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St. Constantine the Great (d. 337) Junior Emperor and emperor called the "Thirteenth Apostle" in the East. The son of Constantius I Chlorus, junior emperor and St. Helena, Constantine was raised on the court of co-Emperor Diocletian. When his father died in 306, Constantine was declared junior emperor of York, England, by the local legions and earned a place as a ruler of the Empire by defeating of his main rivals at the battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312. According to legend, he adopted the insignia of Christ, the chi-rho, and placed it upon his labarum - the military standards that held the banners his armies carried into battle to vanquish their pagan enemies. His purple banners were inscribed with the Latin for “In this sign conquer.” Constantine then shared rule of the Empire with Licinius Licinianus, exerting his considerable influence upon his colleague to secure the declaration of Christianity to be a free religion. When, however, Licinius and Constantine launched a persecution of the Christians, Constantine marched to the East and routed his opponent at the battle of Adrianople.
Constantine was the most dominating figure of his lifetime, towering over his contemporaries, including Pope Sylvester I. He presided over the Council of Nicaea, gave extensive grants of land and property to the Church, founded the Christian city of Constantinople to serve as his new capital, and undertook a long-sighted program of Christianization for the whole of the Roman Empire. While he was baptized a Christian only on his deathbed, Constantine nevertheless was a genuinely important figure in Christian history and was revered as a saint, especially in the Eastern Church.

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St. Helena (c. 250-c. 330) Probably the daughter of an innkeeper, and born sometime between 248 and 255 at Drepanum, Bithynia (a legend that she was the daughter of an Enblish prince has long since been disproved), she met Roman General Constantius Chorus about 270, and despite her lowly station, they were married. Sometime between 274 and 288, ther son Constantine was born. When Constantius was named Caesar (The Roman Empire was divided into and Eastern and Western Empire, each having their own Emperor and Vice Emperor referred to as a Caesar) under Emperor Maximian, he divorced Helena for political reasons and married Maximian’s stepdaughter, Thodora. When Maximian died at York, England, in 306, Constantine, who was with him, was declared Emperor by the troops there but did not win a clear title to the throne until his dramatic victory at the Milvian brtidge in 312. He conferred the title Augusta on his mother, ordered all honor be paid to her as the mother of the sovereign, and had coins struck with her lieness on them. In 313, he and his fellow Emperor, Licinius, issued the Edict of Milan, permitting Christianity in the Empire and releasing all religious prisoners. Abouth this time, Helena was converted to Christianity (she was then sexty-three according to historian Eusebius). She zealously supported the Christian cause,m built numberous churches, aided the poor, and ministered to the distressed. After several wars between them, Constantine defeated Licinius a final time in 313; Licinius was executed, Constantine became sole Emperor of both East and West, and moved the capital to Constantinople. Helena went to Palestine, and where there, according to Rufinus, Sulpicius Severus, and a sermon of St. Ambrose, all dating from the late fourth century, she discuvoered the True Cross. She built basilicas on the Mount of Olives and at Bethlehem, traveled all over Palestine, and was known for her kindness to soldiers, the poor, and prisoners. She died somewhere in the East, probably at Nicomedia, and was buried at Constantinople. August 18.

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