Columba was born in the 6th century, to
pagan royals King Lodan and Queen Manigild, probably in
Lothian, Scotland. According to hagiographer David Nash Ford, her parents' name may be corrupt forms of names of
King Lot and
Queen Morgause in the
Arthurian legends. She might have had nine sisters, one of whom was named Wendon (or Wedern). Most of what is known of Columba is due to two parishes in Cornwall that name her as their patron saint and a manuscript in the collection of the
University Library of
Cambridge, written by
Cornish Roman Catholic activist and scholar
Nicholas Roscarrock during the reign of
Elizabeth I and based on local tradition. Columba became a Christian when the
Holy Spirit appeared to her in a vision, in the form of a
dove, promising her love and blessings. imprisoned her. An angel helped her escape and led her into the desert, where she was captured again by a local king, who admired her beauty and grace, and offered to marry her to his son if she renounced her faith. She refused, so she was tortured on the
breaking wheel and
gallows, but she did not die, and was again imprisoned. An angel again helped her escape, and she fled to the coast and boarded a ship that took her to Cornwall at what is now
Trevelgue Head (which is translated to English as "red dirt"; Cornish historian Nicholas Orme speculates that this refers to the color of the soil at the site of the martyrdom and the manner in which it took place). The king found her at
Ruthvoes in central Cornwall, three km south of St Columb Major and 10.5km east of
Newquay, and beheaded her. She was buried at
St Columb Major. == Legacy and veneration ==