Saint Ursula ( Latin for 'little female bear', german: link=no, Heilige Ursula) is a legendary Romano-British

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

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 ...

who died on 21 October 383. Her

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

in the pre-1970 General Roman Calendar is 21 October. There is little information about her and the anonymous group of holy virgins who accompanied and, on an uncertain date, were killed along with her at Cologne. They remain in the Roman Martyrology, although their commemoration does not appear in the simplified Calendarium Romanum Generale ( General Roman Calendar) of the 1970 Missale Romanum. The earliest evidence of a cult of martyred virgins at Cologne is an inscription from c. 400 in the Church of St. Ursula, located on Ursulaplatz in Cologne which states that the ancient basilica had been restored on the site where some holy virgins were killed. The earliest source to name one of these virgins Ursula is from the 10th century. Her legendary status comes from a medieval story in which she was a princess who, at the request of her father King Dionotus of Dumnonia in south-west Britain, set sail along with 11,000 virginal handmaidens to join her future husband, the pagan governor Conan Meriadoc of Armorica. After a miraculous storm brought them over the sea in a single day to a Gaulish port, Ursula declared that before her marriage she would undertake a pan-European pilgrimage. She headed for Rome with her followers and persuaded the Pope, Cyriacus (unknown in the pontifical records, though from late 384 AD there was a Pope Siricius), and Sulpicius,

bishop of Ravenna This page is a list of Roman Catholic bishops and archbishops of Ravenna and, from 1985, of the Archdiocese of Ravenna-Cervia.Huns, all the virgins were beheaded in a massacre. The Huns' leader fatally shot Ursula with an arrow in about 383 AD (the date varies). There is only one church dedicated to Saint Ursula in the United Kingdom. It is located in Wales at Llangwyryfon, Ceredigion. The Virgin Islands and the Ursulines are named in her honor.

Legend of the Eleven Thousand Companions

Lack of historical credibility

The '' Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1912) article on Saint Ursula states that "this legend, with its countless variants and increasingly fabulous developments, would fill more than a hundred pages. Various characteristics of it were already regarded with suspicion by certain medieval writers, and since aesarBaronius have been universally rejected". Neither Jerome nor

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...

refers to Ursula in his writings. Gregory of Tours mentions the legend of the Theban Legion, to whom a church that once stood in Cologne was dedicated. The most important hagiographers (

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

, Ado, Usuard,

Notker the Stammerer Notker the Stammerer ( – 6 April 912), Notker Balbulus, or simply Notker, was a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Saint Gall active as a poet, scholar and (probably) composer. Described as "a significant figure in the Western Church", Notker m ...

Hrabanus Maurus Rabanus Maurus Magnentius ( 780 – 4 February 856), also known as Hrabanus or Rhabanus, was a Frankish Benedictine monk, theologian, poet, encyclopedist and military writer who became archbishop of Mainz in East Francia. He was the author of t ...

) of the early Middle Ages also do not enter Ursula under 21 October, her feast day.

Tenth-century legend

A legend resembling Ursula's appeared in the first half of the tenth century; it does not mention the name ''Ursula'', but rather gives the leader of the martyred group as ''Pinnosa'' or ''Vinnosa''. Pinnosa's relics were transferred about 947 from Cologne to Essen, and from this point forward Ursula's role was emphasised. In 970, for example, the first ''Passio Ursulae'' was written, naming Ursula rather than Pinnosa as the group's leader (although Pinnosa is mentioned as one of the group's members). This change might also be due in part to the discovery at this time of an epitaph speaking of Ursula, the "innocent virgin".

