Silk Embroidery Work In Honor Of Saint Ursula, Brittany

Very refined work of painted silk and embroidered with silk thread embellished with small pearls, all with the effigy of Saint Ursula. 19th century.
Saint Ursula is often depicted with the palm of martyrs, an arrow (symbol of what killed her), a large miraculous cloak (which did not save her). The story of Saint Ursula is difficult to verify due to reliable written testimonies. We know that a young girl named Ursula, daughter of a Christian Breton king, lived at the very end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th century. We also know that this young girl, along with several others, was proposed to by a pagan prince of Germanic origin. But since Ursula wanted to remain a virgin and a Christian, her refusal could attract serious reprisals for her father. Ursula and her friends—ten virgins—therefore decided to run away and go on an adventure. The girls are said to have gone on a pilgrimage to Rome for three years, then boarded a ship on the Rhine. A storm reportedly washed them ashore, where they were captured by the Huns in Cologne, Germany, and then martyred and riddled with arrows because they refused to betray their faith. The girls were buried in a church in Cologne.