Vatican reliquary theca with relic of St. Helena, Empress & mother of St. Constantine

Round glass-fronted white-metal reliquary theca housing the first-class ex ossibus (of the bone) relic of Saint Helena. The relic is affixed to a red silk ground and identified in Latin on a typeset cedula label as S. Helenae Imp. (Saint Helena, Empress). On the back, under the protective cap, the theca is secured with a seal of red Spanish wax bearing an imprint of a coat of arms of Monsignor Ugo Poletti, the Vicar General of Rome (1973-1997).

Saint Helena (†c. 330), was the consort of the future Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus (r. 293–306) and the mother of the future Emperor Constantine the Great (r. 306–337). She ranks as an important figure in the history of Christianity and of the world due to her major influence on her son. In her final years, she made a religious tour of Syria Palaestina and Jerusalem, during which she allegedly discovered the True Cross. Pious beliefs also associate her to the foundation of the Vatican Gardens. The Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglican Communion revere her as a saint. Her Feast is celebrated on August 18th and she is considered a holy patron of archaeologists, converts, difficult marriages, divorced people, empresses, and new discoveries.