Brynolf
Algotsson
about
Helena
ORDINIS HELENUM
CONCLUSION
OF THE
ORIGINAL LATIN TEXT
written
during the autumn of 1288 by bishop Brynolf Algotsson (1245-1317)
in Westgothia, Sweden. No complete edition exists.
This translation is based on CODEX LAURENTII
ODONIS
from ca.1400, and on BREVIARIUM SCARENSE printed in 1498.
No other earthly sources exist as to information
on the life of St. Helena.
The
brynolfian text is meant to be used at the yearly Feast of Saint Helena.
The Church must exult over the day of this feast. Helena prays for us
who honours it, that God may forgive us all of our sins. "Joy!
you faithful parish of devotees. You Westgothians - spring
anew! You Wheel of the World -
praise the martyrdom of Helena!" "Get involved in the
far-famed March of Victory on this happy Day, because our reverend Martyr
has raised up to the Throne of Honour!"
GOD
is namned: the Highest Authority, Creator of Everthing, the Highest
Artist, the Founder of Helena, the Judge, our Foreman, Lord, the King
of Honour, the Divine Power.
GOD'S
REALM is designated by complete joy, by calmness and sereneness, by
peace - the
Peace that overwhelms any conscience; the celestial Government.
OTHER
NAMES of God's realm: Pleasure, Heaven, the Grand Assembly room of the
Holy Ones; the heavenly Fatherland, the World of Light.
FROM
WHERE did Helena stem in a worldly sense, and where did she operate?:
Westgothia, Västergötland, in Sweden. She belonged to a noble family.
WHERE
IS HELENA NOW: On the Throne in Heaven; her dwelling is before the eyes
of the King of Honour.
HOW
TO ADDRESS HELENA: "Oh Helena full of Mercy"; "Oh beatific
Empress"; "Oh Lawyer of Swedes"; after having fulfilled
the hour of suffering successfully, she has become worthy of receiving
a Throne in God's House - that is through having become the "pleasant MARTYR of God".
"Hail, you decoration of our Fatherland". She is a NEW CLARITY;
God's Maid; the Flower of Westgothia; the Lamp of our Fatherland; the
Ornament and the Patroness of
Westgothia.
HOW
TO HONOUR HELENA: Through preserving the holiness of our early years,
and through not giving away our Forces to strangers!; with devotions
and through singing lauds on her behalf; to perform music to her: "Resonate
lovely melodies out of reverence on the day of Helena's yearly Feast".
EXTERIOR
description of Helena: She is compared to a beautiful rose. She surpasses
everybody as to beauty; she expresses herself with taste; one can clearly
see that God has blessed her eternally. She is compared to Susanna,
Sara (the wife of Tobia), Lea, Rachel and Esther, so there is no doubt
that she was brown-eyed and darkhaired! When Brynolf writes that Helena
was as beautiful as Rachel, he cannot have thought of Rachel as a blue-eyed
blonde. "The excellent face of Helena is not very unlike that of
Esther". She is also compared to Judith, and to Deborah and Hulda,
the prophetesses; to Sara (daughter of Raguel), Anna (daughter of Phanuel),
Rebecca, Martha, Maria, Jael, the Tecoa-woman and Abygail.
Brynolf
mentions four times how FRAGRANT Helena was; she was a nice-scented
lavender; she owned innately nice-smelling Balm of Power.
WHAT
HELENA CAN DO: She can direct us on the Road of Righteousness, that
we mustn't go astray. She can lead us up to the World of Light from
the Valley of Sorrow, enabling us to live with her in eternal freshness.
She is the daughter of gentleness and peace and she is the prentice
of sinlessness. Helena is able to cause that the punishment which awaits
us is neglected; she guides us to God's Realm. Her prayers can enable
us to be led to God's Realm inspite of our being creatures of earth.
She can rinse away sins by means of her praying, and take us to the
longed-for metes of Heaven. She can pray to God that we may experience
Mercy. She is an utterly pleasant
star which shines without cessation. She owns and owned the gift of
Prophecy, that is: God gave her information of what she had to go through.
She prayed for her enemies and accusants, and she was benevolent towards
those who turned against her - but she did not embrace the enemies of God
(like a Quisling)! The intelligence of Abygail revived within Helena,
and she carried inside a SPIRITUAL YEARNING; she had a celestial need
to become able to get refreshed by the Height of God. Restlessly she
gathered treasures for the Treasury in Heaven. Her power and her mediation
are proportionate (mediation between God and mankind)
- shown eg. by her mundifying a leper).
