Hail Flavia, Augusta, Iulia Helena!
The mother of great emperor Constantine!
Who toiled as simple bar maid in an inn
In ancient Drepanum, Bithynia.

One day some soldiers by her tavern passed,
Led by imperial an officer,
Chlorus Constantius, noted warrior,
Who ordered in her bistro a repast.

High officers can easily forget,
Their rank, when struck by beauty sans compare.
He fell in love with Helena the fair,
And in Apollo's temple they were wed.

A son was born to them, called Constantine,
Who’d follow in his father’s foot steps soon,
To lead division, squadron or platoon,
Both destined by the gods their wars to win.

But for political expedience
Constantius Chlorus put his wife aside,
And took Maxentius’ daughter as his bride,
To further his carreer and sure advance.

Forsaken, Helena bewailed her lot,
Heart broken the spurned spouse now lived,
Her tears were flowing as she cried and grieved.
But in her grief she found the Christian God.

And Helen, wounded deeply could but pray
In bitter exile, sorrowing alone,
For she had also lost her only son,
Who battled with his father far away.

Both fought the Picts at York, on British ground
Where Chlorus fell and died, - the battle won,
And the victorious army chose her son
As future Emperor to trumpet’s sound.



And Constantine acquired grace and fame,
As EASTERN Roman Emperor supreme,
Yet unfulfilled was still his secret dream,
To gain the Roman WEST, - his highest aim.



But fortune smiled and he won victory,
O'er Maxinimianus at the siege
And famous battle by the Milvian bridge,
And henceforth fostered Christianity.

He lifted up his mother from her woe,
Had struck on coins of gold her image fair,
Made her "Augusta" - vindicating her,
And pressed the imperial crown upon brow.



As ruling Empress, with great piety,
She served the sick, the homeless and the poor,
And for the churches Helen did procure
The funds with zeal and generosity.

Byzantium was at first their residence,
Their town and domicile - “Helenopolis”
With garden gates and flower line trellis,
A town of beauty and significance.

But later they chose Trier** as their domain,
First Teutons' pride, and then the Romans' gem,






But Helen’s heart longed for Jerusalem,
To search for treasure in its waste terrain.

The agèd Empress furrowed on her knee,
Beneath old rubble, debris, stones and dross,
She dug and searched, and found the real cross
On which our Savior hung in agony.

She traveled East to strange and foreign strands,
And searched and found beneath some temples’ stones
Three magi wise men's venerated bones,***
And had them transferred on to Western lands.

The cross did not at first a church adorn,-
The early Christians used Chi Ro and Fish,





In Catacombs, on caskets, walls and niche
Until the True Cross was to surface borne.

Basilicas soon graced each hallowed spot,
She financed them and many a sacred shrine,
In Palestine and on the Teuton Rhine,
In honor of the Christian Lord and God.

Eusebius, the church historian
In glowing pages sings the laud and praise
Of Emperor Constantine the Great and says
"Incomparable was Augusta's son"!.

St. Ambrose, Milan’s bishop sang the praise
Of Empress Helen and her sanctity,
The agèd Empress searching on her knees
That brought the world the symbol of God’s grace.




© Elizabeth Dandy


*"In hoc signum vinces
(conquer by this sign)"



**Trier is the oldest German city.
Celtic settlements existed already in the year 3000 BC
inhabited by the celtic Treverer tribe.

The later Trier, AUGUSTA TREVERORUM, was founded around the year 16 BC by Emperor Augustus in the vicinity of a former Celtic tribal sanctuary.

Towards the end of the 3rd century A.D. Emperor Diocletian made the city of Trier the Capital and Residence of the WESTERN Roman Empire

***The story of St. Helena's finding the relics of the 3 magis, (holy 3 kings) and their transfer to Cologne, Germany, will be the subject of another story

Copyright © Elizabeth_Dandy ... [ 2005-03-09 08:20:31]
(Date/Time posted on site)

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