St Ursula And Her Virgins example essay topic

The real legend of St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgins is unknown. The information that we have today is conceived through the visions and thoughts of those who the saints had supposedly visited. Along the way, pieces of the story have been left out or neglected to record. We still don't know if Ursula had 1, 11, 1,000, or 11,000 virgins accompany her during her journey because of misinterpretations. But what we do know, is that St. Ursula and her virgins led a fairy-tale type life as they joyously traveled to their martyrdom. This story has created a one-of-a-kind cult dedicated to the virgins.

But before their reliquaries and churches could be built, the tale of St. Ursula had to be figured out. The history of these celebrated virgins of Cologne rests on ten lines, and these are open to question. This legend, with its countless variants and increasingly fabulous developments, would fill more than a hundred pages. Various characteristics of it were already regarded with suspicion by certain medieval writers, and since Baronius have been universally 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 Clematius and some details furnished by ancient liturgical books. Unfortunately, these latter are very meager, and the inscription is 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: DIVINES FLAMMES VISION IB. FREQUENTER AD MONIT.

ET VIRTVTIS MAGNA E MAI IE STATIS MARTYR II CAELESTIVM VIRGIN IMMINENTIVM EX PARTI B. ORIENT IS EXSIBITVS PRO VOTO CLEMATIUS V.C. DE PROPRIO IN LOCO SVO HAND BASILICA VOTO QUOD DEBE BAT A FVNDAMENTIS RESTITVIT SI QV IS AUTEM SUPER TANT AM MAIIESTATEM HVIIVS BASILICA VBI SAN TAE VIRGINES PRO NOMINE. XPI. SAN GVINEM SVM FVDERVNT CORPS ALICVIIVS DEPOSVERIT EXCEPT IS VIRCINIB. SCI AT SE SEMPITERNIS TARTAR I IGNI B. PVNIENDVM Its authenticity, which is accepted beyond the shadow of a doubt by the most eminent epigraph ists, has sometimes been suspected without good reason, and Domaszewski 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. Flicker, which divides the first eight 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 authenticity the inscription 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-Constantine 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 vague. It does not indicate the number of the virgins, their 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 (martyr ologies, calendars, litanies) of virgins of Cologne, now five, now eight, now eleven, for example: Ursula, Sen cia, Gregorian, Pinnosa, Martha, Saula, Brit ula, Saturnine, Rabacia, Saturnia, and Palladio (Sheingorn, 6). Without doubt none of these documents are 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 lists 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 (Sheingorn, 6). According to this, there were several thousand in number, and suffered persecution during the reign of Diocletian and Ma ximian. 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 interpretation, 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 shared by the authors of the "Sermo" (Sheinghorn, 7). Apparently some time after the "Sermo" we find the martyrology of Wandalbert of Pru m, compiled about 850, which speaks of several thousand virgins.

On the other hand Usu ard, in his martyrology dating from about 875, mentions only "Martha and Saula with several others" (Sheinghorn, 5). But as early as the end of the ninth century or the beginning of the tenth, the phrase "the eleven thousand virgins" is admitted without dispute. So how was this number reached? All sorts of explanations have been offered, some more ingenious than others.

The chief and rather gratuitous suppositions have been various errors of reading or interpretation, e. g., "Ursula and her eleven thousand companions" comes from the two names Ursula and Undecimillia, or from Ursula and Ximillia, or from the abbreviation XI.M.V. (undecim martyrs virgines), misinterpreted as undecim millia virginum, etc. It has been conjectured, and this is less arbitrary, that it is the combination of the eleven virgins mentioned in the ancient liturgical books with the figure of several thousand (millia) given by Wandalbert (Sheingorn, 7). However it may be, this number is from this day forward 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 subsequent revisions of this story there are two ancient versions, both originating at Cologne.

