Ursula of Cologne | |
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| Virgin Martyr | |
| Died | 4th century Colonia Agrippina,Germania Secunda(modern-dayCologne, Germany) |
| Venerated in | |
| Majorshrine | Church of St. Ursula, Cologne |
| Feast | 21 October |
| Attributes | arrow; banner; cloak; clock; maiden shot with arrows; depicted accompanied by a varied number of companions who are being martyred in various ways; ship |
| Patronage | Cologne, England,Binangonan,Rizal (Philippines),Gozo Island,[1]archers, orphans, female students |
Ursula (Latin for 'little she-bear') was aRomano-Britishvirgin andmartyr possibly of royal origin. She is venerated as asaint in theRoman Catholic Church,Eastern Orthodox Church[2] and theAnglican Communion. Herfeast day in the pre-1970General Roman Calendar and in some regional calendars of the ordinary form of theRoman 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 atColonia Agrippina.[3] They remain in theRoman Martyrology,[4] although their commemoration does not appear in the simplified General Roman Calendar of the 1970 Missale Romanum.[5]
The earliest evidence of a cult of martyred virgins atCologne is an inscription fromc. 400 in theChurch of St. Ursula, located on Ursulaplatz in Cologne. This inscription commonly referred to as the Clematius Inscription[6] 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.[7]
Her legendary fame comes from a medieval story with many variations.[8] In it, Ursula was a princess who has already promised herself to Christ. However, her father, the semi-legendary KingDionotus ofDumnonia in south-west Britain in the late-4th century, demanded that she marry the pagan governorConan Meriadoc ofArmorica. Ursula could not refuse but managed to delay the wedding by three years. During these three years, Ursula took part in a pan-Europeanpilgrimage, 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 aPope Siricius), and Sulpicius,bishop of Ravenna, to join them. After setting out for Cologne, which was being besieged byHuns, 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.[6]
There is only one church dedicated to Saint Ursula in the United Kingdom. It is located in Wales atLlangwyryfon,Ceredigion.
TheUrsulines and theVirgin Islands are named after Saint Ursula and her companions.
TheCatholic 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".[8] NeitherJerome norGregory of Tours refer to Ursula in their writings.[9] Gregory of Tours mentions the legend of theTheban Legion, to whom a church that once stood in Cologne was dedicated.[10] The most important hagiographers (Bede,Ado,Usuard,Notker the Stammerer,Hrabanus Maurus) of the earlyMiddle Ages also do not enter Ursula under 21 October, her feast day.[10]
A legend resembling Ursula's appeared in the first half of the tenth century; it does not mention the nameUrsula, but rather gives the leader of the martyred group asPinnosa orVinnosa. Pinnosa's relics were transferred about 947 from Cologne to Essen,[11] and from this point forward Ursula's role was emphasised.[10][12] In 970, for example, the firstPassio 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".[11]
According toGeoffrey of Monmouth, a 12th-century British cleric and writer, Ursula was the daughter ofDionotus, ruler of Cornwall. However, this may have been based on his misreading of the wordsDeo notus in the secondPassio Ursulae, written about 1105. The plot may have been influenced by a story told by the 6th-century writerProcopius 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 theVarni, 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 clericWandelbert of theAbbey of Prüm stated in hismartyrology in 848 that the number of martyrs counted "thousands of saints" who were slaughtered on the boards of the River Rhine.[13] 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 nameUndecimillia orXimillia as a number, or reading the lettersXI. M. V. as 'eleven thousand [in Roman numerals] 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—inLatin,undecimilia. This was subsequently misread or misinterpreted asundicimila ('eleven thousand'), thus producing the legend of the 11,000 virgins.[14] 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".[15]It has also been suggested thatcum [...] militibus, "with [...] soldiers", was misread ascum [...] millibus, "with [...] thousands".[16] Most contemporary sources, however, cling to the number 11,000. ThePassio 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.
TheBasilica of St. Ursula in Cologne holds the allegedrelics of Ursula and her 11,000 companions.[15] 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".[17] 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".[15][17] 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,Hermann Joseph, aPraemonstratensiancanon at Steinfeld, explained that they were distant relatives of the eleven thousand.[16] 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-grownmastiffs.[15] The relics may have come from a forgotten burial ground.[18] Parts of a skull attributed to St. Ursula were reportedly brought to Ireland in the early 1700s and is held at theGalway City Museum[19] in Ireland.
Nothing reliable is known about the girls said to have been martyred at the spot. Acommemoration of Saint Ursula and her companions in theMass of SaintHilarion, formerly in theGeneral Roman Calendar on 21 October, was removed in 1969, because "theirPassio is entirely fabulous: nothing, not even their names, is known about the virgin saints who were killed at Cologne at some uncertain time".[20] However, they are still mentioned in theRoman Martyrology, the official but professedly incomplete list of saints recognised by the Roman 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".[21]
Cordula was, according to a legend in an edition of theRoman Martyrology presented in an English translation on atraditionalist Catholic website,[34] 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 hisAlbert the Great,[35] 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. WhenAlbert the Great heard of the finding, he sang mass andtransferred the relics. Later, Cordula's supposed remains were moved toKönigswinter andRimini.[36] Cordula's head was claimed by the Cathedral ofPalencia.[37] She is listed in theRoman Martyrology on 22 October.[38]
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