Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/262

 URSULA

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URSULA

of it were already regarded with suspicion by certain medieval writers, and since Baronius have been uni- versally rejected. Subsequently, despite efforts more ingenious than scientific to save at least a part, the apocryphal character of the whole has been recognized by degrees. Briefly, for the solid reconstruction of the true history of the virgin martyrs, there is only the inscription of Cleraatius and some details fur- nished by ancient liturgical books. Unfortunately, these latter are very meagre, and the inscription is

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The Dream of St. Ursula Carpaccio, the Academy, Venice

in part extremely obscure. This document, carved on a stone which may be seen in the choir of the Church of St. Ursula at Cologne, is couched in the following terms:

DIVINIS FL.\MirEIS VISIONIB- FREQVENTER ADMGNIT- ET VIRTVTIS MAGN« MAI lESTATIS MARTYRII CAELESTIV.M VIRGIN IM.MINENTIVM EX PARTIB- ORIENTIS 5 EXSIBITVS PRO VOTO CLEMATIVS V- C- DE PROPRIO IN LOCO SVG BANC BASILICA VOTO QVOD DEBEBAT A FVNDAMENTIS RESTITVIT SI QVIS AVTEM SVPER TANTAM MAIIEST.\TEM HVIIVS BASILIC* VBI SANC 10 TAE VIRGINES PRO NOMINE- XPI- SAN

GVINEM SVVM FVDERVNT CORPVS ALICVIIVS DEPOSVERIT EXCEPTIS VIRCINIB- SCIAT SE SEMPITERNIS TARTARI IGNIB- PVNIENDVM

Its authenticity, which is accepted beyond the shadow of a doubt by the most eminent epigraphists (de Rossi, Ritschl), has sometimes been suspected without good reason, and Domaszewski (C. I. L., XIII, ii, 2, no. 1313) is mistaken in asserting that the stone was not carved until the fifteenth century. It belongs indisputably to the fifth century at the latest, and very probably to the fourth. The recent hypothesis of Reise, according to which the first eight lines, as far as restitvit, belong to the fourth century, while the rest were added in the ninth, is more elegant than solid. With still greater reason must we reject as purely arbitrary that of J. Ficker, which divides the first eiglit lines into two parts, the first being of pagan origin and dating from before the Christian Era, the second dating from the .second century. But despite its autlicnticity the inscrip- tion is far from clear. Many attempts have been made to interpret it, none of them satisfactory, but at least the following import may be gathered: A

certain Clematius, a man of senatorial rank, who seems to have lived in the Orient before going to Cologne, was led by frequent visions to rebuild in this city, on land belonging to him, a basilica which had fallen into ruins, in honour of virgins who had suffered martyrdom on that spot.

This brief text is very important, for it testifies to the existence of a previous basilica, dating perhaps from the beginning of the fourth century, if not from the pre-Constantinian period. For the authentic cult and hence for the actual existence of the virgin martyrs, it is a guarantee of great value, but it must be added that the exact date of the inscription is unknown, and the information it gives is very \ague. It does not indicate the number of the virgins, theii- names, or the period of their martyrdom. Nor does any other document supply any probable details on the last point. Our ignorance on the first two is lessened to a certain extent by the mention on 21 Oct. in various liturgical texts (martyrologies, calen- dars, litanies) of virgins of Cologne, now five, now eight, now eleven, for example: Ursula, Sencia, Gregoria, Pinnosa, Martha, Saula, Britula,Saturnina, Rabacia, Saturia, and Palladia. Without doubt none of these documents is prior to the ninth century, but they are independent of the legend, which already began to circulate, and their evidence must not be entirely overlooked. It is noteworthy that in only one of these Usts Ursula ranks first.

After the inscription of Clematius there is a gap of nearly five hundred years in our documents, for no trace of the martyrs is found again until the ninth century. The oldest written text, "Sermo in natali sanctarum Coloniensium virginum", which seems to date from this period, serves to prove that there was at Cologne no precise tradition relating to the virgin martyrs. Acording to this, they were several thou- sand in number, and suffered persecution during the reign of Diocletian and Maximian. The names of only a few of them were known, and of these the writer gives only one, that of Pinnosa, who was then regarded as the most important of the number. Some persons, probably in accordance with an inter- pretation, certainly questionable, of the inscription of Clematius, considered them as coming from the East, and connected them with the martyrs of the Theban Legion; others held them to be natives of Great Britain, and this was the opinion sliared by the authors of the "Sormo". Apparently some time after the "Sermo" we find the martyrology of Wan- dalbert of Prum, compiled about 8.50, which speaks of several thousand virgins. On the other hand Usuard, in his martjTology dating from about 875, mentions only "Martha and Saula with several others". But as early as the end of the ninth cen- tury or the beginning of the tenth, the phrase "the eleven thousand virgins" is admitted without dispute. How was this number reached? All sorts of explana- tions have been offered, some more ingenious than others. The chief and rather gratuitous .suppositions have been various errors of reading or interpn-tat ion, e. g., "Ursula and her eleven thousand (•onii)aiiiiins" comes from the two names Ursula and Undccimillia (Sirmond), or from Ursula and Ximillia (Leibniz), or from the abbreviation XI. M. V. (uridccim mar- tyres vircjiiies), mismierpreted as vtidtrim inilliti vir- ginum, etc. It has been conjectured, and this is less arbitrary, that it is the eombiiiatimi of the eleven virgins mentioned in the ancient hlurgical books willi tlie figure of several thousand (mill in) given by Wandalbert. However it may lie, tliis number is henceforth accepted, as is also the British origin of the saints, while Ursula is substituted for Pinnosa and takes the foremost place among the virgins of Cologne. The experiences of Ursula and her eleven thousand companions became the subject of a pious romance which acquired considerable celebrity. Besides the