St.Ursula, martyr

* England (?)
† d around 304 (?) or around 451 (?) Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Hans Holbein Jr: Ursula, 1523, Karlsruhe State Art Hall

According to a legend that originated around the 10th century, Ursula was the daughter of a Christian king in Britain. She was to marry a pagan prince. However, she did not want it; she was permitted to postpone the marriage for three years. With ten women, accompanied by thousands of maids, she decided to leave on a journey across the North Sea, down the Rhine through Basel to Rome. On the way back near Cologne, they were all murdered by the Huns (around 451), as Ursula refused to marry their chief.

According to another legend, the British occupied Amorica after Emperor Magnus Clemens Maximus conquered Britain and Gaul. 383. The settler leader, Cynan Meiriadog, summoned King Dionotus of Cornwall to provide women for the settlers. Dionotus sent his daughter, Ursula, who was to marry Cynan, accompanied by eleven thousand maids and sixty thousand other women. However, the ships were wrecked and all the women were either enslaved or murdered..

Although the legends are only pious fictions, the truth is that a church was built in Cologne around the beginning of the 4th century, which Senator Clematius had rebuilt in honor of a group of virgins who were martyred near Cologne. It follows that they were highly revered, but we do not know the exact biographies or exactly how many there were. Legends were also created from these weak facts, and the feast of St. Ursula.