St. Coloman

Circa 1520
Wood
Cathedral of St. Stephen, Passau, Germany

In the year 1012 this St. Coloman was passing through the town of Stockerau in Austria, a pilgrim on his way to Jerusalem. Austria was then at war, and the citizens took him for a spy and hanged him. This hardly makes him a martyr, but his patient demeanor through the ordeal was later taken as a sign of his sanctity. Miracles were reported at his tomb, and he was said to be incorrupt. The statue quite appropriately gives him a pilgrim's staff and a noose.

St. Koloman's feast day is October 13. His story is told in Butler, IV, 105 and in the Acta Sanctorum (as S. Colmanus, Martyre in Austria), October vol. 6, 342-62.

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Photographed at the cathedral by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.