Columba of Sens

Saint Columba of Sens
Main altar of Église Saint-Colombe, Hattstatt, France. The statue on top depicts Columba of Sens (click on picture to enlarge).
Born	c. 257
Died	273
Venerated in	Roman Catholicism
Feast	December 31
Attributes	Portrayed as a crowned maiden in chains. At times she may have a dog or bear on a chain, hold a book and a peacock's feather, be with an angel on a funeral pyre, or be beheaded

Saint Columba of Sens (c . 257 in Spain – beheaded 273) was a saintly virgin associated with Sens in France and a fountain named d'Azon.

It is reported that her name may have originally been Eporita and came from a noble pagan family of Saragossa. At the age of 16, she fled Spain for Vienne, where she was baptized and given the name Columba. Emperor Aurelian wanted her to marry his son, and when she refused he had her imprisoned in a brothel at the amphitheatre. While she was in prison, one of the gaolers tried to rape her. A she-bear that was being held at the nearby amphitheatre attacked the guard and saved her.

Aurelian wanted both Columba and the she-bear burnt alive, but the bear escaped and rain put out the fire, so he had her beheaded, near a fountain called d'Azon. A man who had recovered his sight after praying for her intercession, saw to her burial. A chapel was built at the grave, followed later by the Abbey of Sens.

Although her story is not historical, her cult spread. Other churches in France have borne her name.

Columba became the patroness of Andorra. She is said to have been patroness of the parish church of Chevilly, in the diocese of Paris.

Saint Columba is portrayed as a crowned maiden in chains. At times she may have a dog or bear on a chain, hold a book and a peacock's feather, be with an angel on a funeral pyre, or be beheaded.

Veneration of "Saint Comba" in Galicia dates from the Middle Ages; her cult, according to Allyson M. Poska, was "probably a combination of the cults of two virgin martyrs." These were Columba of Sens and Columba of Spain.

A Galician legend held that before becoming a virtuous virgin martyr, Comba was a witch. This legend relates that one day, the witch Comba, encountering Jesus Christ on a Galician road, changed her life after Christ remarked, “Go ahead and be the witch, but you will not enter my kingdom.” The tale states that Comba converted to Christianity and was martyred for her faith after refusing to deny it, or after refusing the sexual advances of men. She became the patron saint of witches in Galicia, acting both as an intercessor on behalf of witches and as an intercessor against witches.