My Saint

My Saint, Saint Ursula, is really awesome. She isn't even a saint, there was just a cult that developed around her and she didn't exist [so they say].

Saint Ursula ("little female bear" in Latin) is a British Christian saint. Her feast day in the Catholic Church is October 21. Because of the lack of sure information about the anonymous group of holy virgins who on some uncertain date were killed at Cologne, their commemoration was omitted from the Catholic calendar of saints for universal liturgical celebration, when this was revised in 1969, but they have been kept in the Roman Martyrology, the official, though incomplete, list of saints of the Catholic Church.*

Her legend, probably unhistorical, is that she was a Romano-British princess who, at the request of her father King Donaut of Dumnonia in south-west England, set sail to join her future husband, the pagan Governor Conan Meriadoc of Armorica (Brittany), along with 11,000 virginal handmaidens. However, a miraculous storm brought them over the sea in a single day to a Gaulish port, where Ursula declared that before her marriage she would undertake a pan-European pilgrimage. She headed for Rome, with her followers, and persuaded the Pope, Cyriacus (unknown in the pontifical records), and Sulpicius, Bishop of Ravenna, to join them. After setting out for Cologne, which was being besieged by Huns, all the virgins were beheaded in a dreadful massacre. The Huns' leader shot Ursula dead, supposedly in 383 (the date varies).**

-Wikipedia, accessed April 3, 2010

*This is a horrible paragraph, here is a revision that makes sense.

Saint Ursula is a British Christian saint. Her feast day in the Catholic Church is October 21.

The information about St. Ursula, whose name means little female bear in Latin, is not well supported. The virgins that accompanied her were never identified and the exact dates of events are completely unknown. When the Catholic Church revised their calendar of saints for universal liturgical celebration in 1969, Ursula was left off. She has remained in the Roman Martyrology, which is the official, though incomplete, list of saints of the Catholic Church.

**This less horrible paragraph could use some work too. There are too many passive sentences up in here.

Her story has become more like an unhistorical legend. She is said to be a Romano-British princess who, at the request of her father King Donaut of Dumnonia in south-west England, set sail to join her future husband in Armorica (Brittany). The legend indicates that she was accompanied by 11,000 virginal handmaidens.

Before she could arrive to marry the pagan Governor Conan Meriadoc, a storm caused the ship to land at a Gaulish port. This storm is dubbed miraculous because it transported Ursula and her handmaidens incredibly far in one day and saved her and the virgins. At the Gaulish port, Ursula declared that she would undertake a pan-European pilgrimage before marriage. She headed for Rome, with her followers, and persuaded Pope Cyriacus (unknown in the pontifical records), and Sulpicius, Bishop of Ravenna, to join them. After setting out for Cologne, which was being besieged by Huns, all the virgins were beheaded in a dreadful massacre. The Huns' leader shot Ursula dead, supposedly in 383 (the date varies).