COMPRISING:
The SUPERHELENA COLLECTARIUM entries 1-20.3

"Rumi writes on a flat scope of sand,
sitting isolated in the Iranian desert,
with his fingers the Name
of his beloved one;he explains it,
says: -I practise writing
the name of Helena over and over.
Since I cannot attain her physically,
I love her her Name withal".

1.4:At Skovde there's a tradition of how the stones and beams belonging to the birgittine chapel of Kapplunda, which was under construction in the 15th century, were dragged by invisible hands (or by the helenic Priests) unto S.Helena's Church in the centre of the town, nightly - a proof of Helena's attraction and need to be the only one on stage.

1.5:Swedes and Danes have been drivelling to identify Helena more specifically for 400 years, and one of these helenic candidates is Helena Guthormsdaughter. Her father Guthorm Jarl worked for the Sverker Party. E.g. in 1164 he received a papal lettre from Alexander III /Sens. One of his daughters, whose name is unknown, is the alleged first Abbess of the O.Praem.cloister at Skovde. One other daughter was named after our Westgothian saint - Helena - some time during the 1160:ies. He owned premises in Dadesjo; died maybe in 1171 - surely on 14/4; his escutcheon is hanging at Soro Cloister. It is stressed in this context that Helena "of Skovde (or Skedevig or Skodbek)" already then was worshipped in Denmark! Helena Guthormsdaughter got married to the threefold widower of Esbern Snare/ Hvide Family (he lived 1127-1204), and their only child breeded jointly, Ingeborg, lived until 1267.

1.6:An invisible hand pushed Esbern down the stairs in their Saeby Castle and he died. In 1204 Helena Gdtr bore a son in Denmark, Knud of Reval (dead in 1260), whose father was king Valdemar Sejr. Knud was brought up in Linkoping, where he and Helena founded a Mary Chapel. Knud's son Svantopolk (d.in 1310) became one of the greatest men of Norden. In March of 1288 his daughter was carried away from Vreta Cloister by a brother of bishop Brynolf #1 - this stealth caused the Exile in Eastgothia and other difficulties which our bishop was going to be subjected to, as will be described along with miracle #11. (Bo Jonsson Grip is one of Knud's offsprings, after 6 generations). Helena Gdtr died a natural death at a pretty high age in Linkoping, where her tomb is (now overbuilt along with the entire Dome of her time!); she died during the 1230:ies or later.

1.7:Let me puncture two haywire, new inventions: A)Helena Guthormsdaughter did NOT build "all of Skovde's Church". B)The village of Helsinge connected to Guthorm Jarl is SITUATED IN DENMARK - Not in Finland, Not in Halsingland! And there's one question: Did bishop Absalon (1128-1201), Helena Guthormsdaughter's brother-in-law, really own a farm in Varola (Valora) next to Skovde?

1.8:Here are some examples of the manifestations of the modern fascination of S.Helena: A pupil of a school in Gotene collected information on Helena from books and from a monk (OFM.Cap) in the late 1980:ies, and thereby a number of "new pieces of information" were added to the never-ceasing stream of helenic "knowledge"; to the ever-expanding flora of helenic flowers. A)Helena got married in Gotene and moved to Womb when she was 20 years old. B)Esbern Snare was her son-in-law ( - a horrible cacodoxy!) C)After Helena's martyrdom she was dragged into the forest. D)A white lime wall in Wattlosa Church has been dated to 1160 thanks to a mystical inscription, and this is the "proof" of in which year that Helena had died... E)A school musical on Helena was performed at Scara in the late 1980:ies, at least three plays describing, alas in a corrupt way, the life of Helena, were performed at Skovde in 2001. F)In 2001 Helenapromoters of Skovde, as a result of their lacking new pieces of information on Helena, added that "folks used to collect filings from her metal grating inside her church, and to use the same in magical medicine".

The mentioned essay, along with a well-hidden notebook from the 1950:ies on Helena's secret life, are regarded as authentic documents on Helena by the library and the knows-it-all of Gotene nowadays. Of course the essay, the notebook, the musical and the plays are all very good initiatives, BUT DON'T REGARD THEM AS MEDIEVAL FACTS!

***2...Helena's parents were a part of the upper class. Their family was of noble origin. Helena is unique among the early saints of Sweden in not having her roots on the British Islands. Neither has she ever been connected to any of these, almost all of whom are mere and fairly recent fabrications. Evenmore - Helena is expressively claimed to be Westgothian.

Some say that she was born where Skovde sequentially was built; others that she was brought up at Womb (a parish next to Skovde. Eventually she was going to inherit from her father parts of Womb); or that she came to inheriting the farm of Westerby at Gotene...

2.1: WHERE S.HELENA WAS BROUGHT UP: According to one informer, the father of Helena was rich - not both of her parents. (According to 1 Kor. 1:26 not many individuals from noble families were among those who were called by the Lord, nor were there many wise ones. Inspite of this christian basis, a noble ancestry etc. is held out as a merit in the hagiographies, and this is counteractive!)

2.2:Some folks say that Helena lived on a big farm near Arild on the north side of the Peninsula of Kullen/Scania, with her mother Ingrid, a widow, and with her brother Arild and sister Thora (or with the two sisters Karen and Thora; then again maybe Arild is the female saint of Thornbury? semiforgotten due to time and protestantism). (The huge Oak on the cemetery of Farhult was 137 years old at the time when Helena was born, and 'tis still standing there - its waist measures 6 yards). Then Ingrid led David, a major proprietor, to the Altar; but he proved a malignant stepfather to Ingrid's children. He sent them away on a burning ship... Others say that the siblings got an evil stepmother since their real father had become a widower, and that, when Helena sailed toward Palestine with her father's approval, her ship capsized north of Denmark and she drowned. {Thora's church: 25/19; Thora 25/23-24; pilgrimage 24/4-00 25/72-73, 27}. Another inclination: Helena came from the aristocratic farmstead (or: royal, id est Suerchonian, Estate) which used to exist where Skovde now is situated...

2.3:In 1743, 13/7, it was invented that "Arrild" were a brother of Helene. At Arild, the fishermen's village, traditions are maintained about Helene and her two siblings. Saint Arild, who has two identical chapels in that village, might be the female saint Arild of Thornbury, celebrated on 20/7. On the waterfront of reddish rocks beneath Arild's Well outside that village, there is a crossmarked stone showing where Arild's drowned body floated ashore.

2.4:Karen of this holy family (unknown before 1743?) sometimes replaces Helene herself, sometimes Thora. Sankt Karen's Kilde, which is mentioned in this context, is in Hojby parish, Ods Herred in Sjaelland, between Nykoping and Egebjaerg next to Annebjaerg Gaard Forest, betwixt the road and Isse Fiord. Her Grave and one of her Kilde:s exist at Kildehusene in Asminderup parish. Sankt Karen's Forest existed until some hundred years ago immediately south of Helene Kilde at Tisvilde. But originally "Karen" must have been identical with saint Catherine of Alexandria, whose day is 25/11.

2.5:Is Thora a distortion of Thorsten? Or vice versa? There are some indications of that. Saint Thorsten's Well and Oratory exist in the vicinity of Saint Helena's Church and Well of Gotene, and Thorsten's Well and Oratory exist in the vicinity of Helena's hallandian and scanian monuments. The worship in Grevie parish of Thorsten was documented on order of king Christan IV. An arrow-shot from Thorsten's "Kiercke og Capell" was his well at Kvindebyske, and its water had healed a blind person's eyes. The "capell" was in a ruined plight in the 17th cent.. In Denmark there is Thorsten's Kilde at Bronshoj on the premises of Bronshoj in Kobenhavn Amt.

Thora, then again, was carried unto Grevie for her funeral, whenas she made the carriers return and instead bury her near the place where they had found her body, and her oratory grew into the city-church of Torekov. Under the big rounded boulder on the beach there is her well. In Denmark there is Thora's Kilde on the northernmost promontory of Ods Herred of Sjaelland; or "Thores Kilde is on the soil of Thor by the deserted village of Torup near Nykoping in Holbaek Amt".

2.6:Helene in this context might be a distortion of, and an explanation to, the name of Hellebaek in Sjaelland. A hypothetic girl called Helle has become identified with Helene, in Denmark called Sanct Leene. Her well at Tisvilde was written Helle Lene Kilde, though there seems to be a confusion concerning the original position of her well there; 'tis claimed: That it broke forth from her grave; that the oratory was built next to the well (her present twin-well is by the ocean); that the oratory was built next to the grave (her present grave is at some distance from the ocean); that Tibirke church was built beside Helene well and/or grave; that the grave and the oratory existed beside eachother (presently one presumes that the oratory-ruin is the grave); etc. The noun Helle means refuge (both one in the road and one from danger) and flat barren rock; as a verb it means "to join" bricks eg.; "Helle mig!" corresponds jolly well to the english "Fains I, batting first!".

