#Helena of Constantinople

[dreamconsumer]

Constantine the Great (272-337) and his mother Helena of Constantinople (246/248-330).

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT HELENA OF CONSTANTINOPLE Feast Day: August 18

St. Helena was the mother of Constantine the Great, and according to the sixth-century historian Procopius, she was born around AD 248 in Drepanum, which today is located in modern Turkey. Her full name became Flavia Julia Helena Augusta.

She married Constantius Chlorus, who would later become co-Regent of the Western part of the Roman Empire, but in order for that to happen, he had to divorce Helena after twenty-two years of marriage and marry Theodora, the step-daughter of the Emperor Maximinianus.

After the divorce, Helena and her son were dispatched to the court of Emperor Diocletian at Nicomedia where Constantine grew to be a member of the inner circle. Her son remained faithful to her, and following the death of Constantius Chlorus, Constantine succeeded him.

After he became emperor, he summoned his mother to the imperial court and conferred on her the title of Augusta, a Roman imperial honorific title given to empresses and honored women of the imperial families. Augustae could issue their own coinage, wear imperial regalia, and rule their own courts.

Constantine ordered that all honor should be paid to her as the mother of the sovereign, and he had coins struck bearing her effigy. Some of the earliest coins were minted in Nicomedia.

She embraced Christianity following her son’s victory over Maxentius, and, according to Eusebius, she 'became a devout servant of God,' and her influence helped Christianity spread throughout the empire.

She had churches built over the sacred spots in Palestine, and at an advanced age, she undertook a journey to Palestine in the year AD 324, once her son had become the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.

During this journey, she had two special churches constructed, one in Bethlehem, near the Grotto of the Nativity, and the other on the Mount of the Ascension. She had great concern for the poor, financially assisting both individuals and entire communities. It was during this time that a legend, first recorded by Rufinus, began circulating about how she had 'found' the true cross.

There are several versions concerning how the cross was found. In some, Helena has a dream telling her where the cross is buried. In another tradition, the Ethiopian Coptic tradition still celebrated as Mesquel, she followed smoke from a bonfire to the site.

However, in the version that received the most circulation and became popular in the Middle Ages, she asks the people of Jerusalem to tell her the location. When the Jewish leaders of the city are silent, she places one of them, a man named Judas, in a well until he agrees to show her the site. After seven days, he prays to God for guidance and is told to reveal the location to her. Afterwards, Judas converts to Christianity and takes the name Kyriakis, 'he who belongs to the Lord.'

Helena finds three crosses, nails, and the titulus (title) under a pagan temple. To determine which is the right cross, a deathly sick girl was brought to the site. She was touched by all three crosses, but upon being touched by the True Cross, she was restored to health.

St. Helena lived in a lavish house near the Lateran, and a pious tradition associates her with the founding of what would become the Vatican Gardens because, on that site, she spread earth brought from Golgotha to symbolically unite the blood of Jesus with that shed by thousands of early Christians who died under Nero. After her death, her residence was demolished, and the Church of the Holy Cross was built on that site. On November 8, 324, she received the title Augusta, and in AD 327, Constantine changed the name of his mother’s hometown to Helanopolis. She was about eighty-two when she died on August 18, 330, with her son at her side, and her body was brought to Constantinople and laid to rest in the imperial vault of the Church of the Apostles.

She was buried in the Mausoleum of Helena, outside Rome on the Via Labicana. Her sarcophagus is on display in the Pio-Clementine Vatican Museum. Next to her is the sarcophagus of her granddaughter Saint Constantina (Saint Constance).

Her skull is displayed in the Cathedral of Trier, in Germany. As the Muslims began advancing, her body was transferred to the Abbey of Hautvillers in Reims, France in AD 849.

St. Helena is the patron saint of difficult marriages, divorced people, converts, and archaeologists.

Source: Church of St. Helena's - The Bronx, New York

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (August 18)

Flavia Julia Helena, also known as Helena of Constantinople and in Christianity as Saint Helena, was an Augusta of the Roman Empire and mother of Emperor Constantine the Great.

Not much is known about Saint Helena but it is probable that she was born in the middle of the third century in Asia Minor.

She worked as a stable maid as a young woman, according to Saint Anselm.

Helena later married a young Roman official, Constantius Chlorus, who took her as wife despite their difference in social status.

Around the year 270, she gave birth to their first son, Constantine.

