De undecim millibus virginum
The Vow of Ursula
Saint Ursula secures a three-year truce and the conversion of her betrothed through a divinely inspired condition.
The passion of the eleven thousand virgins was celebrated in this order. In Britain, there was a devout Christian king named Nothus or Maurus, who had a daughter named Ursula. She excelled in a wonderful honesty of character, wisdom, and beauty, so that her fame flew everywhere; but the King of England, since he was overly powerful and subjugated many nations to his empire, upon hearing the fame of this virgin, declared himself blessed in every way if the aforementioned virgin were joined to his only son. The young man also burned greatly for this. They sent formal messengers to the girl's father, combining grand promises and flattery with severe threats if they returned to their lord empty-handed. The king, however, began to be greatly anxious, partly because he considered it unworthy to hand over one marked by the faith of Christ to a worshiper of idols, partly because he knew she would not consent at all, and partly because he greatly feared the king's ferocity. She, however, divinely inspired, persuaded her father to grant his assent to the aforementioned king, yet with this condition proposed: that the king himself, with her father, should hand over ten most select virgins to her for comfort, and assign a thousand virgins to her and to the others; and that, having prepared triremes, he should grant her a three-year truce for the dedication of her virginity, and that the young man himself, once baptized, should be instructed in the faith during these three years—for she used wise counsel, so that she might either turn his mind away from this by the difficulty of the proposed condition, or by this opportunity dedicate the aforementioned virgins to God with her. The young man gladly accepted these terms, insisted on them before the father, and was immediately baptized, ordering that everything the blessed virgin had commanded be carried out quickly.
The Gathering of the Virgins
A great company of virgins and holy leaders gathers from across the kingdoms to join Ursula in a new kind of spiritual warfare.
The girl's father arranged for his daughter, whom he loved dearly, to have in her company the men whose comfort both she and her army needed. Virgins flocked from everywhere, and men ran from everywhere to such a great spectacle. For many bishops flocked to them to travel with them; among them was Pantulus, the Bishop of Basel, who led them all the way to Rome and, having returned from there, received the crown of martyrdom with them. The holy Queen Gerasina of Sicily—who had turned her husband, a most cruel king, from a wolf into a lamb, and who was the sister of Bishop Macirisi and Daria, the mother of Saint Ursula—also sailed to Britain with her four daughters, Babilla, Juliana, Victoria, and Aurea, and her little son Hadrian. Hadrian had joined the pilgrimage of his own accord out of love for his sisters, after Saint Ursula's father had informed her of the secret by letter and God had moved her to go, leaving the kingdom in the hands of one of her sons. Following her counsel, virgins were gathered from various kingdoms, and as she was always their leader, she eventually suffered martyrdom with them. So, in accordance with the agreement, the queen revealed the secrets to the virgins, and ships and supplies were prepared for her fellow soldiers. They all swore an oath to a new kind of warfare. For at one moment they would begin the preludes of battle, at another they would run here and there; sometimes they would feign flight for the sake of battle, and, trained in every kind of maneuver, they left nothing that came to mind untouched, returning sometimes at midday, sometimes barely by evening.
Pilgrimage to Rome
The virgins travel to Rome, where Pope Cyriacus receives them and chooses to resign his office to join their holy mission.
Nobles and leaders flocked to such a great spectacle, and everyone was filled with wonder and joy. At last, when Ursula had brought all the virgins to the faith, they sailed within a single day, with a favorable wind, to a port in Gaul called Tyella, and from there they arrived in Cologne, just as the angel of the Lord had appeared to Ursula and predicted: that they would return there in full number and receive the crown of martyrdom in that place. Then, following the angel's instruction, they headed for Rome, docked at the city of Basel, and from there left their ships to travel to Rome on foot. Pope Cyriacus was overjoyed at their arrival, for he was from Britain himself and had many relatives among them; he and all the clergy received them with the highest honor. That very night, God revealed to the Pope that he would receive the palm of martyrdom alongside those same virgins. Keeping this to himself, he baptized many of them who had not yet been baptized. But when he saw that the time was right, having ruled the Church for one year and eleven weeks after Peter, he announced his intention in a meeting of everyone and resigned his position and office before them all. But when everyone protested—especially the cardinals, who thought he was delirious for wanting to leave the glory of the papacy to follow some foolish little women—he would not give in, and he appointed a holy man named Quiametus to his place as Pope; and because he left the Apostolic See against the wishes of the clergy, the same clergy erased his name from the list of popes, and from that time on, they lost all the favor that the holy choir of virgins had enjoyed in the Roman Curia.