Misreading of Latin

Bernardo Cavallino - Saint Ursula - 1929

The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula by Nat Lamina

According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, a 12th-century British cleric and writer, Ursula was the daughter of Dionotus, ruler of Cornwall. However, this may have been based on his misreading of the words ''Deo notus'' in the second ''Passio Ursulae'', written about 1105. The plot may have been influenced by a story told by the 6th-century writer Procopius about a British queen sailing with 100,000 soldiers to the mouth of the Rhine in order to compel her unwilling groom Radigis, king of the

Varni Varni is a town in Nizamabad district in the Indian state of Telangana. Varni Mandal Headquarters is Varni. Geography Varni is located at . It has an average elevation of 403 metres. It comes under Banswada Legislative and Zaheerabad Parl ...

, to marry her. While there was a tradition of virgin martyrs in Cologne by the fifth century, their number may have been limited to between two and eleven, according to different sources. Yet the cleric

Wandelbert Wandalbert (813 - d. after 850) was a Benedictine monk, distinguished poet, and theological writer. Life Little is known of his personal history. He was apparently a native of Francia, born around 813. In 839 he was already a monk at the Abbey ...

of the

Abbey of Prüm An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

stated in his martyrology in 848 that the number of martyrs counted "thousands of saints" who were slaughtered on the boards of the River Rhine. The figure of 11,000 first appears in the late-9th century; suggestions as to where this number came from have included the reading of a name ''Undecimillia'' or ''Ximillia'' as a number, or reading the letters ''XI. M. V.'' as 'eleven thousand

n Roman numerals N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...

virgins' rather than as 'eleven martyred virgins'. One scholar has suggested that in the eighth or ninth century, when the relics of virgin martyrs were found, they included those of a girl named Ursula, who was eleven years old—in Latin, ''undecimilia''. This was subsequently misread or misinterpreted as ''undicimila'' ('eleven thousand'), thus producing the legend of the 11,000 virgins. In fact, the stone bearing the virgin Ursula's name states that she lived eight years and two months. Another theory suggests that there was only one virgin martyr, named Undecimilla, "which by some blundering monk was changed into eleven thousand".''The Penny Magazine'': Cologne
It has also been suggested that ''cum ..militibus'', "with ..soldiers", was misread as ''cum ..millibus'', "with ..thousands". Most contemporary sources, however, cling to the number 11,000. The ''Passio'' from the 970s tries to bridge conflicting traditions by stating that the eleven maidens each commanded a ship containing one thousand virgins. Implicitly, the legend also refers to the twelve heavenly legions, mentioned in Matthew 26:53.

Skeletal remains

The Basilica of St. Ursula in Cologne holds the alleged relics of Ursula and her 11,000 companions. It contains what has been described as a "veritable tsunami of ribs, shoulder blades, and femurs ... arranged in zigzags and swirls and even in the shapes of Latin words".Quigley, Christine (2001) ''Skulls and Skeletons: Human Bone Collections and Accumulations'', Jefferson, N.C.; London: McFarland; p. 169. The Goldene Kammer (Golden Chamber), a 17th-century chapel attached to the Basilica of St. Ursula, contains sculptures of their heads and torsos, "some of the heads encased in silver, others covered with stuff of gold and caps of cloth of gold and velvet; loose bones thickly texture the upper walls". The peculiarities of the relics themselves have thrown doubt upon the historicity of Ursula and her 11,000 maidens. When skeletons of little children ranging in age from two months to seven years were found buried with one of the sacred virgins in 1183, Saint Hermann Joseph, a

Praemonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

canon at Steinfeld, explained that they were distant relatives of the eleven thousand. A surgeon of eminence was once banished from Cologne for suggesting that, among the collection of bones which are said to pertain to the heads, there were several belonging to full-grown mastiffs. The relics may have come from a forgotten burial ground.The Ecole Glossary: Ursula

Catholic official stance

Nothing reliable is known about the girls said to have been martyred at the spot. A commemoration of Saint Ursula and her companions in the Mass of Saint Hilarion, formerly in the General Roman Calendar on 21 October, was removed in 1969, because "their ''Passio'' is entirely fabulous: nothing, not even their names, is known about the virgin saints who were killed at Cologne at some uncertain time". However, they are still mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, the official but professedly incomplete list of saints recognised by the Catholic Church, which speaks of them as follows: "At Cologne in Germany, commemoration of virgin saints who ended their life in martyrdom for Christ in the place where afterwards the city's basilica was built, dedicated in honour of the innocent young girl Ursula who is looked on as their leader".