Constantius quickly rose in the ranks of the Roman military. Due to political reasons, he was forced to repudiate Helena and marry another.

Helena remained at a distance as she watched her son rise in the court of Diocletian.

In 305, Constatius, now Augustus, and Constantine went to Britain to fight against the Picts.

Constantine became emperor when his father died unexpectedly at York.

As the new emperor, his first action was to recall his mother Helena.

Shortly after her son’s accession, Helena converted to Christianity.

Her faith moved her to care for the poor by providing for their needs through generous almsgiving.

She also worked to liberate prisoners and those sent to the mines or into exile.

Constantine’s reign took a downward turn when he ordered the death of his son and that of his second wife.

The family tragedy pushed Helena to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 326.

There, she ordered the construction of the Basilicas of the Nativity in Bethlehem and of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives.

The work was overseen by Helena whose faith was rewarded when the True Cross was discovered.

Possibly through Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem, she had a woman who was near death brought from the city.

When the woman touched the first and second crosses, her condition did not change.

However, when she touched the third and final cross, she suddenly recovered.

Helena then declared the cross with which the woman had been touched to be the True Cross.

The three nails from the Crucifixion were given by Helena to Constantine.

On the site of discovery, Constantine ordered the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Churches were also built on other sites detected by Helena.

Helena died in an unknown location in 329. Constantine had her body brought back to Rome.

[child-of-hurin]

Top 5 favorite Remebrance of Earth's Past characters pre-reread:

Trisolatian listener

Helena, the witch of Constantinople

Dongfang Yanxu

Yang Dong

Zhang Beihai

[city-of-ladies]

"The most notable players in Palaiologue politics were the empresses Yolanda-Irene of Montferrat and Anna of Savoy, and on the whole their record is woeful: Yolanda-Irene of Montferrat, second wife of Andronikos II, was unable to comprehend the succession rights of her eldest stepson, Michael IX, and since her husband remained obstinately unmoved by her representations she flounced off with her three sons to Thessalonika where she kept a separate court for many years from 1303 to her death in 1317. From her own domain she issued her own decrees, conducted her own foreign policy and plotted against her husband with the Serbs and Catalans: in mitigation, she had seen her five-year-old daughter married off to the middle-aged Serbian lecher Milutin, and considered that her eldest son John had been married beneath him to a Byzantine aristocrat, Irene Choumnaina. She died embittered and extremely wealthy.

When Yolanda’s grandson Andronikos III died early, leaving a nine-year old son John V and no arrangements for a regent, the empress Anna of Savoy assumed the regency. In so doing she provoked a civil war with her husband’s best friend John Kantakouzenos, and devastated the empire financially, bringing it to bankruptcy and pawning the crown jewels to Venice, as well as employing Turkish mercenaries and, it appears, offering to have her son convert to the church of Rome. Gregoras specifically blames her for the civil war, though he admits that she should not be criticised too heavily since she was a woman and a foreigner. Her mismanagement was not compensated for by her later negotiations in 1351 between John VI Kantakouzenos and her son in Thessalonika, who was planning a rebellion with the help of Stephen Dushan of Serbia. In 1351 Anna too settled in Thessalonika and reigned over it as her own portion of the empire until her death in c. 1365, even minting her own coinage.

These women were powerful and domineering ladies par excellence, but with the proviso that their political influence was virtually minimal. Despite their outspokenness and love of dominion they were not successful politicians: Anna of Savoy, the only one in whose hands government was placed, was compared to a weaver’s shuttle that ripped the purple cloth of empire. But there were of course exceptions. Civil wars ensured that not all empresses were foreigners and more than one woman of Byzantine descent reached the throne and was given quasi-imperial functions by her husband. 

Theodora Doukaina Komnene Palaiologina, wife of Michael VIII, herself had imperial connections as the great-niece of John III Vatatzes, and issued acts concerning disputes over monastic properties during her husband’s reign, even addressing the emperor’s officials on occasion and confirming her husband’s decisions. Nevertheless, unlike other women of Michael’s family who went into exile over the issue, she was forced to support her husband’s policy of church union with Rome, a stance which she seems to have spent the rest of her life regretting. She was also humiliated when he wished to divorce her to marry Constance-Anna of Hohenstaufen, the widow of John III Vatatzes.

