Precious Treasure

‘[T]he beacons blazed news of the discovery to the capital and post-horsemen carried it throughout Christendom. Te Deums were sung in the imperial basilicas. No one who watched that day, while the Empress calmly divided her treasure, could have discerned her joy. Her work was finished. She had done what only the saints succeed in doing; what indeed constitutes their patent of sanctity. She had completely conformed to the will of God. Others a few years back had done their duty gloriously in the arena. Hers was a gentler task, merely to gather wood. That was the particular, humble purpose for which she had been created. And now it was done. So with her precious cargo she sailed joyfully away’.

from the novel ‘Helena’, 1950, by Evelyn Waugh, 1903-1966

O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst reveal to blessed Helena the place where thy Cross lay hid, that through her, thou mightest enrich thy Church with this precious treasure: grant unto us at her intercession; that by the ransom of the life-giving Tree we may attain unto the rewards of eternal life; who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. - Divine Worship: The Missal.