ENTHUSIASTIC CROWDS and fluttering Irish flags welcomed President Mary McAleese to the German city of Würzburg yesterday, where she paid tribute to St Killian, the Cavan-born monk martyred there in the seventh century.
On the final leg of her three-day State visit, Mrs McAleese emphasised the centuries-old Irish-German cultural ties rooted in Würzburg in Franconia, northern Bavaria, a place of pilgrimage for the late Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich.
She visited St Killian's tomb and inspected his personal Bible, as well as other manuscripts which contain some of the oldest written examples of the Irish language.
"These courageous Irish monks not only brought Christian teaching here, they brought scholarship and literacy," said Mrs McAleese.
In the 19th century, German philologist Johann Caspar Zeuss spent a decade decoding the monks' Old Irish notes, helping him prepare the first written grammar of the Irish language, Grammatica Celtica, in 1851.
"It was German scholars who reintroduced us to the roots of our own language and our European DNA," said Mrs McAleese. "They revived a sense of national pride and national identity in Ireland."
The university's manuscript expert, Dr Hans Günter Schmidt, returned Mrs McAleese's compliments. "It is not an exaggeration to say we learned how to write from the Irish," he said.
St Killian came to Würzburg as a missionary in AD686. He converted the local duke but fell out of favour in 689 for saying he had broken canon law by marrying his brother's widow. She dispatched troops to seize Killian. He lost his head but gained a sainthood.
Würzburg made him its patron and his traces can be seen everywhere, from the locals named after him to the Killian festival every summer. Not forgetting his head, on display in the cathedral that carries his name. The priceless manuscripts, held in the city's university, survived the Swedes, Napoleon and Allied bombing.
The city's determination to save them showed a "touch of Irish resilience", said Mrs McAleese. "Not that that resilience helped Killian. He should never have crossed a woman. Irish men never learn."