A new archaeological discovery in Rome - Domus Flavia of Saint Helena

New rooms have been unearthed in the bowels of the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome. It was the domus (house) of Flavia Iulia Helena or Empress St. Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine (in the Orthodox Church as Saint Constantine the Great, Equal-to-the-Apostles).

Constantine appointed his mother Helena as Augusta Imperatrix, and gave her unlimited access to the imperial treasury in order to identify the relics of Judeo-Christian tradition. In 326-28 Helena undertook a trip to the Holy Places in Palestine. According to Eusebius of Caesarea she was responsible for the construction or beautification of two churches, the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, and the Church of Eleona on the Mount of Olives, sites of Christ's birth and ascension. Local founding legend attributes to Helena's orders the construction of a church in Egypt to identify the Burning Bush of Sinai. The chapel at Saint Catherine's Monastery—often referred to as the Chapel of Saint Helen—is dated to the year AD 330.

The archaeological excavation of the new lot in the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome extends the Domus excavation. The new rooms are nothing less than the living quarters of Helena's court ladies. Helena at the beginning of the fourth century governed Rome as a regent, while her son went to Constantinople. The new discoveries also made it possible to better determine the divisions between the various rooms. More light has been shed on the main entrance into the domus and the divisions between the various rooms have been appropriately established. The Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme or Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and titular church in the Esquilino district of Rome.

According to tradition, the basilica was consecrated circa 325 to house the relics of the Passion of Christ, including parts of the True Cross, brought to Rome from the Holy Land by Helena. At that time, the Basilica's floor was covered with soil from Jerusalem. Helena ranks as an important figure in the history of Christianity and of the world due to her major influence on her son, who legalised Christianity, helping make it the dominant religion of the Roman Empire.

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