Kolumba by Sens

Kolumba statue in the church of Arceniega ( province of Álava , Spain)

Kolumba statue in the church of Chevilly-Larue ( Val-de-Marne , France)

Saint Kolumba ( Spanish Santa Coloma , Portuguese Santa Comba * around 257 in Spain, † 273 in Sens ) was a virgin and martyr of the early Church. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church ; her feast day is December 31st.

Vita

According to tradition, Kolumba was a Christian virgin from Sens or a princely daughter from Saragossa who refused to marry the son of the Roman emperor Aurelian (r. 270-275) and therefore suffered martyrdom during the persecution of Christians under Aurelian . According to tradition, she was protected from rape by a she-bear in prison . Later attempts were unsuccessful to burn her, so that she was finally beheaded with the sword .

Adoration

The abbey of Sainte-Colombe in Sens was founded in 620 by the Merovingian king Chlothar II over the grave of St. Kolumba. The parish of the Church of St Kolumba was the largest in Cologne in the Middle Ages . The Cologne bishop Kunibert probably got to know the veneration of Kolumba at the court of the Merovingian kings and subsequently introduced it to Cologne.

presentation

Medieval representations of St. Kolumba are unknown. In later iconography , Kolumba is usually depicted as a crowned virgin with a sword and / or a martyr's palm , who sometimes leads a bear or a dog on a chain. Further iconographic attributes of saints are the book, peacock feather and dove ( Latin columba ). Sometimes she is shown accompanied by angels , at the stake or beheaded.

Kolumba Museum, Cologne

The art museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne , one of the most important museums in Germany, bears the name Kolumba today because it was built over the war ruins of the parish church of St. Kolumba.

literature

Ekkart Sauser : Kolumba. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 22, Bautz, Nordhausen 2003, ISBN 3-88309-133-2 , Sp. 731-732. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
Joachim Schäfer: Kolumba von Sens , in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints

Web links

Commons : Kolumba by Sens - collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Kolumba by Sens
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Columba of Sens; Colombe de Sens
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Virgin, Martyr and Saint of the Catholic Church
DATE OF BIRTH	3rd century
DATE OF DEATH	at 272
Place of death	Sens