cloudless sky, and beneath it the words, In hoc signo vinces—"Through this sign thou shalt conquer." By divine command, Constantine made a standard like the cross he had seen, which was borne at the head of his troops; and under this Christian ensign they marched against the enemy, and obtained a complete victory. Shortly after, Helena herself returned to Rome, where she expired in 330.
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/081812.cfm
*It's too bad that traditional iconography portrays Helena aa a young woman, when she set forth to find the Cross as a woman in her 80s. Even for today, that would be extraordinary.


No events announced for the Holy Father today.




The Holy Fatheer has named Mons. Giuseppe Lazzarotto, until now Apostolic Nuncio to Australia
as the new Apostolic Nuncio to Israel and Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories.


ONE YEAR AGO TODAY...
Benedict XVI arrived in Madrid for an extraordinary feast of faith with more than a million young people
from around the world on the XXVI international celebration of World Youth Day.