Saints celebrated on the 8th of July
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SAINT KILIAN, BISHOP AND MARTYR
(SS. Kilian, Bishop, Colman, Priest, and Totnan, Deacon, Martyrs)
Kilian or Kuln was a holy Irish monk, of noble Scottish extraction. 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 Kilian was invested with episcopal authority.
HE BECAME BISHOP
The missionaries converted and baptised great numbers at Würzburg, and among others Gosbert, the duke of that name. This prince had taken to wife Geilana, the relict of his deceased brother; and though he loved her tenderly, being put in mind by St Kilian 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.
SHE SENT ASSASSINS
Geilana was tormented in mind beyond measure at this resolution; jealousy and ambition equally inflaming her breast; 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 holy missionaries in 688.
TRANSLATION OF THE RELICS
The ruffians were themselves pursued by divine vengeance, and all perished miserably. St Burchard, who in the following century was placed by St Boniface in the episcopal see of Würzburg, translated their relics into his cathedral.
Source: Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints - 📷 1. St Kilian, 2. Würzburg Cathedral
PRAYER:
Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Kilian and Companions may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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