October 13
ST COLOMAN, MARTYR (A.D. 1012)
In the beginning of the eleventh century the neighbouring nations of Austria, Moravia and Bohemia were engaged against each other in dissensions and wars. Coloman, a Scot or Irishman who was going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, arrived by the Danube from the enemy's country at Stockerau, a town six miles above Vienna. The inhabitants, persuading themselves that he was a spy because, not knowing their language, he could not give a satisfactory account of himself, hanged him, on July 13 in 1012. His patience under unjust sufferings was taken as a proof of the sanctity of Coloman, and it was esteemed to be confirmed by the incorruption of his body, which was said to be the occasion of many miracles. Three years after his death his body was translated to the abbey of Melk. After a time St Coloman came to be venerated as a minor patron of Austria, and a quite imaginary royal ancestry was invented for him. He is the titular of many churches in Austria, Hungary and Bavaria, and is invoked for the help and healing of horses and horned cattle. On his feast the blessing of these animals takes place at Hohenschwangau, near Füssen.
The vita, attributed to Erchenfried, Abbot of Melk, has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. vi, and has also been edited for Pertz, MGH., Scriptores, vol. iv, pp. 675-677. See further Gougaud, Gaelic Pioneers (1923), pp. 143-145 and the Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, vol. vi, c. 95. There is no evidence that St Coloman was in a strict sense martyred, and there has never been any formal canonization. On the folk-lore aspects of the case see Bächtold-Stäubli, Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, vol. ii, pp. 95-99
Back to the contents
(Butler's Lives of the Saints, Christian Classics, 1995)
wmaster@hcbc.hu