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ST. HELEN 869 necessary to the kingdom and the world wonld not be cut off in its prime. The infant, Elizabeth Bonifacia, died Jalj 13 ; the mother was still in danger, and received the Holy Communion daily. On each occasion her room was filled with celestial light. This was seen from without, but although it heightened the veneration in which the queen was held, people feared that her heavenly life had alreiebdy begun. She died on Jaly 17. All confi- dently expected that miracles would be performed at her tomb, and that imme- diately after her burial she would be canonized. As she lay on a bier in the cathedral, calm and smiling, the sick, the paralyzed, the deformed, were brought to her to be cured ; and as the fame of her miracles spread, persons in distant places besought her intercession, each for his special difficulty or distress, and vowed to acknowledge her favour by making a pilgrimage to Cracow to offer a gift at her tomb. She was never canonized, but she con- tinued to be adored by the Poles. They were convinced that one so sympathetic in her life would not disregard in Paradise the prayers and the sorrows of those who appealed to her. Among the relics shown in the cathedral is some beautiful embroidery worked by her. The chief authorities for this narrative are the histories of Poland by Dlugosch and Cromer; the annals and chronicles collected by Pez, Stenzel, Ekkart, etc. ; Bottiger, Weligeschichte in Biographten ; and for the state of feeling and the esti- mation in which this saint was held in life and death, Sienkiewicz, Knights of the CroBBy chap. iv. St. Hegatrax, Egatuacia. St. Heina, Heiu. St. Heira, Irene (9). St. Heiu, March 12 (Heina, Heju, Heya, Heyna),V. 7th century. The first woman who took the vow and habit of a nun in the province of the Northum- brians. She was consecrated by St. Aidan, the bishop. She founded a monastery at Hereteu (Hartlepool), but soon left it, being succeeded there by St. Hilda, and went to Tadcaster. The village of Healaugh, three miles from Tadcaster, is supposed to be on the site of her second foundation ; the name was perhaps originally Heiulaag, Heiu's ter- ritory. Bede, iv. 23, and a note to the passage in Gidley's translation, quoting from Murray's Yorkshire. Bucelinus gives her day as March 12. Suyskon, Montalembert, and several other writers identify her with Beou, but Bede men- tions them in the same page as distinct persons, and says nothing to imply that they were one. St. Helan, Helen (6). Sister or brother of St. Tressau. St. Helca, Helta. St. Helen (l), May 2(5, 20, 24, V. M. Sister of St. Abercius, who was stung to death by boos. Helen was stoned. They are worshipped in the Greek Church, and are mentioned in an ancient German Martyrology. AA.SS. St. Helen (2), Aug. 13. Patron of Burgos. M. with St. Centolla in ono of the early persecutions. Their history, taken from the records of the church at Burgos, is briefly this — ContoUa, having professed Chris- tianity, was put to the torture. A crowd of women came round, and besought her to abjure the Christian faith and suffer no more. Helen, however, a noble virgin, approached Centolla, praised her con- stancy, and exhorted her to endure to the end. Centolla answered that she gladly suffered, and added, " See that thou fail not ; thou wilt suffer with mo for Christ." The governor, fearing lest the heresy should spread, ordered both to be beheaded. Sierro on the Ebro, Cantabria, and the neighbourhood of Burgos, are mentioned as the scene of their martyrdom. Their bodies were brought to Burgos in the 13th or 14th century. B.M. AA.SS. St. Helen (3), empress, Aug. 18, May 21, 248-326 or 328. Mother of Constantino. Bepresented wearing a crown, and holding a large cross, some- times also a nail. Flavia Julia Helena Augusta, also called Helena Stabularia, Elena, Ellen, is supposed to have been a native of Britain, and tradition makes her the daughter of King CobI, or Coilus, who gave his name to Colchester, which he 2 B