St Kilian (640-689) martyr: from Mullagh to Würzburg
St
Kilian was an Irish monk, who like Columbanus, Fiacra, Fursey and
Feargal went on an adventure to Europe spreading the good news. From
Mullagh, Co Cavan.
From Mullagh, Co Cavan
St Kilian was born in
Mullagh, Co Cavan. which has a church and heritage centre dedicated to
him. Here in 1989 the people of the parish celebrated the 13th centenary
of his death.
There is also a church dedicated to him at Lauragh,
Tuosist, Co Kerry and a pattern is celebrated in his honour every 8th
July.
Kilian is said to have sailed from neighbouring Kilmacillogue
harbour with eleven companions on a mission to Germany.
Up the Rhine and the Main to Würzburg, Germany
Kilian's
group landed at the mouth of the Rhine and travelled up the river until
they reached the mouth of its tributary, the Main; then they sailed up
this as far as the town of Würzburg.
Here Kilian converted the local
ruler Duke Gosbert from paganism to Christianity.
To Rome
From there he went on to Rome arriving
during the pontificate of Pope Conon (686-7) and stayed there for two
years.
Some accounts say Pope Conon confirmed him in his mission to
Thuringia and Eastern Franconia.
Martyrdom
On his return to Würzburg, however,
Kilian found that the Duke Gosbert had married his brother's widow,
Geilana.
When Kilian explained that according to Canon Law the marriage
was unlawful, the duke agreed to separate.
But Geilana was not happy and
plotted against Kilian. She had him murdered along with two companions
Colman and Totnan, probably in 689.
Cult grows up fifty years later
Kilian and his
companions seem to have been forgotten after their martyrdom.
But fifty
years after their death when the English missionary St Boniface and his
companion Burchard of Wessex arrived in the area, they found evidence of
Kilian's influence.
Burchard became the first bishop of Würzburg in 752
and transferred the relics of Kilian and his companions, which were
being revered for many cures from illnesses, into the cathedral he built
in Würzburg and dedicated to St Kilian.
St Kilian's Cathedral, Würzburg
The present-day
cathedral named after Kilian is one of the largest Romanesque churches
in Germany.
Kilian is the principal patron of Würzburg; his figure
appears on seals and coins and a Kilianfest held every year is the
occasion of an annual mystery play about his life.
In the Martyrology of Tallaght
News of Kilian's martyrdom was brought back to Ireland and is recorded in the ninth-century Irish Martyrology of Tallaght: hymns and folk-songs were composed in his honour.
Links between Würzburg and Ireland
There was a
house of Irish monks in the city of Würzburg from the ninth century
until the fifteenth and there are manuscripts of commentaries written in
Old Irish on the Scriptures.
In 1989 Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich visited
the city to lecture about these writings and contacts.
Irish influence
remains in Würzburg today as there is a GAA club called St Kilian's with
hurling and football teams that compete successfully at European level.
St Kilian's German school in Dublin
St Kilian's
in the name of a German school (Deutsche Schule) in Dublin. It is
situated on the Eurocampus in Clonskeagh, quite near to University
College, Dublin.
It provides a German language education from
kindergarten, through primary and secondary levels.