Feast of St. Helena, August 18

 

St. Helena was the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, who declared Catholicism the official religion of the Empire. He banned many pagan practices with the maxim "Cesset superstitio; sacrificiorum aboleatur insania" (Let superstition cease; let the folly of sacrifices be abolished).

St. Helena's sarcophagus is in the Vatican Museum.

The picture is the Arch of Constantine in Rome, as seen from the Coliseum.