Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Saint Ursula
Ursula (Latin for 'little she-bear') was a Romano-British virgin and martyr possibly of royal origin. She is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion. Her feast day in the pre-1970 General Roman Calendar and in some regional calendars of the ordinary form of the Roman Rite is 21 October.
There is little information about Ursula or the anonymous group of holy virgins who accompanied her and, on an uncertain date, were killed along with her at Colonia Agrippina. They remain in the Roman Martyrology, although their commemoration does not appear in the simplified 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. This inscription commonly referred to as the Clematius Inscription states that the ancient basilica had been restored by senator Clemantius on the site where the holy virgins were killed. The earliest source to name one of these virgins as "Ursula" dates from the 10th century.
Her legendary fame comes from a medieval story with many variations. In it, Ursula was a princess who has already promised herself to Christ. However, her father, the semi-legendary King Dionotus of Dumnonia in south-west Britain in the late-4th century, demanded that she marry the pagan governor Conan Meriadoc of Armorica. Ursula could not refuse but managed to delay the wedding by three years. During these three years, Ursula took part in a pan-European pilgrimage, accompanied by 10 virgins who in turn would eventually be accompanied by 1,000 virgins each. She headed for Rome with her followers and persuaded the Pope, Cyriacus (unknown in the pontifical records, though from late AD 384 there was a Pope Siricius), and Sulpicius, bishop of Ravenna, to join them. After setting out for Cologne, which was being besieged by Huns, all the virgins were beheaded in a massacre. The Huns' leader fatally shot Ursula with an arrow in about AD 383 (the date varies). When the Huns tried to loot the companions' ships, they discovered eleven legions of soldiers aboard, which scared the Huns out of Cologne.
There is only one church dedicated to Saint Ursula in the United Kingdom. It is located in Wales at Llangwyryfon, Ceredigion.
The Ursulines and the Virgin Islands are named after Saint Ursula and her companions.
The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912) article on 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 [Caesar] Baronius have been universally rejected". Neither Jerome nor Gregory of Tours refer to Ursula in their 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, Ado, Usuard, Notker the Stammerer, Hrabanus Maurus) of the early Middle Ages also do not enter Ursula under 21 October, her feast day.
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".
Hub AI
Saint Ursula AI simulator
(@Saint Ursula_simulator)
Saint Ursula
Ursula (Latin for 'little she-bear') was a Romano-British virgin and martyr possibly of royal origin. She is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion. Her feast day in the pre-1970 General Roman Calendar and in some regional calendars of the ordinary form of the Roman Rite is 21 October.
There is little information about Ursula or the anonymous group of holy virgins who accompanied her and, on an uncertain date, were killed along with her at Colonia Agrippina. They remain in the Roman Martyrology, although their commemoration does not appear in the simplified 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. This inscription commonly referred to as the Clematius Inscription states that the ancient basilica had been restored by senator Clemantius on the site where the holy virgins were killed. The earliest source to name one of these virgins as "Ursula" dates from the 10th century.
Her legendary fame comes from a medieval story with many variations. In it, Ursula was a princess who has already promised herself to Christ. However, her father, the semi-legendary King Dionotus of Dumnonia in south-west Britain in the late-4th century, demanded that she marry the pagan governor Conan Meriadoc of Armorica. Ursula could not refuse but managed to delay the wedding by three years. During these three years, Ursula took part in a pan-European pilgrimage, accompanied by 10 virgins who in turn would eventually be accompanied by 1,000 virgins each. She headed for Rome with her followers and persuaded the Pope, Cyriacus (unknown in the pontifical records, though from late AD 384 there was a Pope Siricius), and Sulpicius, bishop of Ravenna, to join them. After setting out for Cologne, which was being besieged by Huns, all the virgins were beheaded in a massacre. The Huns' leader fatally shot Ursula with an arrow in about AD 383 (the date varies). When the Huns tried to loot the companions' ships, they discovered eleven legions of soldiers aboard, which scared the Huns out of Cologne.
There is only one church dedicated to Saint Ursula in the United Kingdom. It is located in Wales at Llangwyryfon, Ceredigion.
The Ursulines and the Virgin Islands are named after Saint Ursula and her companions.
The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912) article on 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 [Caesar] Baronius have been universally rejected". Neither Jerome nor Gregory of Tours refer to Ursula in their 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, Ado, Usuard, Notker the Stammerer, Hrabanus Maurus) of the early Middle Ages also do not enter Ursula under 21 October, her feast day.
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".