The Path to Martyrdom
Wicked princes plot against the virgins, while various bishops and the betrothed Ethereus are divinely called to join the company in their final passion.
Maximus and Africanus, two wicked princes of the Roman army, saw the great crowd of virgins and noticed how many people were flocking to them; fearing that the Christian faith would grow too strong through their influence, they became alarmed. Consequently, they investigated their journey more closely and sent messengers to their kinsman Julius, the prince of the Huns, to lead an army against them and slaughter them when they reached Cologne, because they were Christians. Blessed Cyriacus then left the city with that noble group of virgins, followed by Vincent, a cardinal priest, and James, who had traveled from his homeland of Britain to Antioch, where he had served as archbishop for seven years. After he had visited the Pope and already left the city, he heard about the arrival of the virgins; moved by this, he returned and joined them on their journey and in their passion. Mauritius, the bishop of the city of Levicana, the uncle of Babila and Juliana, as well as Follarius, the bishop of Lucca, and Sulpicius, the bishop of Ravenna, who had just arrived in Rome, also joined the aforementioned virgins. Ethereus, the betrothed of blessed Ursula, while remaining in Britain, was warned by the Lord through an angelic vision to urge his mother to become a Christian, for his father, Ethereus, had died in the first year after he had become a Christian, and his son Ethereus had succeeded him in the kingdom. But when the holy virgins... ...were returning from Rome with the aforementioned bishops, Ethereus was warned by the Lord to rise immediately and meet his betrothed, so that he might receive the palm of martyrdom with her in Cologne. Obeying these divine warnings, he had his mother baptized, and with her, his little sister Florentina—who was already a Christian—and Bishop Clement, he met the virgins and joined them in their martyrdom. Marculus, the bishop of Greece, and his niece Constantia—the daughter of Dorotheus, the king of Constantinople, who had vowed her virginity to the Lord after her betrothed, the son of a certain king, died before their wedding—were also warned by a vision, came to Rome, and joined the aforementioned virgins for their martyrdom.
The Crown of Cologne
The virgins are slaughtered by the Huns at Cologne, with Ursula and Cordula receiving their crowns, followed by a note on the historical timing.
All the virgins, therefore, returned to Cologne with the aforementioned bishops, only to find the city already besieged by the Huns. When the barbarians saw them, they rushed forward with a great clamor and, like wolves raging against sheep, slaughtered the entire group. When they finally reached blessed Ursula—the others having been killed—the prince was stunned by her wondrous beauty; he tried to comfort her regarding the slaughter of the virgins and promised to take her as his wife. But when she utterly rejected this, he saw that he was being scorned, so he shot her with an arrow and thus she completed her martyrdom. A virgin named Cordula, terrified, hid herself on a ship that night, but the next day she offered herself up to death of her own accord and received the crown of martyrdom. Because her feast was not celebrated—since she hadn't suffered with the others—she appeared to a recluse long afterward, commanding that her solemnity also be observed on the day following the feast of the virgins. They suffered in the year of our Lord 237. However, the historical timeline, as some believe, doesn't support the idea that these events took place then, for Sicily wasn't a kingdom at that time, nor was Constantinople, since it hadn't yet been founded. It is more accurately believed that this martyrdom occurred long after the Emperor Constantine, during the time when the Huns and Goths were raging—specifically, in the time of the Emperor Marcian. A chronicle records that he reigned. It was in the year of our Lord 451.
Miracles and Devotion
The power of the virgins is demonstrated through a miracle of a returning relic and a vision promising comfort to a dying devotee.
