Saint Ursula

Saint Ursula

According to legend, Saint Ursula was a British princess who lived in the third century. After a pilgrimage to Rome, she was abducted by Attila the Hun who tried to force her to renounce her faith, which she refused to do. The ruler of the Huns shot her with an arrow while she protected her attendants with her cloak.

She was frequently invoked, in the Middle Ages, to protect young women. When Angela Merici founded her Order dedicated to the education of young women in 1535, she chose Saint Ursula as its patroness and named it the “Company of Saint Ursula”, which later became “the Ursulines”.