Litany of Saints
Picture: Tomás A. Santa Coloma Señoráns · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Columba of Sens

saintly virgin associated with Sens in France and a fountain named d'Azon

SaintResearchedPre-congregation

Feast: 31 December (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)

Born
257
Died
273
Beatified
not needed: before formal processes
Canonised
By tradition
recognised before formal processes began

Who they were

Columba suffered towards the end of the third century, probably under Aurelian, and is said to have been beheaded near a spring called d'Azon. Tradition says a man named Aubertus buried her in thanksgiving for the restoring of his sight when he called on her.

A chapel was built over her relics, and later the Abbey of Sens, a place of pilgrimage in her honour. Her history is somewhat legendary.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: she has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

A virgin martyr of the early Church in Gaul.

Sources

Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.

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