An abbot once obtained the body of one of the virgins from the abbess of Cologne, promising that he would place it in a silver reliquary in his own church; but after he had kept it for a full year on the altar in a wooden box, one night, while the abbot of that monastery was singing the morning office with his community, the virgin herself descended in bodily form from the altar, bowed reverently before it, and walked through the middle of the choir, departing while the monks watched and stood in silence. The abbot, therefore, ran to the reliquary and, finding it empty, hurried to Cologne and informed the abbess of what had happened; they went to the place from which they had taken the body and found it there. When the abbot sought forgiveness and asked for that or another one, promising most firmly that he would quickly make a precious reliquary for it, he obtained nothing at all. A certain religious man, who had great devotion to these virgins, saw a most beautiful virgin appearing to him one day while he was gravely ill, and she asked if he recognized her. When he marveled at the vision and admitted he didn't recognize her at all, she said, "I am one of the virgins for whom you have such deep devotion. So that you may be rewarded for it, if you recite the Lord's Prayer eleven thousand times out of love and honor for us, you will have us for your protection and comfort at the hour of your death." When she disappeared, he fulfilled this as quickly as he could and immediately called for the abbot to have himself anointed. While he was being anointed, he suddenly cried out for them to move away and make room for the holy virgins who were arriving. When the abbot asked him what this meant and he recounted the virgin's promise to him in order, they all left. When they returned a short time later, they found that he had passed on to the Lord.
Read the original Latin
Undecim millium virginum passio hoc ordine celebrata fnit. In Britannia namque rex christianissimus quidam fuit nomine Nothus vel Maurus, qui quandam filiam nomine Ursulam generavit. Haec mirabili morum honestate, sapientia et pulchritudine pollebat, ita quod ejus fama ubique volabat, Rex autem Angliae, cum nimis praepotens esset et multas nationes suo imperio subjugaret, audita hujus virginis fama beatum se per omnia fatebatur, si praedicta virgo suo unigenito copularetur. Juvenis etiam ad hoc plurimum aestuabat. Mittunt igitar solemnes nuntios ad patrem virginis, magnis promissionibus et blanditiis magnas adjicientes minas, si ad dominum suum vacui revertantur. Rex antem coepit plurimum anxiari, tum quia Christi fide insignitam cultori ydolorum tradere indignum duceret, tum quia ipsam nullatenus consentire cognoscerel, tum quia regis ferocitatem plurimum formidaret. Ipsa autem LÀ divinitus inspirata patri suasit, ut praedicto regi assensum praeberet, ea tamen conditione proposita, ut ipse rex cum patre decem virgines electissimas sibi ad solatium traderet et tam sibi quam aliis mille virgines assignaret et comparatis trieribus inducias triennii sibi daret ad dedicationem suae virginitatis, et ipse juvenis baptizatus in his tribus annis in fide instrueretur, sapienti siquidem usus consilio, nt aut difficultate propositae conditionis animum ejus ab hoc averteret aut hac opportunitate praedictas virgines secum Deo dedicaret. At juvenis libenter hac conditione accepta apud patrem institit et protinus baptizatus accelerari cuncta, quae beata virgo praeceperat, imperavit.
Pater autem puellae ordinavit, quod filia sna, quam valde diligebat, viros, quorum solatio tam ipsa quam ejns exereitus indigebat, in comitafu suo haberet. Undique igitur virgines confluunt, undique viri ad tam grande speetaculum currunt. Nam mnulti episcopi ad eas confluxerunt, ut secum pergerent, inter quos erat Pantulus Basileensis episcopus, qui eas usque Romam perduxit et inde reversus cum iis martirium suscepit. Sancta quoque Gerasina regina Siciliae, quae virum suum regem erudelissimum quasi de lupo feceratagnum, sororMacirisi episcopi et Dariae matris sanctae Ursulae, cum eidem pater sanctae Ursulae secretum per litteras intimasset, continuo inspirante Deo eum quatuor filiabus suis, Babilla, Juliana, Victoria et Aurea et parvulo suo Hadriano, qui amore sororum suarum ultro se peregrinationi ingessit, relicto regno in manu unius filii sui usque in Britanniam navigavit. - Cujus consilio virgines de diversis regnis colligebantur et earum semper ductrix exsistens cum iis tandem martirium passa est. Juxta condictum igitur virginibus, trieribus et sumtibus praeparatis commilitonibus suis regina secreta revelat. et in novam militiam onmes conjarant. Nam modo belli praeludia inchoant, modo currunt modo discurrunt, interdum belli causa, plerumque fugam simulant omnique genere Judorum exercitatae nihil, quod animo occurrebat, relinquebant intactum, aliquando meridie, aliquando vix vespere redibant.
