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| Chillian in Wurzburg |
Killian was an Irish monk and wandering bishop who took off for Germany to convert pagans.
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| Wurzburg Cathedral |
Chillian is an alternate spelling of his name, and is frankly an even cooler handle than Killian.
He
and his eleven companions had some success in Germany, working through
Franconia and Thuringia, parts of modern Bavaria. If we were in
Wurzburg today, we'd be celebrating a big festival in his honor.
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| One way to celebrate |
His luck ran out after he converted Duke Gozbert, a Thuringian lord. Having converted him, he broke the bad news about
Leviticus 20:21,
i.e. it is forbidden to marry your brother's widow. Poor Gozbert
didn't have access to a Bible, let alone Biblegateway.com, so he could
come back with
Deuteronomy 25:5-6,
i.e. a man is obligated to marry his brother's widow if she is
childless. I don't know if Geilana, Gozbert's wife and sister-in-law,
had children from her first marriage, but even if she didn't,
Deuteronomy 25 opens the door to debate the flexibility of Leviticus
20. If an exception can be made for the perpetuation of a name, why not
for the perpetuation of peace?
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| Irish-German unity in spite of the guy waving the sword |
Sadly, neither Gozbert nor Geilana knew
enough about Christianity to counter Bishop Chillian's edict. Geilana,
however, did know how to handle the situation in local fashion. A
couple of guards made short work of the offending bishop and his
companions, Colman and Totnan. Their skulls, inlaid with jewels, are
preserved in Wurzburg Cathedral and are paraded on July 8.
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