It came to her in a dream! The true Cross of Christ!
Today the Church honors her – St. Helen (Helena) of the 4th century.
The painting – Veronese, Vision of St Helen – is the sleeping saint. Church history attributes her dream to leading her to finding the true Cross. The painting, c. 1580, is by a Venetian artist Paolo Caliari.
St. Helene is the mother of Roman Emperor Constaintine. Her search for the true Cross in 320 A.D., also recovered the instruments of the Passion.
The Basilica of the Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Holy Cross of Jerusalem) is built on soil St. Helen brought back to Rome from Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre.
She also brought the “Scala Sancta” – the stairs Jesus ascended at Pontius Pilate’s palace back to Rome with her.
To this day they can be visited across from the San Giovanni, near the Santa Croce. Pilgrims climb the stairs on their knees in solemn prayer.
Interestingly, prior to being a church, the area was the private residence of St. Helen. It was restored, renovated, and redesigned over the centuries by various popes.
The basilica also houses thorns from Christ’s crown, part of the cross of the “good thief”, a bone fragment of St. Thomas, and fragments of the grotto of the Nativity among other relics pilgrims can venerate.
St. Helen, pray for us.