One of these (Fuit tempore pervetusto) dates from the second half of the ninth century (969-76), and was only rarely copied during the Middle Ages. The other (Regnante Domino), also compiled in the ninth century, had a wide circulation, but adds little of importance to the first (Sheinghorn, 6). The author of the latter, probably in order to win more credence for his account, claims to have received it from one who in turn heard it from St. Dunstan of Canterbury, but the serious anachronisms which he commits in saying this place it under suspicion. This legendary account is well known: In Britain there lived a Christian King who had a daughter, named Ursula, who he loved very much. In fact, the entire country was enamored with her -- for she was filled with dignity, respect, wisdom, and beauty. People from far away lands heard of the King's remarkable daughter and before long the King of Anglia asked for her to be wed to his only son.

The prince, too, very much wanted this marriage to occur yet Ursula and her father, devout Christians, were loathe at the idea of marrying an idolater. In fact, messengers from Anglia delivered heinous threats of what would happen if they had to return without a confirmation of Ursula's hand for the Prince, who was named Ethereus. Ursula, prayed long and hard and asked for God's guidance in making a decision and protecting her father's throne. Inspired by God, Ursula advised her father to accept the proposal but only on certain conditions. Both kings should put at Ursula's disposal ten chosen virgins who would each be accompanied by another thousand virgins and the kings should provide ships for a journey for the virgins.

Additionally, she further asked to have three years for herself and Ethereus to dedicate themselves to religious instruction. Surely, they would withdraw their proposal, thought Ursula and her father. Surprisingly, the Prince and his father accepted these conditions unquestioningly. Thus, men and girls from all around volunteered to accompany Ursula on her travels and she immediately converted them all to Christianity. While in transit at Cologne, an Angel of the Lord appeared to Ursula in a vision and instructed her to alter her course and go to Rome. Additionally, he prophesied that Ursula and her followers would return to Cologne and achieve martyrdom.

Then they followed the river Rhine to Basle. From Basle, Ursula and her companions walked all the way to Rome. An Angel of the Lord also appeared to Ethereus, now the King after his father's death, and encouraged him to convert his mother to Christianity and meet Ursula in Rome so he, too, could achieve martyrdom. Thus, with his newly baptized mother, his little sister, Florentine, and the Bishop Clement, they embarked on their journey.

Also, as Ursula and her followers entered Rome, Pope Cyriacus had a vision of what was to occur and absconded his thrown to Amet os to join Ursula. As Ursula returned to Cologne with her followers she found the city occupied by the Huns, who had been spying on Ursula in fear of the mass spread of Christianity. The Huns massacred all of the young virgins, the Pope, and Ethereus and his family. The leader of the Huns intended to take Ursula as his wife. When she firmly refused, he thrust an arrow through her heart, completing the martyrdom of 11,000 young Christian women. The literary origin of this romance is not easy to determine.

Apart from the inscription of Clematius, transcribed in the Passion "Fuit tempore" and paraphrased in the "Regnante Domino" Passion and the "Sermo in natali", the writers seem to have been aware of a Gallic legend of which a late version is found in Geoffrey of Monmouth: the usurper Maximus, having conquered British Armorica, sent there from Great Britain 100,000 colonists and 30,000 soldiers, and committed the government of Armorica to his former enemy, now his friend, the Breton prince, Conan us Meriadocus. The latter decided to bring women from Great Britain to marry them to his subjects, to which end he appealed to Dio notus, King of Cornwall, who sent him his daughter Ursula, accompanied by 11,000 noble virgins and 60,000 other young women. As the fleet, which carried them sailed towards Armorica, a violent storm destroyed some of the ships and drove the rest of them to barbarian islands in Germany, where the virgins were slain by the Huns and the Picts. When the Barbarians turned to plunder the ships, they thought they saw eleven legions of armed soldiers and fled in fright. Freed from the threat of the Huns, the citizens of the city came outside the walls and buried the martyrs' bodies (Holladay, 74). The improbabilities, inconsistencies, and anachronisms of Geoffrey's account are obvious, and have often been dealt with in detail: moreover the story of Ursula and her companions is covered with a less ideal character than in the Passions of Cologne.