Confluebant proceres et primates adtam grande spectaculum ef omnes admiratione et gandio replebantur. Tandem cum Ursula omnes virgines ad fidem convertisset; sub unius diei spatio flante prospero vento ad portum Galliae; qui Tyella dicitur, et inde Coloniam devenerunt, uht Ursulae angelis domini apparuit et praedixit, eas illuc integro numero reversuras et coronas ibidem martirii percepturas. nde igitur ad angeli admonitionem Romam tendentes ad urbem Basileam applicuerunt et ibidem relictis navibus Romam pedestres venerunt. Ad quarum adventum papa Cyriacus valde gavisus, cum ipse de Britannia oriundus essel et multas ibidem inter eas consanguineas haberet, cum omni clero ipsas summo cum honore suscepit. In ipsa antem nocte papae divinitus revelatur, eum cum ipsis virginibus palmam martirii percepturum. Quod apud se celans multas ex ipsis, quae adhuc báptizatae non fuerant, baptizavit. Verum cum opportunum tempus videret et anno uno et undecim hebdomatibus post Petrum ecclesiam decimus nonus rexisset, in conventu omnium propositum suum indicavit et coram omnibus et dignitati et officio resignavit. Sed cum omnes reclamarent et maxime cardinales, qni eum )delirare putabant, eo quod relicta pontificatus gloria post quasdam mnulierculas fatuas ire vellet, ille nullatenns acquiescens quendam virum sanctum, quiAmetos dietus est, loco suo in pontificem ordinavit, et quia sedem apostolicam invito clero reliquit, nomen ejus de catalogo pontificum idem clerus abrasit omnemque gratiam, quam sacer ille virginum chorus in curia Romana habuerat, a tempore illo amisit.
Duo autem iniqui principes Romanae militiae, scilicet Maximus et Africanus, videntes magnam multitudinem virginum et quod multi multaeque ad eas confluerent, timuerunt, ne per eas nimis eresceret religio christianorum. Quapropter iter earum diligentius explorantes nuntios miserunt ad Julium cognatum suum principem gentis Hunnorum, ut educto contra eas exercitu ipsas, eum christianae essent, cum venirent Coloniam, trucidarent, Beatus igitur Cyriacus cum illa nobili virginum multitudine de urbe egressus est, secutus est autem ipsum Vincentius presbiter cardinalis et Jacobus, qui de Britannia patria sua in Antiochiam profectus archiepiscopatus dignitatem septem annis ibidem tenuit. Qui cum papam tunc temporis visitasset et jam urbem egressus de virginum adventu audiisset, concitus rediit et itineris ac passionis se iis socium fecit. Maurisius quoque Levicanae urbis episcopus, avunculus Babilae et Julianae , necnon et Follarius Lucensis episcopus et Sulpicius Ravennensis episcopus, qui tane Romam advenerant, praedictis virginibus adhaeserunt, Ethereus quoque sponsus beatae Ursulae manens in Britannia per visionem angelicam a domino admonetur, ut matrem suam hortaretur fieri christianam, Nam pater ejus Ethereus primo anno, quo christianus factus fuerat, mortuus est et filius ejus Ethereus eidem in regno successit. Cum autem sacrae virgines cum. praedictis episcopis a Roma redirent, Ethereus a domino admonetur, ut protinus surgens sponsae suae occurrat, ut cum ea in Colonia martirii palmam accipiat. Qui divinis monitis acquiescens matrem suam baptizari fecit et cum ipsa et sorore sua parvula Florentina jam christiana necnon et Clemente episcopo ipsis virginibus obvians se ad martirium sociavit eisdem. Marculus quoque episcopus Graeciae et neptis sna Constantia, filia Dorothei regis Constantinopolitani, quae nubens cuidam adolescenti filio cujusdam regis, sed ante nuptias morte praevento, virginitatem suam domino vovit, per visionem admoniti Romam venerunt et praedictis virginibus ad martirium se junxerunt.