Another supportive empress consort can be seen in Irene Kantakouzene Asenina, whose martial spirit came to the fore during the civil war against Anna of Savoy and the Palaiologue ‘faction’. Irene in 1342 was put in charge of Didymoteichos by her husband John VI Kantakouzenos; she also organised the defence of Constantinople against the Genoese in April 1348 and against John Palaiologos in March 1353, being one of the very few Byzantine empresses who took command in military affairs. But like Theodora, Irene seems to have conformed to her husband’s wishes in matters of policy and agreed with his decisions concerning the exclusion of their sons from the succession and their eventual abdication in 1354.

Irene and her daughter Helena Kantakouzene, wife of John V Palaiologos, were both torn by conflicting loyalties between different family members, and Helena in particular was forced to mediate between her ineffectual husband and the ambitions of her son and grandson. She is supposed to have organised the escape of her husband and two younger sons from prison in 1379 and was promptly taken hostage with her father and two sisters by her eldest son Andronikos IV and imprisoned until 1381; her release was celebrated with popular rejoicing in the capital. According to Demetrios Kydones she was involved in political life under both her husband and son, Manuel II, but her main role was in mediating between the different members of her family.

In a final success story, the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, owed his throne to his mother. The Serbian princess Helena Dragash, wife of Manuel II Palaiologos, in the last legitimating political manoeuvre by a Byzantine empress, successfully managed to keep the throne for her son Constantine and fend off the claims of his brother Demetrios. She arranged for Constantine’s proclamation as emperor in the Peloponnese and asserted her right to act as regent until his arrival in the capital from Mistra in 1449.

Despite the general lack of opportunity for them to play a role in politics, Palaiologue imperial women in the thirteenth century found outlets for their independent spirit and considerable financial resources in other ways. They were noted for their foundation or restoration of monastic establishments and for their patronage of the arts. Theodora Palaiologina restored the foundation of Constantine Lips as a convent for fifty nuns, with a small hospital for laywomen attached, as well as refounding a smaller convent of Sts Kosmas and Damian. She was also an active patron of the arts, commissioning the production of manuscripts like Theodora Raoulaina, her husband’s niece. Her typikon displays the pride she felt in her family and position, an attitude typically found amongst aristocratic women.

Clearly, like empresses prior to 1204, she had considerable wealth in her own hands both as empress and dowager. She had been granted the island of Kos as her private property by Michael, while she had also inherited land from her family and been given properties by her son Andronikos. Other women of the family also display the power of conspicuous spending: Theodora Raoulaina used her money to refound St Andrew of Crete as a convent where she pursued her scholarly interests. 

Theodora Palaiologina Angelina Kantakouzene, John Kantakouzenos’s mother, was arguably the richest woman of the period and financed Andronikos III’s bid for power in the civil war against his grandfather. Irene Choumnaina Palaiologina, in name at least an empress, who had been married to Andronikos II’s son John and widowed at sixteen, used her immense wealth, against the wishes of her parents, to rebuild the convent of Philanthropes Soter, where she championed the cause of ‘orthodoxy’ against Gregory Palamas and his hesychast followers. Helena Kantakouzene, too, wife of John V, was a patron of the arts. She had been classically educated and was the benefactor of scholars, notably of Demetrios Kydones who dedicated to her a translation of one of the works of St Augustine. 

The woman who actually holds power in this period, Anna of Savoy, does her sex little credit: like Yolanda she appears to have been both headstrong and greedy, and, still worse, incompetent. In contrast, empresses such as Irene Kantakouzene Asenina reflect the abilities of their predecessors: they were educated to be managers, possessed of great resources, patrons of art and monastic foundations, and, given the right circumstances, capable of significant political involvement in religious controversies and the running of the empire. Unfortunately they generally had to show their competence in opposition to official state positions. While they may have wished to emulate earlier regent empresses, they were not given the chance: the women who, proud of their class and family, played a public and influential part in the running of the empire belonged to an earlier age."

Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium AD 527-1204, Lynda Garland

[portraitsofsaints]

Saint Helen  

246 - 330

Feast Day: August 18

Patronage: archaeologists, converts, difficult marriages, divorced people, empresses

St. Helena also was known as St. Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople was the consort of Emperor Constantius and the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great. She is traditionally credited with finding the relics of the True Cross, with which she is often shown within Christian iconography.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

[blueiscoool]

Archaeologists Unearth a Byzantine Mosaic in Turkey

Archaeologists have unearthed a detailed mosaic while excavating a Byzantine monastery church dedicated to Saint Constantine and Saint Helena in Ordu province, Turkey.

