The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-08-18
THE DIsCovERER OF THE CROSS

In the calendar of the saints this day is set apart for the worship of St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome, and the discoverer of the true cross" on which Jesus was crucified. It was the Empress Helena who first gave impetus to that search for relics, and their worship, which subsequently as- stunned such great importance, and which has led to the establishment of shrines all over the world. A multi .tude of relics now displayed in Europe are alleged to have been found by St. He1ena.-a fact facetiously and rather irreverently commented upon by Mark Twain.
 The celebration of St. Helena's Day, the eighteenth of August, was long observed with great enthusiasm by the people of Colchester, England, as it was alleged that she had been born within it's walls. Latterly this honor has been disputed, but the authorities of the church still insist that she was a British princess. Modern scholar ship denies this claim of royal birth. On this point Gibbon says, ''Notwith- standing the recent tradition which as- signs for her father British king, we are obliged to confess that Helena was the daughter of an innkeeper" Christian writers give to Helena the credit for having converted her son to Christianity, but Eusebfus states that's he herself was indebted to Con- stantine for her knowledge of the new faith which Constantine raised from the status of a persecuted sect to that
 of great and powerful religion.
 The mother of Constantine the Great was in her eightieth year when she made pilgrimage to Jerusalem, with the ardent desire of recovering thee ross on which Jesus was cruel fled. According to tradition, three crosses were found by Helena on
 Mount Calvary, although some ac- counts say that they were found in a house in Jerusalem where they had been concealed
 Several accounts are given as to the
 manner in which the true cross was lidentified. Some authorities state that a dead body was placed in turn on
 each of the three crosses, and when it touched the third the man imme-
 diately came to life. Others say that, the three crosses were applied suc- cessively tc a woman afflicted with
 an incurable disease, "and nc sooner he'd the third touched her :han she arose, perfectly healed"
 The Empress Helena built magni- ficent church on Mount Calvary to
 receive the relic, but sent portions of it to Rome and Constantinop1e. It was early in the fourth century that Hel- ! ena discovered the cross, and three centuries later 1t was said to have
 been carried into Persia, but was re- ! covered and returned to Jerusalem. In later centuries what were said tc l be fragments of the true cross aprear- | ee in churches all over Chriseendom,
 In 1881 John Calvin published a book
 "declarynge what great profit might
 come to al Christendome, yf there
 were regester made of all sainctes Bodies. and other Reliques" In this
 work Calvin declared that so many | fragments of the true cross were scat i tered smong Christian churches that they would load large ship. and that whereas the original cross could be
 carried by one man 1t would take 30d men to support the weight of the
 existing fragments of it. Nails from the cross discovered by Helena were
 equally numerous, and ore of them ia st.ll prsssrved at Cologne. Germany. l1 9 -