2.7:The three siblings Helene, Thora and Arild were all found drowned but having floated ashore on flat stones, and upon all three stones there are still marks from their bodies. As to Helena's pre-greek and hypothetical incarnation, Persephone was her paternal halfsister, see (9) page 9, and thus these two Goddesses cannot be regarded as being the selfsame one, as some authors do.

***3...Helena got a christian education; she learnt the Law of God and Righteousness. After a due number of years she'd become both beautiful and intelligent, and she found herself possessing the gift of Prophesy. During her teens she agreed to marrying, under obedience to God and tradition, a man, who had a good position in Westgothia, and they got a number of children. After her husband had died, she governed their estates herself.

Through all her lifetime she increased the honour and glory of her family. Now, she was not at all old, and her economic status was very prosperous, but she wished no-way to remarry on Earth - Instead she wished to enter upon a spiritual marriage with God. Her desire was burning for Heaven, and she found her consolation in God. One tradition tells that she had contact with a cloister at Skovde, but a suchlike institution was maybe not founded until after her death. OSB.Cist-nuns didn't exist until in 1148/49 (in France), but O.Praem-nuns existed since 1121 and OSB-nuns had existed since long...

3.1:Helena was married for some 20 years between presumptively 1117 and 1137.

3.2: RE CLOISTERS: Helena's daughter took the veil after having become a widow a few years before 1140. As to Helena herself it's not unreasonable to believe, that she must have had a spiritual leader, a confessor, for to be able to develop christianly, like her liturgical text indeed claims that she did. That means that during the first half of the 12th cent. there must have existed a cloister within walking-range from Wettlosa/Gotene and from Womb/Skovde-in-Spe respectively. One tradition even claims Helena to have dwelt in a cloister, yea, to have been the abbess of one at Skovde. A senseless "fact", found in a catholic dictionary, reads that Sigfrid, who allegedly had worked in Sweden 1015-60, had converted and baptized Helena, who was born in 1102. Sigfrid has never even existed, thereto!

3.3:In the different legends there are several claims of monks having been active hereabouts. Monks are supposed to have carried Helena's body from her farm (Beaver's Foyer) to Skovde (2/8 1140). Monks watched carefully her Grave (from 1164 and onwards). Monks are supposed to have designed her Seal (before 1314). Monks are reported to have given Helena the credit of healing christians and of rendering them happy, as they cried for Helena , "pouring health-bringing water out of " her Holy Well on Wombo Rivulet (from the 1370:ies and onwards). During the "reformation" in Sweden (in the 16th cent.), monks are accused for having lied about having transferred Helena's Shrine or reliques from Skovde to Denmark one night.

3.4:In 1050 queen Gunhild, whose husband was king Anund Jacobs, maybe founded the benedictine (sic) cloister for nuns of Gudhem (God's Foyer), on the very spot of an ancient tempel of one hundred idols! This statement is bound to create mighty objections, but don't blame me; blame Rhyzelius, who invented or collected this information.

3.5:SPECIAL EFFECT: Gudhem's Cloister was firstly mentioned in 1168 - the neighbouring Royal Farm wasn't until in 1546, so the cloister existed 378 years before this farm, which was created through uniting 8 whole ex-cloistral farms.

3.6:In 1055 king Emund, the halfbrother of Anund Jacobs, maybe founded the benedictine cloister for monks at Husaby, which soon (in 1060) moved down to Scara, though. 1110, 1120 and 1128 are the years suggested for the foundation of Vreta's OSB-nun-cloister, which in 1163 was turned into a OSB-Cist.one. (Vreta Cloister is today supposed to have been the first one within the Swedish borders, an idea based on phoney documents). In 1140 our king Sverker-the-Elder (Suerchonus, Suercher, the first monarch of Sweden who is a historical individual without any doubt) and his queen Ulfhilda Haakonsdaughter financed and founded a small benedictine cloister for monks at Alvastra, which in 1150 got integrated into OSB-Cist. According to cistercian tradition their cloisters of Alvastra and Nydala were inaugurated simultaneously - on the 6th of June in 1143! In 1143 or 1145 the order of OSB-Cist had founded a colony on the islet (Luro) at the hub of Lake Vaner, and in 1147 these monks dwelt on Boo's Meadow on the flat hill of Lugnaas; (according to tradition they were nuns, though). For a short space of time, between 1151 and 1157, there was a OSB-Cist-colony at Varnhem, in the ruins of the fort on the west entrance to the Billing Pass, corresponding to the averred fort on the east side, where Helena's Church was built.

3.7:SPECIAL EFFECT: Varnhem's Cloister was firstly mentioned in 1150 - the neighbouring parish of Skarke wasn't until 1564, so Varnhem is at least 400 years older than Skarke. (The monks were expelled by erik's wife from Varnhem, and in 1157 they, or Valdemar the Great, founded Vitskol Monastery in northern Jylland; in southern Jylland they founded Om in 1172 - if "Om" doesn't signify Om beyond Skovde town? Vitskol Minster, now Bjornsholm, was investigated in 1958, and Om in 1918, 358 years after it had been demolished).

3.8:From the 1160:ies and onwards there was a premonstratensian House in Skovde. Maybe it was situated near Canons' Cottage, at the Source of Darkness, and maybe the vault, that on that spot was destroyed by excavators in 1955, was a relic of its buildings. In 1161 or 1175 the Sverker Family transmuted the benedictine cloister for nuns of Gudhem into a cistercian one. In 1163 OSB-Cist-monks of Nydala arrived at Ova, where they founded the cloister of Gudvalla.

3.9:There are 30 alleged medieval cloisters in Westgothia at least, but most of these are either of a later dating than Helena's lifetime, or else they're fictitious. Seven examples are: (It's fully possible that missionaries from Ireland and from Tours might have created colonies in Sweden long before Ansgar's mission). A)Erixberg (late 12th cent., built by the anticatholic erikclan, see below, who rivalled in gaining the power of Sweden in competition with our party, the Sverker Family. B)Gum of the Westgothian Mount Kulle (its cement is dated to 10th or 11th cent., but this is surely the ruin of a fort). C)Gokhem (church from 1st half of 12th cent). D)Hedared (its buildings existed (?) until early 16th cent. Two towers which were broader on their upper parts were standing at some distance from the gables on the main building, which owned embrasure-windows with engraved stone-framework. E)Charles' Cloister (1000 yards southwest of West-Bitterna Church, in Priestbosket, on a terrace by a rock; mentioned in 1489). F)2000 steps outside Skovde, close to Helena's Well (1st half of the 12th cent; today overbuilt by military garages). G)Sveneby's Cloister for monks (12th century. A crucifix made in 1120 and a figurine of S.Erasmus are preserved).

***4...The last few years of Helena's life she showed through action what true Christianity is: She opened up her mansion to the sick and the poor, as well as to people travelling across the country. She was generous. Using wool from her sheep she enabled making cloths for people in rags. The hungry could have their fill thanks to her. She lived as though she spent her life in a cloister - she prayed and fasted. God let her execute miracles and powerful measures. She tore down with her own hands the temples of idolatry, and she chopped down terebinth (or rather oak- or yewtree-) bosquets. She emitted ideas that fixed Christianity in the districts of Gotene and Skovde - in course of time in all her districts, positively.

Helena loved to see the Fanes of the Trinity in a beautiful condition, and zealously she favoured the priesthood. In 1130 she paid the costs of erecting the church of Womb for her devotions and to the honour of the Virgin...

4.1: THE LEIJONBALK CLAN?: In 1932 the floor inside the churchtower of Womb was broken up because of piping or wiring works, and down there one found a coffin having sides of stone and two(?) flat lid-stones. Two skeletons lay within. One restored this grave without making any notes nor photographing. It has been suggested that it belongs to the Leijonbalk Clan, which long ago owned large portions of this "parish". In 1185, when one laid the foundations of this tower by the existent church, one laid them all around this existent grave. In 1282 Helena Philippi was widowed - her husband had been Holmger Karlsson-Leijonbalk.