The monastery church was first uncovered in 2023 in the Kurtulus district of Ordu, which during antiquity would have served pilgrims and worshipers from the Diocese of Polemonion (present day Fatsa).

The church is dedicated to the Roman Emperor Constantine I (also known as Constantine the Great), and Saint Helena (also known as Helena of Constantinople), an Augusta of the Roman Empire and mother of Emperor Constantine I.

Constantine I was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity and played a crucial role in advancing the religion. He ended the persecution of Christians and decriminalised Christian practice, a significant change in the religious sphere known as the Constantinian shift.

According to a press statement by Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, the mosaic was discovered by archaeologists from the Ordu Museum Directorate and is the first in-situ floor mosaic found in Ordu province.

Based on the style and form, the archaeologists suggest that the mosaic dates from between the 5th and 6th centuries AD, a period when the Byzantine Empire underwent a golden age under the Justinian dynasty, and then a series of cataclysmic events under the Heraclian dynasty.

The mosaic has geometric designs and plant motifs showing curly acanthus, in addition to fruit depictions, and what appears to be four large double-headed war axes.

Byzantine mosaics originate from earlier Hellenistic and Roman techniques and styles, but artisans in the Byzantine Empire introduced significant technical innovations.

They transformed mosaic art into a distinctive and influential medium for personal and religious expression, leaving a lasting impact on Islamic art, particularly in the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, as well as the Ottoman Empire.

[whencyclopedia]

Pilgrimage in the Byzantine Empire

Pilgrimage in the Byzantine Empire involved the Christian faithful travelling often huge distances to visit such holy sites as Jerusalem or to see in person relics of holy figures and miraculous icons on show from Thessaloniki to Antioch. Well-worn routes resulted along which regular stopping points allowed pilgrims to sleep, eat, and be cared for in a network of monasteries and churches. For many pilgrims, their journey was the last they would ever make, and Jerusalem, especially, became a place where hospitals and hospices catered for the faithful until they were interred in the tombs they had pre-booked so as to rest in peace at the very centre of the Christian world.

Origins & Purpose of Pilgrimage

Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine I (r. 306-337 CE), was one of the great founders of churches, notably in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and it was during her visit to the Holy Land in 326 CE that she claimed to have discovered the True Cross, that is the actual wooden cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. Helena is widely credited with being one of the most important figures in making pilgrimage fashionable amongst devout Christians. The practice got another boost when Constantine himself made a visit to Jerusalem in 335 CE.

Pilgrimage really took off in the 5th and 6th centuries CE as other sacred sites sprang up across the empire. The skeletal remains, items of clothing, and tombs associated with holy figures, famous holy artworks and their potential for working miracles, the healing waters of sacred shrines, and even famous living holy men and women were all reasons for Christians to leave their homes and travel great distances. Pilgrimage in the Byzantine period was, though, less about making an arduous journey which had value in itself and more about getting to a final destination and being able to see and venerate Christianity's treasures in person, to actually be for a time in the places where wondrous things had occurred in the distant past, and by so doing reaffirm one's faith.

The travel plans of pilgrims were disrupted, if not actually ended, by the Arab conquest of the Levant by the mid-7th century CE. Byzantine armies reconquered parts of the Middle East in the 10th century CE, and the Crusaders, too, ensured a steady stream of pilgrims could still make the arduous journey to the Holy Land. Constantinople, too, was a major attraction to pilgrims from within and outside the empire's territories and remained so until the 15th century CE.

Continue reading...

[maertyrer]

Unknown Artist Collection of ten religious figural portraits, each depicting a martyred female saint: Saint Agatha (died circa 251), depicted with severed breasts on plate, and palm branch Saint Cecilia (died circa 235), depicted with crown of roses, organ pipes, and palm branch Saint Apollonia (died circa 249), depicted with tooth, pincers, and book

Saint Lucy (died circa 304), depicted with eyes on plate Saint Barbara (died circa 3rd to 4th Century), depicted with tower, crown, and palm branch Saint Engratia (died circa 303), depicted with nail in forehead, book, and palm branch Saint Ursula (died circa 383), depicted with flag

Saint Helena of Constantinople (circa 246-330), depicted with cross and olive branch Saint Catherine of Alexandria (died circa 305), depicted with sword and torture wheel Saint Margaret of Antioch (died circa 304), depicted with dragon

Oil on wood panel board, each 31.75 x 22.9 cm, 17th century

[symboslug]

(part 3 out of 4??)