However, several writers have regarded this account since Baronius, as containing a summary of the true history of the holy martyrs. Like the Passions of Cologne, it has been subjected to the anti-scientific method, which consists in setting aside as false the improbabilities, impossibilities, and manifest fables, and regarding the rest as authentic history. As a consequence two essential traits remain: the English origin of the saints and their massacre by the Huns; and then, according as adherence is given to the "Sermo in natali", Geoffrey of Monmouth, or the Passion "Regnante Domino", the martyrdom of St. Ursula is placed in the third, fourth, or fifth century. In order to account for all the details, two massacres of virgins at Cologne have been accepted, one in the third century, the other in the fifth.

The different solutions with their variations suggested by scholars, sometimes with levity, sometimes with considerable learning, all share the important defect of being based on relatively late documents, un authoritative and disfigured by manifest fables. No conclusion can be drawn from these texts. Nevertheless, the fables they contain are insignificant in comparison with those, which were invented and propagated later. As everyone now unhesitatingly rejects them, it suffices to treat them briefly. In the twelfth century there were discovered in the Ager Ursulanus at Cologne, some distance from the Church of St. Ursula, skeletons not only of women, but of little children, and even of men, and with them inscriptions that is impossible not to recognize as gross forgeries.

All this gave rise to a number of fantastic legends, which are contained in the accounts of the vision of St. Elizabeth of Schonau, and of a religious who has been regarded as identical with Blessed Hermann Joseph of Seinfeld. It may be remarked in passing that visions have played an important part in the question of the Eleven Thousand Virgins, as may be seen in those of Clematius and of the nun Hel intrude contained in the Passion "Regnante Domino". Those of the twelfth century, in combination with the inscriptions of the Ager Ursulanus, resulted in furnishing the names of a great many of the male and female companions of Ursula, in particular, and this will suffice to give an idea of the rest, that of a Pope Cyriacus, a native of Great Britain, said to have received the virgins at the time of their pilgrimage to Rome, to have abdicated the papal chair in order to follow them, and to have been martyred with them at Cologne. No doubt it was readily acknowledged that this Pope Cyriacus was unknown in the pontifical records, but this, it was said, was because the cardinals, displeased with his abdication, erased his name from all the books. So what happened to the martyrs' bodies after the citizens of Cologne buried them? In 1106 the city of Cologne was in a feud between Heinrich IV and his son, therefore, they received permission from the king to enlarge its boundary wall to incorporate areas to the north, west, and south into the city.

During the excavations in the north, near the Church of the Holy Virgins, workmen stuck 'gold' by digging into a Roman cemetery. It was believed that they had discovered the burial place of the entire virgin band. Although the church had contained eleven tombs for a while, suddenly the supposed relics of the whole group were available for excavation, elevation, and veneration (Holladay, 74). The unexpected discovery of the bones of the eleven thousand virgin martyrs had two immediate consequences. The first was a naturally extensive excavation campaign, and the second was the rebuilding of the church in their honor. As early as 1106 the monks of St. Pantaleon, located at the western edge of the city, relocated the bodies of three members of Ursula's band to the women's convent of Walciodorense.

Even such a generous donation, represented only a part of the monks' holdings of the virgins' relics at this date. Since St. Pantaleon was located at the western edge of the city (not near the excavations) it seems that enough bodies had been excavated by this date to allow their distribution to other Cologne churches that held no claim to a part of the cemetery. Likewise, the Benedictine monastery at Deutz, across the river from Cologne, had sufficient relics of the virgin saints that they could spare the body of St. Palma tia and other remains for the monastery a Weissen burg in Alsace in 1113 (Holladay, 76). The relics themselves had made their way abroad almost as quickly as the news of the find at Cologne. The early excavations seemed to have not been carried out by the canonesses at the Church of the Holy Virgins, but by the canons at St. Kunibert's. Only later were the canonesses at the Church of Holy Virgins able to claim the recent finds and have some of the remains of the virgins transferred to their church to rest with their companions who had long lain there (Holladay, 76).