***5...Helena paid the cost of rebuilding the church of Gotene from one of wood into one of stone - or building it from zero; that's what Brynolf tells. Then this happened: {Sanely and inside her rural estate, which was called Gothene, she saw in a dream a presage of the future of this constitution: It seemed to her, concerning the local church there, that it, at the same time as she was appearing inside it, flew to Skodhwe yonder. The divine disclosure of the dream revealed that this was how she was meant to interpret the dream: As how she was going to die at Gothene but was still going to get buried at Skodhwe - thereafter the outcome was going to become a proof of this being true} (quotation from Brynolf's 13th cent.text).

She covered a large portion of the sum for the construction of the church of Skovde. She asked the masons to arrange for her a sepulchral cell in a connexion (pillared, roofed, having one side open) leading between the tower of an old fortress and the church itself. The masons wondered: "This intérstice, what will it be used for?" and she replied: "God is prone to giving you something holy, the body and remainder of which in a suitable way can be put together here (conf. Gen.22:8)"...

5.1:Helena built the church of Womb in 1130 (a statement that cannot be traced back longer in time than to the 18th cent., though. It is not a brynolfian statement). As a comparison it may be mentioned that baulks of the roof of GOTENE church have been dated to 1128; the tower of Husaby church was built in 1105 plus/minus 15 years and its stone-nave in 1120 plus/minus 20 years (but its apse is newer); a baulk of Skalvum Church is dated to 1136 (the year the tree was felled). One must remember that neither Brynolf nor Dunney says that Helena rebuilt the church of Gotene, but that she built it or rather financed the building of it.

AND

5.2: THE UNLIT CAVERN IN SKOVDE CHURCH: It's said also, wrongfully, that Helena made the masons construct her grave-cavern UNDER the church in Skovde; a small vault or choir. Well, her original Grave is described here above - maybe the Porticus inter Turrim et Ecclesiam still existed when Brynolf visited this church 14-15/8 1288. All else are nought but senseless ideas of today and 500 years back:

A)"Her Grave lay under the floor of the vestibule, down to which a stairway led inside of the wall"; a compilation of three phenomena - 1)The Grave under the floor in the westmost end of the church, as in the neighbouring church of Womb. 2)The grave-cavern and stairway in walls in the westmost end of churches, as in the church of Bankekind (the original entrances were not through the towers). 3)The pillared vestibule, as in Dalby Church.

B)"This grave mustn't be mixed up with the vaulted niche at the east end of the church, which was arranged when Helena a long time after her death got elevated (see below) and canonized". The different descriptions of this niche, "Helene Graf", do not agree. One is already mentioned; another idea is to place it inside the eastern wall of the northern transept.

C)"Evidently the stairway under the lid of the floor in the choir is something completely different". It sure is - the lid is not more than 30 years old. The stairway leads to a couple of destroyed private crypts, a few hundred years old.

D)"The naked portion with rounded top of the wallcovering, outdoors, on the north-east part of the building, marks out the vaulted ex-ceiling of the nether room of a sacristy from the 17th century"; (compare it with the same device of Wattlosa Church).

E)The foundation, underground, of an outgrowth in the north-east direction, is maybe partly circular, but all is very uncertain. There's a possibility of Helena's Church having been erected among the ruins of a fort - but this foundation has nought to do with that fort; it's from the 17th century, see below. Still this foundation has generated the idea of that a small Helenic MAUSOLEUM had preceded the first real church in Skovde.

F)The grating hanging beneath the pulpit nowadays, has been suggested to have hung infront of Helena's Grave, but maybe this grating is one of the two that once used to ward off the choir from the nave - five steps led from the nave up to these. But the OSB.Cist-saint John of 1/2 {1098-1163} is surnamed de Craticula, "of the Grating", since metal railings surround his shrine!

5.3: THE FORT OF FOULQUES: Helena's Church in present Skovde, which she partly financed, was peradventure erected on the ruins of a fort, of which the tower was preserved until the 1370:ies. Her liturgical text reads loud and clear, that Helena saw to that her grave was to be built in a connexion between the tower and the church itself. The tower - it was a military device and not a campanile - had perchance been erected during the 11th century, and it's noway unique: there are many churches in Sweden that still keep their fort-towers, like Benestad, Brunflo, Frojel, Gammelgarn, GOTHEM (built 1180; now ruined), Harmanger, Larbro, Vallberga and Ojeby.

Folks say that, when Helena's Church first was founded, a big sow! and its seven sucklings were enclosed inside the walls "because the parishioners wanted to make sure that their church was going to be kept in peace, and every night the sow dashes around it so you can smell it!" (The trick hasn't worked, has it, for the church has been demolished repeatedly by Danes and Fires).

***6...One day Helena was heading for the site in Skovde where the church was under construction, carrying three round loaves for to give to the stoners, whenas a danish patrole deprived her of them. She prayed to God "Please help me" and He transformed the loaves into three grey stones (Luk:4:3). Today one calls them The Oldest Treasures Of The Church. This incident was the earliest one known today of her miracles, and the only one known today that occurred during her lifetime - (though the story is surely not older than 100 years).

6.1: THE STONY BREADS: Sometimes Helena's husband is described as a good Christian and spiritual, sometimes as a "child of this world"; sometimes as quite cruel a person:- "He was furious at Helena's generousity to the poor. One day, when she was bringing bread to the poor, she got scared that he'd catch sight of the loaves, and she prayed to God that these would turn into stones - so they did (compare the prior version above). One and a half of these originally three, round stony loaves are exhibited at Skovde Museum; they are lens-shaped and about one diametral foot.

6.2:Three suggestions have been hurled forth as to stony bread in churches:

A)At Easter-tide the priest would place consecrate bread and wine on them (but in this context they're two and square).

B)They were used for Shewbread on the altar (but they oughta be 12 and of real bread). And: such Shewbread of stone is claimed to have been used solely in temples of a central rang, and this did firstly apply well to Skovde's church.

C)The three stones would, red-hot, have been thrown into the cold water of the font for to warm it up. (This is a veritable physical experiment - try it, if you like! The stones will explode; the water will get sooty, and there will not be room enough in the font for the child any longer, and the water will overflow!).

***7...The legend mentions but one of Helena's children - a daughter... "She grew up and became as beautiful and good as her mother".

7.1: HELENA's CHILDREN: Well, was Helena ever married? The legend might not generally correspond to her real life, but rather correspond to how a legend oughta be designed. She is entitled Virgo (Virgin), in connexion to her reliques in Upsala Cathedral, (but normally "Helene Virgo" is applied on another Helena, the one connected to Amator of Auxerres, defunct after 418, worshipped 22/5 in Sweden). And I don't believe that the clerks at that time were astrologers?

7.2:"The only known child that Helena is supposed to have borne to her earthly husband, id est the daughter who Dunney intuitionally calls Cecilia, has analogy to 1)the winged entity, Euphorion, to whom Helena of Mykene gave birth, Achilles withal, on White Island in the Black Sea; 2)the boy that the power of Simon Magus created through thickening air to water, water to blood, and blood to flesh; 3)the Homunculus that Goethe made in his laboratory, and 4)the Euphorion-child that he made Helena give birth to in his book on Faustus".

7.3:And then now again: One informer hints that Helena had borne more daughters than the one treated of, but no sons are ever hinted.

***8...This daughter of Helena lived on the big farm of Westerby (neighbouring Gotene) after having gotten married. She didn't ever bear any children...

8.1: WHAT WAS GOTENE? What is meant by "Gotene" at this time (1130:ies)? No parishes existed - the first few parishes are mentioned in the 13th century. Churches were either one of the buildings of farmsteads, or they were placed onto holy places - pagan or christian. Westerby did probably not yet exist (first mentioned in 1397). It's claimed that Helena's son-in-law came from Gotene; that Helena was born at Gotene; that she and her husband owned a farm at Gotene; that she inherited from her mother a farm at Gotene; that the daughter lived her married period in Westerby farm etc. If the son-in-law was neither from the single farm of Gotene nor from Westerby, and if he still really did come from Gotene and from a noble family, then he musta been the son of the preacher-man! (Parishes didn't yet exist, but the districts called Haerader did - they're the size of some 20 modern parishes - mentioned in 1104 in a foreign description of Westgothia).

***9...Someone has given the husband of Helena's daughter the title of Knight, but the task of a knight would be to defend his Country, Christianity and Women - this man regarded his mission on Earth to be the very opposite. Albeit that he might have been of importance and stemming from a haughty House, he hated bitterly these five items: 1)That their ancient religion of demigods got run down. 2)That churches and saint-chapels got built up. 3)That Christianity expanded successfully. 4)His wife (the daughter of Helena) - he tormented her continuously by dint of hammering words and fists. 5)His mother-in-law (Helena herself) because she used up all of her money on building churches and on charity, and because that she had her mind directed towards Heaven instead of having it directed towards his wallet (he saw his heritage peter out, in other words)...

