Columba Of Spain
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Columba of Spain (also Columba of Córdoba) was a virgin and nun who was born in
Córdoba, Spain Córdoba (; ),, Arabic: قُرطبة DIN 31635, DIN: . or Cordova () in English, is a city in Andalusia, Spain, and the capital of the Province of Córdoba (Spain), province of Córdoba. It is the third most populated Municipalities in Spain, mun ...
, and martyred around 853 by the Muslim rulers in Spain, during a persecution of Christians. She is a part of the
Martyrs of Córdoba The Martyrs of Córdoba were forty-eight Christian martyrs who were executed under the rule of Muslim administration in Al-Andalus (name of the Iberian Peninsula under the Islamic rule). The hagiographical treatise written by the Iberian Christ ...
and venerated as a
saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
in the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. Her feast day is September 17. Her cult was probably a combination of two virgin martyrs, Colomba of Spain and
Columba of Sens Columba of Sens (probably born Eporita, d. 273), was a virgin and nun who was born to a noble pagan family in northwestern Spain. She left Spain for France as a child to avoid being denounced as a Christian and received the baptismal name Columb ...
, a third century French martyr.


Life

Columba was born in
Córdoba, Spain Córdoba (; ),, Arabic: قُرطبة DIN 31635, DIN: . or Cordova () in English, is a city in Andalusia, Spain, and the capital of the Province of Córdoba (Spain), province of Córdoba. It is the third most populated Municipalities in Spain, mun ...
, the youngest of three children. According to hagiographer
Alban Butler Alban Butler (13 October 171015 May 1773) was an English Roman Catholic priest and hagiographer. Biography Alban Butler was born in 1710, at Appletree, Aston le Walls, Northamptonshire, the second son of Simon Butler, Esq. His father died when ...
, Columba's biography was recorded by St. Eulogius of Córdoba, in ''The Memorial of the Saints'', his account of the Christian persecution in Spain that began in 850. Also according to Butler, "even allowing for exaggeration, olumbahad a high reputation for holiness". Her sisters Elizabeth and Martinus, along with Elizabeth's husband, founded a double monastery at Tábanos, a mountainous region north of Córdoba.Wolf, p. 31 Columba's brother Martin was abbot of the men's section of the monastery. Columba was inspired by their example and was determined to become a nun, but her plans were, for a short time, thwarted by her mother, a widow who wanted Columba to marry. Shortly after her mother realized that her opposition was fruitless, she died, and Columba entered Tábanos. According to historian Kenneth B. Wolf, Eulogious' account of Columba's experience at Tábonos is full of "hyperbole", but "revealing".Wolf, p. 112 Wolf reported that Columba "suffered from overwhelming anxiety about her own shortcomings", and experienced "a profound uncertainty about her own ability to resist temptation". Following her sisters to Tábanos was a way, Wolfe said, for Columba to relieve her anxieties, but Wolf did not think it was successful, for she increased her self-punishments after taking her vows. He said, "Chastity, the keystone of the penitential regimen, was not enough for Columba".Wolf, p. 113 Martyrdom was a way to "contribute in a positive way toward her own salvation". In 852, after the persecution in Spain had been going on for two years, the community was forced out of Tábanos and took refuge in a house in Córdoba, near the church of St. Cyprian. She ignored the bishops' ruling not to provoke persecution, left the house, presented herself before the town's Muslim magistrate, and denounced
Muhammed Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...
and his law. The magistrate condemned her to be beheaded on September 17, 853. She was the sixth martyr executed under Mohammed I, and was one of the
Martyrs of Córdoba The Martyrs of Córdoba were forty-eight Christian martyrs who were executed under the rule of Muslim administration in Al-Andalus (name of the Iberian Peninsula under the Islamic rule). The hagiographical treatise written by the Iberian Christ ...
, a group of 48 martyrs killed during this period. Her body was thrown into the
Guadalquivir Marshes The Guadalquivir Marshes (in es, Marismas del Guadalquivir or simply ''Las Marismas'') are a natural region of marshy lowlands on the lower Guadalquivir River. The ''Las Marismas'' zone forms a large part of the province of Huelva, province o ...
, but was recovered by other Christians and buried at the basilica of St. Eulalia at Fragellas. Her relics are reported to be taken later to and venerated at two churches, the abbey of Santa Maria de Nájera and to its dependent
priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...
, which was dedicated to Saint Columba. Historian Allyson M. Poska states that Columba's cult was "probably a combination of two virgin martyrs": St. Columba of Sens (or Comba), a third century French martyr from
Sens Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km from Paris. Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second city of the d ...
, and Columba of Spain. Poska speculates that a
Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...
church dedicated to Saint Columba in Bande (near the Portuguese border) may indicate the spread of her devotion before the Muslims invaded Spain. The legend probably became conflated with Columba of Sens when settlers repopulated Galicia after the Muslims were expelled from the region.Poska, p. 225


References


Works cited

* Poska, Allyson M. (2005). ''Women and Authority in Early Modern Spain: The Peasants of Galicia''. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. .
OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...
 253008869 * Wolf, Kenneth Baxter (1988). ''Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain''. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. .
OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...
 15588758. {{DEFAULTSORT:Columba Of Spain Year of birth unknown 853 deaths 9th-century Christian saints 9th-century Spanish nuns 9th-century people from al-Andalus Christian saints killed by Muslims Female saints of medieval Spain Medieval Spanish saints People from Córdoba, Spain Spanish Roman Catholic saints Witchcraft in Spain Christians from al-Andalus