The
PURPORT of Helena's work: She was given from Heaven for the spiritual
elevation of Westgothia; for to be a mild Lawyer for Sweden, a Mediatress.
The purport was moreover that God, in accordance to her prayers on high
for us who honour her yearly Feast, may forgive our sins and mercifully
and generously may gloze them over. Moreover that our spirits may be
encouraged to praise God.
Thanks
to Brynolf's choicing the quotation from Syrach 26, the right slant
on CHASTITY is revealed, since nothing can be compared to the individual
who proves to be chaste (v.15). Helena confined her heart, speech and
manners to Chastity.
MIRACLES:
Sweden and Norden experienced her clear tokens; they appeared before
the eyes of people, whenas the favour of Helena's Star was waxing in
Westgothia. Yes, all over the world people experienced distinct miracles
thanks to her. When she prayed to God, miracles were the result, since
God alone is the source of miracles. After her bodily death the miracles
were multiplied thanks to her merits. A)Already on the 1:st of August,
the very day of her martyrdom, a lad, guiding a blind man past the site
of the martyrdom after sunset, saw a shine almost like an ardent candle
in a bramble -
the flashing was emitted from the cut off finger of Helena, and
on the finger was the ring she had brought with her from the Holy Land.
(Or: Marvellously a light flashed forth from Heaven into the bramble,
revealing where on earth the finger lay). Whenas the blind man touched
this finger, and lifted his hand, stained by her blood, towards his
eyes, immediately the prior obscureness was removed and the light retured!
B)Whenas her body was conveyed, the carriers stopped by the road for
to thank God at he appropriate hour, a new fountain bubbled forth at
once, which still is known as Saint Helena's Source (Brynolf doesn't
tell whether he means the source outside Skodhwe or that near Gothene
church). C)After the holy body of Helena had been rinsed over the big
boulder on the Cemetery (Brynolf doesn't say it out clearly if this
was the cemetery of Skodhwe, but it is to be taken for granted), the
stone broke into two peaces in such a way, that the part over which
blood had dripped from her wounds raised up without effort, while the
part over which no blood had dripped indeed remained on the ground.
This is evaluated as a measure of God to the honour of Helena, so that
no longer her blood could be stepped on by human feet. The Divine Power
thereby proved, too, how great the Faith of Helena had been during her
lifetime: "If you had belief like a mustard seed and told this
mountain to go away, it would go away". D)The stone remained STANDING
RAISED UP (Estos!) in that a way for many a year, and more miracles
took place there, as long as the site was kept in due reverence.
How
is Helena's BIRTH designated?: Like a brilliant sun-up. The rest of
the mankind are brought forth from mud, but we are given a possibility,
thanks to the prayers of St. Helena for us, to be guided to the joy
in Heaven. She was given by the divine and clear Mercy; she was delivered
from above.
WHEN
was Helena BORN in Westgothia?: Whenas the winter of disbelief had gone;
whenas christian Faith had become known within the borderlines of our
Fatherland (id est ~1100).
Helena
GROWING UP: She was educated in the Law of the Lord and in Justice.
God's Order and Eternal Bases on an unchanging Rock did exist in the
heart of this holy Woman.
Was
Helena the ONLY CHRISTIAN FLOWER who appeared here? No, there were more,
but Helena was the most eminent, and the rumour was spread of her good
deeds and of her divine Fire of Love. During the wee years of Faith,
she raised like a glistening and early star on the front line, with
beaming exemplarity and tokens. Christian martyrs were few and far between
before the martyrdom of Helena in Sweden.
How
is the EARTHLY LIFE designated?: As a jail!; as the 'war', as the valley
of sorrow. "Husks are shook and thereby the seeds are gathered".
Helena endured until her spirit was replanted in Heaven: -That's how
seeds are gathered! Fasts, prayers and work withal she tamed and accustomed
her body.
How
is DEATH designated?: In terms of "casting the weight of the body
off!"; to climb up to Heaven. Her death is regarded as honorífic.
In advance she was informed of that she was going to die at Gothene.
She was absolutely sure that a Wreath of Victory was prepared for her
in Heaven. Exactly in God's appointed second, he snatched his Prize-woman
out of the carnal prison by means of impatient swords. Nothing can block
the way to the spirit who is steering towards the celestial Government.
In the Rosary of Heaven the red rose was laid down, which our honorable
martyr had deserved through martyrdom.
HOW
WAS HELENA LIVING: All her life she gained superb awards for her family.
The chains of matrimony was superseded by her wholly hallowing herself
to God. Her exemplarity brought forth holy tokens. She was loved by
everybody, and she had a noble mind. She served the Lord with fasting
and spiritual speech; the entrance of the mansion of hers was open to
wanderers, and she kept the poor warm with wool from her sheep. Her
led a HOLY life; she was humble in deed and words, aflame with Agapë.
She feeded and clothed the poor daily. Nightly she would occupy herself
with spiritual contemplation, and she would devote daytime dutifully
to outer work.
SOBRIETY:
Explicitely Brynolf has written that Helena was sober as Hanna, the
mother of Samuel, with reference to 1-Sam.1:12-17.
Her
relationship to the CHURCH: She was constantly and uncompromisedly enthusiastic
for God's House, and she financed the building of churches; she loved
to adorn God's House. Zealously she served the servants of the Fane
of God.
Her
MATRIMONY: Having reached marriageable age, she agreed to accept a man,
according to the customs of the country. She believed that she obeyed
God in doing so. God combined in her to be fertile but yet to be decent
and beautiful, so that her physiognomy mirrored her mind. After having
become a widow, her age and assets called for another matrimony. Matrimony
is regarded as "contagion blotting the body"; as carnal chains
that one wants to break. She simply and powerfully rejected the carnal
love of matrimony.
WHERE
did Helena LIVE; where was her mansion?: Her country estates was GOTHENE!
(Forget Skövde and Vâmb, in other words) Sanely she received this visionary
description of the future there: It seemed to her, concerning the church
of Gothene, that it, at the same time as she appeared in it, flew to
Skodhwe yonder. God gave her the interpretation: That she was going
to die at Gothene but was yet going to be buried at Skodhwe.
SPIRITUAL
WEDDING: Helena preferred to be chained to God, because such a wedding
will lead to eternal joy althought the start may be hard, when on the
other hand carnal matrimony starts with pleasure but reaches towards
the end with grief. She began serving the Lord in her troublesome widowhood.
Did
Helena ENTER A CONVENT?: No, she "replaced her matrimony almost
as if she were in a convent; she intended to lead the pious life of
pious widows".
Helena's
GRAVE: She had been informed in advance that she was going to be buried
at Skodhwe. In person she financed a large portion of the erection of
the church of Skodhwe, which was under weigh. When the arcade or portico
was built, which is between the tower (turret) and the church, some
people asked what the Intérstice there was meant for. She answered:
GOD IS PRONE TO GIVE US (YOU) SOMETHING SACRED, THE BODY AND REMAINS
OF WHICH IN A SUITABLE WAY CAN BE LAID TOGETHER HERE
- Dabit vobis/nobis Deus aliquem sanctum, cujus
corpus et reliquie poterunt hic decenter collocari/hic poterunt decenter
collocari. That her reverend and sacred body later actually did rest
in peace here, was regarded as a proof of that she owned the clear Spirit
of Prophecy.
SATAN:
He hated that oratories of saints were constructed, while houses of
idolatry and temples of demigods were dismantled and boskets of offerings
were chopped down. He became jealous of Helena, who promoted all this
and the worship of God. He decided to douse the shining Lamp of God's
House - Helena - and
as a tool he chose her son-in-law.
The
SON-IN-LAW: The daughter of Helena got married to an aristocrat, who
soon began hating the daughter, often tormenting her both verbally and
violently. The servants of their estates were appalled by this unjust
disaster, and the waited for their master, the son-in-law of Helena,
and the jabbed him to death in an ambush.
The
REVENGERS: The relatives of the son-in-law let go of the servants, because
they accused Helena for having let the ambush happen; for being its
engineer by having talked in a bloodthirsty way, and thereby the ambush
blackened her conscience. The relatives of her son-in-law became thus
her relentless enemies, and they began 'threshing' her.
The
THEOLOGY behind the suffering of Helena: Even if we judge something
or someone as fulfilled, there might still be details, in the eyes of
the Highest Artist, which are not perfect. God made Helena perfect by
dint of hammering persecution and pressure
- because thereafter there followed a daily waxing
of her loving her Founder, and she aspired the joy and peace of the
celestial Fatherland.
