Augusta Flavia Iulia Helena









Hail Flavia, Augusta, Iulia Helena!

The mother of  great emperor Constantine!

Who toiled as lowly  bar maid in an inn

In  ancient Drepanum, Bithynia.



One day a soldiers troop her tavern passed,

Led by imperial an officer,

Chlorus Constantius, famed warrior

Demanded in her tavern  a repast.



High officers can easily  forget,

Their rank, when struck by beauty sans compare.

He fell in love with the so sweet and fair,

And in Apollo's temple they were wed.



A son was born to them, called Constantine,

Who’d follow in his father’s foot steps soon,

To lead in battle squadrons and platoon,

And favored by the gods their wars to win.



But for political expedience

Constantius Chlorus put his wife aside,

And took Maxentius’ daughter as his bride,

To boost career and personal advance.



Exiled upon an isle she mourned her lot.

Heart broken and in sorrow Helen lived

Her tears were flowing as she cried  and grieved.

But in her grief she found the Christian God.



And Helen, wounded deeply could but pray

In bitter exile grieving  and alone,

For she had also lost her only son,

Who battled with his father far away.



Both  fought far off, in York, on British ground

Where Chlorus fell and died, -  - the battle won,

And the victorious army chose her son

As future Emperor to trumpet’s sound.







And Constantine made himself a name,

As emperor and sovereign supreme,

Yet unfulfilled was still his biggest dream,

To gain  the WEST, - his high ambitious aim.



He conquered it at last upon the siege

And battle by the famous Milvian bridge,

That gave great Constantine victory

And  brought to paynim lands Christianity.



He lifted up his mother from her woe,

And struck on coins of gold  her image fair,

Made her "Augusta" - vindicating her

And put the diadem  upon her brow.







As ruling Empress, with great piety,

She served the sick, the homeless and the  poor,

And for the churches Helen did procure

The funds with zeal and generosity.



Byzantium was at first their residence,

The town munificent - “Helenopolis”

With garden gates and flower line trellis,

A town of fame, strength ad munificence.



But later they chose Trier* as their domain,

The Teutons' pride, and then the Romans' gem







But Helen’s heart longed for Jerusalem,

To search for treasure in dust-bowl terrain.



The agèd empress soon searched on her knee,

Beneath old rubble, broken stones and dross,

She dug and searched, and found at last the cross

Where our Savior hung in agony.



She traveled East to strange and foreign strands,

And searched and found beneath some temples’ stones

Three magi wise men's venerated bones,

And had them transferred on to Western lands.



The cross did not at first a church adorn,-

The faithful used the Chiro sign and Fish,  











In Catacombs, on caskets wall and niche

Until the True Cross was to surface borne.



Basilicas soon rose upon their spot,

She financed them and  many a sacred shrine

In Palestine and on the Teuton Rhine,

In honor of the Christian Lord and God.



St. Ambrose, Milan’s bishop sang the praise

Of Empress Helen and her sanctity,

The gracious Empress on her agèd knees

That brought the world the symbol of God’s grace.









by: Elizabeth Dandy

*Trier is the oldest German city.













                                    

View blumentopf's Full Portfolio
tags: