Empress Helena of Rome

Roman Empress Flavia Iulia Helena is one of the few early church saints whose existence is a historical certainty. She must have been an energetic lady even in high age. She shared the Roman Emperors penchant for putting up representative buildings and went on a spending spree to erect numerous churches. According to legend, she was one of the first archaeologists as well as an avid collector of bric-a-brac.

Helena was born around 250 in Drepanon in Turkey. She was the daughter of a tavern owner and joined the family business. In the line of work, she met and married a minor Roman officer named Constantius Chlorus with whom she had a son by the name of Constantine. Her husband later divorced her to marry the stepdaughter of Emperor Maximian to advance his career in the army. Constantius Chlorus was adopted by Emperor Maximian and made Caesar as one of the tetrarchs (in the four emperor system) of the realm in line for succession to become Augustus.
 
After Constantius Chlorus’ untimely death, Constantine took over from his father as Caesar. He was proclaimed Augustus by his troops in 306 in York. Returning to his residence city of Trier in Germany he invited his mother to Trier and proclaimed her Augusta. From tavern wench to empress, the Roman dream had come true.
 
At some point in her life, Helena had converted to Christianity. On becoming an empress (if only in form of an honorary title), she embarked on a major building program. Unlike any member of the imperial family before her, she planned and built Christian churches. The most famous ones we see on television every Christmas are the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. But she planned, built, donated, or instigated churches as far as the empire reached.
 
Saint Eusebius was Bishop of Caesarea and a contemporary of Helena's. He told in his writings that she travelled from Trier to Palestine at the age of 76. She died in Nicomedia in Turkey probably in 329 as no coins with her image are known to have been coined after that date. If you think that her real life was colourful enough already, then you’ll enjoy the legend that much more.
 
On her progress through Palestine, legend had her doing excavating work under the temple of Aphrodite erected by Emperor Hadrian over Golgotha and the Holy Sepulchre. She was credited with finding the Holy Sepulchre and the wood of the true cross. By the time she was leaving Palestine by ship, she had mysteriously acquired the nails as well. The mummified bodies of the three Magi were loaded as an incentive or discount onto her ship as well.
 
For unknown reasons, she then went for a hike or a swim on Cyprus before landing in Italy. From Italy, her cavalcade went northwards by land, all the while dropping bits and pieces of the true cross at various churches as well as nails, spears, and bones. By the time her household arrived in Basel, she had also gathered up 11,000 virgins. Gallivanting on northwards while shedding more bric-a-brac, she reached Cologne (without the virgins which had somehow disappeared into thin air), but still in possession of the three Magi which she dropped off there.
 
Church history puts the remains of the Magi into the hoard of the Imperial family until donated to Bishop Eustorgius and placed in the cathedral at Milan. Emperor Barbarossa had them conveyed to the cathedral in Cologne in the 12th century where they remain to this day. Saint Helena, again according to church history, is buried in Rome in the church of Santa Maria In Ara Coeli.

Further reading
Cologne Cathedral: Shrine of The Three Magi
Livia, First Empress of Rome
Saint Befana's Day: Gifts From The Witch