Saint Killian

St.Killian is one of the most famous of the holy men who set off as missionaries from Ireland in the Dark Ages. At the same time, the details of his life are few. In the year 689 he died a martyr in the German town of Wurzburg and in that town he has been venerated ever since.

Mullagh , Co. Cavan

Nobody doubts that he was Irish , but , equally , nobody knows exactly when or where he was born. The village of Mullagh in County Cavan has the strongest claim to be his birthplace . There, a holy well bears his name , a new school is dedicated to his memory, and, in earlier days a pattern was held in his honour. Mullagh was also the centre of official celebrations in 1989 for the 1,300 th anniversary of his martyrdom.

An alternative claim is made around Lough Mackeenlaun on the Bearra Peninsulain Co. Kerry where, again, they used to hold a pattern on his feast day, 8th July.

In the 7th century , the Church flourished in Ireland when, in spite of endless warfare , priests and monks enjoyed a degree of immunity from conflict. Many people adopted the monastic life , in spite of the fact that the rules were generally extremely strict . Some remained in Ireland , but , then as now , a great number felt the need to travel far away to spread the gospel in pagan countries.Killian was one of the travellers, the peregrini , as they were called.

he sailed from Ireland with eleven companions - or so the story goes.It may be that this figure is correct or it may be that some writer thought that it was right for Killian to make up a band of twelve in memory of the twelve Apostles. In either case he would probably not have set out alone.

Via North of England

He and his followers may have crossed the North of England where a number of the monasteries haaaad either been founded by Irish monks or had strong Irish connections. In these houses they would have received a warm welcome and hospitality so, although the journey was long , the travellers would have been well-cared for as they made their way.

They stopped in Ashaffenburg, where their arrival is commemorated in a church to this day .Aschaffenburg is about two hundred miles from the coast, on the river Main , a tributary of the great Rhine which rises in the Alps and enters the sea in Holland. Their settling for a while on the banks of the river has led their biographers to suppose that they had landed on the continent at the mouth of the Rhine and continued their journey by boat up the river, turning off when they came to the Main.
That was the easiest way to travel in those days when much of the land was covered in forest ; difficult to go through in any case and having the added danger of attack by bandits. Missionaries who left Ireland for West Africa in the 19th century followed the same trail, using the rivers to make their way inland.

Settled in Wurzburg

After a while they moved farther upstream to Wurzburg where Killian made his headquarters.He was well received by the ruler , Duke Gozbert , whom he converted and he is credited with the conversion of the people of Thuringia and neighbouring regions. As happening with St. Patrick , when a chieftain accepted the faith his followers usually became converts before long, and so the new religion quickly spread far and wide.

After he had established in Wurzburg , Killian set off to Rome to report on his work and to obtain the approval of the Pope to continue it. The Pope was Conon who reigned for only two years from 686 to 688. This fact gives the first firm date in Killian's life .having spent two years in Rome , he returned to Wurzberg, only to find that things had gone seriously wrong in his absence.

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