First day of the commemoratate stamp St. Engelbert Kolland

Religious brother and martyr

The commemorative stamp is dedicated to the canonisation of the Tyrolean martyr Engelbert Kolland and his companions on 20 October 2024.

Michael Kolland was born in 1827 in Ramsau am Ziller in Tyrol. His family was Protestant and therefore had to relocate to Styria in 1837. Nevertheless, Michael attended the archiepiscopal grammar school in Salzburg and subsequently joined the Franciscan Order, where he took the religious name Engelbert. He was ordained as a priest in 1851. He studied languages, including Arabic, and was sent as a missionary to the Holy Land in 1855. In Damascus, where he carried out his work, he was known as a teacher and a helper of the poor, the sick, and the dying. In July 1860, there were violent attacks against Christians. Engelbert Kolland was captured and, after refusing to renounce his faith, was murdered. Together with his fellow brothers, Kolland was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1926. His feast day is 10 July, the anniversary of his death.

In 1986, Engelbert Kolland was named the patron saint of his home parish, Zell am Ziller. The Garnet Chapel, built in 2013 at over 2,000 metres above sea level on the Penkenjoch in Tyrol, is dedicated to his memory. The striking chapel, shaped like a crystal, is reminiscent of garnets, known locally as the "Zillertal’s precious stones". In May 2024, the Vatican announced the canonisation of Kolland and his seven fellow brothers from the Franciscan Order. The stamp design features a portrait of the martyr on glass, created by the glass artist Peter Sporer from Finkenberg in the Ziller Valley.

When? 
24 January 2025, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Presentation at 3:00 p.m.

Where? Community centre, Ramsau 265, 6284 Ramsau im Zillertal

Group pictures: Bild 1
Pcitre of presentation: © Pfarre Zell am Ziller / Ö. Post AG
Group picture, left to right: 

Friedrich Steiner (Mayor, Municipality of Ramsau), Josef Geisler (Deputy Governor of Tyrol), P. Fritz Wenigwieser (Provincial of the Franciscans), Martina Prinz (Head of Philately – Austrian Post), Auxiliary Bishop Hansjörg Hofer, Wilhelm Remes (President, St. Gabriel Philately Association), Peter Sporer (painter of the motif that inspired the stamp design), Dean Ignaz Steinwender (Parish Zell a. Ziller)