Feast of Saint Ursula and 11,000 Virgin Martyr Companions

Feast of Saint Ursula and 11,000 Virgin Martyr Companions
THE TWENTY-FIRST DAY OF OCTOBER
At Cologne, the passion of SS. URSULA and her COMPANIONS, Virgins and Martyrs.
These most illustrious Martyrs have been for many generations the objects of extraordinary veneration throughout Western Christendom, and, nevertheless, very few particulars of their true history can be ascertained. It is agreed that they came from Great Britain, perhaps escaping from the invasion of the pagan English ; that, under the conduct of Ursula, they arrived at Cologne, where they received the crown of martyrdom, at the hands of the Huns, in defence of their chastity, and for their fidelity to their Christian profession. In other respects the various legends differ considerably from one another, and it is impossible to say that any version can be taken as authentic. The narrative now read in the Divine Office in the dioceses of England, with the sanction of the Holy See, tells us " that when Attila and his Huns …