7. Byzantine empress consort Helena Lekapene (956-959)

Yes, this is a real person. She had even more than one child in that time (probably 46-49 years old) and I made her cheat on her husband, the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus 😵

Cadoc, who still went by the Magyar name Oguz, after an unfulfilled situationship with Alin traveled even more south. Thanks to the fact he had visited many lands, he had a lot of "souvenirs" of sort. He actually had so much of them by then, that he couldn't carry them by himself. He decided to start selling part of these trinkets on markets and actually built a name of a curiosity merchant thanks to it. His travels lead him to the city Constantinople, where the emperor's servants noticed of his foreign antiquities.

Thanks to that he was invited to the emperor's court, where he met Helena. Helena found his mysteriousness quite charming and Cadoc appreciated Helena's inteligence and knowledge of politics. Cadoc, who had changed his name from Oguz to Valens in Constantinople, would much rather talk with Helena about human philosophy than have an affair with the empress consort, but Helena had different preferences.

When Helena's husband died in November of 959, her health has declined. Cadoc on the other hand got a new job opportunity and left.

8. Marcus, merchant from Constantinople (960-980)

As Cadoc started to get really involved with Constantinople's markets, he met a rich merchant named Marcus. Marcus had a huge amount of generational wealth originating from great Roman empire of the past. Marcus was desperately holding on to his heritage, he named himself Marcus to sound more west Roman and he practiced Roman paganism. He was rich but an outcast of sort, so he was a great candidate for Cadoc to latch onto.

Cadoc/Valens became Marcus' merchant advisor. He looked through Marcus' antiquities collection and told him about the obvious false ones in his collection (especially fake northern artifacts). Cadoc then became more of a counselor, giving all sorts of advice to Marcus and even ideas how to entertain himself..

(Upcoming paragraph is a list of crazy things they did together. I involves blood and orgies so yeah)

Cadoc's first idea was to revive gladiator games, the Roman classic abolished by the Christian emperors of Rome. The gladiator games took place in one of the palaces Marcus owned. Those were death matches, slaves were fighting to the last breath with eachother or against lions and bears. Then Cadoc suggested Marcus to hold orgies, another popular Roman pass time activity. Both of them participated in them alongside with other merchant partners and others that held onto the pagan Roman legacy. Cadoc accidentally killed one of the participating eunuchs by biting through the eunuch's artery. Even though it was an accident, Marcus saw that as an offering to gods and started liking Cadoc even more. Since then they also held sacrificial blood orgies once a month.

All of those activities were of course against Constantinople's laws, so they were held in secret. Those "parties" were practiced for 10 whole years without noticing. Then Marcus was arrested in the year 970 for market fraud and sentenced to 5 years in jail. Marcus told Cadoc to organize the "parties" without him for the gods. Cadoc took care of his business and entertainment when Marcus was in jail. The fights and blood orgies became much more violent and aggressive when Cadoc took charge.

When Marcus came out of jail, he became much more codependent on Cadoc. Before his arrest, Marcus saw Cadoc as his best counselor and even a friend (and also an orgy pal), after Marcus was sent free, he saw Cadoc as a god of sort trying to restore the Roman empire's former glory.

Marcus stopped caring about trade all together and the only thing he wanted to do to is to hold gladiator games and blood orgies. He hoped that all the bloodshed will make help Cadoc to became stronger deity. Marcus' sanity has deteriorated, like Cadoc wanted.

After 5 years, Marcus was arrested once again, Constantinople finally found out about his parties. The city wanted to arrest Valens (Cadoc) too but he escaped and started hiding. Cadoc decided to visit Marcus in jail in secret. When Marcus saw him, he wasn't happy but terrified. "You're no god, you're a demon. You were sent to punish me for my sins, right?" Marcus told to Cadoc. Cadoc looked at him silently and then gave him an antique Roman dagger through the bars. Cadoc disappeared from Constantinople and the name Valens the curiosity merchant was forgotten.

Cadoc then wandered through the empire alone. He developed an existencional crisis, because he realized that he doesn't know why he's doing all of that. Why this godless monstrosity from Albion started selling trinkets in Constantinople? He didn't felt like himself.

That's why he decided to travel to a deserted island with the intention end his meaningless travels.

