From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Mildness is a virtue   
      
   Mildness is a virtue, in which principally consists nobility of soul.   
   And for this reason it is that lovers of the world often fail in   
   mildness, because they are not possessed of that nobility, or only in   
   a very scanty and imperfect degree. If they are not the first to use   
   insulting and uncourteous terms, at least when they are attacked by   
   others they resent it with the utmost indignation, giving in return   
   language doubly abusive, and thus showing by their vengeance that they   
   have an ignoble disposition. The servants of God, on the other hand,   
   whether provoked by word or work, by keeping themselves tranquil and   
   peaceful, evince a perfect nobleness of soul.   
   --St. Thomas Aquinas   
      
      
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   August 18th - St. Helen,  Empress   
   †  c. 328/330   
      
    A native of Drepanum. in Asia Minor (it is said) and perhaps the   
   daughter of an innkeeper, Helen nevertheless caught the eye of a   
   rising Roman general, Constantius Chlorus. They entered a true   
   marriage around 270 A.D. When they were living at Nish, in the present   
   Yugoslavia, she bore him a son whom they named Constantine   
   (Constantinus, i.e., “little Constantius”).   
      
   Constantius gradually became so influential and powerful that in 292   
   Maximian Herculius, Roman emperor of the West, named him co-emperor,   
   with the title of “Caesar”. Because he was now of imperial rank,   
   Constantius decided to break off with the lowborn Helena. He then   
   married Theodora, stepdaughter of Emperor Maximian. (Marrying the   
   boss’s daughter is an old ploy!)   
      
   Constantine, nevertheless, kept very close to his mother, whom he   
   dearly loved. When his father died in 306 and he was proclaimed   
   emperor to succeed him, Constantine raised Helena, now about 63, to   
   full imperial status. He gave her the name “Flavia Julia Helena”,   
   assigned to her the imperial title “Augusta”, and issued a series of   
   coins bearing her image.   
      
   Emperor Diocletian had divided the rule of the Roman empire among four   
   “co-emperors”. Constantine was to bring it back under the rule of a   
   single emperor. In 312 he conquered his western co-emperor, Maxentius,   
   on the outskirts of Rome. Up to then, the emperors had been waging war   
   on Christianity, but the Christian faith attracted Constantine. In 313   
   he issued a decree ending the persecutions and granting Christians   
   equal right to exist. He even enrolled as a Christian catechumen,   
   although he received baptism only on his deathbed. But Helena at once   
   became a full-fledged Christian, and devoted the rest of her life to   
   the good works of serving the poor and building and adorning Christian   
   churches. Constantine gave her all the encouragement and aid she   
   needed in these tasks.   
      
   Having built several churches in the West, Helen made a pilgrimage to   
   the Holy Land in 324. Although now 80 years old, the Empress continued   
   to assist the needy and build churches. The pagan emperors had sought   
   to obliterate Christianity by building temples over Mount Calvary at   
   the Holy Sepulchre. Constantine, Helena and Bishop Macarius of   
   Jerusalem saw to it that these temples were razed and Christian   
   basilicas erected on the holy sites. In the process, the very   
   instruments of Christ’s passion – the three crosses, the nails, the   
   crown of thorns, and the inscription were found near Mt. Calvary,   
   buried very deep. The story has it that Helen tested which of the   
   three crosses was that of Christ by touching each to a dying woman.   
   When one of the crosses brought about the woman’s cure, it was   
   concluded that one was the true cross. The discovery of the crosses   
   was indeed a fact, and segments of Christ’s cross were soon sent to   
   principal churches throughout the world.   
      
   St. Helena spent her last years in the East, where her son now lived.   
   She supervised the erection of churches not only in Jerusalem, but on   
   other Bible sites, especially the Mount of Olives and Bethlehem.   
   Although a woman of supreme prestige in the Christianized Roman   
   Empire, Helen made little of her status. She dressed simply and   
   refused to stand on ceremony. It was her preference to attend church   
   as a member of the crowd of “praying women”. The historian Eusebius   
   admiringly said of her, “though empress of the world and mistress of   
   the empire, she looked upon herself as servant of the handmaids of   
   Christ.” She died in the East around 330. Her body was brought to Rome   
   for burial and her splendid porphyry sarcophagus is now in the   
   Vatican. All women named Helen, Helena, Helene, Ellen, Elaine, Eileen,   
   Ella or Nell can claim as their patron this devout and humble queen.   
      
   Helen, though born a pagan, was a “natural Christian”. As such she   
   recognized the cross of Christ as the symbol of the most important   
   fact of the world, that through it Christ saved mankind. She might   
   well have expressed this faith in the words of a later Latin   
   hymnodist: “O Crux, ave, spes unica”: “All hail, O Cross, our only   
   hope!”   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   To leave our prayer when we are called to do some act of charity for   
   our neighbor, is not really a quitting of prayer, but leaving Christ   
   for Christ. Even in the midst of a crowd we can be going on to   
   perfection.   
   --St. Philip   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good life let him show   
   his works in the meekness of wisdom.14But if you have bitter jealousy   
   and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the   
   truth.15This wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is   
   earthly, unspiritual, devilish. [James 3:13-15]  RSVCE   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Prayer of St. Augustine,    
    :   
     Lord Jesus, our Savior, let us now come to you: Our hearts are cold;   
   Lord, warm them with your selfless love.  Our hearts are sinful;   
   cleanse them with your precious blood.  Our hearts are weak;   
   strengthen them with your joyous Spirit.  Our hearts are empty; fill   
   them with your divine presence.  Lord Jesus, our hearts are yours;   
   possess them always and only for yourself.”   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)