St. Ursula’s legend has its origins in an ancient stone in a church in Cologne, Germany. How an image of this obscure German saint ended up in a stained glass window in a basilica in northern Indiana is its own unique story.

In the church of St. Ursula in Cologne, there is a stone with a Latin inscription from c. 400. The inscription indicates that a senator named Clematius received divine visions directing him to rebuild a ruined basilica on that very spot in honor of several women who had been martyred there. The visions did not specify the names of the women who were martyred.

But, as the visions seemed to indicate, a number of women had been martyred in Cologne, and they must have been highly revered by the community to have a church built in their honor. How the church had fallen into ruin was unclear. Since the church was named for a Saint Ursula, one of the women, one can deduce, must have been named Ursula.

Legend has filled in the gaps in this record. Ursula, the story goes, was the daughter of a Christian king in Britain, and betrothed to the son of a pagan king. Because Ursula wanted to remain a virgin, she asked for a three-year delay to the marriage. Thus, Ursula took her ladies-in-waiting and escaped from England. Eventually, Ursula and her companions ended up in Cologne, where they were captured by the Attila and his Huns and killed for their faith around 383.

When Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World, he named the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean in honor of the virgin St. Ursula and her companions. St. Ursula is also the patron saint of the Ursuline Order of nuns, who founded schools for the education of girls and women throughout Europe. She is the patron saint of Catholic education, of students and teachers, and of the University of Paris.

When the Congregation of Holy Cross established Notre Dame, St. Ursula was one of the patrons invoked by the French priests and brothers of that order in intercession for the success of the University.

St. Ursula’s relics rest in the reliquary chapel of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. In one stained glass image from the Basilica (above), St. Ursula holds the flag of England in one hand, and the flowering palm of martyrdom in the other.

St. Ursula, patron saint of Catholic education—pray for us!