[brookstonalmanac]

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Hall Pass (Film; 2011)

Henry IV, Part 1, by William Shakespeare (Play; 1598)

Hudson River Tunnel (Highway Tunnel; 1908)

Hullaba-Lulu (Little Lulu Cartoon; 1944)

A Hunger Strike (Krazy Kat Cartoon; 1928)

In the Name of the Father (Film; 1993)

I Taw a Putty Tat (Blue Ribbon Hit Parade; 1955)

Jitterbug Follies (MGM Cartoon; 1939)

Ko-Ko the Barber (Fleischer Out of the Inkwell Cartoon; 1925)

Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse Discuss the Letter G (Hearst-Vitagraph News Pictorial Cartoon; 1916)

The Lady Eve (Film; 1941)

Little Earthquakes, by Tori Amos (Album; 1992)

The Lumberjack (Oswald the lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1929)

Modern Times (Film; 1936)

The Mouse on 57th Street (WB MM Cartoon; 1961)

On the Beach, by Nevil Shute (Novel; 1957)

Ooooooohhh… On the TLC Tip, by TLC (Album; 1992)

The Passion of the Christ (Film; 2004)

Penny Lane, by The Beatles (Song; 1967)

Phoney Booths, Parts 1 & 2 (Underdog Cartoon, S3, Eps. 37 & 38; 1967)

Physical Graffiti , by Led Zeppelin (Album; 1975)

Please Please Me, by The Beatles (US Song; 1963)

Point Rationing of Foods (War Office of Information Cartoon; 1943)

Reindeer Games (Film; 2000)

Robin Rodenthood (Herman & Katnip Cartoon; 1955)

Rubber Duckie, sung by Ernie (Song; 1970)

Slap Shot (Film; 1977)

Soldiers' Pay, by William Faulkner (Novel; 1926)

Songs from the Big Chair, by Tears for Fears (Album; 1985)

Strawberry Fields, by The Beatles (Song; 1967)

Superman: Red Son (WB Animated Film; 2020)

Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle, by Carl Jung (Science Book; 1952)

The Tears of an Onion (Fleischer Color Classic Cartoon; 1938)

Ten Summoner’s Tales, by Sting (Album; 1993)

Terror Island (Animated TV Show; Jonny Quest #24; 1965)

That’ll Be the Day, recorded by Buddy Holly (Song; 1957)

Toby the Milkman (Toby the Pup RKO Cartoon; 1931)

Toys in the Attic, by Lillian Hellman (Play; 1960)

The Treasure Runt (Scrappy Cartoon; 1932)

U.S. Steel (Company incorporated; 1901)

Vikings: Valhalla (TV Series; 2022)

Wonder Boys (Film; 2000)

Wonderful Town, by Betty Comden, Adolph Green & Leonard Bernstein (Musical Play; 1953)

Wooden Shoes (Krazy Kat Cartoon; 1933)

Yes Minister (UK TV Series; 1980)

Your Show of Shows (TV Series; 1950)

Today’s Name Days

Walburga (Austria)

Berislav, Hrvoje, Nestorije (Croatia)

Liliana (Czech Republic)

Victorinus (Denmark)

Tormi, Tuule, Tuuli, Tuulike (Estonia)

Tuija, Tuire, Vanessa (Finland)

Roméo (France)

Edeltraud, Walburga (Germany)

Riginos, Tarasios, Tarsi (Greece)

Mátyás (Hungary)

Cesario, Costanza, Vittorino (Italy)

Alma, Grants, Zalga (Latvia)

Margiris, Rasa, Regimantas, Viktoras (Lithuania)

Viktor, Viktoria (Norway)

Bolebor, Cezary, Konstancjusz, Maciej, Małgorzata, Modest, Nicefor (Poland)

Tarasie (Romania)

Frederik (Slovakia)

Donato, Valerio (Spain)

Sigvard, Sivert (Sweden)

Artema, Artemis, Welden, Weldon (USA)

Today’s National Name Days

National Billy Day

National Jessica Day

National Kathy Day

National Nicholas Day

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 56 of 2025; 309 days remaining in the year

ISO Week: Day 2 of Week 9 of 2025

Celtic Tree Calendar: Nuin (Ash) [Day 28 of 28]

Chinese: Month 1 (Wu-Yin), Day 28 (Yi-Chou)

Chinese Year of the: Snake 4723 (until February 17, 2026) [Ding-Chou]

Coptic: 18 Amshir 1741

Druid Tree Calendar: Pine (Feb 19-28) [Day 7 of 10]

