Saint Ursula and Her Companions, Virgins and Martyrs

Saint Ursula is the leader of the band of virgin martyrs who were put to death for Christ at Cologne, on the Rhine, in the early centuries of the Church. The Roman Church kept their memory on 21 October, and in the Missal of 1962 they still have their own commemoration, with a proper prayer that asks to honour "the palms" of these virgins. Below is what is certain about them, what belongs to the later legend, the full prayers of their commemoration in Latin and English, and how the name of Ursula came to be carried by the Ursulines and by countless schools.

Who was Saint Ursula?

The honest answer has two parts, and the tradition itself teaches us to keep them apart.

What is certain. At Cologne, a group of Christian virgins was martyred for the faith at an uncertain date, probably in the persecutions of the late Roman Empire. The proof is a stone, still kept in the choir of the Church of St Ursula at Cologne: the inscription of a man named Clematius, of senatorial rank, who records that, warned by repeated visions, he rebuilt from its foundations, on his own land, a basilica in honour of holy virgins who had shed their blood for Christ on that spot. The inscription is generally dated to the fourth or, at the latest, the fifth century. It gives no number, no names, and no date of the martyrdom, but it shows that a cult of virgin martyrs existed at Cologne very early, on the very place where the later church stands.

What the legend adds. From the ninth and tenth centuries, the story grew. In its best-known form, Ursula is the daughter of a Christian king in Britain, asked in marriage by a pagan prince. She obtains a delay of three years, sets out by sea with ten noble companions, each followed by a thousand virgins, in eleven ships; a storm carries them up the Rhine to Cologne, then they go on to Basle and to Rome on pilgrimage, and on their return to Cologne they are all massacred by the Huns, Ursula last of all, for refusing the hand of their chief.

The figure of "eleven thousand virgins" became fixed in the same period. Scholars have long suspected a misreading: an abbreviation such as XI M V — "eleven virgin martyrs" — may have been read as "eleven thousand virgins". The early lists in the martyrologies name between five and eleven virgins, and in most of them Ursula is not even named first.

The later Middle Ages added much more: in the twelfth century, bones were dug up in a field near the church, together with inscriptions that are plain forgeries, and on these discoveries were built the visions of St Elizabeth of Schönau, which supplied names, ranks and even a "Pope Cyriacus" said to have accompanied the virgins — a pope whom no list of the Roman pontiffs knows. None of this belongs to the certain history, and the Church never made it an article of faith.

What remains, under the legend, is enough to venerate: virgins who preferred death to the loss of their faith and their purity, honoured in the place where they died for some sixteen centuries, and numbered among the Catholic saints whose witness is the oldest treasure of the Church.

How did Saint Ursula die?

According to the tradition received at Cologne, Ursula and her companions were slain for the faith and for their virginity, outside the walls of the city. The legend makes the Huns their executioners and has Ursula pierced by an arrow after refusing the chief who wished to take her as his wife; that is why she is painted holding an arrow, often sheltering her companions under her cloak. The arrow, the palm of martyrdom, the crown, and sometimes a ship or a banner with a red cross are her usual emblems.

We do not know her age, the year of her birth or the year of her death. The questions often asked — when was Saint Ursula born, how old was she when she died — have no answer in the sources; whatever figure is given comes from the legend, not from history.

The prayer of Saint Ursula and her companions (Missal of 1962)

The traditional Roman Missal does not give the virgins of Cologne a full feast, but a commemoration on 21 October. Its three prayers — Collect, Secret and Postcommunion — are proper to them, and they form the most authentic "prayer to Saint Ursula" there is: the prayer of the Church herself. Note the lovely humility of the Collect: we cannot honour these virgins as they deserve, but at least we can honour them often.

