Helena, the name of several female saints of the Catholic Church, the most celebrated of whom is the Empress Helena, wife of Constantius Chlorus, and mother of Constantine the Great. Whether born in Bithynia, Britain, or at Treves, she became a Christian during the youth of Constantine, but it was not till after the defeat of Maxentius that she formally received baptism. The few remaining years of her life she gave to works of benevolence.
In 326, according to almost contemporary tradition, she visited Jerusalem, and there, with Bishop Macarius, discovered the Holy Sepulchre and the cross of Our Lord. Along with it were the crosses of the two thieves, but which was the true cross was shown by its touch restoring a sick lady to health. St Helena died, it is said, a nun, at the age of eighty. Her festival falls on 18th August. See CROSS, and works cited there.—Two other women of the same name are honoured as saints. The first, whose cult is confined to the Russian Church, was the wife of the Grand-duke Igor, and at her baptism in Constantinople (955) changed her original name, Olga, into Helena; the other was a native of West Gothland, and lived in the 12th century.