Veneration

Catholic order

* The

Order of Ursulines The Ursulines, also known as the Order of Saint Ursula (post-nominals: OSU), is an enclosed religious order of consecrated women that branched off from the Angelines, also known as the Company of Saint Ursula, in 1572. Like the Angelines, they t ...

, founded in 1535 by

Angela Merici Angela Merici or Angela de Merici ( , ; 21 March 1474 – 27 January 1540) was an Italian religious educator, who is honored as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. She founded the Company of St. Ursula in 1535 in Brescia, in which women dedica ...

, and devoted to the

education of young girls Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girls ...

, has also helped to spread Ursula's name throughout the world. St. Ursula was named the patron saint of school girls.

Celebrations

* The town of Binangonan in the province of Rizal in the Philippines also has a church dedicated to St. Ursula, where her feast is celebrated on 21 October. A fluvial procession at Laguna Lake is carried out to commemorate Ursula's journey. It is made up of a group of men and women in colourful, traditional Filipino costumes dancing in the streets with the image of Ursula and chanting joyfully. Prior to her feast day, a nine-day novena is held at the 224-year-old Santa Ursula Church. During this novena, a woman is assigned as cantor to sing a chant in honour of Ursula. * The town of Valls, Catalonia, Spain, celebrates the "" in the days around 21 October. The fair concludes on the Sunday after 21 October with "one of the most important"

castell A ''castell'' () is a human tower built traditionally at festivals in Catalonia, the Balearic islands and the Valencian Community. At these festivals, several ''colles castelleres'' (teams that build towers) attempt to build and dismantle a t ...

(human tower) competitions.

Church music and art

* Hildegard of Bingen composed many chants in honour of Ursula. *

Michael Haydn Johann Michael Haydn (; 14 September 173710 August 1806) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn. Life Michael Haydn was born in 1737 in the Austrian village of Rohrau, near the Hungarian border. ...

wrote the

Missa in honorem Sanctae Ursulae Michael Haydn completed the Missa in honorem Sanctae Ursulae, Klafsky-Verzeichnis, Klafsky 1:18, MH 546, on August 5, 1793, probably for use at the ceremony in which Ursula Oswald, the daughter of a friend, professed her religious vows at the Benedi ...

to commemorate the day Ursula Oswald joined a Benedictine Abbey. * Hans Memling fashioned during the 1480s a wooden shrine that contained the relics of Ursula, which is now at the

Hans Memling Museum The Hospital of St. John (''Oud Sint-Janshospitaal'') was a medieval hospital in Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Re ...

in Bruges. It tells the story of Ursula in six bow-arched panels, with the two front panels showing Ursula accompanied by 10 virgins, each representing 1,000 virgins. * There is also a painting by

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...

"The Martyrdom of St Ursula" in the Gallaria d'italia in Naples. His last known work.

Places named after her companions

* Christopher Columbus named the Virgin Islands in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

in her honour when sailing past them in 1493. * Ferdinand Magellan rounded

Cape Virgenes Capes in the Americas Cape Virgenes ( es, Cabo Vírgenes, lit=Cape Virgins) is the southeastern tip of continental Argentina in South America. The southern one, a little to the south-west, is Punta Dungeness. Ferdinand Magellan reached it on 21 Oc ...

on 21 October 1520, and entered the Straits of Magellan, naming the cape after Ursula's virgins. * João Álvares Fagundes, a Portuguese explorer, gave in 1521 the name ''Eleven Thousand Virgins'' to what is now known as Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. * Basel, a Swiss city about 400 km south of Cologne, has tradition of Ursula and her companions passing through Basel intending to go to Rome. The legend gave name to the Eleven Thousand Virgins Alley (''Elftausendjungfern-Gässlein''), which climbs one side of the Münsterberg, a hill in the center of the city.