Domination by male religious marked this twelfth-century phase of the cult. In addition to the bones transferred to St. Kunibert, St. Pantaleon, and Deutz (all men's houses), St. Norbert, digging for relics of the martyrs at St. Gere on in 1121, received a vision that caused him to turn his attention to the holy virgins. For almost a decade, until 1164, the monks of the Benedictine monastery at Deutz, carried on an active excavation campaign, unearthing hundreds of bodies and transferring them to their abbey. Here the monk Dietrich recorded the names of the saints, which the monks had supposedly discovered on tablets buried with the bodies, but which are now believed to have been made up by the monks themselves. In a further effort to authenticate their relics and to validate their entire enterprise, the monks sent some of the relics and the tablets to the mystic Elizabeth of Schonau in 1155 for identification and authentication (Holladay, 76).

As soon as the relics were present at Schonau, the virgins and other saints appeared to Elizabeth in visions, revealing the martyrs' names, complaining about the treatment of their relics at certain sites, and reconciling the existence of the tablets with the existing story of the martyrdom and burial. They also explained the presence of men and children's bones among the virgins' burials as boatmen, clerics who tended to the virgins's spiritual needs, and as men, women, and children who desired martyrdom and burial with the virgin band. While Elizabeth and the monks of Deutz carried out their activities on the part of the Ursula virgins, during the whole twelfth century, the sources are silent on excavation activity on the part of the canonesses themselves. Elizabeth's accusation that they neglected the relics in their charge seemed to support the claim that their role in the excavations was either non-existent or extremely modest (Holladay, 77). The canonesses started rebuilding their church at about this time because the church that was in use in 1106, was quickly perceived as inadequate to house the multitudes of new relics that were considered its property. A new and influential church was designed and built with record speed.

A great gilt and enamel shrine for Ursula furnished the church, along with a similar shrine for Ursula's fianc'e. A third shrine, for the remains of St. Hippolytus, behind the high altar, which was decorated with a new altar frontal was also added. From about the middle of the thirteenth century until after the middle of the fourth, numerous and convincing evidence documents frenzied excavation activity, accompanied by the involvement of the entire city in the promotion of the cult. The Ursula virgins were a source of enormous pride to the city, a rallying point for community identity with the city's illustrious Roman and early Christian past. Gottfried Hagen's late thirteenth-century Reimchronik records that, in a battle for the control of the city in 1265, Archbishop Engle bert and his party laid siege on the city for eight days. Only an appearance of St. Ursula and her companions on behalf of the city convinced them to withdraw (Holladay, 80).

In a woodcut illustrating this episode, the Ursula virgins were represented differently than other saints. Their portrayal in bust-length, may indicate that it was assumed that the transport of the reliquary busts onto the ramparts had enlisted the saints' aid in the city's defense. A period of renewed interest in St. Ursula and her companions beginning in the middle of the thirteenth century brought significant changes in the spaces and objects used for the saints' cult. The Dominican monks traveled with the relics of the virgin martyrs to the diocese of Paderborn to raise money for building projects at the Church of the Holy Virgins. It is almost certain that the project they were working on was the new Gothic choir. Soon thereafter a second aisle, nearly twice the width of those in the Romanesque building, was added along the south of the church.

Finally at the beginning of the fourteenth century the Romanesque nave was given pointed quadripartite vaults (Holladay, 81). The remodeled choir incorporated new spaces to display and protect the increasing numbers of relics. Grilled compartments under the eleven windows of the new choir were intended for the martyr's bones. Just as the number of the windows recalls the number of virgins, the integration of the virgins' bones into the very fabric of the building itself visualized the saints as the living stones of the church (Holladay, 83). A number of changes also reconfigured the area of the high altar at the end of the thirteenth century. A new altar with Gothic tracery incorporated the old copper gilt and enamel antependium in the church.