Hebrew: 27 Shevat 5785

Islamic: 26 Sha’ban 1446

Julian: 12 February 2025

Moon: 7%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 28 Homer (2nd Month) [Virgil)

Runic Half Month: Tyr (Cosmic Pillar) [Day 5 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 67 of 90)

SUn Calendar: 26 Gray; Foursday [26 of 30]

Week: 4th Week of February

Zodiac:

Tropical (Typical) Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 7 of 30)

Sidereal Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 13 of 30)

Schmidt Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 4 of 27)

IAU Boundaries (Current) Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 9 of 23)

IAU Boundaries (1977) Zodiac: Aquarius (Day 10 of 24)

[dreamconsumer]

Prince Davyd Yuryevich (1167-1228) and Princess Euphrosine (1175-1228; Saints Peter and Fevronia) of Murom.

Davyd Yuryevich was the second son of Duke Yuri of Murom the Grand Prince of Kiev and his second wife Helena of Constantinople, grandson of Yaroslav I of Murom and Ryazan, the first Grand Prince of Ryazan.

Davyd was seriously ill with leprosy. Many doctors attempted to heal the prince; still, nobody could. During a vision, it had been revealed to the prince that the daughter of a bee keeper would be ready to heal him: the pious maiden Euphrosyne, a peasant from the rural Village of Laskovo in Ryazan Governorate. Euphrosyne was beautiful, pious and kind, moreover she was a wise woman, who knew the properties of herbs and knew how to treat ailments. Davyd fell in love with Euphrosyne for her piety, wisdom and kindness and made a vow to marry her after being healed; later the peasant healed the prince and have become his wife.

[sporadiceagleheart]

Heaven tribute edit for all old angels Mei Shan “Linda” Leung, Barbara Yung Mei-ling, Dayle Yoshie Okazaki, Elyas Yakub Abowath, William Makoto “Bill” Doi, Yuriko Lillie Kita Doi, Patty Elaine Higgins, Thomas E. Higgins, Lela Ellen Reed Kneiding, Bert Clyde Reed, Abana Bethalda Booth Reed, Maxson Carl “Max” Kneiding, Joyce Lucille Brown Nelson, Eris I Brown, Alma Winfred Coombe Owsley, Eugene Theodore Nelson, Margaret Ada Brown Yarnell, Tsai Lian “Veronica” Yu, Maxine Levenia Tedder Zazzara, Vincent Charles Zazzara, Betty Grace Peterson Zazzara, Edward Peterson, Violet Louise Dunlop Peterson, Katie Lee Smith Maggiore, Brian Keith Maggiore, Manuela Eleanore Rohrbeck Witthuhn, Dr Debra Alexandria Manning, Cheryl Grace “Cheri” Smith Domingo, Wayland Clifton Smith Jr., Janelle Lisa Cruz, Lyman Robert Smith, Charlene Herzenberg Smith, April 21, 1951: Lois Janes, 7, disappears from Harrisburg, Little Miss Nobody/Sharon Lee Gallegos, Louis XVII, Mary Crocker, Mary Kornman, Judy Garland, Rosina Lawrence, Joan of Arc, Jean d'Arc, Ilse Weber, Eazy-E, Ella Harper, Annie Oakley, Anne Frank, Margot Frank, Hana Brady, Pauline Adelaar, Annie Kerr Aiken, Gracie Perry Watson, Inez Clarke Briggs, Saint Paul the Apostle, Saint Valentine, Saint Patrick, Mona Lisa, Saint Mark, Saint Peter, Saint Rosalia, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Constantina of Rome, Saint Helena of Constantinople, Saint John the Baptist, King David, Matilda of Denmark, Anna D Crnkovic, Irmgard Christine Winter, Saint Clare of Assisi, Saint Ita of Killeedy, Saint Agnes of Rome, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Rita of Cascia, Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, Sainte Bernadette Soubirous, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Teresa de Jesus, Saint James the Less, Catherine of Aragon, Olivia Twenty Dahl, Anne de Beauchamp, Isabel Despenser, Countess of Warwick, Isabella I, Isabella of Portugal, Isabel of Barcelos, Beatriz Pereira de Alvim, Mary I, Lucy M Haynes, Isabelle Romée, Anne Boleyn, Cleopatra, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Jacques d'Arc, Mary, Queen of Scots, Marie Curie, Pierre Cauchon, Catherine II of Russia, Anna Petrovna, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia,

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Secrets of Christ's Tomb | SPECIAL | National Geographic

19 April 2025

National Geographic tracks a team of experts as they race to repair the structure housing Christ’s tomb. Evidence of the tomb’s origins are revealed.