The
PILGRIMAGE: God wanted to create a space for his wrath (or: he wanted
to allow the circumstances their wrath)
- in order to let her get away from her enemies
- and he sent a vision into Helena's mind that it would be good for
her to visit holy places abroad. She did not shrink back from the coming
toils of the road, but she combined feminine Proposal and masculine
Courage and went to the Holy Sepulchre of our Lord and to the site of
his Sufferings and to many other places where Holy Relics were revered
- entrusting God to judge
her case justly. She knew that patience brings a perfect achievement
along with it.
Her
RETURN: She returned dauntlessly to the mansion, relying on the Lord.
Her enemies, though, were still hunting Helena's righteous spirit, and
they prepared for the ambush. ON THE FIRST OF AUGUST, whenas she was
heading for the inauguration of Gothene Church, a certain one among
her enemies cast himself over her, wounding her cruelly in the attack,
sating the sword with innocent, righteous blood. Her spirit, freed because
of the jabbing, flew directed to the Height, but her body lay fallen
like a guiltless sheep -
and now she went over from the war to the Peace, which overwhelms
any conscience. Eagerly she transcended to God's Consoling (id est in
1140 acc.to the oldest ref.s).
MORE
Miracles: A mute, a deaf, a leper and a cripple were healed after having
implored Helena by her Grave at Skodhwe. A certain stoner, working with
beatific Helena's church, weaponless and guiltless, had to dodge to
the swords of enemies attacking him. They couldn't wound him since he
implored our Martyr for help, except for slicing his clothes some. There
were a few traces of the jabberings, looking like scarlet threads on
the skin, as if the swords had been blunt. When the enemies realized
that they could achieve nothing, they turned away in different directions
from the stoner. They cut down another man thereafter, who approached
them. Then, on turning anew towards the stoner with their swords, they
were stricken by blindness in such a way, that even if they had been
in the same house as the stoner, they could not have seen him, whereby
the ancient miracle, which Elisha once asked God for, was renewed thanks
to divine promotion. The main part of the Memorial of Helena, of her
life and work, had already in the days of Brynolf's got lost due to
oblivion, neglect and absence of written documents. Brynolf's texts
on her are meant to promote the hallowing process of the Holy Ones and
the construction and consolidation of the Faithful.
CANONIZATION:
It was arcbishop Stephanus who informed pope Alexander III, during his
exile at Sens in France, of the life of Saint Helena, wherefore the
pope considered it reasonable to enroll her in the Catalogue of Saints
(id est in 1164, verifiably).
A
part of her SERMON included by Brynolf:
"Listen everybody:
Despise the present,
since it is ugly to be fond of
what steadily is under weigh to perish.
Love to the earthly things must not imprison you,
haughtiness must not bent you inwards,
wealth must not blemish you,
jealousy must not consume you.
Out of love for us, dear brethren,
our Redeamer lay dead for us,
and through his love for us we conquer ourselves.
If we act perfectly, we shall
not only evade coming punishments,
but we shall be rewarded with honour
in common
with the martyrs.
Irregardless if there is no persecuting at the moment,
this peace still might be our martyrdom,
and although the carnal neck is not pressed down,
we still can slaughter our carnal wishes mentally
by means of a spiritual sword".
PRAYER:
"Listen, our Empress full of mercy,
to the prayers of your people.
Delight among the happy ones of the Assemblage!
Please be our Commander in Chief
amidst the crucial moments of the present life,
which our complaint usually reveals with pain.
Please be our Commander in Chief
amidst the crucial moments of the present life.
Let it happen to us as it did to you,
you who was elevated,
so that your people may become pleasant to God
and able to deserve honour -
Amen!"
001210 SDG
Superhelena
Illustrated version:
Superhelena1
Superhelena
2 Superhelena
3 Superhelena
4
Appendix to part
4: Helena Dialoque
Contents
English
version
Non-illustrated
version: Superhelena
1 Superhelena
2 Superhelena
3 Epitome
Brynolf
Algotsson
about Helena, 1288
Innhåll
Superhelena svensk version
Superhelena
1 Superhelena
2 Superhelena
3
Brynolf
Algotsson om Helena, 1288 Sankt
Appollonia
Översättning af Joseph Dunney: Saint
Of The Snows
Albany, New York 1937 Snöfallens Helgon:
Förord
Dokument 1
Dokument
2 Dokument
3 Efterord