9.1: SAINTS KNOWN IN THE DIOCESE OF SCARA DURING HELENA's LIFETIME 1102-1140: (These names had been deleted even when the Calendar of Lodose was written in the 1470:ies. In 1072 probably all East- and Westgothia had been christianized, and parts of Sodermanland; or else all Sweden got christianized in 1100 by king Inge the Elder and queen Helena; or else the entire country was turned to Christ exactly on 15/2 in 1108 - all according to different informers).

Alban 20/6. Albinus 1/3. Alphege 19/4. Alexander I 3/5. Amandus 6/2. Anastasia 25/12. Anatolia 9/7. Antonius abbot 4/5. Appollonia 9/2. Beda Venerabilis 31/5. Bertinus 5/9. Boniface 5/6. Brigida of Ireland 1/2. Calixtus 16/4. Calixtus 17/5. Ciriacus 7/4. Columbanus 23/11. Cuthbert 20/3. Dunstan 19/5. Edith 16/9. Edmund 20/11. Edward 18/3. Eleuterius 18/4. Ethelbert 19/5. Etheldreda 17/10. Eufemia 13/4. Eugenia 25/12. Eusebius 14/8. Eventius 3/5. Felicitas 23/11. Felix of Nola 14/1. Felix II 29/7. Fortunatus 21/4. Geminianus 16/9. Germanus 1/10. Gildardus 8/6. Gutlac 11/4. Hermes 28/8. John of Beverley 7/5. Julius I 12/4. Knud 10/7. Knud Lavard 7/1. Kristofer 25/7. Leo II 11/4. Linus 26/11. Lioba 28/9. Lucia the Elder 16/9. Magnus 19/8. Maria Egyptiaca 2/4. Medardus 8/6. Mikaël at Mons Aureus 8/5. Oswald 5/8. Pancras 3/4. Patrick 17/3. Paulinus of Trier 31/8. Paulus of Nola 22/6. Peregrinus 17/5. Potentiane 19/5. Romanus 21/5. Rufus of Capua 27/8. Rufus Melitene 19/4. Seventy-two Apostles 11/6. Stefan I 2/8. Swithun 2/7. Tecla 23/9. Theodora 1/4. Theodosia 2/4. Theodulus 3/5. Timoteus 15/5. Urban 24/4. Uriël (until 1215) 28/7. Vedast 6/2. Viktor the Moor 8/5. Viktor at Xanten 20/4. Willibrord 7/11.

9.2:From art, breviaries, books of prayers, fragments of calendars and missals, inscriptions on vessels and bells, and datings of parchments etc one can find 75 names liturgically occurring at her time; 2 of these were angels, 18 women and 55 men. 26 were italian, 19 brittish/irish, 15 from "Middle E.", 7 french, 4 greek, 2 danish, 2 spanish. Helena herself, who became (1/8 1140) the first saint all categories in Sweden, was not yet included. (Yes, all categories, since Sigfrid, Eskil & Co. never have existed!) 4 women and 11 men were members of orders. 12 were OSB; 3 were of irish orders, which soon were integrated under OSB, so actually ALL were OSB. Sequentially 20 other names occur solely in the Missal (18 from Middle-E. and 2 italian). (200 years later 106 other names occurred liturgically, none of which are included in the modern calendar; but then again a number of the oldest saints have recurred today within the modern calendar. During the 14th cent. 33 out of the 107 were women, 74 were men. 52 italian, 24 from Middle-E., 13 english/irish, 6 french, 3 from unknown countries, 2 from"benelux", 2 greek, 2 german, 1 norwegian, 1 spanish, 1 swedish(guess who). Nine were members of orders: 2 women and 5 men were OSB; 1 OP and 1 Martin-of-Tours'. There is no trace of mission activity from East at any time in Westgothia! The italian dominancy is overwhelming. (See the calendars yclept Eugendus and Willibrord for a more precise exposition of the saints of medieval Sweden). These facts are facts; now over to the saga:

9.3:Among the items that Helena's son-in-law hated were churches and saints - who were the saints venerated in Scara's Diocese in the 1130:ies? Forsby Church, inaugurated 13/8 1135* was dedicated to "offering to the Saints"; and who were the saints represented in art in Helena's Oratory, inaugurated around 1140. (*This date cut into the cement superficially is a hoax, though).

The traditional saints in chronological order:

+238, 21/10 URSULA. In Scara Diocese her reliques were venerated before 1150. She shared Shrine with Helena in the altar of Molltorp Church; since 1938 in Scara Museum. Ursula is one of the Eleven Virgins, see special chapter. They were 11 and not 11.000 - a mistake has been made a long time ago on the interpretation of XI.MV, which means Undecim Martyres Virgines, but M has been taken for Mille.

+249 9/2 APPOLLONIA. (See special chapter; logo 22/1890; Mass 24/2222f incl.drawings of many of her items) No individuals in the entire swedish part of Gothia were named Ap(p)ol(l)onia as from the beginning until the end of the catholic era of Sweden!, but this beloved Saint was added to the manual of Scara in ~1450 and to that of Hemsjo 1475. Her source, near the alleged Bishop's Thorpe on Mount Kinne-Kulle, was firstly mentioned in the 17th century. She and Helena are nowadays sharing 'sororalemente' the church of Medelplana, which was proclaimed to be dedicated to them in the 1970:ies. Helena's alleged altar is standing next to the mainaltar, whilst Appollonia's altar is placed outdoors beside the eastern door.

380 (year of cult-start), 23/4 GEORGE, GORAN, ORJAN. He and his dragon were depicted on the southern internal wall of Helena's Church in Skovde from around 1400 until the Fire of 1759. In Scara Diocese he was among the original saints, venerated during nearly 600 years from the missionary years before 1000 to the "reformation".

+397 11/11 MARTIN OF TOURS. The first founder of cloisters in Western Europe. Educated missionaries. In Forshem/Scara diocese there are traces of his cult (?) indicated by a stone relievo and/or a sculpture, and by Saint Martin's Thorpe. His cult here is older than 1325.

+461 17/3 PATRICK - his apostles did possibly carry out mission hereabouts. Provably celebrated only on the eastern shores of Lake Wetter.

492-496 (cult-start during the interval) 8/5, 29/9, 30/9 MIKAËL, THE ARCHANGEL. His cult was, along with S.Mary's cult, the first to enter the Norden Countries. He is mentioned on 2 swedish and 5 danish Viking-Age rune-stones. He isn't dead, but at Vamblingbo/Gothland there is St.Michel's Grave. In Scara Diocese his cult is older than the 1260:ies.

+525 1/2 BRIGIDA OF KILDARE: One of the most important saints at Scara Cathedral; mentioned in writing, used here, written in 1137. As early as in 1325 it's documented that a well bore her name at Husaby/Gotene Commune. The text reads that the first christian westgothian king, Olof, had gotten baptized in her well there, see special chapter on Brigida. She has had (12th century) a great cloisteral plant on Oland. In the 1320:ies her Prebend of Scara's Cathedral was founded. The church of Radene was dedicated to her according to an inscription; so was Moo Church. In Boja (Boghene) is her Bog of Offering. Her cult faded during the 15th cent. A 19th century chapel in Gothenburg bears her name. One of king Olof's offsprings in the fifth generation was born in Ireland, Harald Gille, and he married "a rich westgothian woman", and their daughter received the name Brigida - she became the Mother of a great part of the swedish intelligentsia. She inherited her mother's vast estates in Westgothia...

+659 17/3 GERTRUDE OF NIVELLES: Her cult didn't provably enter Scara Diocese until some decades before 1400. Her well at Ranneslov got re-dedicated to Helena 1/11 1993! In Gertrude's Chapel at Upper-Granna (near Visingso) Helena's Day was one of 4 special feasts, according to a bishop's letter.

+680 17/6 BOTHULPH. Before 1150 his reliques were placed in the altar of Broddetorp's church/Scara Diocese, and therefore he's one of the saints surely celebrated here during Helena's lifetime. Falkoping was a Botulph Cult Centre, granted by bishop Brynolf in 1281. His chapel-ruin lies halfway between the two churches on Visingso, but IT IS MISTAKENLY called "Laurentii Chapel". On Visingso Helena was rediscovered in 1922 as to mural paintings.

