Council to support return of relics of St Kilian

Request by St Kilian Heritage Trust in Mullagh.

Cavan County Council has tentatively offered its support to efforts to have the relics of St Kilian, and his followers St Colonat and St Totnan, temporarily brought back to Co Cavan.

Proposed by the St Kilian Heritage Trust in Mullagh, a request was made at the June monthly meeting of Cavan County Council by Independent Shane P O’Reilly for the local authority to give formal backing to have the relics released by the Cathedral Chapter of The Diocese of Wurzburg where they are kept.

Next month a delegation from Cavan County Council will once again travel to Germany to attend the Kiliani-Volksfest in Würzburg, commemorating and celebrating one of Cavan’s most influential sons, St Kilian. A native of Mullagh, St Kilian is the Apostle of modern day Bavaria, where he along with Ss Colonat and Totnan were martyred. Their skulls, inlaid with precious stones, are preserved and on St Kilian's Day, or Kiliani Fest, July 8 every year, a glass case containing the relics is paraded through the streets before large crowds.

Last year was the first visit by a delegation from Cavan since before the pandemic.

Cavan County Council already has a friendship pact with Kurnach, near Wurzburg, where one of the local councillors is Collette Hermann (née Duggan) from Ballyhaise.

Visit

The temporary return of St Kilian’s relics has long been mooted, and Cllr O’Reilly said of St Kilian’s relics: “It’s time for the man to come home for a visit.”

He suggested that from a religious “side of things” it was a case of “pushing an open door”, and it would be important to have the council’s backing when putting a proposal forward.

If the council were to be seen to give its backing it would be “another string to our bow”.

The motion was supported by Fine Gael’s TP O’Reilly who described the effort as “very worthy”.

He said it was important to “acknowledge the bond and friendship” that had developed between the two regions. There was support too from Sarah O’Reilly (Aon), Brendan Fay (Ind), Patricia Walsh (FF), and Winston Bennett (FG).

Chief Executive Tommy Ryan noted how the two areas had “strengthened ties” over the years, and that the foundation upon which the proposal was built included three strands: “church, civic and community”.

“Like any relationship we have to continue working on it,” he said of the upcoming visit, before paying tribute to the work done by Ms Hermann.