The raised back wall of the altar created an effect of a retable; painted figures of the Ursula virgins occupied its eleven arcades (Holladay, 84). Wooden protective covers were also installed over the three shrines behind the altar. The paintings of the altar retable, for the first time, picture the saints of Ursula's cohort as a group of women. In a similar way, the Ursula busts, the unusual but striking wooden reliquaries made for the remains of the virgin band, also insisted on the number and the gender of the group's members. The creation of the busts coincides with renewed excavation and rebuilding between the middle of the thirteenth and the middle of the fourteenth century (Holladay, 85). The earliest of the preserved busts can be dated about 1260-70.

After the turn of the century, a furry of activity produced hundreds of the busts before their production tapered off in about 1360. Approximately one hundred busts are still preserved at the church of St. Ursula, in the Goldene Kammer. The churches and museums in and near Cologne have about fifty and there are a few isolated examples in France, Switzerland, and the United States, for a total of about 160 preserved busts. Most of the reliquaries represent young women in bust length close to life-size, approximately standing about 40 cm high (Holladay, 87). They are carved in the round and finished in the back. Polychromy in natural flesh tones and hair colors heightens the striking life-like effect, as do stylish garments with brocaded patterns and jeweled, impasto, or punched neckbands (Holladay, 87).

There are three variations from the general description. Some reliquaries extend to waist or hip-length, with a corresponding increase in vertical dimension of about 50 cm or more. These longer busts include arms and hands, which are raised in prayer. A few slightly smaller reliquaries lack the compelling physical presence and one-on-one approachability of the larger busts but resemble them in all other aspects (Holladay, 87).

The smaller versions are present in both bust and hip-length. These may have been intended to represent children, such as the bust at the Yale Art Gallery containing a more child-like facial type. Finally, a number of the later reliquaries represent men, such as clerics, nobles, and knights. The male figures are all bust length without arms, besides one exception. The physical presence of these objects is heightened by a number of other qualities. The busts are carved from wood, and although busts in wood had appeared as early as about 1200, metal was still the material of choice for reliquaries of all type in the thirteenth century.

The use of wood for the numerous Cologne works may have resulted from economic necessity, but it also seems possible that this still relatively unusual choice may reflect the medieval perception of wood as a living material and therefore able to more closely approximate the look and feel of human flesh (Holladay, 87). Wood was also an ideal support for the naturalistic polychromy that plays an important role in the appearance of these works. Other thirteenth century busts that we know, contained their relatively small relic particles in an indentation in the chest. A gem or crystal, sometimes configured as a brooch within the drapery scheme, would have protected the holy remains from theft or loss. The busts at Cologne, are hollowed out so that they hold the major relic, the cranium, in a manner that approximates the relationship of bones to skin in the living person. Each Cologne bust sits on a thin wooden panel that serves to close the secondary relic chamber in the chest.

This effect makes the figures appear as a real person who is standing behind a high-chest wall. A slight smile on the saints' lips on the reliquary appears to make her more human and approachable, while distinguishing them from predecessors and contemporaries (Holladay, 88). While all reliquaries create a specific visual presence for the otherwise anonymous relics they contain, the cumulative effect of the unusual features of the Ursula busts area life-like appearance that departs dramatically from reliquary bust of earlier date (Holladay, 88). An importance of the busts, is to realize that they focus on the virgins's tate of being rather than their activities. A person viewing the busts during the fourteenth century would have found herself confronted by a striking image of a contemporary (sister, neighbor, herself), rather than a narrative of the virgins' deeds, martyrdom, or miracles. A number of the busts bear the coats of arms of local patrician families.

