Career
See Columba (disambiguation), Street Columb and Sainte-Colombe for other uses
At the age of 16, she fled Spain for Vienne, where she was baptized and given the name Columba. 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.
Patronage
Columba became the patroness of Andorra.
She is said to have been patroness of the parish church of Chevilly, in the diocese of Paris. Iconography
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.
Of "" 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.
She became the patron saint of witches in Galicia, acting both as an intercessor on behalf of witches and as an intercessor against witches.
