Saint Ursula And Her Companions. Virgins. Martyrs. Feast Day 21 October.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

Saint Ursula And Her Companions.
   Virgins.
   Martyrs.
   Feast Day 21 October.

Simple.

Red Vestments.

English: Saint Ursula, in a 15th-Century fresco,

in Saint Jacob Church, Urtijëi, Val Gardena, Italy.

Deutsch: Die Heilige Ursula in einem Fresko

der Kirche St. Jakob in St. Ulrich in Gröden -

Brixner Schule 15. Jahrhundert.

Photo: 7 September 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Wolfgang Moroder

(Wikimedia Commons)

"At Cologne, Germany", says The Roman Martyrology, "the birth in Heaven of Saint Ursula and her Holy Companions, who were massacred by The Huns, out of hatred for The Christian Religion and their Virginal purity. Several are buried in this City (Cologne)." This happened about 454 A.D.

Mass: Loquébar.
Collects: For Several Virgins Martyrs.

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

It was recorded that Elizabeth of Schönau, Germany, experienced a vision that revealed to her The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula and her Companions.

The Street in London, called Saint Mary Axe, is named after the Church of Saint Mary Axe, originally Dedicated to Saint Mary The Virgin, Saint Ursula and The 11,000 Virgins.

Saint Mary Axe was a Mediæval Church in The City of London. Its full name was Saint Mary, Saint Ursula And Her 11,000 Virgins, and it was also sometimes referred to as Saint Mary Pellipar. Its common name (also Saint Mary-[or Marie]-at-the-Axe) derives from the sign of an Axe over The East End of the Church. The Church's Patrons were The Skinners' Company.

Looking Northwards, up Saint Mary Axe Street, from Leadenhall Street, London. The gherkin-shaped skyscraper is officially named 30 Saint Mary Axe and is very close to the actual site of the Mediæval Church of Saint Mary Axe, whose full name was Saint Mary, Saint Ursula And Her 11,000 Virgins, which was demolished circa 1565.

Photo: 5 December 2010.

Source: 30, Saint Mary Axe.

Author: Aurelien Guichard, London, England.

(Wikimedia Commons)

According to John Stow, in A Survey of London (1603), the name derived from " the signe of an Axe, over against the East end thereof ". However, a document dated to the early Reign of King Henry VIII , describes a Holy Relic held in the Church: "An Axe, one of the two that the eleven thousand Virgins were beheaded with". This refers to the legend that Saint Ursula, when returning to Britain from a Pilgrimage to Rome, accompanied by eleven thousand handmaidens, had refused to marry a Hunnish Chief and was executed along with her whole entourage on the site of modern Cologne, Germany, in about 451 AD.

The Mediæval Church in London was situated just North of Leadenhall Street, on a site now occupied by Fitzwilliam House. First mentioned as "Saint Mary Apud Ax", it belonged for a time to the nearby Priory of Saint Helen's. At the time of The Dissolution Of The Monasteries, it was still extant, but in decline, and, in 1562, it was offered to Spanish Protestant refugees as a place of worship. Three years later, however, it was unused and in a state of disrepair. Shortly afterwards, it was pulled down and its Parish was united with that of the neighbouring Saint Andrew Undershaft.

The Church gave its name to a Street of the same name, which links Leadenhall Street with Camomile Street and Houndsditch. No. 30 was the location of The Baltic Exchange until it was destroyed by an IRA bomb in 1992; the Exchange is now located at No. 38, just to the North of its former address. On the site of the old Baltic Exchange now stands 30, Saint Mary Axe, a skyscraper known colloquially as The Gherkin, because of its distinctive shape.

The Street of Saint Mary Axe was also the location of The Sorcerer's Shop in Gilbert and Sullivan's Operetta, The Sorcerer, which documents the former pronunciation "Simmery Axe".

The Church that remains in the modern-day Saint Mary Axe is Saint Andrew Undershaft.