+865 3/2 (here 4/2) ANSGAR. (His ceremonial text was edited in 1384 by Nils Hermansson/ Linkoping). He was venerated more and under a longer period in Westgothia than in the rest of Sweden, and thereto EARLIER than anywhere else in Norden. His baptismal well still exists in North Vanga; there's clear water in it; 1 yard deep; having 4 flat limestones at it. In the necrology of Lund Diocese he was included on 9/9; in Liber Daticus in 1145 on 3/2 - these were writings used in Scara too.

+980:ies 21/6; feast:15/2 UNAMAN, SUNAMAN and WINAMAN. They are historical individuals, maybe from the British/Irish islands? They have been connected wrongfully to "Sigfrid", who never existed, and most stories on them are lies. See special chapter. They were killed by a WOMAN at Vaxio 21/6 during the 980:ies, after they'd founded Christianity in southern Smaland.

+1000 8/7 (here 11/7) SUNNIVA. She's mentioned along with Helena liturgically. Sunniva is one of the specific Scarensian saints, reflecting the frequent contacts between Norway and Westgothia, and she stayed so during the entire Middle Ages.

+1030 29/7 OLAV OF NORWAY. He and Helena were the first two saints of Nordic origin to enter the calendar of Scara Diocese - all the others were added hundreds of years later - but his only "contribution" to our helenic cult is that his feast collides menacingly with her holy Feast. Celebrated in Scara Diocese during all 14th and 15th centuries, but neither he nor eric were known or celebrated here in Helena's lifetime. The Scarensian St Olav's Mass was unique and not used anywhere else. His cult was forced upon our diocese in 1396.

+1060 15/2 SIGFRID, never existed. "His" day was stolen from Una-, Suna- and Winaman. 15/2 as a Sigfrid-day was first used anywhere in Sweden for dating in 1292. He was adopted in 1303 by the Augustinians of Arboga; and he commenced to be regarded as a saint from the 1330:ies and onwards. First Sigfrid-dating in Scara Diocese was set in 1357; regarded as one of Sweden's patroni in 1365, and his cult was forced upon our diocese in 1396.

+1080 11-12/6; here 6 or 8/10. ESKIL, ESCILLUS. He's one of the earliest pseudo-swedish saints celebrated in Scara Diocese - his name was added to the 13th cent. calendar (6/10), but he was only a low-grade saint until his cult was forced upon us in 1396. Never existed in the way it's described.

+1086(1090) 25/6(15/7) DAVID. His cult was forced upon Scara Diocese in 1396. Not included in the medieval litanies. Never existed in the way it's described.

+1086 10/7 KNUD. Celebrated in Scara Diocese only during the 13th cent. His existence is factual beyond any doubt. In a choral niche of Haesslunda church east of Helsingborg there's a rediscovered picture of Knud.

+1100 (1120, 1123) 28/7 BOTWID. Didn't enter the Breviary and Litany of Scara Diocese until the 15th cent. Has surely never existed, but he was invented as early as in the 12th century.

+1100 (no day) TORSTEN OF BEAVER's FOYER : First documented during the 17th century. His holy circle was depicted then too, but at that time the original story behind it and another well and two churches nearby were forgotten. Their origin surely is medieval and genuine, but I doubt that the name Torsten is a person's name. Some heretics claim that Helena too merely is a reformed territorial name, but here's a great difference between Helena, mentioned in her liturgical texts written during Brynolf #1's bishopric period 1278-1317 and subsequently by bishopric letters and by monuments of the 14th and 15th centuries on one side, and on the other local, obscure saints evidently invented by the protestants of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries and of course by the peasants. Torsten's legend, see a special chapter. Wattlosa and Beaver's Foyer is one of the most interesting and mystical districts of Norden. Probably another saintly Torsten has a well and a chapel in the parish of Grevie not far from Torekov, named after an alleged sister of Helena, see below.

+1125 (no day) RAGNHILD. In the 1970:ies she was endowed with a well near the 1000 years old oak in the park of Rawbeck Castle on Mount Kinne Kulle. She is otherwise solely connected to South Telje, where her church is - she also decorates the Commune Escutcheon there.

+1131 7/1 KNUD LAVARD. Doubtlessly included in a 13th cent. calendar of Scara Diocese, but was probably celebrated here from close after his canonization in 1170 and onwards. The calendars of Lund Diocese were used here up to the year of 1300, but the saint was yet celebrated longer here than that. His modern day is 13/1.

+1134 HENRIK, killed during the Battle of Hammar; put in Shrine 18/6 1300. All else is fiction. The fabricated saint Henrik was introduced in Scara Diocese in around 1396. Day in the modern calendar: 19/1.

AND

9.4: HELENA's MIND: - it was directed to God according to her legend and to her witnesses, in accordance to Rom.8:5: "but anyone who lives by the Holy Spirit, keeps herself busy doing what the Spirit demands"; and to Coll.3:2: "Keep yourselves busy doing what there is up on High, and not what there is on the Earth."

***10...Finally the folks working on the farm of Helena's daughter, no longer could bear to see the violence that she was subjected to, and they lay in ambush in the forest and they killed her husband. They cast such a large number of stones over him that they created a lesser hill on the spot...

10.1: THE ASSAULT ON HELENA's SON-IN-LAW: The boys and girls working at Helena's daughter's farm, had planned the assault on him, since they lay in ambush - the place of it is called Skrikhult (the Cottage of Screaming; first mentioned in 1825) in the parish of Womb. Another story: The servants enticed the son-in-law to the place where they smote him to death. Yet another story: One of Helena's daughter's servants couldn't endure that his mistress got so badly treated by her husband, and he lurked on him and liquidated him. Thirdly it was suggested in 1994, 3-4/5, that the heap of stones that were piled upon the carcase, is the Golden Cairn, a stone's throw south of the ruin of the fortress at Lundby/ Kolaby parish. Yet another story: "Helena's son-in-law was killed during a Revolt risen as a result of the Tyranny that he executed towards his servants, but the fact that Helena became a suspect for having planned the revolt, was caused by that people took it for granted that she wanted to get rid of him since he treated his wife, id est Helena's daughter, roughly".

***11...The relatives of the son-in-law of Helena accused her for being the engineer of the deed in the wings, and they decided to set about her and not the workers of the farm. They started persecuting her in many a way, and her daughter fled to a cloister - Bosio (OSB) in Scania was maybe the only nunnery available at the time...

11.1: REVENGERS and CLOISTERS: The revengers of the assault on Helena's son-in-law, killed (according to ONE tradition) the servants of her daughter just before Helena's departure for Palestine. The Hermione-like daughter, a childless widow, went to Bosio Cloister, which had been operative for almost 60 years, and there she took the OSB-veil (and received the cloisteral name of Elena?). At that time the cloister lay on an islet amidst Lake Boo (now Lake Ring) in Scania. The Grand Oak there was 144 years old when "Elena" arrived, and it was thus 84 years older than the cloister. (S.Appollonia is painted on the arch before the apse in the cloisteral church). "Elena" died at the end of the century on the 20th of January.

***12...But as much as the revengers caused sorrow and suffering in Helena's life, so much more her loving God and her craving his Realm did enhance. When her tears fell on the ground, a new herb came into existence, the flowers of which grew up and resembled small suns...

12.1: HELENA's FLOWER, cf 1:3 above: When Helena's tears fell on the ground during the persecution of her, the plant, which for ever was to bring her tears into reminiscence, was created - Sankta Elin's Tear-herb; Sankta Elin-root; Saint Helena's Root - which latin name has become Inula Helenium. Helena's suffering was premonstrated to Plinius some 1060 years before it occurred, and he stated: "HELENIUM E LACRíMíS HELENAE DICITUR NATUM". See Superhelena part IV, 1533 and 2001 15/8. (Theophrastes meant Inula Helenium or Salicina by Helenion, but maybe Plinius meant Teucrium Scordium or Veronica Chamaedrys. The Helenae-adjective stems from Helena Koehne and the 19th century. In the spring of 1998 Inula Helenium-plants were planted in Gotene for Helenic Cult reasons, and during 1999 SSHGO came in for Inula Ensifolia, Helenium, Orientalis and Salicina. Others, like Inula Acaulis, Conyza, Crithmoides, Magnifica, Rhizocephala and Royleana, were found in 2001. The American Helenium-family is not related to the Inula-family but to the daisies, and it was named after Helios, the sun, in the early 17th cent. - but yet this family is commercially advertised as Helen's Own Flower by its growers).

***13...In her mansion at sun-up Helena sat pondering; she thought: "However shall I be able to finalize this affair which has come to be?"...

