Saint of the Day: St. Ursula and Companions

Martyrs

Their story 

+ According to legend, Ursula was the daughter of a Christian king of Britain. Traveling to the continent with eleven companions, these holy virgins were said to have been tortured to death for refusing to denounce their faith.  

+ The relics of Saint Ursula, and those of her companions, are claimed by the Cathedral of Cologne in Germany.

+ Devotion to these virgin-martyrs endured for centuries. Saint Ursula was chosen by Saint Angela Merici to be the patroness of the religious community she founded in 1535 (today, they are known as “The Ursulines”). 

+ These martyrs are honored as the patrons of the British Virgin Island and, because of the efforts of Saint Angela Merici, Saint Ursula is honored as a patron saint of teachers and of students.

+ Saint Odilia, one of Ursula’s companions, is honored as the principal patroness of the Crosier Fathers and Brothers. 

+ While their celebration was left to local observance in the reforms of the General Roman Calendar of 1969, the memory of Saint Ursula and her companions and her companions was retained in the Roman Martyrology (the Church’s official listing of saints).  

For prayer and reflection 

“Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me,

‘Who are these wearing white robes,

and where did they come from?...

These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress;

they have washed their robes

and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.”—Revelation 7:13 and 14b

Spiritual bonus 

On this day, we also remember Saint Wendel. While on pilgrimage to the shrines in Trier he met a highwayman who hired him to work as a shepherd. Desiring to return to his life of solitude, he eventually built a hermitage near Trier. In 597, the monks of the Abbey of Tholey invited Wendel to serve as their abbot. After nearly twenty years of service to that community, he died in 617. One of the most popular saints of Germany, Saint Wendel is honored as the patron of Trier and of shepherds.

Prayer

O God, who gladden us today with the annual commemoration of blessed Ursula, graciously grant that we may be helped by her merits, just as our lives are lit up by the splendor of her example of chastity and fortitude. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

(from The Roman Missal: Common of Martyrs—For a Virgin-Martyr)
Saint profiles prepared by Fr. Silas Henderson, S.D.S