Kilian (Cilian, Cillianus, Chillenus) (d. 670) of Aubigny (near Arras, northern France) was a hermit-saint and evangeliser. He is associated with his fellow Irishman St Fiacre (qv) (d. 670) of Brie and with St Faro of Meaux. In the Lives of the latter two saints, he is described as an Irishman who, after completing a pilgrimage to Rome, visited the hermitage of his relation (or acquaintance) Fiacre at Brie. He was persuaded by Faro to undertake a mission to the area of Artois, where by his preaching and miracles he won over many of the inhabitants to the Christian faith. One of his miracles was restoring the broken fragments of a glass chalice belonging either to Faro or to a nobleman called Eulfus who subsequently gave Kilian a place in Aubigny, where he built a church and ministered for the remainder of his days.
Kilian's Life was written by Hildegaire, bishop of Meaux, in 869; it is preserved in two Douai manuscripts that date from the tenth and twelfth centuries respectively. The Life was written a considerable time after his death, and contains ‘much that is absurd’ (James F. Kenney (qv)). Hildegaire, however, notes a Life of ‘Chillenus’ in his possession, which may have been based upon authentic tradition: the form Chillenus (before the internal ‘é’ vowel was replaced by the syllable ‘ia’) suggests an early date.