Hemma of Gurk (sometimes Emma) (c. 980 – 27 June 1045) is a saint and a founder of religious houses in Austria.
Hemma was a member of the noble family of Peilenstein, related to the Liutpoldings of Bavaria and thus to Emperor Henry II. She was born Countess of Zeltschach and was brought up at the Imperial court in Bamberg by the Empress Saint Cunigunde. She married Count Wilhelm of Friesach and of the Sanngau, by whom she had two sons, Hartwig an...
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Hemma of Gurk (sometimes Emma) (c. 980 – 27 June 1045) is a saint and a founder of religious houses in Austria.
Hemma was a member of the noble family of Peilenstein, related to the Liutpoldings of Bavaria and thus to Emperor Henry II. She was born Countess of Zeltschach and was brought up at the Imperial court in Bamberg by the Empress Saint Cunigunde. She married Count Wilhelm of Friesach and of the Sanngau, by whom she had two sons, Hartwig and Wilhelm. Countess Hemma used her great wealth for the benefit of the poor and was already venerated as a saint during her lifetime. In addition she founded ten churches. Both her sons and her husband were murdered, the latest of them probably in 1036. In 1043 she founded a Benedictine double monastery at Gurk in Carinthia in Austria, into which she withdrew during the last years of her life.
After her death Gurk Abbey was dissolved by the Archbishop of Salzburg, Gebhard, who instead used the funds to set up the Diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt in...
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