MEMORIAL OF SAINT HELEN (HELENA), EMPRESS AND SAINT AGAPETUS, MARTYR ~ FEAST DAY – AUGUST 18TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Helen (Helena), Empress and Saint Agapitus, Martyr. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed and those who mourn. We pray for all marriages, especially difficult marriages and also pray for all those who are divorced, we pray for peace, love, and unity in our marriage, our families and our world. We pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for the poor and needy in our world. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, the Bishops, the Clergy, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏
SAINT HELEN (HELENA), EMPRESS: St. Helen, also known as St. Helena (d. 327 A.D.), was a woman of humble means from Asia Minor. She was born around 248 AD in Drepanum, which is located in modern day Turkey. Many know St. Helen as the highly influential mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, who made history by relaxing the rules against Christianity and paving the way for the rise of the Roman Catholic Church. What’s interesting to note is that she didn’t convert to Christianity until later in life. According to history, St. Helen married the future Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus, and their son Constantine was born c. 272. Constantius divorced Helen in c. 293 to marry Emperor Maximian’s daughter for the sake of political gain. When her son Constantine became the Roman Emperor, St. Helen was given the imperial title “Augusta” and was treated like royalty. After Constantine legalized Christianity across the Roman Empire, St. Helen, a Christian convert, went to the Holy Land in search of the actual cross on which Christ was crucified, despite being in her 80s. She questioned local Christians and Jews and learned that the cross was buried under the Temple of Venus. St. Helen had the temple demolished and excavated. There she discovered the Holy Sepulcher, three crosses, the board with Pilate’s inscription, and the nails which pierced Jesus’ Sacred Body. In order to determine which cross was the Lord’s, the Bishop of Jerusalem touched them to a corpse, causing the man to come back to life. A second miraculous healing of a sick woman confirmed the discovery of the True Cross. Christians flocked to Jerusalem to venerate the Holy Cross. St. Helen then visited all the holy places of Jesus’ life and built many churches over their locations, including Bethlehem, the Mount of Olives, and the Garden of Gethsemane.
St. Helen wasn’t a Christian until she was roughly 65 years old. It can be a surprising fact, as St. Helen died about 15 years later and yet she is credited with the building of numerous churches and the discovery of a number of relics, such as the true cross of Jesus Christ. Her story is powerful and reminds us that no matter what age we might be, our past can never keep us away from the mercy of God. We might have made some bad mistakes in our younger years, but for God there is no time limit on his mercy. This is good news and reassures us that whether we are 9 or 99, we still have time to embrace the love of God. St. Helen is the Patron Saint of difficult marriages, divorced people, converts, against fire; against storms; against thunder; archeologists; converts; cloth dyers; empresses; diocese of Helena, Montana; nail smiths; needle makers. Her Feast Day is August 18.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, You willed to enrich Your Church through St. Helena with a treasure beyond price and so revealed to her the hiding place of Your Cross. Through her intercession, grant that the ransom paid on that life-giving wood may win the rewards of everlasting life for us. Amen 🙏
SAINT AGAPITUS, MARTYR: St. Agapitus was a martyr of Palestrina, not far from Rome. St. Agapitus was born to an imperial patrician family in Latium, Italy. At fifteen years of age, the boy proudly, publicly proclaimed his Christianity during the persecution of Aurelian. He suffered in his youth a cruel martyrdom at Præneste, now called Palestrina, twenty-four miles from Rome, under Aurelian, about the year 274. Upon orders from the Emperor Aurelian, he was mercilessly whipped with leaded scourges, then thrown into a vile basement to remain there four days without food. After further punishment under the lash, he was suspended head downwards over a smoldering fire so that he should die from the smoke; boiling water was dashed against him, and his jaws were battered. When wild beasts hesitated to harm him, he was finally beheaded. Thus ended the glorious martyrdom of the holy youth, St. Agapitus, in the year 274. Because he was a young man, and because the heroic way he met his martyrdom brought about many conversions, his was a favourite story in times past, and often grew in the telling, but we know very little about him for sure.
St. Agapitus’ name is famous in the sacramentaries of St. Gelasius, and St. Gregory the Great, and in the ancient calendars of the church of Rome. Two churches in Palestrina and others in other places are dedicated to God under his name. Agapitus is venerated as a martyr saint, who died on August 18, 274 AD, Palestrina, Italy, a date that the latest editions of the Roman Martyrology say is uncertain. His cult, which is very ancient, was particularly popular in the eternal city where Felix III (492) caused a church to be built in his honor. Ancient inscriptions show clearly the great confidence placed in the intercession of this martyr. He’s Patron Saint Palestrina, Italy and against colic.
Saint Agapitus, Martyr ~ Pray for us 🙏