KILIANO (KILLENA, CHILIANO), saint, martyr. – Bishop and patron of the diocese of Würzburg, d. c. 689. Of noble Irish-Scottish family, according to legend, already a bishop, he went with eleven companions, among them the priest Kolomano and the deacon Tomano, to Würzburg on the Main and to eastern Franconia.
As a result of his preaching, approved by Pope Giovanni V, Duke Gozberto had himself baptized together with his tribe and, at K.’s command, separated from his sister-in-law Gailana. She secretly had the three missionaries murdered and buried with the sacred furnishings and the Gospel Book, which is still preserved: thus the Passio, written shortly before 800, but based on an older account. In 752 Bishop Burcardo of Würzburg had the bones of the holy martyrs translated. In the church of the Neumünster at Würzburg, their tomb, a small portion of the relics (the others are in the Cathedral), and the famous busts of the three saints by Tilman Riemenschneider are venerated. Their cult is still alive today in Franconia and in the diocese of Paderborn. Feast: 8 July.