13.1: WHERE WERE HELENA's FARM AND MANSION SITUATED? One author has proposed that she came from the royal estate or upper-class-farm which preceded Skovde. Others have proposed: A)Where sequentially Hill Farm/Womb was established. B)Westerby near Gotene (which is anachronous). C)At Gotene (Gotene was but ONE single farm).

13.2:D)The hypothetic Grand Farm of Wattlosa, of which nothing can be seen today above groundlevel. It lay where the churchyard now is - the church was one of its buildings - but it corresponds proprietorially to Gullhammar (Golden Hurst), since that name might have developped from Gunhild's Hammar. It has, to wit, been proposed that Helena was a daughter of Sven Estridsen, bearing the double name Gunhild(pagan) - Helena(christian) according to a custom, (but IF this were true, our Female Main Character lived 50, 60 or 70 years earlier).

13.3:Grand Farm would, in this case, have been named after her, after her martyrdom. That the farm has been moved to its present position, has been well known since the 18th century. Auspices and wonders had taken place on a flat upheaval next to the modern Gullhammar, and a Cross got erected there - "the case is not, as some speculatists tell, that the Cross Hill was where the first missionary here had preached" - made of stone or wood, and infront of the same one thereafter made one's devotions. Cross Hills in general grew into goals of pilgrimages, and Masses were celebrated there. During the Middle Ages these crosses could even be proprietors of land! Beyond Gotene, in Sil, there was another of these crosses.

13.4:E)Beaver's Foyer, some english miles east of Wattlosa Church, is a veritable jungle of mysterious, religious traces and vestiges. (It happens to be the case, that Elene of the Mykene-clan had a brother namned Castor: Castor means Beaver, and Beaver is in old Swedish BJUR: - the Grand Farm here is called Bjurum, Beaver's Foyer).

***14...Through the window she then saw a vision against the skies: "It looks a bit like Jerusalem - thanks God for this tip - I need a pilgrimage down there, I gather". She filled her "female heart with male courage (bishop Brynolf's choice of words)" and was not disconcerted by an expedition so dangerous and of such a long duration to Palestine. "I'd like, while crossing the european continent, to make calls at several places where one reveres the reliques of saints, and, in Jerusalem, to visit the Holy Grave of our Lord and Golgatha; and furthermore to go to places in Palestine of which I've been told"; (among these there was a S.Helena's Church, named after Constantine's mother), but she had misunderstood the tip or sign for sure - within her Holy Spirit a yearning had woken up to revisit the pre-christian centres of Her Own Cult in Middle-E!

14.1: HELENA's VISION THROUGH A WINDOW OF HER 12th CENTURY BEAVER's FOYER: Some traditions state alternately that it was against the clear blue skies one evening at sundown that Helena saw her vision, which led her mind to Jerusalem; there were flat-top houses and other Middle-E.-criteria. Conf.the prior vesion. (Wasn't she actually reminded of a certain flat-top house of Tyre, mis-interpreting it for Jerusalem?)

***15..."I pray wish that this expedition will give me a lot of consolation after these numberous attacks that I've been subjected to, and that the cup of wrath of my enemies will have its water boiled away while I'm way down there". Maastricht, well-known today, was as a matter of fact resorted to then too, owing to the reliques of S.Servaas, which the peregrinators had to visit on their way southernly and northerly, and Helena came this way 23 years before these reliques were laid in their shrine. In Rome (or in Saint-Gilles/ Languedoc?) in 1138 Helena kissed the feet of pope Innocentius II, and she made him once again let Lund become an archdiocese of its own - it had been so 1104-1133 - instead of being under the thumb of Hamburg-Bremen, (the actual archbishop of which was Adalbero between 1123-48). Like, or even simultaneously with, Henry Zdick she met with the Order of Prémontré at Jerusalem...

15.1: TWO JOURNEYS TO PALESTINE? Some folks talk of twain helenic pilgrimages (necessarily in the 1130:ies). She was grateful to God for the first one, which embraced several years, and this motivated her to initiate the building of Skovde Church. Thereafter the persecution of her began, and she went to Palestine a second time to evade her revengers.

15.2:One author has come to the following story re this and many helenic issues: Elena Tunadaughter had two relatives who were highpriests in Scara. In 1380, 8/4, she gave some farms in Hene outside Skovde to S.Helena's Church in exchange for getting a grave inside this church and for the mentioning of her soul in coming Masses. She originated from Haellstad, where indeed the so called Natural Copy of S.Helena's Rinsing-stone is lying by the Helenic Source. Thus, Elena T.is the missing link between Skovde and Haellstad. Elena T.went to Rome as a pilgrim, and after she'd returned to Hene, she financed building (rebuilding) Helena's Oratory "2000 steps outside Skovde", si credere fac est. Queen Katarina Sune's-daughter, whose mother was Helena SVERKER's-daughter, is an alleged foundress too of this same source by Helena's Oratory - between 1241-50.

AND

15.3: NORDIC HOLY PLACES: Helena realized journeys to holy places within Norden too: E.g. Forshem Church was one possible goal; 'twas dedicated to the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, and the thought behind this was that folks who couldn't reach Jerusalem, instead could go to Forshem and still gain the prize of pilgrimage. But, honestly, no-one knows where the famous Forshem stone-relievoes originally have been mounted, which implies that the stoneletters of the dedication MIGHT concern some other site - how 'bout the Giant Church of Holy Town in Hvalstad's parish. The Forshem Tower was built in 1891, and there are only fragments left of its medieval building.

15.4:A gem worth seeing for S.Helena would have been, if it really had existed (it's a pious 19th century fable) the church in Ottrava(d), founded by S.Antonius himself - he died in 356! This were thus one of the oldest churches of northern Europe, some 780 years older than Helena. A wooden figurine of Antonius used to be standing in a "cupboard" in the north part of Ottrava's Church on a special altar.

15.5:Mosjo Church in Nerike was a goal for pilgrims, due to its Madonna (she might be of British origin, or else she might even be an ex-pagan goddess). S.David's plant Monkenthorpe (cloister, church, well) was important, and so were many places where Olav of Norway was venerated, like Hardemo, Kalvesten, Lunckende and Lodose - and the most important olavian site was of course Nidaros/ Trondheim, where his shrine was.

15.6:S.Cecilia had famous wells at Bosebo and in the hawthorn bosquet at Borrby, etc... If it were true, which it is not though, that Helena had had sisters and a brother connected to various places in Scania and Denmark, then she must have tried to visit these?

15.7:One must be very aware of, yet, that holy places and places important for other reasons, completely might have been effaced and annihilated from the surface of the Earth as well as from tradition - places that never were documented in any way; so Helena ought to have been able to visit places that no human being of today ever has heard of. Three hypothetic, ex-holy places are the invisible plants in Gum, Hvalstad and Womb (spooky revelations re these three has repeatedly dawned upon certain agents).

15.8:A goodhearted, Westgothian madam by the name of Helena arrived at TIBIRKE (Tyre's Birch) and executed charity and bestowed money or property upon the poor (that is, at the same "parish" where some believe that Helena was reburied for to escape destruction caused by swedish protestants). She passed maybe Tibirke on her pilgrimage to Palestine, safe and sound and alone - the latter, as she wanted not to have a finger in the Pie of Crusades. Tibirke changed radically from her lifetime to the age of the Religious Sacking, because the Carthusians founded in about 1150 one of their cloisters, Asserbo, there - "the Calling from the Desert" was evidently grasped literally to the extreme degree that sand drifted in and buried the entire district. The church, inaugurated in 1125, was dug out of the dunes, but it's posing all by itself thereafter. A plantage of trees eventually stopped the sand from turning all Sjelland into a new Sahara. But Helene Well (Kilde) and Oratory-ruin (Grave) and Cloven Stone (Kildeblok) closer to the shore, grew into very popular goals of pilgrimage - even a railroad was drawn thither, and Erik Hansen wrote a protestant book of pilgrimage thither - Fontinalia Sacra, Copenhagen 1650; the holiness of Helena's items here had survived the reformation as from 1193, when they were first mentioned, and into the 3rd Millennium.

AND

15.9: GODDESS OF FERTILITY: Like Froja of the Nordic Mythology, alone and sorrowful, left Westgothia and went on long wanderings among foreign people, looking for her husband, who had disappeared, (analogously with Isis too), Helena left here for the long wandering to Jerusalem, looking for our Lord, Jesus Christ. (I wonder what she actually found? Jesus has never had a physical body, and according to the spiritual Christ, Jerusalem in NOT the proper place to worship God - God is properly worshipped in Truth and Spirit! If she really reached Jerusalem she cannot have found anything but dusty inventions). Bishop Brynolf #1 left here too, after the disaster that his relatives had created - in his case he sailed to Alvastra; and there in the cloister, and at the highest degree during the return amidst the stormy Lake Wetter, he did find the Precious Treasure of his exile - Sankta Helena, our Westgothian saint.