Collect of the commemoration, 21 October

Da nobis, quaesumus, Domine Deus noster, sanctarum Virginum et Martyrum tuarum Ursulae et Sociarum palmas incessabili devotione venerari: ut quas digna mente non possumus celebrare, humilibus saltem frequentemus obsequiis. Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Grant us, we beseech Thee, O Lord our God, to venerate with unceasing devotion the palms of Thy holy Virgins and Martyrs, Ursula and her Companions: that those whom we cannot celebrate with a worthy mind, we may at least honour often with our lowly homage. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Secret

Intende, quaesumus, Domine, munera altaribus tuis pro sanctarum Virginum et Martyrum tuarum Ursulae et Sociarum festivitate proposita: ut, sicut per haec beata mysteria illis gloriam contulisti; ita nobis indulgentiam largiaris. Per Dominum nostrum.

Look down, we beseech Thee, O Lord, upon the gifts set upon Thine altars for the festival of Thy holy Virgins and Martyrs, Ursula and her Companions: that as through these blessed mysteries Thou didst bestow glory on them, so Thou mayest grant pardon to us. Through our Lord.

Postcommunion

Praesta nobis, quaesumus, Domine, intercedentibus sanctis Virginibus et Martyribus tuis Ursula et Sociabus: ut, quod ore contingimus, pura mente capiamus. Per Dominum nostrum.

Grant us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, by the intercession of Thy holy Virgins and Martyrs, Ursula and her Companions, that what we touch with our lips we may receive with a pure mind. Through our Lord.

The Mass from which these prayers are taken is that of several virgin martyrs, Me exspectaverunt. The Postcommunion is particularly fitting for the patroness of so many schools of girls preparing for their First Communion: that the Body of Christ, received on the lips, may be received by a pure heart.

When is the feast day of Saint Ursula?

The feast day of Saint Ursula is 21 October. In the calendar of 1962 it is a commemoration: the day belongs to the weekday (or to the feast that falls on it), and the prayers of the virgins of Cologne are added to those of the Mass and of the Divine Office, together with the commemoration of St Hilarion, abbot, kept the same day. You will find it in its place in our traditional Catholic calendar of 1962. At Cologne, of course, where she is patroness of the city, her feast has always been kept with great solemnity.

What is Saint Ursula the patron saint of?

Saint Ursula is above all the patroness of Cologne, where she and her companions died and where their church still stands. Through the Ursulines she became the patroness of the Christian education of girls and young women, of schools and of those who teach in them. She is invoked by young women for the keeping of purity, and by all who, like her companions, must hold fast to the faith in a hostile world.

She belongs to the great company of virgin martyrs whom the Church has always held in the highest honour, with St Cecilia, patroness of music, St Agatha, virgin and martyr and St Lucy of Syracuse — those young women for whom, as the Collect says, a "palm" is the right word: the victory of weakness over the power of the world.

Saint Ursula and the Ursulines

The name of Saint Ursula reached the whole world through a sixteenth-century Italian virgin, St Angela Merici. On 25 November 1535, at Brescia, Angela gathered her first companions into the Company of St Ursula, placing it under the patronage of the virgin martyr of Cologne, as a leader of virgins and a protectress of the young. It was the first teaching society of women; from it came the great family of the Ursulines, who for four centuries taught the faith and letters to girls on every continent. St Angela Merici, canonized by Pope Pius VII in 1807, has her feast in the calendar of 1962 on 1 June.

This is why so many institutions carry the name of the saint: the order of Saint Ursula, Ursuline convents and colleges, and, in the United States, schools such as Saint Ursula Academy in Toledo and in Cincinnati, Ohio, or the Academy of Mount Saint Ursula in the Bronx, which belong to the Ursuline tradition. Parishes too — every Saint Ursula Catholic Church — take their name from the martyr of Cologne and keep 21 October as their patronal feast.

The Basilica of St Ursula at Cologne

The Church of St Ursula at Cologne, a Romanesque basilica, stands on the ancient Roman burial ground outside the walls where the virgins were buried; it is the successor of the basilica rebuilt by Clematius, whose inscription is still in its walls. From Cologne, from the twelfth century onwards, relics were sent all over Christendom, which explains the wide spread of the cult.

