Thread by @DouayRheims1

8th JULY: ST KILIAN

~thread~
1. Kilian or Kuln was a holy Irish monk. With two zealous companions he travelled to Rome in 686, and obtained of Pope Conon a commission to preach the gospel to the German idolaters in Franconia; upon which occasion
#StKilian #July8 #Ireland

2. Kilian was invested with episcopal authority.

The missionaries converted and baptised great numbers at Wurzburg, and among others Gosbert, the duke of that name. This prince had taken to wife Geilana, the relict of his deceased brother; and being put in mind by St Kilian

3. that such a marriage was condemned and void by the law of the gospel, he promised to dismiss her, saying that we are bound to love God above father, mother, or wife.

Geilana was outraged beyond measure at this resolution; jealousy and ambition equally inflaming her breast;

4. and, as the vengeance of a wicked woman has no bounds, during the absence of the duke in a military expedition, she sent assassins, who privately murdered the three missionaries in 688.

The ruffians were themselves pursued by divine vengeance, and all perished miserably.

5. St Burchard, who in the following century was placed by St Boniface in the episcopal see of #Wurzburg, translated their relics into his #cathedral. (Excerpts from Butler's "Lives of the Saints")
St Kilian is patron of whitewashers and of those suffering from gout/rheumatism