The Patron Saint of Archaeology

St. Helena of Constantinople, the mother of Emperor Constantine, is the Patron Saint of Archaeologists. (Constantine was the Christian convert who put the "Holy" in Holy Roman Empire!) Due to her spiritual motivation, she was probably one of the first people ever to have embarked upon archaeological fieldwork.

the first archaeological dig?

Helena undertook a trip to Palestine during 326 to 328 AD. This was with the express intention of recovering the relics of Christianity, a burgeoning religion she had adopted and, later, to which her son would convert, setting in motion the Christianisation of most of Europe and beyond. Helena’s trip was probably the first archaeological mission in history.

After distributing largesse to the poor and needy along her route – this was a time when such charity was a cornerstone of the new religion – she turned her attention to fieldwork. According to legendary accounts, Helena was moved by the Holy Spirit to dig in Jerusalem, whereupon she found wood from three crosses. Some sources say that she immediately knew which one was the cross upon which Jesus was crucified by the plaque affixed upon it, declaring him King of the Jews. Another source says that she took all tree crosses to a sick woman and, touching her with each in turn, identified the holy cross upon the woman’s miraculous recovery.

my sister and I touching the Reliquary of the True Cross in Israel

Helena also found part of Christ’s tunic, the rope with which he was lashed to the cross, and also the nails that went through Christ’s hands and feet (but not his body as, according to scripture, this ascended to heaven). She sent one of the nails to her son who made it into a horse bridle, so honoring the prophecy linking the nails to “the bells of horses”. 

Unwittingly, Helena also sparked the cult of relics and thousands of pieces of the true cross were to find their way across Europe, most with rather dubious pedigree. There is still a Reliquary of the True Cross at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Helena died a little after her return from Palestine in 330 AD with her son at her side. She was buried in the Mausoleum of Helena, just outside Rome, and, what is claimed as her sarcophagus, now lies in the Vatican Museum.

a stained glass window in the Community of St. Helen's church

I knew all this of course, being a good Catholic school girl and having visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Vatican Museum in Rome in person. And my parish church for 25 years in Westfield, NJ was named in honor of St. Helen. My son Alex's Confirmation name - the additional name one takes upon being confirmed a Roman Catholic - is even "Constantine." But my fellow SH2015 Gaza Gray excavators did not. They had sought the blessing of St. Helen before beginning to dig in Kruger National Park, but they did not know why she was acknowledged as the Patron Saint of Archaeologists. 

But after finding not one but two skeletons at the site, it was clear that someone was looking out for our little archaeological expedition. Blessed be St. Helena of Constantinople!

my St. Helen charm for SH2015 in RSA!