Omnes igitur virgines cum praedictis episcopis Coloniam redierunt et ipsam jam ab Hunnis obsessam invenerunt Quas barbari videntes super eas cum clamore nimio irruerunt et quasi lupi saevientes in oves totam illam multitudinem occiderunt. Cum autem ad beatam Ursulam caeteris jugulatis venissent, videns princeps ejus miram pulchritudinem, obstupuit et consolans eam super necem virginum promisit, quod eam sibi in conjugem copularet. Sed cum hoc illa penitus respuisset, ille contemtum se videns directa sagitta eam transfixit et sic martirium consummavit, Quaedam antem virgo nomine Cordula timore perterrita in navi nocte illa se abscondit, sed in crastinum sponte morti se offerens martirii coronam suscepit. Sed cum ejus festum non fieret eo, quod cum aliis passa non esset, ipsa post longum tempus cuidam reclusae apparuit praecipiens, ut sequenti die a festo virginum ejus quoque sollemnitas recolatur. Passae sunt anno domini CCXXXVIIL Ratio autem temporis, ut quibusdam placet, non sustinet, quod haec tali tempore sint peracta, Sicilia enim tune mon erat regnum nec Gonstantinopolis, cum hic fuisse. dicatur. cum virginibus has reginas. Verius creditur, quod diu post Constantinum imperatorem, cum Hunni et Gothi saeviebant, tale sit martirium celebratum , tempore scilicet Marciani imperatoris.
(ntin quadam chronica legitur), qui regnavit. anno--domini CCCCLIL —.
Abbas quidam: ab abbatissa Coloniae corpus unius virginis impetravit, promittens, quod ipsum in capsa argentea in sua ecclesia collocaret, sed cum per annum integrum super altari eam in capsa lignea tennisset, quadam nocte, dum abbas ipsius monasterii cum suo conventu matnlinas cantaret, virgo illa corporaliter desuper altari descendit et ante altare reverenter se inclinans per medium chorum videntibus monachis et stapeutibus inde recessit. Abbas igitur ad capsam currens et vacuam ipsam inveniens Coloniam properavit et abbatissae rei ordinem intimavit, pergentesqne ad locum, unde illud corpus sumserant, illud ibidem invenerunt. Cum abbas veniam petens illud vel aliud peteret, certissime promittens , capsam pretiosam citius se facturum, nullatenus impetravit.
Religiosus quidam, cum has virgines in devotione multa haberet,quadam die, dum graviter infirmaretur, vidit quandam virginem pulcherrimam sibi apparentem et, si se cognosceret, inquirentem. Qui cum ad ejus visionem miraretur et se nequaquam ipsam cognoscere fateretur, illa ait: ego sum una virginum, erga quas tantum habes devotionis affectum, et ut inde mercedem accipias, si amore et honore nostri undecies millies dominicam orationem dixeris, in hora mortis in protectionem et solalium nos habebis. Qua disparente ille, quam citins potnit, haec implevit statimque vocato abbate inungi se fecit. Qui cum inungeretur, subito exclamavit, ut fugerent et venientibus sacris virginibus locum darent, Quem cum abbas, quid hoc esset, interrogaret et ille promissionem virginis sibi per ordinem enarrasset, recedentibus cunctis et paulo post redeuntibus ipsum migrasse ad domiium repererunt,
The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea) companion
Continue through all 240 chapters, one saint a day
Chosen Portion serves the Golden Legend as a daily portion on iOS, free, alongside the full Sub Rosa archive
The Legenda Aurea was organized for day-by-day use across the liturgical year, and Chosen Portion restores that original one-feast-per-day reading rhythm
- A complete saint's life or feast reading most days in 5-10 minutes
- 240 chapters - enough daily readings to cover a full liturgical year and beyond
- Daily reminders so the plan survives busy weeks