Apostle of Franconia Chilianus Chillien Cillíne Kilian Killena
After Duke Gozbert converted, Killian explained that his marriage with Geilana, his brother's widow, was unlawful. He secured the duke's promise to leave her. Geilana plotted against the saint, and caused the murderColman and Totnan, and the burial of their corpses, sacred vessels, vestments, and holy writings at the crime scene. When the duke returned, Geilana denied knowing the location of the missionaries. The murderer went mad, confessed his crime, and died miserably. Geilana eventually died insane.
Kilian's work did not survived him. When Saint Boniface arrived in Thuringia, he found evidence of his predecessor's influence. The relics of the martyrs, after cures had brought fame to their burial place, were transferred to the Church of Our Lady in 743 by Saint Burchard, first Bishop of Würzburg. After Burchard obtained Pope Zachary's permission for their public veneration, they were solemnly transferred, probably on 8 July 752, to the newly finished Cathedral of the Saviour. Later they were buried in Saint Kilian's vault in the new cathedral erected on the spot where tradition says they were martyred. Killian's New Testament was preserved in Würzburg Cathedral until 1803, and since then has been in the university library.
Bavaria gout Paderborn, Germany, archdiocese of rheumatism whitewashers Würzburg, Germany
bishop holding a large sword and standing between two priests with Saint Colman and and Saint Totnan bishop being murdered with two priests
Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate Catholic Encyclopedia For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein New Catholic Dictionary Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson