Salmanus

Saint Salmanus was a hermit and missionary from the circle of the Breton hermit Judoc and lived in the 7th century. According to the legend he was a military commander of noble descent, from present-⁠day Asturias. Deciding to leave military life, he wanted to go on pilgrimage to Rome as a companion of Saint Judoc. At Dobach, now a district of Würselen, he decided to stay as a hermit and lead people to Christianity.

Even in his time people sought help from him, especially through his prayer for illnesses of the chest, lungs and cough; he himself died of a cough illness. Later a chapel was built, which became a place of pilgrimage, especially because of the intensive mining in the area and the diseases linked to it. The chapel of Saint Salmanus was closed in 1802 and torn down in 1818. Part of the relics (the head reliquary) came on 27 April 1805 to the newly created parish at Weiden, another part to Würselen. In the turmoil at the end of the Second World War the head was stolen. On the site of the chapel a wayside cross was raised in 1902, the "Salmanus Cross", which still stands and is protected as a monument. Until the middle of the 20th century a solemn Mass was read for him on the first Sunday of May. In art he is often shown with a crown laid aside, recalling his noble origin. He is honored as a saint of the undivided Church, in the local tradition.