***16...Helena returned to her huge and desolate mansion after this odyssey, fully trusting in God and without fearing for anyone, and also bringing a ring with her from the holy land. It must be thought of as such a ring that Christ would give to his chosen Bride. Some folks think of it as being a pilgrim's badge. The formulation "whereupon her finger, hallowed by the ring from the holy land" attempts to explain the coming miracles, which the finger was to bring about, and to stress the ground which Jesus walked on instead of stressing Helena herself - wrongfully since Jesus never has walked there, and even more wrongfully since Helena herself is God's First Thought - so the formulation is vile. Helena herself is the hailing and redeeming agent, the Prima Salvanda. So forget that "...the ring, bought by her in Jerusalem, hallowed her finger - the ring was a hallowing one; that's why she'd gotten it - and its power came dependably from Jesus Christ".

One's intention was to reopen and inaugurate the church of Gotene on the first of August in 1140, and naturally Helena had the intention of being present there then. Whenas she was preparing herself, a bird flew into the chamber from outside, and it lay itself on Helena's lap like in a nest. It wouldn't move, and we suggest that the bird was trying to hinder Helena from getting up and going out. But she couldn't risk being late in church, and she arranged a nest for the bird in the chamber, and she walked away.

In her life she followed the words of Jesus: She showed and proved charity to people who hated her (Matt.5:44), and she prayed for her enemies - while these kept rowing in their evil seaway. (It has wrongly been supposed that Helena had gotten the moment of her death premonstrated - if it really had been foreseen, her death would be classed as a suicide*). Now, as she came walking along the path, heading for this little church - it wasn't any bigger than its choir of today - some of her enemies assaulted her with swords and killed her. The ring and one of her fingers landed under a Rubus Fruticoses (yes, though impostors have changed it, in their accounts, for a bush of the same species as the flaming one at Sinai). She was about 38 years old when she thus got affiliated into the Number of Holy Martyrs:

"In the Rosary of heaven the red rose is laid down, which our Martyr, rich in honour, has deserved through the martyrdom". "A spirit who seeks God, no-one can destroy". We knew only of 11 or 12 christians before this date who had been martyred within the borders of our counties, and they had all been men...

*{This is the misunderstanding of Helena's gift of prophesy, and of her volant Vision. Acc.to Dunney Helena had had a dream implicating that she was going to die at Gotene Estate, Maans- or Monas Thorp?, where her ex-son-in-law's sister and her father were living, and that she was going to get buried at Skovde, but she denied any actual threat}

16.1: VARIETIES OF HELENA's MARTYRDOM: A)Helena came walking all the way from Skovde to Gotene (today the modern roads measure some 38 kilometres). B)She was heading for the inauguration of "a" church "in" Gotene. C)She was heading for GOTHEM's CHURCH in order to gain reduction in Purgatory, and this happened after her returning from the hypothetic second trip to Palestine (one might get the blasphemous and wrongful impression that she went to church for greedy reasons, just to gain that indulgence. Her prime reason for attending the inauguration was that she'd financed the building of Gotene's Church. D)She was murdered inside her Castle of Skovde; ...in ihren Schlosse Sköfde ermordet...).

16.2:One of the most predominant authors on Helena claims that Gothem is an older name of Kaellegaarden - the Farm by the Holy Well outside Skovde. He uses to be ever so right, but he refers to this singular farm as a "12th century village", though it was not mentioned until in 1540 - as Hargustorp, 3/4 taxfreed estate - and this has led his fantasy astray. A Gothem does exist - on Gothland Island! It's probably a misinterpretation, though, of either Gotene, Goteve or Gokhem - this latter church owned parts of Horsaas near Skovde until 1356.

AND

16.3: Another version reads: that "close to Gotene, where the meadows of Westerby were spanning infront of the big forest, Helena met in with a group of men, in which relatives of her ex-son-in-law were represented; one of them stabbed his sword into her chest". And this is the account of the only non-fabricated source of info there is about Helena, written during the fall of 1288: "Because on a certain day, while she, on the behalf of Goodness, wanted to attend the inauguration of Gotene Church, a certain one among her antagonists devastatingly cast herself on Helena, wounding her cruelly in the ambush, sating her sword with righteous blood, and Helena's Spirit, delivered by the stabbing, fared towards the Heights. She (id est her body) lay fallen like an innocent sheep on the First of August in 1140, and now she'd transmigrated from the War to the Peace which overwhelms all consciousness".

16.4:Varieties: A)According to Dunney, Helena commenced her last riding 1/8-1147 from Skovde, heading for the inauguration of Gotene Church. She was attacked by three men after a short pursuit northwest of the district where the lakes of Valle are, probably close to Birvm/ Vattlosa. Two of them were from Sjaelland; the third from Scara or Gotene and he owned a quarry on Mount Kulle. The martyrdom occurred by a riding-path; halfgrown birches stood all around. Vapours like of gold were shining in the bramble even before her holy finger had landed there.

B)Helena is supposed to have been decapitated on the slope down to Wombo Rivulet, near her well, and an always bare spot on the ground marks out exactly where.

C)At Kaellegaarden Helena is supposed to have become a victim to her revengers, and it was one of the smallest digits that she lost - otherwise a ring-finger uses to be suggested, naturally enough! Well, in Scania they say she lost a thumb!

D)On her farm (Beaver's Foyer) one saw that Helena's body was missing one of her smallest digits, as she was lying on Lit-de-Parad. One went back to the site of her martyrdom, and there the finger lay, glimmering like gold in a thorny bush.

E)After Helena's return from the holy land, she received a christian status in Westgothia. The pagans hated that, and made someone kill her.

16:5 Anyroad she left her earthly life 1/8 1140, correctly indicated by a Breviary of Linkoping Diocese and by Brynolf #1's text. Her Feast was on 30/7 in Scara Diocese from 1498 and onwards - on 31/7 in the rest of the world - today 30/7 is fixed universally. A modern german book of saints indicates four Helenic feastdays: Mainly 31/12!, then 30/12, 24/6 and 1/8. 1/8 is the only Helenic day mentioned by her Officium, so it must be regarded as the oldest and most reliable; 24/6 must concern her Wells, which were known to be the most powerful during Midsummer Night (cf below re Tibirke). 30-31/12 are either mistakes for 30-31/7, or more likely based on the fact that one swedish queen Helena did die on 31/12 "before 1172" - Helena, daughter of king Sverker the Elder.

AND

16.6: MORE OR LESS FICTITIOUS MARTYRS IN SWEDEN, PRIOR TO HELENA's MARTYRDOM:

A)NITHARD, a monk of Corbie, who followed Ansgar to Sweden. He was a chaplain under bishop Gozbert on Birka Island. He, along with others, got martyred in 845, 4/2 - he was killed by the pagans whenas they hurled the Christians out of their region.
B)OLUF, a Swedish king, who was martyred on the spot where Stockholm sequentially was built up; he was killed by his rioting and pagan servants because he refused to offer to idols - in 950, 30/7.

C)UNAMAN, D)SUNAMAN and E)WINAMAN, see special chapter. Among many pieces of corrupt information on these historical men, the founders of Christianity in Varend, it is said that they were beheaded on top of the rock (wrongly called Mons Gelboe after 2:Sam.1:21) south of the present bishops' mansion Oestraboo/Vaexioe, by a man, Gunnar Grope - it was really done by a woman, Gunnel Grepia! in the 980:ies, 21/6. Feast 15/2. Their bodies were at first hidden in the shallow hollow on that top, but soon they were thrown into Lake Helga (the Holy Lake), though some point out the lake 100 yards from the rock. Sigfrid, who never even existed, is told to have seen three flames floating over the surface of the lake, and, surprise!, these marked out the heads of the three martyrs, lying in a basket filled with ponderous stones but yet having ascended to the surface.

F)ULFRID (WILFRID), born in England. Did missionary work in Germany and Sweden. Got martyred here because he'd smashed up an idol - in 1028, 18/1.
G)ERIQUE. A non-Scandinavian missionary, who preached way up north in Sweden. Got beheaded at the most a couple of decades before 1068.
H)STEPHEN OF SACHSEN (Corvey) . Local bishop in Sweden and successful missionary - "the first one to plant Faith on the Shores of the Strait ". He got martyred "at Nora" when Haakon Red was king - in 1075, 2/6.

