The Emperor Constantine converted part of the Sessoian
Palace into a church to house the mother’s relics. According
to tradition, Constantine’s mother, Helen, went on a pilgrimage
to Jerusalem, and when she returned back she took back a fragment
of the True Cross: this event contributed to render the church a
centre of pilgrimage. In the 12C, Pope Lucius II (1144-45) built
a campanile without altering the outside wall.