The martyrdom of Saint Ursula in art

Few saints have inspired painters as much. Hans Memling painted her story on the reliquary known as the Shrine of St Ursula, at Bruges. Vittore Carpaccio devoted to her a whole cycle, The Legend of Saint Ursula, at Venice, with the famous Arrival of the Ambassadors, the Dream of Saint Ursula and her arrival at Cologne. Claude Lorrain painted the Seaport with the Embarkation of Saint Ursula, and Caravaggio, in what is held to be one of his last works, The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, showing the arrow piercing her breast. In music, St Hildegard of Bingen wrote several chants in honour of Ursula and her companions; you can read more about her in our page on St Hildegard of Bingen.

Through the eyes of tradition

In the reform of the calendar promulgated in 1969, the commemoration of St Ursula and her companions was removed from the General Roman Calendar, on the grounds that nothing certain, not even their names, is known of the virgins martyred at Cologne. They were not removed from the Roman Martyrology, which still records them on 21 October, and their cult continues at Cologne and in many places. In the calendar of 1962, which is the calendar of this app, the commemoration remains in its place, with the prayers given above.

The traditional attitude is the one the Church had always kept: she honoured the martyrs whose blood is attested by the Clematius inscription, she allowed the legend to be read as a pious story, and she never required anyone to believe the eleven thousand. To honour Saint Ursula is to honour real martyrs; it is not to vouch for every detail that the Middle Ages added. The same distinction is made in the old lessons of many saints: a sober core, a lively tradition around it.

A note on the name: St Ursula Ledóchowska (1865-1939), a Polish nun who founded the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, was canonized by Pope John Paul II on 18 May 2003; she is not in the calendar of 1962 and is a different person entirely, who took the name of the martyr of Cologne in religion.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Saint Ursula?

Saint Ursula is venerated as the leader of the virgin martyrs of Cologne, killed for the faith at an uncertain date in the late Roman period. Their martyrdom is attested by the fourth- or fifth-century inscription of Clematius at Cologne; the story of a British princess travelling with eleven thousand virgins is a later legend.

What is Saint Ursula known for?

She is known for the legend of the eleven thousand virgins, for the many works of art it inspired, and above all for giving her name to the Ursulines, the first teaching congregation of women, founded by St Angela Merici in 1535.

Is Ursula still a saint?

Yes. The 1969 reform removed her commemoration from the General Roman Calendar, but it did not "un-saint" her: she and her companions remain in the Roman Martyrology on 21 October, and in the 1962 calendar they keep their commemoration in the Mass and the Breviary.

When was Saint Ursula canonized?

Never by a formal process, because she lived long before canonizations were reserved to the Holy See. Like the other early martyrs, she became a saint by the cult the Church paid her from antiquity, attested at Cologne since the fourth or fifth century.

Why did Saint Ursula become a saint?

Because she and her companions died for Christ, preferring death to the denial of their faith and the loss of their virginity. Martyrdom is the oldest title to sainthood in the Church.

Where was Saint Ursula born?

The legend makes her the daughter of a Christian king in Britain. The earliest sources say nothing of her birthplace; the British origin is part of the later tradition and cannot be confirmed.

What is the prayer to Saint Ursula?

The most authentic prayer is the Collect of her commemoration in the Roman Missal, Da nobis, quaesumus, Domine Deus noster, given above in Latin and English with the Secret and the Postcommunion. Her name is also invoked in prayers for the Christian education of girls.

The Iter Fidei app carries the calendar of 1962 with every feast and commemoration, the Roman Missal and the Breviary in Latin and English. Join early access here.

Sources. Roman Missal (1962), Proper of Saints, 21 October (Ss. Ursula and Companions, Virgins and Martyrs, commemoration; Common of Virgin Martyrs, Me exspectaverunt). Roman Breviary, 21 October. The inscription of Clematius, Basilica of St Ursula, Cologne. Roman Martyrology, 21 October.