I)ESKIL. Got killed in 1086, 12/6, because he asked God to let rain fall over a pagan pyre, and consequently the fire died down.
J)TORSTEN OF WAETTLOSA got slain by his master in the district of Beaver's Foyer a few years after 1100, because he'd built an outdoor altar to God and had pledged so much time to praying.
K)BOTWID made a deep impression on the pagans in the Hammarby-distrct through pulling up nets overfilled with supernaturally many fishes. Slain in 1100 (1123), 28/7.

HALLWARD (venerated specifically in Scara Diocese, on 15/5, from the end of the 12th cent.; Sancti Halphardi; Haluardi martyris) - may be added, though he's a Norwegian saint: He's regarded as the apostle of Bohuslaen; got martyred in 1043, 14/5, whenas he tried to protect a persecuted woman, who sought his help.

***17...The first helenic miracle after her martyrdom occurred on its very spot, halfways between the farm of Westerby and the stone-church of Gotene (though this miracle is not dated longer back in time than ~100 years. That the fountain has been helenic since at least 539 years is a fact): A fountain broke forth here! It is today to be found amidst the buildings of the Dairy - it is a piece of art as a matter of fact, since the original well has been moved twice and has finally been overbuilt. In 1462*, though, bishop Lawrence Mikaëlson of Wexio notified that visiting this Holy Fountain would reduce the visitor's time in Purgatory by 40 days. The present fountain gets its water from municipal pipes, because the ground-water has sunk by some 10 yards. On the 19th of November in 1436 bishop Swen of Scara issued, from Wattlosa parish, a similar notification re folks giving money for rebuilding S.Helena's church of Gotene, which at that time evidently had been dedicated to her, and on the 1:st Advent Sunday in 1480 bishop Brynolf III issued one re folks doing specified actions in connexion to her church here, including walking round the church, praying for the dead...

17.1: *It seems like the 40-days indulgence-letter of 1462 by bishop Lawrence of Vaxio for whomsoever visits the Well of Helena and the site of Her Martyrdom at Gotene, exclusively is mentioned by Benzelius in the commentary of his edition of Vastovius' "Vitis Aquilonia" in 1708. This letter cannot be detected among the medieval letters of Sweden, and this fact fertilizes the doubt of the genuineness of Her Well at Gotene(?).

17.2: HELENA's WELL AT GOTENE: In the 18th century it was written on Helena's Fountain at Gotene, that "first it was situated on the outskirts of the fields belonging to Hill Farm (namesake) near Westerby Farm; 'twas half a yard deep and contained old, offered coins. A wooden cross was standing next to the well, about 1 4/5 yards tall. The owners filled the well (with stones and earth), since it was an hindrance for their agrocultural activities, but immediately it was resurrected - now it had become a fountain, and it was situated on the grassy slope beyond the fields". But in the 1950:ies it had been reduced to a "dried-out pit in a meadow", and 'tis nowadays overbuilt (conf.above).

17.3:The archaeological amateurs and the linguistic knows-it-all of today and 400 years back have created the illusion that we are facing at least two saints here: Helena in the Gotene district, Elin in the Skovde district, etc, see below. The hypothetic Elene is supposed to have been formed in the 7th century - that's where the alleged eastern Fort was - out of which "Elin" could have crystallized. According to the legend Helena's well at Gotene came into existence in 1140, and at this time there were Helenas in Sweden, i'faith. As a girl's name, Elin is first mentioned in 1237. In 1281 bishop Brynolf #1 strengthened the validity of Elin's Mass in Skovde, and in 1288 he wrote the liturgical texts for Helena! Helena's well or fountain at Gotene is mentioned in the 15th century. When you analyse names of farms and stuff that resemble Elin/Helena, you'll always find that EITHER the farm's name has another origin and therefore NOT is originated from Elin/Helena, OR that the farm's name has been given after the foundation of the hagiological monuments and therefore could NOT have caused these.

***18...As a result of Helena dying this a way on the way to church, she is depicted holding a wanderer's staff in one hand (much later it was changed for a sword) and a book with a finger on in the other...

18.1: HELENA's BOOK: Helena carried a book with her on her way to the church-inauguration 1/8 1140, didn't she. A pupil has pointed to that the sole book of the helenic legend is the Book of Saints (at the Vatikan) to which her name was to be added. When one watches Helena in art, and notices the book she hugs, one easily thinks of it as a Bible. At her time no complete Bible was available here, but it could have been a handcopied gospel. They were produced in cloisters (Dunney exemplifies the ones at Scara town), and were often extremely costly, having colourful patterns and illustrations - a suchlike is preserved by Kongelige Library in Copenhagen; 'tis of irish origin, and has been in use at the end of 11th century in Dalby Cloister. In which language was Helena's copy written - did she know latin?

***19...After sundown on this same 1:st of August in 1140 (acc. to the 1288-text): "Already on the day of her Suffering a certain blind man walked down the road. Meanwhile approaching the position of her Suffering, the lad, who was steering the blind man's walk, saw a light almost like a burning candle in a bramble. Whenas the lad, on the blind man's order, carefully investigated whence that flashing was emitted, he found in the bramble the finger of beatific Helena, abscinded with that Ring on. Whenas the mentioned blind man touched this finger, and lifted his hand, stained by her blood, to his eyes, the former mist did dissolve and the light did come back!"; "in a miraculous way a light did flash forth from Heaven into the bramble, making it clear where on Earth the Finger was resting. The blind man touched the abscinded Finger of the Martyr, and soon he regained his sight thanks to her merits". This was the third and the most famous of the known helenic miracles...

19.1: HELENA's BLOOD and the SWORD:
Three varieties: A)"Blood from the sword which killed Helena healed a blind man, wherefore a sword was added to the helenic attributes".

B)A man, who had been blind for a number of years, prayed to God that he'd be able to see Helena's famous finger - he'd never seen Helena in person - and while praying so, he recovered his sight! (Neither had Achilles ever seen Helena, but still he got afflicted by a burning yearn to meet her, and when they met, he immediately got an overwhelming passion for her).

C)Some lads, herding their sheep, were confabbing about a light, as from a candle, that was shining inside the bushes. A blind man, who came walking along the road, heard what they were saying and demanded that they must look after from what this phenomenon emitted. They found one of Helena's thumbs and also her ring, lying on different spots. Then: The blind man lifted up the thumb, which still was bleeding, towards his eyes, whereupon the curtain of mist resolved, and he was able to see again.

D)Helena's finger retained its glare for some time - and in the bramble it had shone that brightly that it had been visible from afar. It sufficed that someone for a short while held the finger infront of blind people to give the sight back to them.

19:2: A GNOSTIC FINGER?
Helena, the First Thought of God, held a finger towards Demiourgos, and her finger became the Light of the material world, and she followed it down here - compare that to the light-phenomenon of St. Helena at Gotene 1/8-1140; why, it gave the Light to that blind man.

***20...On this same day Helena had been conveyed by her relatives to her farm (Beaver's Foyer), and these carried out a lykewake over her all night long. On the following day monks started conveying her from the farm, around Mount Billing towards Skovde for her funeral. The choice of paths and directions was dictated by obstacles, that one wanted to evade, and by sacred localities, that one wanted to get to - none of which are known to folks of today!...

20.1: OBSTACLES ON THE FUNERAL WAY: Obstacles on the way the carriers conveyed Helena's body from Gotene to Skovde might have been farms and premises belonging to the relatives of her son-in-law or of her killer.

20.2: Then again there might have existed DESIRABLE SITES that they wished to visit on their way, such as the Crypt of Scara Church (founded in 1020?), or the benedictine-monk cloister founded in Scara in 1060. Or the benedictine-nun cloister of Gudhem founded in 1050. On the mountainside above Segerstad there was Roskilde (Ruskella Kaella). At Haeggum there was a holy circle of stones (like at Torsten's Well and like Brigida's stonecross on Oland), having a portal and enclosing wooden gables of 12th century graves, destroyed when the first church was erected at Haeggum. The church that they passed too of Raadene was dedicated to Brigida, and the church of Regumatorp to Baltasar, Gaspar and Melkior. The length of this choice of way, rounding the southern side of Mount Billing, surely comprised 50 - 60 km.

20.3: (According to the news in 1997 there were vague plans of arranging a pilgrim's path in Helena's footprints between Gotene and Skovde, or a marathon, the Helena-Race, and it ought to follow this scheme: Gotene's Helenachurch -- Beaver's Foyer -- Segerstad -- Haeggum -- Raadene -- Regumatorp -- Elin's Well -- Skovde's Helenachurch).

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

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