St. Kilian was an Irish monk who was martyred in the 7th century while trying to evangelize Franconia. This sculpture is in excellent condition given that it is a woodcarving that is nearly 500 years old. The Saint holds a sword in one hand and a crosier in the other. The co-ordinates were taken at the museum entrance.
Saint Kilian, also spelled Killian (or alternatively Irish: Cillian), was an Irish missionary bishop and the apostle of Franconia (nowadays the northern part of Bavaria), where he began his labours towards the end of the 7th century.
According to Irish sources, Kilian was born in Mullagh, County Cavan, Ireland and is the patron saint of the parish of Tuosist, near Kenmare in County Kerry, where he is believed to have resided before travelling to Germany. A church and holy well are named after him and his feast day, July 8, is traditionally celebrated with a pattern when crowds visit the well for prayers, followed by evening social events.
The name has several variations in spelling (e.g. Chillian, Killian, Cilian, Kilian). In Ireland, the preferred spelling is Cillian; the name appears thus in the Irish liturgical calendar. Saint Kilian's feast day is July 8, and he is usually portrayed, as in his statue at Würzburg, bearing a bishop's mitre and wielding a sword. The Kiliani-Volksfest (two weeks in July) is the main civil and religious festival in the region around Würzburg. He is one of the patron saints for sufferers of rheumatism.
n the summer of 686 Kilian, with eleven companions, travelled through Gaul, to Rome to receive missionary faculties from the pope, arriving in late autumn. From there they traveled to the castle of Würzburg, inhabited by the Thuringian (Frankish) Duke Gozbert, who was, like his people, still pagan.
The original group separated on the return journey — some departing to seek other fields of missionary work, while St. Kilian with two companions, the priest Coloman and the deacon Totnan, came back to Würzburg. He took this town as the base of his activity, which extended over an ever-increasing area in East Franconia and Thuringia, and converted Duke Gozbert with a large part of his subjects to Christianity.
Death
Kilian told the Duke that he was in violation of sacred scripture by being married to his brother's widow, Geilana. When Geilana, whom Kilian had failed to convert to Christianity, heard of Kilian's words against her marriage, she was so angry that, in the absence of the duke, she had her soldiers sent to the main square of Würzburg, where Kilian and his colleagues were preaching, and had him beheaded, along with two of his companions, Saint Colmán (also called Colonan or Kolonat) and Saint Totnan.
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