<P> According to post-Nicene historians such as Socrates of Constantinople , the Empress Helena , mother of Emperor Constantine , the first Christian Emperor of Rome , travelled to the Holy Land in 326 -- 28 , founding churches and establishing relief agencies for the poor . Historians Gelasius of Caesarea and Rufinus claimed that she discovered the hiding place of three crosses that were believed to be used at the crucifixion of Jesus and of two thieves , St. Dismas and Gestas , executed with him ; to one cross was affixed the titulus bearing Jesus ' name , but Helena was not sure until a miracle revealed that that cross was the True Cross . </P>
<P> According to post-Nicene historians such as Socrates of Constantinople , the Empress Helena , mother of Emperor Constantine , the first Christian Emperor of Rome , travelled to the Holy Land in 326 -- 28 , founding churches and establishing relief agencies for the poor . Historians Gelasius of Caesarea and Rufinus claimed that she discovered the hiding place of three crosses that were believed to be used at the crucifixion of Jesus and of two thieves , St. Dismas and Gestas , executed with him ; to one cross was affixed the titulus bearing Jesus ' name , but Helena was not sure until a miracle revealed that that cross was the True Cross . </P>
who found the relics of the true cross
who found the relics of the true cross
the Empress Helena , mother of Emperor Constantine , the first Christian Emperor of Rome
the Empress Helena , mother of Emperor Constantine , the first Christian Emperor of Rome