UK and Anglican Church

* The small village of Llangwyryfon, near

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...

in west Wales, has a church dedicated to Ursula. The village name translates as 'Church of the Virgins'. She is believed to have come from this area. * There are Anglican churches dedicated to St. Ursula in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United States and the Caribbean. * The street in London called

St Mary Axe St Mary Axe was a medieval parish in the City of London whose name survives as that of the street which formerly occupied it. The Church of St Mary Axe was demolished in 1561 and its parish united with that of St Andrew Undershaft, which is ...

is named after the

Church of St Mary Axe St Mary Axe was a mediaeval church in the City of London. (The church that remains in the modern-day St Mary Axe is St Andrew Undershaft.) Its full name was '' St Mary, St Ursula and her 11,000 Virgins'', and it was also sometimes referred to ...

, originally dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, St. Ursula and the 11,000 virgins. It was demolished in the late 16th century; the site is located close to where the skyscraper informally known as ''

The Gherkin 30 St Mary Axe (previously known as the Swiss Re Building and informally known as the Gherkin) is a commercial skyscraper in London's primary financial district, the City of London. It was completed in December 2003 and opened in April 2004. W ...

'' now stands. A manuscript dated 1514 claims that the church contained a

holy relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

: an axe used by the Huns to execute the virgins. * Whitelands College in

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large council house estates and is home to the U ...

, London, the oldest educational institution of the Church of England, has been under the patronage of St. Ursula since its formation. She is the patron saint of the college's chapel.

Visions

* It was recorded that

Elizabeth of Schönau Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sc ...

experienced a vision that revealed to her the martyrdom of Ursula and her companions. File:Dlieja Sacun Santa Ursula.JPG, Saint Ursula in a 15th-century fresco on St. Jacob church in Urtijëi in Val Gardena File:Sta.UrsulaParishChurchjf5008 11.JPG, Venerated image of St. Ursula in Binangonan, Rizal, Philippines. Image:Accademia - Sogno di sant'Orsola - Vittore Carpaccio.jpg, ''The Dream of St. Ursula'', Vittore Carpaccio, 1495; tempera on canvas, 274 × 267 cm, Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice.

Cordula, Ursula's companion

Cordula was, according to a legend in an edition of the '' Roman Martyrology'' presented in an English translation on a traditionalist Catholic website, one of Ursula's companions: "Being terrified by the punishments and slaughter of the others, Cordula hid herself, but repenting her deed, on the next day she declared herself to the Huns of her own accord, and thus was the last of them all to receive the crown of martyrdom". In his ''Albert the Great'', Joachim Sighart recounts that, on 14 February 1277, while work was being done at the church of St John the Baptist (''Johanniterkirche'') in Cologne, Cordula's body was discovered; it was fragrant and on her forehead was written: ''Cordula, Queen and Virgin''. When Albert the Great heard of the finding, he sang mass and transferred the relics. Later, Cordula's supposed remains were moved to Königswinter and Rimini. Cordula's head was claimed by the Cathedral of Palencia. She is listed in the ''Roman Martyrology'' on 22 October.

Similarities with Sunniva

There are striking parallels between the 11th-century legend of Ursula and the story of Sunniva of Selje. Their names were sometimes confused by contemporaries. Both saints were considered to be Christian princesses who fled their homeland by ship in order to postpone or avert an undesired marriage with a pagan king. Both were accompanied by a large group of associates, both became victims of hostile foes. The development of their legends may have been interdependent. The martyrdom of Sunniva, however, took place after the first draft of the ''Passio Ursulae''.

References

External links

*
Sant' Orsola e compagne

Saint Ursula and the 11,000 British Virgins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ursula 383 deaths 4th-century Christian saints 4th-century Roman women Christian child saints Christian royal saints Christianity in Cologne Late Ancient Christian female saints Medieval legends Romano-British saints Year of birth unknown Legendary Romans