Secrets of Christ's Tomb: Explorer Special | S1, E1

[maypoleman1]

18th August

St Helen’s Day

Cima da Conegliano by Giovanni Battista. Source: Britannica.com

Today is St Helen’s (or St Helena’s) Day. Helen was the fiercely Christian mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine I, the first Christian Emperor, who on a trip to the Holy Land in 326, personally located the True Cross of Christ which she brought back in triumph to Rome (it was later transferred by her son to the new capital of the Empire, Constantinople). Given Helen’s impeccable Roman and Middle Eastern pedigree, it is curious that a number of English curative wells are named after her, notably the one at Walton, near Wetherby in Yorkshire. The Walton well is supposed to be good for curing eye ailments, particularly if the supplicants rub their infected eyes with a rag and then pin it to the well, in an exercise in sympathetic magic. Perhaps the St Helen connection is not so mysterious - her name sounds enough like the Celtic water-goddess Elen for ownership of places of curative magic to transfer to an imperial Christian saint.

Further pagan remembrances are associated with the skull of Theophilus Brome who died on this day in 1670 at Chilton Cantelo in Somerset. His skull put down roots in the house and could not be moved, the legend says, and when later tenants of the house tried to bury it, the skull let out a mournful and terrifying wail. The head was then left in peace until the early nineteenth century when it was briefly converted into a drinking vessel. These type of skull stories were an echo of ancient Celtic beliefs that the severed head possessed magical powers. If one drunk from a skull, the headhunting Celts believed, the virtues and courage of the deceased would pass to the imbiber.

[cruger2984]

The Pretty Cures and its Saints: Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure

In celebration of the franchise’s 20th anniversary, I have to share with you all with their birthday corresponding with feast days that is honored and recognized by the Roman Catholic Church!

September 20 - Sora Harewataru (Cure Sky)

St. Andrew Kim Taegon: 19th century Korean martyr who was first Korean-born Catholic priest. In the late 18th century, Roman Catholicism began to take root slowly in Korea, and was introduced by scholars who visited China and brought back Western books translated into Chinese. Born of yangban (a part of the traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea during the Joseon Dynasty), parents were converts and his father was subsequently martyred for practising Christianity, and after he baptized at 15, he studied at a seminary in Macau. Andrew also spent time in study at Lolomboy, Bocaue, Bulacan in the Philippines, where today he is also venerated. During his trip to Korea, Andrew is canonized as a saint by Pope St. John Paul II, along with 102 other Korean Martyrs, including Paul Chong Hasang on May 6, 1984.

July 16 - Mashiro Nijigaoka (Cure Prism)

Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Nuestra Señora del Carmen): A Marian title that is given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order (Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel), particularly within the Catholic Church. The first Carmelites were Christian hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land during the late 12th and early to mid-13th century. They built in the midst of their hermitages a chapel which they dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, whom they conceived of in chivalric terms as the 'Lady of the place.' Since the 15th century, popular devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel has centered on the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, also known as the Brown Scapular. Traditionally, Mary is said to have given the Scapular to an early Carmelite named Simon Stock, a prior general of the order in 1251. She is honored as the patron of Chile, as well as protection from harm, dangerous situations and Purgatory.

May 21 - Tsubasa Yuunagi (Cure Wing)

St. Helena of Constantinople: 4th century empress and is known as the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, who is later a saint. Helena is honored as an important figure in the history of Christianity. In her final years, she made a religious tour of Syria Palaestina and Jerusalem, during which ancient tradition claims that she discovered the True Cross.

August 8 - Ageha Hijiri (Cure Butterfly)

St. Dominic de Guzmán: Spanish priest who is widely known as the founder of the Order of Preachers aka the Dominicans. According to one story, Dominic’s mother, Bl. Joan of Aza, made a pilgrimage to the Abbey at Silos, and dreamt that a dog leapt from her womb carrying a flaming torch in its mouth (it later becomes one of the saint’s attributes), and ’seemed to set the earth on fire.’ The spread of the Rosary, a Marian devotion, is attributed to Dominic’s teachings, and has it for centuries been at the heart of the Order. The Dominicans have been instrumental in spreading the rosary and emphasizing the Catholic belief in the power of the rosary for centuries. His major shrine can be found in Basilica of San Domenico in Bologna, and he is the patron of astronomers.