Born to the Spanish nobility. At age 16 she and other Christians fled Spain for Gaul (modern France) to escape the persecutions of Emperor Aurelian. They were located, however, and imprisoned. Legend says that while Columba was in prison, one of the jailers tried to rape her; a bear that was being used at a nearby amphitheatre attacked the guard and rescued her. However, she and the rest of the group were later martyred in the on-going persecutions of Aurelian.
Tradition says that almost immediately upon her death a blind man named Aubertus asked for her intervention and had his sight restored. His first act was to run to her execution site and give her body a decent burial. A chapel was soon built at the grave, followed later by the Abbey of Sens. Other churches in France have borne her name, and in times past she had a strong devotion. This inevitably led to her association with pious fictions and legend.
- beheaded in 273 at Sens, France near a fountain named d’Azon
- relics were enshrined in Sens
- relics destroyed by Huguenots in the 16th century
- bound maiden standing on a funeral pyre with an angel
- crowned maiden in chains
- maiden being beheaded near a fountain
- maiden holding a book and peacock feather
- maiden with a bear on a chain
- maiden with a dog on a chain
- “Saint Columba of Sens“. CatholicSaints.Info. 9 March 2016. Web. 17 January 2017. <>