After Christianity was finally legalized, following three hundred years of bloody persecution, Empress St. Helena, mother of Constantine (and my patroness) went to the Holy Land in the fourth century to look for sacred sites from the life of Christ. Many of the holy places were marked by pagan shrines, built by the Romans in Bethlehem and Jerusalem in an attempt to deride Christianity. The pagan temples only served to mark the exact spots where the manger had been, as well as the empty tomb.
After some excavation and many miracles, St. Helena found the cross on which Our Lord was crucified. She must have remembered the vision of the cross granted to her son, in which he was told: "In this sign, conquer." Constantine had defeated his greatest enemy Maxentius at the battle of the Milvian Bridge, attributing the victory to the sign of the cross which he placed upon his standard. Most of all, the cross was to Helena the trophy of the victory of Christ; it was the new "Tree of Life."
Pieces of the cross were deposited in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Rome, built by the Empress near her palace, the rest of it was splintered and scattered throughout the world. There was a splinter of it displayed on the altar at the Visitation chapel the day Michael and I were married. How everything flows together...In this uncertain world, where one never knows what is going to happen next, it is so necessary to pray for the grace to embrace all crosses with as much joy as St. Helena embraced the cross of the Lord. If not with joy, then at least with peace.
"To him that overcometh I will give to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of my God." —Apocalypse 2:7
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3 comments:
Where are all of the bits of the cross located today?
I love the story of how she found the cross, that she found the 3, and asked for a sign for which was our Saviours- when she awoke the next morning basil had sprung and grown from the cross!
Basil is a special plant in the Orthodox church, not sure about Roman Catholic.
I sometimes put some near my icons, smells beautiful too!
Hi,Coffee,the pieces are in reliquaries all over the world. There is even a sliver in St Anthony's Chapel in Pittsburgh, PA!
Hi,Rachi, I did not know that about basil. I personally love basil and always have it in my kitchen garden. I don't know that there is a custom about it in The Catholic Church at large although there may be some local customs.
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