Originally published at The Catholic Thing
Some saints’ lives could be described as scandalous. A story about the life of Saint Ursula, for example, might seem so to non-Catholics. Ursula was the Catholic daughter of a king who refused to marry a pagan and preferred to be a virgin for Christ. So, she asked permission to delay the wedding for three years and to be attended by ten ladies-in-waiting, each of whom was to be attended by a thousand virgins. After being granted permission, she and her thousands of virgins sailed away in eleven ships. One understands why some are skeptical. Yet every saint’s legend teaches lessons about how we should live our own lives.