Medievalists typically interpret the inclusion of heraldic devices as records of the patron's identity and his or her pride in the commission (Holladay, 88). The usual prominent placement of the heraldic shields on the busts, similar to brooches or belt buckles, suggests that the coats of arms are intended to make visible a direct connection between the historical virgins and the young women of medieval Cologne. They identify the daughters of the fourteenth century by blurring the relationship between past and present, and by classifying them with their sainted early Christian counterparts. There were several factors that contributed to the decision that the bust was an appropriate way to commemorate the virgins and contain their relics. Bust reliquaries appeared as early as early as then end of the ninth century, but there are only a few examples before the date of the earliest Ursula busts. Bust reliquaries made in wood were even rarer.

The decision to encase the relics of the Ursula virgins in wooden busts, appears as a response to a specific situation. Although we don't have any contemporary documentary evidence that proves us with certain answers, it is guessed that is relates to the intended functions of the busts: how, where, and by whom the might have been used (Holladay, 88). Customs documented in Cologne allow the conclusion that the busts were carried in procession on the saints' feast day, October 21. On the feast of St. Ursula, in the presence of a large and devoted population, adolescent daughters of the citizens of Cologne, dressed in golden garments, carried the virgins out of the Goldene Kammer, processing them around the church and through the cemetery before returning them (Holladay, 89).

The city consciously and proudly retained and revived old habits and traditions during this time. Thus the role of local girls in the public veneration of the virgin martyrs may date back as far as the busts themselves, to the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Similar to other biographies of saintly women composed in the Archdiocese of Cologne in the thirteenth century, the Ursula busts also presented role models in a visual form for women who sought predecessors and prototypes for their spiritual practice. Many busts were also created for the male members of the virgins' band (clerics, bishops, fathers, brothers) and made visible the importance of male authority in the virgins' lives (Holladay, 96).

The Roman cemetery that was supposed to contain the virgins' remains had also served or the burials of men and children. The male busts probably responded to the physical remains excavated in the cemetery. While the busts of men would have addressed the male devotees of the Ursula cult, they would have also reminded female viewers of the authority figures on whom their spiritual and physical well being depended (Holladay, 96). There were two other works created to support the interpretation of the busts as visualizing spiritual guides and role models for the young women of Cologne.

During the middle of the thirteenth century, an early example of the Schutzmantel Ursula appeared. The image was used on the seal of the abbess at the Holy Virgins. It showed the saint extending her wide mantel over the members of her band and recent followers, promising protection to those who entrust themselves to her care (Holladay, 97). Along with the Schutzmantel Ursula, there is a pair of large winged altarpieces that were made in Cologne in about 1350. In the shrine at the altar's interior, full-length figures of the apostles attend the Coronation of the Virgin in the upper row. In the lower, register busts of the Ursula virgins sit in individual compartments around a niche for a particularly prized relic.

The Ursula busts, in the altarpiece or individually, send a message of inclusion and mark a positive role fore women within the organized structure of the church. Although the history of these saints of Cologne is obscure and very short, their cult was very widespread, and it would require a volume to relate in detail its many and remarkable manifestations. To mention only two characteristics, since the twelfth century a large number of relics have been sent from Cologne, not only to neighboring countries but also throughout Western Christendom, and even India and China. The legend of the Eleven Thousand Virgins has inspired a host of works of art, several of them of the highest merit, the most famous being the paintings of the old masters of Cologne, those of Memling at Bruges, and of Carpaccio at Venice. St. Ursula is the patron saint of Catholic education (especially of girls), Cologne, Germany, educators, holy death, schoolchildren, students, and teachers. She is represented by an arrow, a clock, a maiden shot with arrows, often accompanied by a varied number of companions who are being martyred in assorted, often creative ways, and a ship.

She is even cited in helping Christopher Columbus name the Virgin Islands. 1493, Christopher Columbus had been searching for a route to India and in doing so; Columbus named the beautiful islands 'The Virgins' in reference to the legendary beauty of St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgins. The legend of St. Ursula and her companions lives on to provide men and women with Christian faith across the world.