christian sources tend to hush-hush about it. they don t want to say anything. but the pagan sources jump all over constantine. the story goes that constantine discovers that his son crispus, his favorite son, has been having an affair with constantine s second wife, fausta. what we re told by the sources we have is that on the orders of his father he is sent to a place called pola on the coast of croatia. and he is put to death by poison.
but the pagan sources jump all over constantine. the story goes that constantine discovers that his son crispus, his favorite son, has been having an affair with constantine s second wife fausta. what we re told by the sources we have is that on the orders of his father, he is sent to the coast of croatia. and he is put to death by poison.
there is potentially a darker side to helena s journey. it follows on from a scandalous episode within the house of constantine. constantine abandoned his first wife to marry the noble woman fausta. fausta has given him three young sons. but her husband s likely successor is his eldest son, crispus. crispus was the golden boy of the constantinian household. he had a very successful military career. he had been made caesar by his father. on the face of it, the christian family at the center of the roman empire are united. but a scandal is about to erupt. christian sources tend to hush-hush about it. they don t want to say anything.
the murder of fausta and of crispus happens in 326. helena departs for the holy land in 327. there s almost certainly some connection between those two events. if you re his mother, hoping for his soul to be saved somehow, you re going to want to make a passionate gesture of reconciliation, of penitence. she knew what she wanted when she traveled to jerusalem. and when she went looking for that true cross, she was surely determined to find it.